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.