Busy, busy

 Busy, busy afternoon, persevering with the watercolours. I am determined to get to grips with them and I think I have found a method I like. I didn't want to paint detailed traditional style watercolours, and have found (armed with copious amounts of water and a sponge) that the wash on wash method suits my style best. I really like the simplicity that comes from moving a little colour around in a lot of water.

I am producing some very small and simple paintings, which will be mounted on card. They can be used simply as greetings cards or could be individually framed to produce bijou and very affordable art works to hang. I think these small works look best in drifts of 3 or 5, and I will be selling them (along with other works) at the Waterside Gallery in Brightlingsea, from 17th November.
It is the last week of the Pilgrimage exhibition at the Naze Tower in Walton on the Naze, so if you haven't been yet, wizz over there before Sunday !

Christmas is a comin'

Gosh there is a lot going on in Brightlingsea in the next couple of months ! All starting early November.  I will be showing work at the Waterside Gallery, The Coach House Coffee Shop and at Sea Green Studio on the high street, all up until Christmas week. I will be exhibiting a mix of paintings, small and large, some 3D work and some small surf styleeeeee driftwood pieces. All three venues need checking out for those unusual Christmas gifts. The Waterside Gallery will be showing a collection of arts and crafts, a continuation of the last very successful couple of years. Alex at the Coach House Coffee shop will be hosting a wonderful selection of local artists work which you can peruse whilst pigging out on coffee and cake. Sea Green Studio  has a fab eclectic mix of art and vintage home wares, from 50's tea sets to drift wood signs and of course 

locally made handy crafts and art.

I have a great couple of days beach combing, all the wood is drying out in my shed. In the meantime I have been working on some small pieces, ever the scavenger ! and framed them in deep box frames.

 Thought for the day, taken from 'Buddhist offerings 365 days' October 20th :
'True love for our neighbour will be translated into courage and strength. The more we develop love for others, the more confidence we will have in ourselves. The 14th Dalai Lama

I was only dreaming about the sea.

Muddy ditches and boats

A start with watercolour. A creek view and big sky. I haven't finished either and if I am truthful, frightened of  going further and making a mess. There have been a number of 'failures' and I feel these two have had a good start! But as I tell my workshop students...'there are no failures, only learning curves!' A painting is only satisfactory or pleasing to the artist (or less so) and really it doesn't matter what other people think. I feel as if I am trying to work too small, and therefore being too detailed, but at the moment space is at a premium and I only have a small table on which to paint. I am really trying to achieve a very impressionist painting, using only washes.

 Maningtree is a muddy ditch at low tide, but the light on the mud is so silvery and beautiful. So many shades of warm and cool greys shimmer on the surface.

A very wabi sabi boat ! A net holds everything together, it appears to be the fabric of the boat. When it finally rots away so the boat will fall apart. Reminded me of Indira's net. The idea that every thing is held together by invisible links, everything is joined, nothing is separate. Every vibration made on the net, affects the the stability of everything (us) connected along it's fabric. A seemingly innocuous action or word, good or bad, will reverberate through the whole system, effecting everything, everyone.

Question?

What's this?

A piece of fossilized something I Picked up on Winterton beach. I initially thought it was a piece of fossilized wood, but on closer inspection I think it may be bone. It's heavy. Mammoth leg perhaps ? It measures 7''x2.5''  ish.

Any ideas? You can leave a comment on my FB page if you like.

 Drilled holes in my driftwood....ready to go.

Beachcomber

Another fab day on the sunshine coast, while the rest of the country is under five feet of water !. Gosh this could be anywhere down the west coast of France. Deserted for miles and miles.

I spent a good hour observing a family of seals...I won't bore you with the 200 other photos. They were so inquisitive. Swimming away and fishing then coming back to where I was sitting for another look. They almost came out of the water they were so nosey ! Lovely to see them. This coast is a great place to watch mothers with their pups out on the sand, between December and February.

It was a beachcombing sort of a day. Painting in situ was proving more difficult than I thought, paper kept blowing away and I didn't take enough water to keep changing it, so everything ended up a muddy mess.
I soon filled my pockets with bits of beautifully smoothed drift wood. There were lots of tiny pieces scattered  about. I wasn't sure how I would use them, but didn't want to leave them there.

When I got back to the place I was staying, (which by the way is Fishermans Return, highly recommended ) I had a bit of a brain wave ! I will paint them and make necklace charms or key rings. Here are the first two experiments. All they need is a hole drilled in the top, that may be trickier than I think, and either a piece of leather threaded through, or a ring end for keys. I have only used watercolour paint for these two as that was all I have to hand. Acrylics and varnish should do it.

 Trying to do a ten min sketch before it all blew away ! and yes I took the picture myself ! arm outstretched. I like to have a few reminders of where I have been but don't like to ask strangers to take them....anyway there wasn't anyone else for miles.
I have had a lovely week here, batteries recharged and ready to go again. All change when I get back

Hermanus

 So for the rest of the week I am in Winterton-On-Sea. I have never been on the East coast of Norfolk before...and very beautiful and windswept it is. Strange post apocalyptic huts huddle in the dunes.

 No clues as to what they are used for, though I am guessing they house fishing boats. There was no debris lying around to suggest this though. All a little spooky.
Rusty hinges and peeling paint caught my eye.

 Squally showers dominated the day and every time I tried to get the paints out another shower came.
To tell the truth my heart wasn't in it and a long walk seemed like a better idea.

 Absolutely fabulous coastline.

Look at these, my word how bizarre are they? stuck in a sand dune in Norfolk. Apparently the man who owns the holiday resort is South African..ah so that explains it ....not !