Going for world domination

Oh April - where have you gone? Admittedly you were mostly shrouded in cloud and often drenched in rain but were also bathed in sunlight and lifted by the most glorious blue skies.

Among many things keeping me occupied (work, life, gardening, living) I have been quietly painting - a tiny picture a day. I can't explain the simple joy they brought me.  A mini escape in watercolour.

Now, suddenly it is the last day of April and the last day of the challenge - #30minipaintings, so I thought I would, to commiserate/celebrate/acknowledge the last day of the month by sharing them here.

Each little picture (well - 28 of the 30) is a record of a real event on the day or the day before they were painted - 28 little stories of my life. The other two were just quickly done late on in an evening when I'd not had time earlier to paint.

Cats, plants, gardens, adventures, family, tea and life - that sums up April. And to show how small they really are .....

A small and furry for comparison.

Post Script - I am on with another painting/drawing challenge - one I kick started at work at the beginning of the year to encourage folk to get creative - it gently grows with more people joining in - we're going for world domination through the medium of art!
 

The signs of a holiday romance

 

The scrunch and scrumble as the sea gently rushes over the tumble of shells and pebbles.

The forlorn cry of the lone curlew and the bubbling trill of the oystercatchers.

Plovers, dunlins, red and green shanks, lapwing running along the foreshore as the tide recedes.

Wistful heart breaking wild and desolate views that pull.

Reflections of clouds and the forever deep sky

Fiery sunsets which paint the view with an incredible display

Sipping tea, listening to the gulls plaintiff yeowls, 

watching lambs, observing the tide and ignoring time

Drifting curtains of rain, far out to sea, silently flitting along the horizon.

Twisting images of the canal lock gates reminding me lava lamps and contours on maps

The clank and whip sounds of the boats rigging and ropes

Our home from home

our buddy in adventure

Post Script: I hope your bank holiday weekend was as good as ours, we seemed to fit in a couple of wonderful days between the rain.  I suspect I have left a substantial slice of my heart there. 

Another brick in the wall*

I find that I look forward to the days I can 'art' for a couple of hours. As the weather warms up and I return to my seasonal garden work, my time to get the brushes and pens out has reduced. The escapism it provides is turning out to be cathartic so I am going to try to ensure I can still 'play'.

The small group which we have started at work seems to be enjoying 'arting' too. I am not the only one benefiting from the results. There is a wonderful small wave of pride as the books and work are shared - including one or two who I quite wrongly suspected would not even participate - how wrong I was!

Between us, we share the theme choice - so some are quite out of my comfort zone (as it is for others) and my results each week are rather variable. Below are some from the last few weeks.

World of Whimsy (I went down a rather dark route with this one rather than the cutesy style the others did)

Thunderstorms and Cloudy Skies

Communication - poison arrow frog 

I am also playing around with different ways - so at the moment one of my favourite things to do is 'art-small'. I found a rather tiny tin, cut papers to fit and paint mini pictures to fit the tin! Pocket painting💙

You can not believe the joy this brings me! I have made a bit of a traveling art studio in an old pencil case, small enough to fit in my haversack and plan to do a painting or two, when we are out walking. (Cue eye roll from Himself!🙄🤪) Fortunately they are surprisingly quick thanks to their teeny tiny size.

And, what have I been working on today? Well, this week's theme is 'Building' - happy heart jump! I love drawing wonky houses, tumbled stones, shingles, slate roofing - so - happy me!

It was at this point I discovered that the black pen I'd used was not water fast and as soon as I tried to apply a sepia colour wash - it smudged - oh well, c'est la vie!

Post Script: The title? Well, I was wondering what to call today's post when on the radio -  Pink Floyds' Another Brick in the Wall was requested by a listener - cheers mate! 

Vanishing into the edgelands

This last weekend was a simple treasure made all the better by a bit of gentle spring sunshine which managed to slip through the ever present grey cloud - the kind that warms your cheek and feels glorious on your back. I have missed that feeling.

We spent Saturday quietly feral up in the South Lakes - walking along the coast, through woodland, skirting around Leighton Moss and Leighton Hall, choosing pathways less trod. Admittedly with one eye on the sky at all times, we managed to miss getting too wet by staying in the woodland every time there was a passing shower.

On the Sunday we came back down below Lancaster to an area we love - an 'edgeland' where mainstream life seems to have passed it by. Himself and I feel comfortable in these often forgotten 'wastelands' where life is a struggle, jobs are few and far between yet the folk are real, hardy, dogged and somehow make the best of what they have with apparent haphazard joy and defiance. 

We both have jobs where we are surrounded by busy folk, mine takes a lot of from me - not just physically but emotionally. I work with a lot of damaged people, those who trying to claw their way out of poverty, depression, stress, breakdowns, loneliness. So these weekends away are healing.

And it gives both of us the space to breathe.

Post Script: thank you so much for your comments on my last post - I was having doubts about continuing blogging - not because I don't enjoy it, I do - I just seemed to have lost the spark. But, if you are quite happy to read my wafflings, I will continue to waffle 😊

I have read a couple of bloggers saying that it is now difficult to find new blogs to read.  I found Blogger has reduced the ability to go 'shopping' for someone new to read. So, I now go on to the 'followers' menu on a blog I already follow, open a random name (their own blog link is never available) and go and see who they read and find new blogs to follow there. 

Belated HaPpY BiRtHdAy!

 I have to admit that even with my newly harnessed 'powers' of reluctantly accepting winter as winter, am finding this dreary transition over to early spring a rather long and drawn out affair.  We seem to drift beneath lingering mediocre grey skies and incessant rain or bitter winds. And yes I know it is the bleak end of the year weatherly speaking - however a blue sky no matter how brittle cold the air is - is more cheerful than the 'nothing' which seems to idle from horizon to horizon. 

A couple of weekends ago we celebrated my Eldest son's birthday - and yes it rained - however we swarmed around the diningroom table and beneath strings of fairy lights and accompanied by candles, ate good food, played board games, laughed and talked and were entertained bossed around by cats. We also tickled goats and played in the garden during a brief but most welcome stay in the weather - now that is what I call a good weekend!

Post script: am I the only one who wants to blog but when I start the words feel trite or the stories not worth sharing? I have over the last couple of weeks, opened the page, thought about what to say (which sounds excellent in my head by the way) only to press delete.

Murky waters

 A fair bit has happened since my last post - life does that. It happens and then suddenly you realise you've not actually written any of those amazing stories, sad things, wonderful walks, funny moments and silly snapshots and when you look back - are they really worth re-hashing in a witty or waffly post?

Nope.

So, instead I thought I'd share a photo or two of some recent arty stuff, not brilliant, but for me an achievement. Getting back into art has been a bit of a slog and now I am regularly sketching and painting I can see I am out of practise. 

It is however bringing me a lot of pleasure - which is far more important to me now than the need to perform or provide work for a paid commission  - and a relief. I am painting for me.

An odd post, I agree but, isn't that what life is? 

Post Script : and if you are wondering what on earth the cat is resting her head on in the first photo - she has a fabric toy fish stuffed with catnip which she uses as her pillow - we call it her 'cuddlefish' 

Random Notes on a Thursday

The promised snow has arrived, swirling small pellets of white covering the garden and dusting the trees. Despite this, the blackbirds are cheerfully kicking around in the flowerbeds unearthing morsels and the robin in fiercely guarding the bird feeder. I am so glad I am not at work today!

Definitely knitting weather (and red petticoat weather too!) I have the warmest red flannel 'underskirt' I wear with my tartan pinafore - that with thick leggings - I find cozier than wearing jeans, tights and boots. 

At work we keep finding conkers the local park squirrels have buried in the kitchen garden. Some have started to germinate. So seeing the same squirrels keep digging up our snowdrop and bluebell bulbs we see this as payment and have gently planted up the Horse Chestnut seeds and hope they all grow.

It is so dark inside today - I have switched on our fairy lights and moved the glitter ball to bring a little 'light' relief into the lounge. I also lit a candle for the wax burner and now the room smells gently of amber and warm spices, perfect for today's weather outside.

Yes I am waffling - sort of procrastinating too - I am part of a weekly art challenge to get us all back into 'arting' and once I have started - I am fine, it is the STARTING I am dancing around. That and the theme this week - PIRATES. Hmmm. I don't want to draw something gimmicky or box office inspired (think Pirates of the Caribbean) so this needs a bit of thinking. Last week's was BIRDS and I was in my element!

 

Still snowing..... Oo arrr me hearties - I better get swashbuckling!

Post Script: Blogger is still playing up - I am unable to comment on several blogs - so excuse me if I seen to be silent, I am not. I have, however, found a couple of ways to get around signing on and not be anonymous hopefully things will get back to normal soon - here is to spring xx