15th April

Holidays

We're back! A break from your usual routine and visiting new places gives us a fresh perspective and the chance to think different thoughts. I fully expected to be full of energy and draw HEAPS, but no, I found my eyes were so full of new things I couldn't settle into anything properly and become overwhelmed with choice. This little selection of quick sketches was fun, but I think it looked better before I put colour in - my travel box of watercolours hasn't had its colours updated for a while and I now prefer a different selection! Typical, I thought I was soooo well organised. Anyhow, I slipped into a rather passive tourist mode and explored, ate, and drove, or was driven, about the countryside just to see what we could see. Nelson is a very pretty place, great climate, I didn't see any graffiti and the shops in the main street were fantastic. No major malls, so I am guessing the middle of town is still functioning as a proper shopping, meeting, doing business kind of place. It was quite buzzy, and I really enjoyed people watching when we sat in a cafe for a while.

As to my daily drawing... I might catch up, we will see. You will have to pardon my lapses, I am trying not to put so much pressure to preform on myself!!

6th April

 

Off for a Few Days

We are off for a few days away, a much needed break in a slightly warmer city north of here. I am so looking forward to having some time where there are no calls on me to do anything except relax and enjoy exploring a bit. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with these little pictures, but it will mean a multiple upload next week. Now I have to decide what to pack - it's always a challenge, especially at this time of year when things can be hot, cold, wet, or windy all in one day, and what if we want to dress up a bit? Unlikely, I know, but I don't want to miss that possibility, so even packing lightly means 3 pairs of shoes! No stress!!

5th April

Cat Shapes

Another crack at using a cat silhouette and patterns. I think this is more successful, and I enjoyed incorporating a test strip for watercolour mixes from another painting. I am slowly working my way through a pile of old painting experiments and cutting them up to use as backgrounds or supports for this project - it is satisfying reducing the number of bits of work that I don't know what to do with!

 I am thinking about our cat as I write this, we have booked her into a cattery for a week and I can't help feeling slightly bad for her. She does have her routines and I am sure she will be annoyed at this imposition! It looks a good place with indoor/outdoor space and underfloor heating etc so she should be very comfortable - and yet I feel a bit guilty!

4th April

A Small Bunny Fantasy

I started this piece by recycling some strips of a previous picture that really didn't work for me, and it kind of evolved as I went along. I once attended a workshop where we were asked what kind of animal we would be that expressed who we were, and this great hulking, muscle-y bloke declared he would be a fluffy rabbit. I have never seen rabbits in the same light since! Anyhow, we have rabbits and plum blossom, and an Alice-ish person, all in honour of it being Easter Sunday, and despite our autumn-y surroundings I feel it is an appropriate wee fantasy for my inner child - she deserves a little outing today!

3rd April

Breathing

Drawing in deep slow breaths, filling your lungs with the breath of trees and your senses with the sounds of leaves moving in the air, the scents of the individual species around you, feeling a part of our earth as you take the time to be grounded and at peace. It is so easy to be rushing about, nerves jangling with all the demands of our lives, the racket of daily living, and yet it is also so easy to still yourself, re-visit an experience that was peaceful and draw on the remembered sensations for a few brief moments, and then return to the business of living refreshed. Today is the birthday of one of my sons, a special day full  of fond feelings and a wish that things could be easier between us. So I breathe out, and release the sadness there, breathe in, and smile at the happier things we have in common, and breathe out the love I feel for him. Somewhere he is breathing too and maybe a little of that love will reach him and make him smile a little for me.

2nd April

Dreaming

Nurturing of one's inner spaces is as important as making your outer spaces a reflection of parts of who you are. I treasure time to be introspective, listening to your inner self and the natural wisdoms we carry with us. Time for music and memories of beautiful places, and reminders of the things we hold precious within us. It is good to be wholly at ease with yourself from time to time, without the voices of critics within or without, no urgent  demands or explanations required. I find Autumn a great time for this state, warm enough not to be tense, the air calm for a change, and the light all golden as the sun gets lower on the horizon. Perfect for reflection before the darkness of the winter makes us sleepy and less comfortable in our skins.

1st April

Easter is Coming

Bunnies are everywhere running up to Easter, shop assistants are wearing pink and blue fluffy ears, chocolate and brightly coloured foil on the shelves. Here it is autumn and kind of 'wrong' for all the new life springing out of the cold bare earth symbolism, but we do have rabbits! Not that the farmers are happy about it, but I have all those Peter Rabbit stories, and Watership Downs, and The Little Grey Rabbit series that occupy my 'rabbit spaces' in my imagination. And The Velveteen Rabbit. So here are three furry bunnies in a grassy rabbit paradise, not a predator in sight, and thinking only of chocolate to come.

31st March

One of Those Days

We all have them don't we? Those days when everyone feels free to comment, advise, and generally tell you what you should think and do really are the pits! What we really need is a bit of peace and quiet to do a bit of introspection occasionally, time to gather your self together and thread a few thoughts on a string! Why do people feel so free with their advice? I can't understand the lack of respect, the need to impose their own ideas on other people. As if your own experiences and ideas are of no consequence. A walk with the cat is really the only response, she has no judgement past a good cuddle and good food and her comfortable purr is all she feels the need to offer!

30th March

Piratical!

Not sure about this one, maybe something inside is about to mutiny! Or at least burst into pirate speak or take to talking to parrots. A little surly but with other worldly, sea-green eyes and a kind of feathery familiar spirit. I am feeling a bit besieged by a number of jobs that are backing up on me, and Easter is already here, bar the chocolate. Arrrr... shiver me timbers me hearties, there be dragons here!

29/3/10

Storing Up Outside Days

A beautiful Autumn day with a warm northerly, blue skies, and the garden calling out for some attention! I am also a bit behind with several other things, including these little pictures, but I decided that time in the garden before the bad weather sets in is probably more important for my spirits, and I don't want to end up with yet another bunch of flower plants dying in their plastic bag before I get down and into the earth. Being out under the sky is so important for me, I will hate it if I am ever unable to put my toes in the grass and my hands in the garden soil. I may not be the world's most effective gardener, but I am one who is most appreciative of the process!

28th March

Last of the Autumn Flowers

I went around my garden this morning looking at the last little splashes of colourful flowers as the leaves are starting to fall from the trees. A handful of nasturtiums, a lace cap hydrangea, and a couple of harebells was pretty much it. I always mourn the end of the paintbox coloured nasturtiums once the first frost arrives, they seem such childlike flowers, full of optimism as their vines climb about the garden, and seeding in the most unlikely places. This year a couple of ambitious plants climbed up the fence and through a rosebush by the clothesline and amused me by nodding at me against the blue sky as I hung out the washing. Flowering where they find themselves, and bringing a brightened moment to whoever notices.

27th March

Kite Flying

This is another of those lovely, windy, outdoorsy things that are fun to do! Once you launch your little construction of paper, string, and sticks up into the wind it becomes a twisting, tugging live thing on the end of your string. It's a kind of magic transformation, filled with possibilities and breathless laughter. Here is this construction, which is definitely heavier than air, riding above you on invisible wind, and for all intents and purposes, seems to be making a good attempt at lifting you off your feet and up into the sky behind it! Such a joyful sensation. A low-tech, energy friendly, simple delight.

26th March

Cat

Cats are supremely able to sleep deeply without any effort at all it seems. It is a gift many of us envy! This is our cat, or rather we are hers, called cat as she is a stray who has obviously been loved and named by someone else in the past. She has impeccable manners in the kitchen but is demanding everywhere else. She has a determined fixation on our fish and chip papers if we forget to shut her in out while we eat from them, and we are her retirement plan! Actually she has done rather well considering we were planning to be pet free once our children left home. She gives so much affection, and is very smoochy when it suits her, as every cat I have ever known is. She has become a fixture here, showing  respect for neither artistic endeavour nor reading, and firmly asserting her place right in the centre of everything. She gets away with far too much!

25th March

The Cat

So this is one of those days when my idea has not meet my expectations... I love the way the shape of the cat is instantly recognisable, and I thought using collage images of domestic stuff would work with the idea of the domestic cat, but... I have a hodgepodge, a mishmash, an unresolved creation where I am doing battle with my media, lack of ways to overlay text, and plain lack of time, all digging me into a hole. Still the idea is not to have a perfectionist rock around my neck, but to keep going and see where I end up at the end of the year. I will have to keep trying. I read somewhere that there are two sorts of outcome, a pleasing one, and the one which gives you the opportunity to create another one ... or words to that effect. This is one of those. So I will retire today and have a little melt down, I have a day away from home tomorrow so will have to create something later than usual - I won't be abandoning ship, merely taking a chance to breathe and look at something new for the day, and hopefully returning refreshed!

24th March

TwentyOne Birds on a Wall...

Amazing how much expression can come from one basic shape! Here are 21 birds striding about in their fabulous plumage, on a slightly 60s background. I have some new paints to try out which is fun. A set of golden acrylic paints in little bottles, in a flow formula suitable for the finer detail I need on this scale of work. I think they look promising, although it is still a bit slippery to draw over with coloured pencil. I may have to resign myself to only using coloured pencils with watercolours in the background I think. I quite like this big panel of bird shapes, they seem like real little characters!

23rd March

Looking Forward

Here is a handfull of things to be thinking about as I think about the future. Letting my mind have free reign and ignoring my inner voice of reason, caution, and general lack of conviction at my abilities, takes a certain amount of bloodymindedness on my part! To become mentally cavalier, throw caution to the winds, and let some wild imaginings happen is an exhilarating experience. Then the voice of reason can step in and go about making some plans, and follow them through!

22nd March

Working Harder

There is a need, from time to time, to check if I am working at a reasonably demanding level, and add something extra to give things a bit of a boost. My obliging cat has made an appearance here, and, in contrast to real life, is helping out! Usually she is demanding to sit on me when I am hard at work, even pushing in and sitting directly under my nose on top of the work underway. She is very persuasive, and the look of disgust that she gives me when removed is monumental!! How can the back of an disgruntled cat convey such outrage? Whatever their annoying habits do to us is far outweighed by the pleasure they bring when they talk sweetly to you and bump foreheads in greeting after a long day.

21st March

On Just Sitting

Autumn seems to be the most meditative season of the year for me. Golden light, still days, the slightly melancholy feeling as leaves slowly change colour and start littering the ground. Things feel a bit slower, as the earth puts on her leafy cloak and all the creatures store as much as possible for the coming winter. I find myself staring into space more, and dwelling on where I am heading and where I have been. A bit of planting in the flower garden, putting in a few more daffodil bulbs and some soft yellow tulips so I have something to look forward in the spring, and a check on the camellias to guess how many buds are forming for their flowering in the winter are all part of this time of year. A reminder that things are still ticking along despite the bare earth once winter reaches us.

20th March

Never Underestimate the Power of a Red Hat!

So many fears are associated with wolves, all those fairy tales where the wolf is betrayer, hunter, toothy, hungry, and tricky with it. So many frightening things about life, from time to time. We all have our array of tricks to help keep them at bay; business, loud music, anger, laughter, getting in first before attacked... there must be hundreds of tactics. I myself like the 'Red Ridinghood' approach - wear something cheerful, a little outrageous or even slightly mad. Red is a great colour for lifting your spirits, engendering courage, and increasing a sense of daring - for me anyhow. I have known other women who use a coat of 'warpaint',   a firey red lipstick and lots of eye make-up - I find that a bit scary, but I wouldn't want to have to do battle with them on one of those occasions!

My character in her red hat looks quite secure, with the prospect of a nice cup of tea, despite the wolf eyeing her through the window.

19th March

Look At Me, Look At Me...


Sometimes life gets pretty busy, like mine at the moment, and then I get so caught up in doing the daily stuff of life I forget to pay attention to the things I really want to spend time on - the star performance maybe! I often see my creative persona as patient dog with a lead at his feet just waiting for a run when his guardian gets time, but here he is as a performing circus dog showing off his new trick and just longing for a round of applause. It is obviously time I got on with it and put aside some of the less essential, but demanding, tasks and get stuck into some concentrated creativity!

18th March

Thoughts on being a Princess

Princesses seem to have a lot of time for hanging about wells or sitting in towers whilst waiting for something to happen. Somewhere in their future is a frog, or a handsome prince, or maybe a monstrous creature who will see them into a new, more exciting life. What goes on the mind of these princesses that have been so much a part of the childhood stories we have grown up with? They often seem so passive, just waiting, sitting about without much to do really. It is an easy state to slip into, princess or not. Sometimes we need an interlude to dream a little, letting our thoughts wander as they will, but it is also easy to find yourself waiting for that something magical to happen without knowing where you want to be or what that future might look like. I don't enjoy the sensation of aimlessness for long really, and sometimes I would love to have a 'frog' turn up and get things moving along for me, but mostly I have to get moving, take hold of my own life, and work with the stuff that is at hand.

17th March

Dancing Through the Seasons

Another beautiful day, golden sunshine, still air, warmth on your shoulders. The weather forecast is suggesting stormy weather and snow to the mountain tops, and yet we can still prance about in the garden in bare feet and no sleeves. Better make the most of it, soon we will be hopping up and down, slapping our arms and dancing a completely different sort of dance, trying to keep warm!

16th March

Geraniums

Autumn is well and truely here with cooler air in the mornings and evenings, followed by beautiful golden sunshine and still air. The garden is a bit tired but the colours are intensifying and this little bunch of geraniums caught my eye on the way down the path to the studio. They glowed in the sunshine and as I picked them their green fragrance engulfed me, transporting me to my childhood gardens. I seem to have grown gardens ever since I was a young girl in one form or another, collecting plants from relatives. I have lots of stories from my paternal grandmother who used to be one of  those naughty old ladies who carried her secateurs in her handbag and snip off cuttings as she walked around the botanical gardens. She knew all sorts of names of plants, common and latin, and loved her garden with a passion.

15th March

Studio Window

My studio is a converted shed at the bottom of the garden that Steve altered for me more years ago than I am prepared to say! He put some old windows in to improve the light, which have wonderful old latches. They make me smile and think of Dr Seuss who accompanied me both through my own childhood and my own children in theirs! A whimsical left over from the updating that was done to our house in the 70s. Anyhow, they caught my attention while wondering where today's picture was going to take me, contrasting against the green and sunlight through the window.

14th March

Something Fishy

A small, fishy, fantasy. What lurks beneath? All sorts of wonders, fish of all shapes and sizes, a myriad of colours which flash and shine as the fish swim through the ocean. Breakfast, perhaps, for a passing seabird, or a hungry fisherman. I just like to think of the huge variety of creatures there are that most of us will only ever see on a wildlife program on TV, going about their marvellous existences without any reference to anything except what concerns them in the moment.  I could do with some time like that, no thinking around the issues that surround us, no trying to work out what the best course of action or which viewpoint has the best outcomes. Sometimes it is exhausting trying to walk through life with integrity of thought, so I am going to try a little bit more time just being for a while. Maybe it is possible to bring a little beauty to the world by just being.

13th March

Moonlight

Entranced by the beauty of the heavens and moonlight on a calm sea, a quiet moment of contemplation for a creature at one with the elements and herself. Time to breathe and be, enjoying being in the places we find ourselves and appreciating the beauty of our environments is so easily left out of our busy lives. Even a few moments last thing at night with your feet in the grass and your head tipped back to look at the sky can make an otherwise mundane day end with a touch of magic.

12th March

Winter is on the Way

Persephone is contemplating summer's beauty and the inevitable return of winter. Autumn has a melancholy about it in the midst of all the harvest and the bright, sunny weather that wraps itself about you as the days change and get cooler. We have the promised southerly change here today, with a spot of rain and a chilly temperature. I don't enjoy a lot about winter, though it does have its own particular charms, and I find myself sorry to see the back of Summer's skirts as she leaves the stage. It is necessary to build a little cache of memories to draw on when the days are dark and cold, something to pull out and turn over in my hands, hold up to my face to catch the faded scent of to remind myself of the summer to come.

11th March

Letting Go

Flying through the air on a trapeze, high above the crowd looks scary enough, but the crowd doesn't gasp with amazement until the artist lets go and take the risk of mis-timing their manoeuvre and falling into the net below! Hours of practise is required before a public performance is made, hours of wearing old clothes and making mistakes, false starts, and a collection of bruises. Right up to the moment of launching yourself into the air in your gorgeous costumes, and letting go before twisting and catching the other trapeze in front of the oohing audience, you really aren't sure if you will be successful. Risk taking.... I need more practise I think!

10th March

Balancing Act

Life is a bit of a balancing act! I have to remember to keep playful, take a few risks, and push myself a bit harder from time to time. Making sure I keep some options open seems to help, and of course, if I come a cropper and fall off occasionally I like to be sure it is possible to climb out of the water and try again, or sail away for a recovery break! So here we are, practicing our balancing acts and so far still having fun, adjusting things when things don't quite go to plan and being kind to each other when things get wobbly.

9th March

Travelling the Old Way


At the moment there are lots of people coming and going in my life and all this thought about flying has got my imagination going! Just packing your bag, grabbing the cat, and leaping onto your broomstick to launch yourself up into the night sky is an appealing idea from time to time. No airports, no security checks, and best of all, no cramped seating arrangements. I feel a cackle attack coming on...

8th March

Flying To the Moon

Night flying at its best! Twinkly stars, planets, a big full moon, who wouldn't want to be able to fly through all that? A sense of mystery and heading for an unknown destination. What will you see, how will the journey change you as a person? No noisy distractions to take your attention from the beauty and purpose of your dreamings. These are among my favourite dream travels, waking or sleeping, a welcome interlude from a more earthly existence!

7th March

Following the Shoreline

I often have flying dreams, and often imagine what it must be like to be a bird aloft in the wind. Following the shoreline is a good way to find your bearings in a strange place, and I love places where different environments merge, places of change and transition. Looking down on the world from a height gives you a completely different perspective too. I always enjoy these dreams from the sensation point of view, and there is always something to learn from to take back into my waking life. You don't have to follow any of the accepted rules and wisdoms of the world in your dream life and the symbols are all of your own creating - a wonderful creative opportunity to play.

6th March

Autumn is Here

For the first time for several years I have no sunflowers in my garden. I am missing them sadly and find myself peering over fences and around the edges of buildings as I pass someone else's joyfully glowing sunflowers. I have attempted to capture the hot, slightly hazy feel I get when standing in the garden surrounded by tall, pollen laden sunflowers, with the buzzing of heavy bumblebees in my ears. Next year I will have to be more vigilant and make sure I don't miss the moment to grow them. I am a bit surprised that there were no seedlings from last year's crop, but the birds were very busy last autumn and maybe they ate every last seed.

5th March

Wheels Within Wheels

This is based on a large cog-like piece of metal I have hanging in my studio, which I keep for the beauty of the rusty patination that has developed on it and its perfectly regular shape. I spent some time pulling an old alarm clock apart recently, much admiring all the tricky little pieces and the way they all interlocked, turning together to keep the hands moving and time nicely regulated for those of us who are a bit time challenged! I got to thinking about how so many things in our lives are interlocked, each having an effect on the other, and how there is a kind of order imposed upon the events in our lives. I am not sure exactly how I feel about this. I am rather a fan of the unexpected, the moments of happy accident, and the things that take me from the more ordinary places of my life into something new! I have entertained myself here by applying randomly considered patterns onto the orderly shapes traced off first, combining order and my own set of chanced decisions!

4th March

Make Love your Banner

I want my journey through life to be a thoughtful one, a life I can look back on with a sense of having tried to make life good for those around me, and having given me a satisfying ride as well! Travelling with love and a kindness towards the world around me is important, enabling me to accept the things I can't change and appreciating the things that are different from my own ways for the beauty they hold. There are so many wonderful people and creations around us and I don't want to miss anything by having my eyes closed in fright when I come across something that is different! Sometimes it is necessary to narrow your field of vision to deal with a difficult time but I never want to close my eyes against the world entirely!

3rd March

Wisdom from Within

I love the idea of wisdom and comfort coming from a caring, knowing source. Call that source what you will; angelic, spiritual, or an expression of one's own psyche, it is a welcome voice along the day to day business of life. Getting to know yourself is a life-long journey full of interesting twists and turns and for someone of a visual turn, like myself, I enjoy drawing on the imagery of angels. I am particularly fond of the medieval creatures who are often richly clothed in reds and have wings full of peacock feather eyes. We live in such a mechanised world it is fun to return to a world that was steeped in the presence of spiritual beings and exercise the imagination a bit!- at least when considering the benign aspects of such beings. Sometimes as a child the unruly, negative aspects of invisible creatures was more problematic!

2nd March

Under Time Pressure!

So much to do/see, so little time! I feel great sympathy for the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland! At least the only White Queen I have to deal with is that part of me that demands perfection, and I have ways to deal with her! My head remains firmly on my shoulders! Organisation will become the key I expect, and we all know how creative people are supposed to manage that! I am pretty good most of the time, and priorities are easy to act on, even if they aren't quite in the same order as some would think was 'right'. I am sure there are many things I will wish I had done more of when my time here is done, but there is a big list that I won't be sad I did less of!

1st March

What Next?


Trying things out from a different starting point is a great way to stop getting too stuffy! Here I have cut up some discarded work and woven them into a new piece. This is a great way to recycle stuff, maybe it is a follow on from going fossicking through the local recycling places with Sarah at the end of the week. There is something very satisfying about finding 'treasures' amongst discarded items, so why not apply it to the bits and pieces I have cast away with some dissatisfaction and making something else that pleases me? An interesting way to start the new month, and who knows where it will lead!

28th February

Don't Forget

Don't forget the child you carry inside your self. The simple pleasures that you enjoyed when things were less complicated and your body less restricted. I used to love swinging, kicking up your feet and flying higher and higher, or swinging out over water and letting go with a shriek and an almighty splash as you landed in the river. All that changed after I got chicken pox as a 12 year old, and suddenly swings, lifts and doing rolls over a bar in the gym gave me motion sickness. Nothing fixed it, I didn't grow out of it, and I still succumb if reckless enough to try my luck! I can still imagine it though, the air rushing past and the excitement as I wondered if the swing would rotate all the way around its support if I went too high. It is great fun to revisit being a child and making my more sober adult part smile!

27th February

Beautiful Flowers

I have an enormous bunch of gorgeous hydrangeas on the kitchen table which just cried out to be drawn this morning. They are like insane, old ladies hats(the hats not the ladies!), and I love them. Exuberant blues and purples and big, curly leaves that remind me of my grandmother's garden, and my mother's garden when they lived at Chertsey and had a row of hydrangeas down the shady side of the house. These come from my friend's back door where they almost take over the footpath! Beautiful.

26th February

A Big Day


Yesterday was a big day with lots of lovely people and things happening! Here is the Birthday Bird of Paradise with all her little blessing birds. (I didn't say that it was a serious moment! - maybe I am allowed to get more batty as I advance into the second half century of my life). Anyhow it was a good day, too much good food, yummy cake, hilarity round the table, wine, a minty fruity cocktail, lunch in the sunshine, friends dropping in.. I am so lucky to have such a good bunch of people around me. It was lovely to have Sarah here orchestrating the evening meal and baking a wonderful banana cake to boot!
So, may the Bird of Paradise also grace you with her presence and shower you with good things in your life too!

February 25th

Another Warm Day in Canterbury

I feel cooler just looking at this! It would be very pleasant to be submerged in cool water but our bath is too short to be able to loll about like this!! In my next incarnation I will be looking for a nice big bath, inside or out. I love the idea of sitting under the starry night sky in a nice warm bath too, something else to aim for before time runs out. Anyhow, despite the distance from her natural environment things look pretty good for this mermaid. I wonder what the rest of her abode might look like? Maybe the little mermaid might have liked a retreat to spend time in her original form in. Her true self every now and then. Time to be in your full, authentic self are essential - just yourself, no needs to respond to, no comments, and nothing being demanded of you. An inner sanctuary maybe.

24-2-10

Hot, Hot, Hot

It is so hot the house is slowly collapsing under the unrelenting sun. We have hit 30degreesC and it is a pleasure to be in a cool house with shady windows. Even the cat has finally collapsed in a shady spot and is breathing very lightly. We are not complaining about the heat, merely leaning back into it and enjoying the dozy, languid sensation it brings.

I am liking my new paper! It lets my ink pen draw nice, black lines without catching on the fibres and splattering so much - yummy!

23rd February

Summer, Finally


At last, a run of warm, sunny weather! Temperatures in the late 20s, and in some cases, 30s. Bliss! Just right for a pleasant visit to the beach to enjoy a cooling sea breeze in the afternoon, complete with sun shielding hats and umbrellas that look like huge, colourful halos. Sitting on the sea wall in brilliant colours seems like a great idea to me.
I am trying out some different paper with a smooth surface, so far so good. It will be interesting to see how things go with different media.

22nd February

Cows

What can be said about these creatures? There are so many current issues around cows and the Canterbury Plains, the use of our water, and the sheer numbers of cows for dairy production here. We are a dry place, and cows need water, and lots of it. It is purely monetary gain that motivates this mass farming in an unsuitable environment. Poor creatures, they are pawns in an unscrupulous game, which we are all going to pay for in the long run. 

In the back of my mind I have memories of a house cow that was kept where I stayed for a while. She was a lovely creature, warm, gentle, smelling grassy and of the summer fields. I remember leaning against her side as I took a turn to milk her by hand and the pleasure of the milk slowly filling the bucket, as she allowed me to handle her. It was one of the best moments I have had as a human being working with an animal. Companionable, soothing, and somehow timeless.

This is a long way from the sight of many animals trudging to the milking shed and endless irrigation sprinklers as you drive through the country. It looks so mechanical, without any sense of the cows as creatures, just another resource to be exploited.  A slower, kinder, co-operative relationship with cows would be so much more desirable, even if it meant milk was less available and became something we enjoyed as a treat rather than a right.

21st February

Speaking of 'Furries'...


Here she is, our particular furry person, asleep on the green sofa in my studio. Actually, we are hers since she insinuated her way into our lives a few years ago. We are her retirement plan, and I think things are working out pretty well for her! They don't sit still for long, even when sleeping after a meal, so this is a group of very quick sketches. I love the way they wrap their paws and tail over each other to make a little platform for their chin. So content in the late afternoon sunshine. 

20th February

Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden


Maybe that should be 'furries'! There are often cats, other than our one, sunning themselves at the bottom of our garden! I love this time of year when everything has gone past its main growing and has become unruly! I have a big old grape vine with lots of grapes this year and self seeded nasturtiums, runner beans, and the odd escaped convolvulous that are flowering madly at the moment. The autumn has started with its cooler mornings and fine hot afternoons too, so the flowers all glow in the light. There are also a few butterflies about and the evenings are still and warm. All very attractive to fairies and furries alike as we all soak up the warmth and fruits that will see us into the winter!

19th February

Steve's Lilies


Gorgeous flowers with a beautiful scent. Nutmeggy and sweet all at once and making beautiful patterns against the light on the kitchen table. A quick sketch to capture a moment hardly does them justice and my skills aren't what I'd like them to be, but then if I wanted photo-realism I would take a photo! The lilies remind me of my great grandmother's garden where she grew tiger lilies taller than I was at the time. Spotted orange flowers in multiples on each stem, and their pointy leaves all the way round for what seemed feet at a time. Beautiful.

18th February

Lots of Little Pictures

I have been working on creating a collection of little engravings to make into pendants. I am quite pleased with the general effect, a bit like scrimshaw- but without the sacrifice of a whale! They feel nice in your hand and allow me to play with lots of little doodles. I do enjoy the different atmosphere you get using black and white alone, it is quite different from coloured drawings, cooler in temperature somehow. 

17th February

Here Be Dragons

A scaly creature in a sky full of spirals - I must be feeling active! Actually I have been rushing about a fair bit of late, there are  lots of calls on my time and a high energy level is exactly what is required! I'm a little bit nervous about the expression on this dragon's face - is he about to swoop or is he drawing back in horror? Whatever he is up to I feel is is a friendly soul and I enjoyed conjuring him up on the page. I shall keep an eye out for him during the next full moon! Wouldn't it be wonderful if such creatures, (benign of course), could be seen in our skies?