The bouncing shoe: a design prototype

  

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The bouncing shoe: a design prototype

 

 

the bouncing shoe

 

 

Experience the magic of bounce !

Who has not experienced a sense of frustration when walking with how much energy is expended and yet needlessly lost because shoe design fails to completely take advantage of the possibilities of bounce.

 

Finally a solution: the bouncing shoe.

The bouncing shoe allows the walker to fully capitalize on the reflexive results of his own footsteps.

This is the sketch for the prototype of the bouncing shoe. As yet, many details are still under consideration. But the basic concept is this: the user inserts their foot into the shoe which is made of a material spony and highly elastic and then proceeds to walk, only now, instead of the deadening footsteps they are accustomed to, now they experience a full and invigorating bounce, propelling them forward to further and further distances with less effort

A detail still in the research and development stage is how the foot will be received by the bouncing shoe

One solution is that the bouncing shoe is constructed similarly to an inflatable  balloon, with a nozzle for inflation, and an opening for the insertion of a foot. When inflated the ball  would close around the foot, securing it. The disadvantage of this is the issue of puncture.

 

A second idea proposes that the bouncing shoe is made of a more solid material, similar to that used for children`s bouncy balls. If so, the opening for the foot would be stiffer, and it would be necessary for the user to wear a spongy sock, cushioned within the hole ang protect them when walking .

 

Markets

It is believed that the market for the bouncing shoe is predominantly younger people living in urban areas, who are style-conscious and  aware of the need to preserve energy. There may also be a target market among senior walkers, who might appreciate its energy saving capacities.

A further market lies among sports people- most obviously court sports (volleyball, basketball, badminton) and gymnastics, and it is very possible that soccer players will also find this footwear advantageous.

There may also be interest in the contemporary dance and circus performance art communities.

The bouncing shoe should only be used with caution by disabled people.

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A pair of shoes on a rug

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A pair of shoes on a rug

 

 

 

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When I paint still life...; Moccasins

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Moccasins, table, stationery, oil on card, 15 x 17 cm  - sold

When I paint still life I don't much like the traditional set-up with a fruit basket, a vase and a wine bottle.

 I prefer to paint the things that are lying around the house lying, like the stuff  in boxes, the mess of papers and books or the tea things on the table, or discarded clothes. I like to come across these things. I don't like to "set them up". Setting them up would be a bit like a hunter deliberately placing woodcock in a wood for himself to shoot*. I like the sense that these items convey something personal, and so finding them in their places according to circumstances other than compositional needs is most important (it's true that I do occasionally paint flowers in a very traditional format in vases, but I do find this correspondingly restrictive).

I work on small pieces of card and I prefer things that have easily recognisable profiles such as jugs, spoons and shoes, or perhaps certain items of clothing. I give these things a context such as a table top or the corner walls of a room. I use simple colours: dark reds, grey-greens and blacks and I often try out new paints when still life painting.

I usually paint standing up and I walk around a lot, hovering. I work on several pictures at the same time, then at the end of the session discard many. 

I find painting still life is very mentally taxing: I work much longer sessions than when I am working on landscape and have many negative critical thoughts that I process or combat, with considered responses:

     This is weak: Weak in which way? What might strengthen it?

   That is the same as what you did before: Why did I chose that subject before and what are its virtues? Is there something that has similar virtues that simultaneously allows a new angle?

    How boring!: boring is about engagement in this subject. If it isn't engaging then is this because of the subject (because it's impersonal, randomly chosen) or the treatment (usually it is the former) or my mental set (apathetic, tired, over-familiar with the motif)? This question is the critical and shouldn't be dismissed. 

   That looks too easy to deserve respect: what matters is delight. Children's art is unskilled but often  highly pleasurable. Contrariwise, cemetery carvings are often highly skilled but joyless.  

I also listen to music and self-help talks and drink coffee to try to make myself feel better.

* I know that, ridiculously, this is how grouse shooting is arranged in Scotland: with the grouse safely reared in wire enclosures then released a few days before the "glorious twelfth".

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A shoe with a bow

A shoe with a bow, acryllic on card, 2.5 x 3.5 inches

One of a series of small pictures depicting shoes, on their way to the Netherlands.

The shoes are our friends.

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Gothic shoes, oil on card, 14 x 12.2 cm - unavailable

 The Shoes Are Our Friends

Shoes, of all the things we wear, are our dearest friends, protecting us and making our lives possible, accompanying us on every journey, uncomplaining, diligent, dependable.

Perhaps it is because this deep loyalty of service is expressed with so few complaints that we take our shoes for granted, casting them aside at the close of day almost contemptuously, stuffing sweaty socks inside them. And giving them the polishes they require only when they are utterly essential, their un-nourished faces having caught the contemptuous expression of  junior colleagues at the office. You rarely consider their well-being until the moment when, crossing a puddled pavement with wettened feet because the soles have holes, you sigh, I had better take these to the Paraguayan cobbler later this week. How tiresome!

I have long been aware of the wrongness of such indifference, and have been repaid not just with fidelity but loving concern. 

Recently,  I was in a small town in northern Uruguay, night falling, the air cool: a perfect time for a stroll. There were some people still around, closing shops, making their ways home. And out we went, my shoes and I, and I wandered somewhat aimlessly about a square, then down a cobbled street where a charming old church beckoned. The street lighting grew dimmer as I proceeded and, peculiarly, my shoes began pinching terribly. I had to return to the hotel immediately to relieve my feet.

"Have you been for a walk?", the plump receptionist enquired pleasantly.  I said where I had been. He replied, "you should be most careful round there, Señor, there have been many robberies". 

Indeed there was such a robbery later that night, only fifty metres from where I`d stopped. An old woman had been relieved of her handbag and pearls, and suffered a terrible heart-attack.

There is no doubt in my mind that it was a premonition on the part of my shoes that caused them to warn me.

Similarly, a few months ago, I decided to drive to the south of here, where coconut trees sway continually in a state of meditation. I dressed, then reached for my shoe, my foot expecting fully its cool embrace. But the shoe was resistant, as if it reduced itself by several sizes. I tried with the other shoe, but it was the same: I could scarcely squeeze my foot past the opening. I had to abandon my trip. Later I discovered that two tourists had been killed there by falling coconuts, their thick skulls  reduced to bloody fragments on the beach.

The scientifically-minded among you will, quite understandably, question my conclusions. They will mention, I`m sure, such factors, as coincidence, the possible swelling of my feet, or have some complicated ideas about auto-suggestion, or cleverly say, with enormous self-satisfaction, "ah but this is not enough to establish a pattern!" They might even suggest that I have been visited by delusions.

But I suspect that those among you who take such a stance are the very sort of people who, at the end of the day, casually fling their shoes into a corner of the room without so much as a "thank you", or a "goodnight".

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Read to The Vicious Circle writers' group 22 March, 2021

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My shoes

My shoes, oil on  card, 10 x 14 cm  unavailable

The shoes suffered in Egypt, I walked a lot and I should have taken them to be re-heeled by now. Actually, following the rule that I am permitted a new pair every year, I am due a visit to the shoe shop.

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I am bored out of my mind here in Florianopolis and am longing to go travelling soon. Fortunately I have a little trip to Serrana coming up this weekend.