Photo's on my Phone 23rd August 2024 to 4th of September

What do you do when your life is collapsing around you?

Go on holiday and forget it all for a few days!

So we went back to Suffolk to see our families and cuddle my boy and his husband.

We also spent time with both of our parents, Phil's nephew, sister & brother & my aunt, 

We were only gone 72 hours, but in that time we drove 16 hours, slept for 14 hours.

Visited 3 pubs (including The Jolly Sailor at Orford as seen in the photo above)

Visited 2 beaches, Walberswick  above where a stone/tooth/finger incident occurred.

Plus 5 hours in casualty, there was an incident with a stone, Siri's mouth and Phil's finger. Siri ended up with a chipped canine that sliced Phil's finger badly enough to need stitches. 

Moral of the story is always make sure Siri is sitting in front of you and waiting before you throw anything.

We both waited patiently outside for 5 hours while Phil waited patiently inside, only to be told they couldn't stitch his finger because it was an animal injury.

Beach number 2 was Shingle Street (our old home). You can almost see our old house in the trees across the marshes

And then we drove home, luckily the 18 mile traffic jam was on the other side of the M25.

On Sunday it was Bert's 7th birthday, his 2 uncles gave him an iguana and great Grandad gave him a remote controlled model boat.

The iguana ate fish & chips with us on Ilfracombe harbour beach and the model boat in the words of Bert is the best present in the world.

Now I'm back to the depressing job of packing our lives in boxes, while we desperately try and find somewhere to live.

No drawings last week except for a couple of badly drawn quick sketches, however I will be at the Lyn Valley Market at Lynton Town Hall on Saturday. 

Please come and say Hi, but please no sympathy unless you want a flood of tears.

Photo's on my Phone 2nd July to 10th July 2024

 Another week of not much, except dog walking and drawing.

My friend and I took our love bugs for a walk up Hollerday Hill, where they chased each other up the hill, dug holes, slobbered on each other and played gentle tug of war. Siri always lets Edie have the stick/ball, he's twice her size and could easily win, but always defers to her in the end. Their bond is a beautiful thing to witness.

We spent some time at the allotment, its divided in half by the Tayberry (covered on green net on the second photo). 

Phil's half is neatly organised in rows, each time he plants he sifts the soil, all very scientific adding the right nutrients at the right time.

My half is chaotic and continues to evolve in its own special way. I've planted flowers and herbs along the edges, because I've always wanted a walled garden and this is the closest thing to one I can get. I'm growing a lot of onions and garlic, planted all over the place, courgettes, peas, beans and fruit bushes. I also have an asparagus bed which I'm very proud of, both my mother and granny had asparagus beds, neither were gardeners, but always produced a good crop each year. My bed is only in its second year, our soil is the worst possible soil for asparagus, I dug a couple of bags of sand in before I planted, the plants seem to be thriving and I have my fingers crossed for a good crop next year. I hope that one day Dais will follow in their footsteps and have one of her own.

My flowers are beautiful at this time of year, I'm especially proud of my rose William Lobb. I've had him quite a few years, he's moved from house to house in a pot, he's been at the allotment since we had it 3 years ago and this year he is spectacular and smells even better.

William Lobb grows next to my compost bins, those of you who remember NDS will recognise the bins.

On Monday we walked to the top of Dunkery Beacon, which is the highest point on Exmoor and Siri tried to dig up a stone to play with.

I was going to add more landscape photo's and talk about my relationship with the landscape, but I'm going to write a second post instead.

Ilfracombe is finished, I'll write a blog post when I've finished tidying it up.
Woolacombe is almost finished, think I might have spoilt it by colouring the roof's black, but never mind I might frame it anyway.

I only did one sketch last week, waiting in the car while Phil walked the dogs on the wrong side of Countisbury Hill, I'd strained my back from standing all day at the town hall market the previous day. The market was so good that I've treated myself to a posh concertina sketch book, I'm very excited, can't wait till it arrives.

Looking towards the East Lyn, drawn with a 0.03 pen

Being a bit brave & happy

Over the last few months Ive come to realise that I've been trying to turn my art into a business.

I didn't restart drawing to make money or build a business.

I restarted drawing after 40 years, because it makes me happy.

Drawing drawings that I think other people will like, buying stock, finding stockists, doing craft fairs with minimal sales (what kind of idiot starts a business selling art in a recession?), doesn't make me happy.

I've got 2 more Lynton Town Hall markets to do and I might book the town hall Christmas market because I like being at the town hall it makes me happy to be part of the village, but these 3 markets will be the last.

Instead of which I am going to start applying to exhibit my work in art exhibitions, thanks to the broken chaotic life we lead my mental state is fragile, which has left me scared of pushing myself to far and the possibility I'll fail and failure will break me. But failure is only a thing when you stop trying, so the answer is not to stop trying

SO ... I've just applied to a local summer exhibition, it doesn't matter if my work gets chosen, the fact I've been brave enough to do it is enough.

One of the pieces I have submitted is my First Quarter of Summer, maybe I will finally finish the other 3 quarters. 

And maybe next year I'll be extra brave and apply for the RA summer exhibition!

Photo's on my phone 25th April to 8th of May 2024

 Good morning Blog

Time for another "Photo's on my Phone"
All the photo's are unedited, normally I brighten them up, but its been so dark and gloomy, it will be good to compare when the sun finally arrives.

Evening dog walks in The Valley of Rocks (which is 10 minute walk from front door). 

There is a touch of green on the hills, hopefully spring is finally here.

 

 

We celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary with a road trip, both of us love driving so a road trip is always a big treat. This time we went over the border into Cornwall to Charlestown, just outside St Austell. We have a lot of local St Austell Brewery pubs, so decided we would got to test it in its hometown. It rained .... at lot, but we had a lovely pub lunch, the beer was good and the dogs enjoyed the sea!!

My current wip, its the stones on Lee bay beach, I like the close up detail but not sure about the overall image.

It's an A2 drawing, watercolour background, details are drawn with acrylic pen. Acrylic pens are a wondrous invention, minimum mess, maximum coverage. I can't be trusted with paint, I end up wearing most of it in an effort to protect my project.

An evening at our local doggy play barn with a couple of friends. Siri, Milo & Edith are ball obsessed, Tinks & Lulu happily wandered around in the background doing their own thing.

Sunday dog walk on the moor with Mummy, the dogs and grandboy's, we found a lizard, but it was gone before I could take a photo. Poor Bert was distraught he's missed it, he was too busy shouting to get Siri out of a gorse bush.

On Saturday I attended the Lyn Valley market at the town hall, it was the first the day the sun had shone for a long time, so not many people, however surprisingly I sold quite a lot.

My next town hall market is the first Saturday in July (not sure of the exact date.)

Bank holiday Monday on Dunster beach, Grandpa and the boys made sand castles and I put my feet in the sea for the first time this year.

You might wonder why there are so many of the photo's feature Siri, he is not just a dog, he is so much more. Like my previous German Shepherds he wants to be part of everything I do and needs my constant attention. Its more like having another small child, but at the same time he is my comfort dog, he gives me love, loyalty and support

Without him I struggle to leave the house on my own, crippled with anxiety and self doubt, but with him by my side I can go anywhere, do anything, be anything I want.