Surprise in the Post

Last week I received a little surprise in the post from the Beside The Wave Gallery in Cornwall, it was a catalogue of their most recent exhibition by Emma Dunbar "down at the allotments". I must be on their mailing list, and I had no idea this exhibition was on, it finishes on the 29th August so not much time left to see it.

Not great images it's quite hard to photograph a catalogue and keep the colours looking correct. There is also a fun competition to enter on the gallery website or at the gallery itself to win a framed print.

Days Out.

As we are not going away this year a few days out were called for, a week was allocated and regardless of the weather we were going out. Our first visit was to the Grizedale Forest in the Lake District, the weather was mixed but we did manage to fit in a 4 mile walk without getting wet and as usual it took us twice as long because I kept stopping every few yards to take a photo!

All those amazing views and most of my photographs are close-ups of plant life.

I did manage to get the odd shot of some trees but I was a little disappointed with the results, I really do need a zoom lens for my camera.

There were so many beautiful wild flowers and some lovely grasses.

The following day we set off for Wales, we had a brief stop for coffee in Conwy then headed for Beaumaris on the Isle of Anglesey.

I was feeling a little tired of taking photographs unfortunately, and my daughter kept pinching the camera because she has started her own blog, so now there will be two of us stopping to photograph!! We went into the castle which had dark passageways to explore.

The pretty town had lots of lovely bunting, and the old court house had some interesting doors with peeling paint and rusty bits.

There was a lovely flower shop I wanted to buy lots of plants but we decided it probably wasn't practical.

And some pretty houses, we liked the bright pink one!

We went for a short drive from Beaumaris to Red Wharf bay and  could not believe the change in the weather we went from bright blue skies and brilliant sunshine to grey, misty and damp in just a few miles, but it was quite atmospheric.

Will have to stop there I am blogged out, part two of days out later in the week. I hope everyone is enjoying there summer and hopefully soaking up some inspiration somewhere.

Evolution of a Painting

I can't believe it's a month since my last post, I really am finding blogging hard to do at the moment and I don't think it is due to lack of time, it is more to do with lack of motivation. Therefore I thought I would try and ease myself back in slowly with a mainly visual post on one of the paintings that I started on the Bloom True e course.

This was the first of many layers, the paint was applied freely trying to let the paint find it's own way.

Adding glazes with fluid acrylics, which I have never used before.

At this point I decided to put this painting to one side it doesn't feel finished yet but I just feel a bit stuck.
There is quite a lot of etching in this painting so I took a few close up shots.

I am working on three paintings at the moment they are all 90cm x 90cm which is quite large for me, however I feel I would like to paint even larger.

Time Management

It is the start of my fourth week looking after Emily and the fourth week of my e course, funny how they coincided. We have had some ups and downs, getting her to take milk from a bottle was a little tricky but she seems to have got the hang of it, and nap times are well established so I can still get on with household chores and have a little breathing space. I was worried that once I was looking after Emily that my painting would suffer from lack of time but thanks to the course I am painting more, I hope when the course is over I can continue with the routine I have established, two full days painting and then extra painting sessions in the evenings. Interesting how there are some parallels in looking after babies and painting, from establishing a good routine to trying out new things like, baby led weaning and new ways of layering up paint. Unfortunately the one thing that has suffered from lack of time is my blog, so I just need to try and factor blog time into my routine. Took some more detail photos of my paintings in progress, I am working on three large paintings but none are finished yet, each of the layers are very transient so now only exist in a photograph. I love taking these close up shots, each one looking like an abstract painting.

Sneak Peek

Just a quick post with some close up photos of my painting from the e course. Not sure how much I can write about what we are doing but I am having lots of fun and it is very liberating, at last I am painting larger canvasses. My first week with Emily went well apart from her having a cold, and as babies like to share she thought I would like it as well!! To much cuddling I think!

Changing Times.

I must confess that not much painting has been done recently, only three more night paintings and each of them quite different.

I have also done a little bit of painting in my larger sketchbook and have photographed sections of this larger work, all of them are potential paintings.

Times are changing however, and from next week I will probably have less time to paint, my daughter is going back to work, and I will be looking after my Granddaughter three days a week. I am really looking forward to it and am ready for the challenges ahead.
Recently I have been attending a painting and drawing class just to brush up on my skills, I have found it really useful going over things that I had forgotten, it has also helped me to really look at what I am painting and to really see where my inspiration is coming from. I don't want to loose momentum so have decided to do an e course, Bloom True with Flora Bowley which starts next week, I am really excited because hopefully I will get to do some bigger paintings, my three large canvasses are ready and waiting. Not sure how much time I will have for blogging, but hopefully I will be able to do some quick visual posts.  

Emily Update

My Granddaughter is 6 months old now and is so beautiful, she is crawling and can just about sit up unaided. We had a little photo session in the garden.