So The marvelous festival of Christmas is with us again.

This year I am giving you all a photographic detail of a window from Tenby Parish Church, in Pembrookshire; I am aware that it is very idealistic and picturesque, yes; But it is also beautiful and giving us a lovely impression of the innocence of Jesus's birth, remembering what was to come! 

So this morning we are off for a walk at Polsten Lacey; the woods always relax me, we will enjoy that; then tommorow the festival begings---Yippee.

So enjoy the festival and be thankful.

 

Well the exhibition at Guildford is now finnished, it went very well and is now taken down, thank you to everybody who took the time to go and see it; I feel that it was a resounding success.

For those who missed it, a smaller version of the exhibition is presently hung at the Ambrose Cafe in Hook Heath, in Woking for the next few months.

Well Christmas is now only a few days ahead and this year I have been doing a great deal of thinking.; Jesus, faith and all that sort of thing. The conclusion which I have come to is rasther simple. I dont understand. Its all a bit beyond me, but I am convinced that it is all true. Thank you Jesus.

 

 Many seemed to like my photograph of the Stoer Penninsular which was on this blog the other day, so here is another photo.

Many have been talking about the cold, the wet and are often amazed that strange people like myself dont feel the cold to much. Well on that day shown above, just out of interest the location was, High Neb, the highest point of the Stannage Edge Ridge in the Peak District. it was indeed very cold and what is not obvious from the photograph is the wind chilldont. Out of interest you might notice that I am painting and not wearing gloves.

In reality I do prefer it to not be that cold and I do posess a nice pair of leather gloves, so to be honest I am a big softie and alternative plan could be for a nice cup of coffee and meal in pleasant suroundings; that sounds a rather good idea, So why not go along to the Guildford Inststute, in Ward Street and then, whilst relaxing in the warmth, see my exhibition; it is running until the 22nd of december.

Just a reminder of my exhibition in the Guildford Institute is running until the 22nd of December.

I don't often give you a photo, but this is of Fondle, on the Stoer peninsular, right up in the wilds of the North West Scotland. Liz and myself spent a few days there on our trip of a month or so ago. This peninsular only a few miles south of Cape Wrath has the most amazing scenery squesed into every bend of the road. Liz loved it!

If you are taking photographs with a great deal of sky and sea in the picture, the camera trying to be clever will tend to under expose. So open the lens by one stop and that way, as in the above photo you will get a corrrect exposure.

 

Well at last the exhibition in Guildford is up and running. We have been away for a few days in our favorite seaside retreat, Sidmouth in South Devon, so everything exibition wise was being organised at a distance. not much fun; but lets be thankful for Sue of Guildford Arts. With her husband they hung the pictures breautifuly; a very big thank you to them both.

I am fortunatly in sharing this exhibition with Peg Morris a print maker. Her etchings and prints are realy rather special, so it is a varied show which those attending will enjoy it.

I produced the above painting whilst in Sidmouth a few days ago, from a sketch which was drawn on a visit to Hornfluer, Normandy, a little before the pandemic erupted into our lives. 

In Sidmouth this last week we just relaxed, arriving rather tired and with a need to rest a while; so in reality we did very little; met old friends in Exeter, shop gazed and shopped, ate a little to much, slept very soundly, sat around, read a great deal and painted, with a lovely sea view room as well. It did us good. Thank you Sidmojuth.

 

 

Good evening all, At last the exhibition with the Guildford Arts is up and running. It was, following a few adventures hung this morning and is now open for all at the Guildfor Institute building in Ward Street.

It is open office hours and is in a the cafe upstairs; there is a lift for those who have a need for one..

I have eaten there several times and although I am not a veggie, the veggie food there is super and I would recomend it to you.

 There is a private viewing which you are invited to, and I would love to see you there, just let me know if you are coming so that I have a rough idea about numbers.

 Urgent notice: Due to Covid illness amongst the gallery staff, my exhibition has been back dated to start on the 28th November.

Disapointing, yes but the main thing is for everybody to become well again.

Above you might recognise the painting of Benessan on Mull, The above is a water colour work up of the other weeks drawing, which was posted on this blog a couple of weeks ago.

This is another reason for sketching; to be able to revisit and work up work from previous travels. I produced this at my art group in St Andrews Church last week.

 Well only a few days now until my next exhibition. The work on show this time is a fun thing, because after all this tree work, which is ongoing but rather hard work, serious, worthwhile, but certainly challenging. So this show is lightening up a little.

Most of the work has been produced outdoors and on location, with the British weather as it is, being rather unpredictable on occasion. So a quick method of painting had to be used, which requires very little equipment, as it needed to be light and mobile. Water colour and ink line seemed to fit the bill. Many of the pieces in this exhibition were produced some time ago in previous travels and many have been painted for this show.

There is a body of about thirty images alltold of which twelve are on the walls. The above is of the steps leading down to the water side in the inner harbout at Dartmouth; I love this painting but sadly I had to be brutal in my seklection of images for show, so there just was not enough space to squese it in.

The show starts on Tuesday the 21st, thats next week at the Guildfor Institute in Ward Street, Guildford, shop hours.

See you soon Charles

Back to Scotland again. This water colour was painted a few years ago when traveling and exploring up in the far North West. A very small bay, near to Kinlochbgrieve, a few difficult to access miles south of Cape Wrath. When seeing this bay in the distance over the hills and stopping the car on the road, I started walking, having to traverse several fields, stone walls and slopes until finally reaching this charming place; quiet an effort was needed. I stayed there a good few hours. It was a little cool, that didnt matter as I was wearing a good fleese, but the sun shone and it appeared to be much like to the Garden of Eden.

I will never forget the quietness and calm of the place. Apart from the obvious beauty of the bay, what I remember most is the calm and quietness; I actually relaxed and stopped; taking no photographs, just painting this watercolour. God's creation at times is simpley amazing. After a long while the treck back to the car was taken, it was much more ardious and this time rather steeply uphill than the desent; I will admit that it made me puff a little. but boy was it worthy it.

We were talking about sketching the other day in our art group at Andys. We mentioned about being quick and light hearted in our approach, whilst enjoying the company of many who always stop to chat. The day before I had been in Guildford and took a quick snap of the clock on my phone, so I produced the above image whilst with the group.

The mood in the group was very much like sketching on the street, fun, enjoyable, people watching, people chatting, friendly exchanges, a nice way to go about things. The painting might not be up to the RA standard, thats ok, it was a sketch, a quick piece, fun and not to serious.

Insidentally, I love water, rain reflections, they are such good fun to paint. Conversation was lively and it was a really good enjoyable afternoon. At times we became a little serious, there being one amazing statment made in the midst of all the banter, which was. "Drawing is my best antidepressant pill". Now that staement I will not forget.

 

This morning an ink and it is of the downwards slope of the mountaious center of Mull towards the western coast and Iona, not far from Bunessan. Super sunshine, shirt sleves, sun hat; just like the tropics.

Met an interesting retired couple, she was fine, he was on a project, talking non stop about this lens and that lens for his cameras. The way he spoke it would seem that he had a team to carry his masses of photographic stuff; being particularly proud of his 600 ml lens. Still it takes all types to make this world go round and he was harmless, if rather sad; couldn't wait to get away as Iona was only a few miles away. 

But before that lovely isle was the local postoffice, and the owner.  She has lived there for years, wanting to retire now. Nice lady, great coffee, warm welcome.

You meet all types when out painting, put them all down to life's broard experience and enjoy them.

 

Back to Scotland today and an ever so small fishing community called Scourie. about twenty miles south of Cape Wrath.  It is essential for several reasons; firstly it is a place which I visited many years ago and just wanted to return, my first visit was on a cold widy day and there was nothing there as regards food or anything like that, but it was beautiful. On my second visit the weather was almost tropical and gentle, polite tourisum had finally reached this example of the Garden of Eden.

 A friendly store/bar/cafe was open with good parking offering a fine view of the hamlet and jetty area. Most important for my wife; there was a clean well maintained loo; a rare thing in these parts, as such a vital stopping place when going north or south.

The bar/store/cafe owner loved the fact that I was painting. Doing the main painting while seated on the beach near the jetty and then tided it up over a coffee indoors in the cafe. Lovely memories and they all came alive in my memories with a sketch. try it.

In an art group whick I lead last week  a member came along with a sketch of a veg display in a market, from a purists point of view, maybe not very clever; but it worked and felt like a market; I loved it. So you don't have to be clever to sketch.

Several of you have been asking about my next exhibition. Kindly Guildford arts have invited me to exibit with them from November the 14th. in the Guildford Institute. Above is an invitation for you all, with all the details.

                And a very big thank you for all the ongoing support which you give me.

 

Good morning, today we are looking at a 10x7 inch black and white sketch of a very small hamlet, not far from the tip of Mull as the approach to Iona is made; it is call Bunessan.  The sketch took less than ten minuets to draw and is one of my favorites from the recent trip up north. The sketch works mainly because of the sinplicity of drawftmanship with no attempt at a polished finnishing effect, its about how I felt about myself and the small hamlet, whilst being in a happy, chirpy, holiday mood. As usual composition with consideration of various vanishing points and leading in lines are included without any real consideration. However notice the artistic addition of a small rowing boat, lightly drawn centre left, not a dominant feature, but bringing interest into that area of the work; it balances the work. The work was produced seated on a rock, chilling out, on a beautiful day. It was a relaxed coming together of all the above and it works.

Today other things are happening; my next exhibition is now completed and awaiting the selection process,  which is down from 22 to 12 images. This collection is about small fishing ports, boats, fun, brightness and what other people like and enjoy; so two friends are meeting up with us after church. All the paintings will be spread out on ther floor and then all four of us will choose one picture at a time in rotation until the twelth is reached; talk about democratic. I am choosing the exhibition content this way because although there are obviously my favorites, I want to know about others peoples favorites as well. Lets see what happens!

Well we have been home a week now following that awsome adventure in the wilder parts of Scotland. For the record we were away for 3 weeks, stayed in 13 b&b's, traveled 2500 miles, met many interesting people and also visited a great many interesting places.

Todays painting is of a remote hamlet near Steor, called Achiltibuie; how to pronounce it;  I know not. However it did have one very good thing going for it; there was a clean public loo there, right in the middle of nowhere; not even a house near the loo and it was superbly clean. It must take an award for the most remote public loo in existance!

Life is returning to normal slowly, we came back with 50 paintings and over 400 photographs, which are all being processed individually. When the work is completed I will let you know and anyone who wants can come round for coffee, chocolate buiscits and a look at the work; give me a couple of weeks then it will all be sorted.

Well must dash, youth church awaits me. For the ones amongst you who are wondering. I am going as a leader and not as an adult who has failed to grow up.

 

 I would like to think that some of you have been saying to yourselvees, where has he been for the last few weeks. well the simple answer is, having one heck of an adventure! We have been right up the far reaches of the west coast of Scotland, having one amasing time after another.

One of those times was at Clacktoll, in Stoer Bay, in about a remote area as you can get, and it took my breath away.

More later, we traveled for three weeks, drove 2500 miles, had a superlative time and got back exhausted, but very happy. Tell you more and another image in a few days.

Charles 

At the present my work is looking towards an exhibition in Guildford towards the end of the year, dates times will be posted later. The work is looking at small fishing harbours and craft around the British coasts and to be honest it is all rather good fun. This work involves going through many of my ancient sketchs from years ago to get the relevent information, as well as revisiting other places 

One of my favorite memories of Dungerness is of a pleasant, if cool and windy morning out sketching amongst the boats. being Neanerlithic I was dressed in shorts, flip flops and and shirt. Realising after a while that I was surrounded by a photographic club from Wolverhampton out for a day snapping.They were all dressed up for the Artic with anoraks, wooly mittens, boots and warm hats covering every inch. Not roughy toughy types. Is my body temperature clock wrong???

Above is a wreck (one of many) found at Dungerness, it seems to be a fishing boat graveyard, whilst present day small fishing craft still operate around the deserted decaying wrecks. It is a majical place, abounding in nature, wind and solitude. I love the place, it is simply stunning.

When out walking yesterday a couple passed us going the other way and I heard the end line of a conversation. She said, "You know that I am always right, even when you are". I would hesitate in arguing with that lady, but they seemed happy enought.

Isn't life great!

 

A busy week is ahead of us both, its going to be charging around all over the place, so a quick blog and a painting of the old jetty at Exmouth which I painted a few weeks ago from sketches of a trip there a few years ago. It was a lovely few days, our youngest son was there with his family as well. The painting is one of the works, in working towards my next exhibition in November.

Sorry no pearls of wisdom this morning!!! Will write soon.

 

Good morning, I am still really enjoying my painting of small fishing harbours around our shores, however my tree ink work continues.  The above in about a mile south of Guildford on the banks of the  River Wey. The aim of these drawings at the moment is so exciting; you will notice on the above image how various vegitations  grow in differing ways, Its all about learning to look at how things realy are. The present set of drawings which I am undertaking at the moment are A3 in size; and an A3 detailed ink drawing is a massive undertaking, which takes hours and hours to produce with hard levels of concentration being used all of the time. But I love it and when a piece of work comes to the final few strokes and is finnished, I experience quite an experience of satisfaction and achievment.; which makes me feel good.

However the above is all hard work and tiring, that is partly why I am doing the harbour series. They involve lots of colour and fun, which I obviously enjoy; so another harbour image in a few days.

Charles.

 

 

Liz and myself have just returned from Maidstone Kent, where we we attending a conference at the Kent showground called "New Wine". Many thousands attended the event, of whom the majority camped. We certainly did not, rather staying in a very pleasant flat four miles away. The teaching at this event was awsome and massivly encouraging, particularly the chap who spoke in the mornings; he seemed to be saying so many of my ongoing thourghts and afferming them. I left the conference greatly encouraged.

We always treat this annual event as a holiday and spend the afternoons sight seeing, going out and relaxing; whilst doing the serious bits in the mornings and evenings, this way we avoid spiritual indegestion and learn a great deal; as usual meeting friends, making new friends and enjoying the event, the whole happening was excedingly good.

In the afternoons we have a well rehersed method of sight seeing; which is driving along until we pass a very small, narrow, country lane, then following it. using this method we find amazing places, such as the above, called Oar Creek. The building on the right is a very pleasant bar come cafe. the sun shone, coffee was good and we chilled out for a while. Even the dogs stopped barking and the children were very well behaved. That was a trully lovely afternoon.

Today Liz and myself ventured to Chartwell House, the home of the wonderful man Winston Churchill and it dind not disapoint. A couple of amuzing events took place.

First notice the lady with a ruchsack on her back. Well behind her was an orange, yellow health and safety barrier, of a type not conducive to a good photo. So I waited a few moments until a person passed it and then took the photo. after which only the edges of the barrier where showing; they were esily removed with photoshop. Cheating maybe, but I got the photo!

Secondly a rather pompous gent of middle years approached me, looked at my drawing and sniffed. he then went on that he had lived in the house where Winston lived in South Africa. I said very interesting. He then stated that he had been give copies of all Winston books, I patiently continued to tollerated him, in time this condecending gent moved off, sniffing as he went. I love meeting all sorts of people when out painting, he was a jem.

Bourght Liz a book by the nurse who looked after him (Winston) in his old age. Nice day out.

 

Today my thoughts are about exhibiting, as yesterday I changed the pictures at my small show in the Ambrose cafe in Hook Heath. Nice coffee, if you get there I hope you like the work.

For the last few years my work has been very studious, looking at trees and all the aspects surrounding them, well that work is going to continue as it slowly evolves in looking at the trees from other perspectives. Three of these works are at the Ambrose, where they are looking at pathways passing thorough the woodlands.

For a break and also my next exhibition (more about that later) my mind is wandering to small harbours and the fishing communities which inhabit them around our coasts. I am changing media to watercolour images, pulled together with a fine ink line draughtmanship; I think it works, it certainly is good fun. Above is a view of Scarborough, which I completed a couple of days ago. This project is great because it gives me an excuse to go go and visit new venues, whilst at the same time working from sketches, sometimes produced on travels many years ago, such as the above..

A note, about the last sentence, keep your old sketches, they bring back good past memories and are a resorce for work in the future.

On Wednesday I had a rare free few hours, when Liz was busy, as a result it was possible for me to disapear and do my own thing for a few hours, lovely; I love Liz, whilst at the same time enjoying my own company for a while. So the car took me off to Polseden lacey for a short time of R and R, or in other words, a spell of chilling with my paints. 

The sun was warm, a picnic sat in my bag, I felt relaxed so when finding a soft grassy bank, with a short, approximatly 30 degree slope, also having a tree to lean against, this was  a natural armchair, lovely, what more could I ask for. Out came some paper, paints and brushes, a couple of cheese and jam sandwhichs (my favorite), plus a wagon wheel, do you remember them? The result after about foury minuets was the above.

In the evening Liz and myself went to see the latest Harrisson Ford film. It was utter rubbish, but very good fun; we did have a good time. Not a bad day.

 

Another view of Paignton, exactly on the opposite side of the harbour from the painting of Paignton which I shared with you a few days ago. The air show was starting and it was getting very noisy, many people were going into the harbour vicinity to get away from all the crowds with their pushing and shoving all over the place. Having said that I watched the second half of the show which I enjoyed, it was very impressive.

Note the method of the painting; very loose watercolour, which is then tightened up with a fine pen work. In this instance I used a pen which was not water soluable, so that where needed, it could be touched up later with a little more paint if nessesary. A very forgiving combination of medias, ideal for holiday painting; at least I think that is the case, you are allowed to disagree.

My tree work continues, whilst as a sidline my direction has changed for a while to have some fun and look for a while at harbours, fishing craft and the seaside. It should be good fun and the results will be in an exhibition in Guildfrord  during November and December this year; however more about that later.

Another image from the Paignton trip, this time time to Noss Mayo, a funny sounding place near to Saltcombe. Easily passed, small and at the end of a very narrow lane. Finding a crate to sit on out came my pen and paper. Getting towards the evening Liz and myself were getting tired, this was going to be a quick one.

It didn't take ;long for an individual to come along and chat. He was staying in the building to the right of the drawing and was also on holday. Nice chap and we chatted about all sorts of things, with him telling me how lucky I was to be out there painting. My reply was along the lines that you are here for a week, but I am only here for an hour; he laughed and told me with a groan that yes maybe he was here for a week but, he had six grandchildren in tow!

Meeting people is always good fun; I think that is one of the reasons why I love painting out of doors.

 Good morning and its nice to be back, there has been a short while since my last blog because I have been away with Liz and also simply as a result of pressuer of work. Thankfully I can now catch up and am taking a couple of weeks to breath a little slower and get my puff back.

We traveled to Paignton and spent a few days chilling; the weather was perfect for water colours, so out they came. The above picture is of Paignton harbour; I was seated on a ramp down into the basin, it formed a perfect seat and being in the basin, with the mud and seaweed surrounding me, I wasn't bothered by lots of pleasant, if wellmeaning on occasion boring viewers looking over my shoulder. Normaly I enjoy the interaction with passers by, but on the odd occasion they can be a little challenging, so with good manners and patience that type normaly don't stay to long.

While we stayed at Paignton there was an airshow over the bay, our room gave us a superb panoramic viewpoint to watch the show. The two best things which we saw (from my point of view) were the Pits special stunt byplane and the fly past of a Second World War Fairey Swordfish naval bomber; it was living history before us. Unfortunatly the traffic was awful, roads were shut and our car was a prisoner in the hotel carpark for two days, which meant that we were virual prisoners as well.

We loved Dartmouth, the railway and Brixton, so all in all we had a super time.

The last few days have seen me being being distracted for several reasons, as such I failed to place a blog for a few days; unbelievably face book reprimanded me for failing in my blog writing!!!! So here is a blog.

Above is a watercolour sketch of the lanes in Brighton. Liz and myself love the busyness of the area. Its good fun, go if you have the chance.

But my thinking today is about stepping back a little and recharging. The last six months have been very busy. A large six month exhibition running in conjunction with a smaller local one, group work, the NHS, individual support work, Scouting work, all in addition to my routine project work looking at trees; it has been a busy period and I am tired. So the sensible thing is to step back, just for two weeks and chill a little. Remember to look after yourself and let friends support you a little. The most important part of that for me is how I start each day; I begin with a short while with the Bible, and a time of thinking, followed by a time of prayer; now that is a super recharging session for each morning.

 

how

Above is Mount Mosa in the Wadi Rum in the deserts of Southern Jordan, where the film lawrence of Arabia was filmed and the actions found in the book "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" occured. With Liz, I was seated in a four x four bouncing over the dunes. Somehow all the sunlight and heat has been captured in this sketch; this is what sketching is about. Occasionally we stopped and I managed to do a quick sketch. The above took about 15 minuets, when our driver told me that he wanted to carry on bouncing over the dunes again; he was a bit of a very pleasant maniac. All jolly good fun.

But a reminder, the last week of my exhibition at St. Columbas' starts today.

 

Good morning, this morning one of my long term favorites. It was drawn about twenty years ago in St. Ives Cornwall; when believe it or not this was still a shop. I hasten to add that I did not go in.

Exciting news, this Sunday coming I am taking part in Dragon boat racing on the lake at Goldsworth Park, in Woking. I hasten to add that I will not be paddling but rather the drummer beating out the rythmn, should be good fun. We are raising money for the local hospice. If you would like to sponcer me, visit the St. Andrews web site where details of how to sponcer me are portrayed.

Will I drown, will I be thrown in, one thing I know, it will be good fun, come along and watch, racing starts at 10 am.

 

Had a super day last Saturday, Liz was busy, so I was free to wander into London and do a little sketching; lovely. Met an Aussie who was doing the UK in one day, now that takes some beating; I would love to see the timetable for that. Joking asside she was a nice lady. It is a while since I sketched in the capital, and to be honest I was a little rusty, therefore they were binned when arriving home; so I have posted and old image for you. But I did one brave thing, by having a sushie for lunch and actually enjoying it. Walked nearly five miles, got home happy and exhausted.

My exhibition at St. Columba's is going well, a few have been sold, it's all encouraging and  remember if you want to see it, there are only three weeks left now. The exhibition is at:-

St. Columba's House,

Maybury Hill,

Woking,

 GU22 8AB 

Open office hours. Remember to ring 01483766498 before attending, as being amongst other things, it is a conference centre and occasionally sensitve events are taking place.

The last few posts have been at the seaside or holidays and not my ongoing tree work; so today an amazing tree, which is a mile or so to the east of Newlands Corner along the North Downs Way. The woods change here from decidious to evergreen woodland and this massive tree is the last decidious tree before the fir trees take over, towards the north of the path. The light stroking the trunk was stunning. At present I am working on a Crack Willow situated on the Wye Navigation, so differant, such diversity

We are so fortunate in this country having such a diverse wildlife and in particular, woodland variety on our doorsteps. 

 

 A bit of a change today, I love painting as you all well know, however my love of the arts is much broader than brushes and paints. Photography has always held a facination for me. Over my life time this art form has undergone many amazing changes; notwithstanding in the last twenty or so years with the advent of the digital aspect. And now we have the amazing abilty of mobile phone photography. The quandry is to select the good from the not so good, then moveing forwards with what you feel is the good. Today I am looking at one way forwards with the digital aspect.

Firstly, I still work out the exposure and all that stuff with the old film method, it works and as far as I can see, it is hard to learn but cannot be improved on for excellency of results; it certainly in difficult situations give the most accurate results. But digital capture has now come of age and is far better than the old film ways and cheaper. The above photo of steps leading down to the harbours water edge in Lyme regis is a good example; old fashioned film style calculating, with digital capture. Notice that by using moderm photography methods, they blend wonderfully with the  ancient black and white image style. More about that another day.

 

Mist over Charnmouth Bay

When on holiday we get a chance to do fun things which normally we do not have time for. One of my fun things is to do a painting in three ways; that is, a water colour, then an ink, which is followed by a pencil drawing or a photo. Do all three or four at one sitting, just relax, whilst enjoying yourself. It is totally absorbing and helps you to really see what you are looking at, because each media highlights differing aspects of the view. Incidentally while you are doing this you will be emotionally in a different place; its rather a nice way of doing things.

I was at Charnmouth for about a couple of hours, a water colour was produced (above) followed by an ink and then lastly came a photograph; it was windy, but not at all cold; that is by my standards, Liz would disagree. This small inlet is  big fossil hunting area and people were dotted around busily hunting for long dead stony remains. A happy place, with everybody being busy, not having time to talk to one another. That makes a change, as it is rare for me to be able to sit painting without at least one or two people coming over to me for a chat. Its a good job that I like people, because that is large part of painting outside.

 Good morning, its a tad early but lots is happening today, so I must get started.

Above is a small water colour of the sea front at Budley Salterton on the South Devon coast. About twenty minuets whilst seated on a pile of stones, it was nice and sunny, with a rather sharp wind; that was OK, local natives were behaving well also, a reather pleasant interlude.

You all know how passionate I am about art, well maybe that should read, "About the arts". For me that includes opera, ballet, theatre, music, books, the list goes on.  As I said lots is happening today, not many of you will know that I write poetry, well I do and tonight is my first stage reading of a few of my pieces. I will be appearing at the "After Hours" club at St Andys, on the ground floor of St Andrews Church, Goldsworth Park. Works being read will include, "What is bad Poetry" and the famous "Christmas Cake and Sprout Curry". Entrance is free, but it would be a good idea to book (St Andrews web page) as it does get a little crowded.

Well if Liz does not get her Saturday morning Times, I am in trouble, so maybe I should get a move on.

Adventures in the West Country

 

 

We have just returned home after a week and a bit away. About fifteen years ago about thirty of us from SMOB (a church), went on holiday together to Normandy staying in a palatial ancient home having a splendid time. Apart from problems such as the covid infection we have holidayed together every other year since; now many of us are spread throughout the kingdom, so this year we all went to a disused hotel near Lyme Regis and spent a week talking, catching up, eating and going out together; at the weeks end we were happily exhausted.

I did a few pure water colours, several inks and a small number of mixed media paintings; above is one of the mixed media images of Lyme Regis; there is a very simple methodology behind it. First a few splashes of water colour, not to exact or presise in their aplication, the colour being kept to the central part of the work. Next using a fine pen, tightening the whole work up with very light and fine ink work; the whole work took just over and hour to complete. Notice small details, such as the couple on the extreme right chatting, that sort of thing helps an image to work; the sun shone, the wind blew and holiday makers were friendly; altogether a rather pleasant hour or so. 

The picture which is shared with you this morning is one of my all time special memories! About twelve years ago forty of us from St. Mary of Bethany's church went on holiday together. We stayed in a chateau  in Normandy, near to Contance. For a wonderful week we were all members of the artistocracy; or pretended to be as such. Apart from one day the weather was glorious; every body behaved reasonably well, the grounds ranged from a palatial lawn at the front, to rustic peasant farm steads out of sight towards the rear. Every other year we still go on holiday together.

The above image was so special because I wandered into the rustic area and just relaxed by this ancient barn; it was peacefull, quiet and so relaxing.

This morning I am thinking of art in a wider sence. artistic endevours are not just about painting, rather they are about the whole way life is approached; music, words or maybe even dance; the latter is certainly not my style. However words facinate me and I must own up and admit that I have pretensions to being a poet. So on April the 1st. and it is not an April fools scan as it is after 12 noon, I am reading some of my poetry in the "Out of Hours" club in Andy's coffee bar in the evening. This is my first coming out as a poet, so lets see what happens.

 

It will be the same for many of us, as you will probably have noticed that this morning we awoke to a lovely white blanket, covering all. My immediate response is,"I'm glad my plans for today are centered on the indoors.

I finnished drawing the above a few days ago, it is worked up from a photo taken at Polsden Lacey last summer. So now today a while will be spent on my computer, putting together the images for an illustrated talk which I am giving soon, called "Out and About". Its all about the people and cultures which are met during owr travels. A few adventures are included as are the  highlights of journeys; the inclusion of those are always essential. So that will be a pleasant hour or so.

When that is done there is an ink work about half done. So although being spent at home, if the snow clears maybe a coffee out would be nice. In the meantime I am nice, warm and snug; and wishing to remain as such.

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Today has been a brilliant day, I say that because the day has been full; this morning leading a watercolour painting workshop at St. Columba's, it went excedingly well. The workshop was about the uncertainty of our British weather and also how to handle watercoulour paints when you do not have a lot of time for a large painting to be completed. The session with about 14 people present went very well indeed. They all worked so hard that they were all given a "Wagon wheel" sweet, my favorite from my childhood.

At the workshop were a couple of people who had been to the Isle of Iona in the Hebrides, I painted there some years ago so I agree to put one of my Iona watercolour sketches onto my blog. The place is called "The strand of the monks", which lies just north of the abbey. Sadly it is the site of a mass killing of so many monks by the Vikings in about the C9AD; A sad story, which happened in a beautiful bay. So, a good enjoyable morning. In the afternoon Liz and myself had a quietish time watching a film on the tv before, when the evening came round, us going out for a fish supper is a restraunt; now that is what I call a rather splendid day.

I am now tired, satisfied and going to bed.

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Above is one of the high lights of my travel art life; it is of a tiny Nubian Village, right in the south of Egypt, not far from the Sudan border. With a small group we managed to reach to this very remote village; the rest of the group wandered of with our guide and had a lecture somewhere ot other: letting them wander of; I strolled to the village street, sat in the dust and started painting. Very quickly gathered round me were three men and a woman, the men squated by my side, the woman, who incidentally was carrying an earthernware water (almost straight out of the Bible) bottle stood close by. Verbal comunication was difficuly, as my Egyptian/arabic was very limited, whilst one of the guys had a little pidgin English. It was sufficient for us all to become good friends. We managed to agree thast we had all done very badly at school; as a result we laughed and laughed. A treasured meeting between cultures, I will never forget that majical hour I spent with those four.

Painting is the international launguage; the same open friendliness works when painting outside in this country. People are almost (I repeat the word "almost") never rude, it is a marvelous way of making friends. try it when on holiday this year.

Now the "almost" word, I must include a couple of exceptions to the nice and friendly side of people. I have been chased by a military type with a rifle, also threatened by a polieman with a pistol; but those are good yarns and to be honest you hav'nt lived, if you have never been a little on the scared side . I also met an Italian woman in Venice who was so fluent in foul anglo saxon swear words, that I had to laugh; she didnt think that my reaction was funny, but never mind, you win some, you loose some. But that is a part of travel and makes it more exciting and a much fuller experience.

I repeat that the unpleasant side of people is so rare, but the do make good conversation stories.

A quiet morning today, Liz is in the living room working, whilst I am trawling through file after file on the computer, making sure that all is ok.  A couple of years ago I compiled a book on the Psalms and illustrated fifty odd verses with images from my current tree project; coming across page 28 from "Woodlands and pathways, the book"; it occured to me that you might like it.

The Psalm is 143 and verse 8.

We were on holiday staying within a tiny hamlet in the South Downs called Nutbourne, a gourgeous, quiet, reflective small place, surrounded by woods, fields and footpaths; we rented in a very small cottage called the "Libuary". The above is the only road, in or out; one day we stopped a few hundred yards up the lane from the Libuary, then, the above ws sketched in just about twenty minuets.

Good memories are pleasnt to revisit on occasion. The above is one of those. Now I must go up to Saint Columba's to dust and strighten my exhibition; so the following:-

A small plug.

My exhibition at Saint Columba's is still open until the end of May. I am running a workshop there on the 18th of Febuary. The subject is, producing quick water colours out side, if you are interested phone, 01483766498

 

Just for a few moments today lets look at change. As life progresses our stuation be it, emotional or indeed physical undergo developments and changes, for the better and sadly sometimes for the worse. But whatsoever the change try to be positive and see the good that can be drawn (no pun intended) from these changes. Most of us, particularly and including myself being one of the oldies, experience all sorts of irritating differences in their body efficiencies and functions; however lets leave the functions out of it all for now!

As mostpeople of my age group also do, I have an irritating dose of arthritis, releveant for today I am talking about my hands. and fingers To grip hard is not a good idea, and they are not as flexxible and dexterous as they once were; how can we see threpositive in that?

Well, I hold the pen much lighter now, so, as a result my ink marking is getting ever so much gentler and more sensitive; see above. Its exciting as ny ink work is finding new depths to explore. A calmer, quieter, gentler approach. So always try to see the positives.

The work above was completed about a week ago and is of the Hoe Stream near to the Guildford road as it leaves Woking.

 

After weeks of framing, mounting, planning and much more, my exhibition at St. Columba's is finally up and running. Thank you John for all you help with the hanging this morning.

Above is a watercolour of the back streets of Jerusalem, the street is just north of the temple complex, in the arab quarter;  and was produced on the street, it is a part of this exhibition of 50ish pieces.  A part of the exhibition is a walk around that ancient city in inks and watercolour, all produced on the street. Also exhibited are several watercolour sea side paintings, ink and watercolour tree images, copper wire flower paintings and three of my paper sculptures. I hope you will go if possible, I think you will enjoy it; entrance is free. Realising that money is scarce with us all at the moment, most of the images are very high quality prints, this makes them affordable.

The exhibition runns from today until the 19th. of May this year.

The location is,

Saint Columba's House,

Maybury Hill,

Woking,

GU22 8AB

It is open office hours.

As the house is a conference and retreat centre, a welcome is assure, however due to some of its sensitive work, a quick phone call is a good idea before visiting; call: 01483766498.

This afternoon I am going to sit down and have a short rest!

 

I wish a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to all my readers.

It is so inportant to feel, indeed know that you are loved and wanted by those whom you know; Liz and myself saw the new year in at Sheffield, seeing family and many friends, it was special. In church on Sunday morning, seeing family and friends it was obvious that we are very much missed and loved. As we left church to go to see one of our sons with his family, I had a lovely feeling; I was wanted, needed and much loved; it was very obvious that I was very much missed. That  is a good way to start the new year. But dont forget as well as we need to be loved, so do others; so give a little.

As were were in Sheffield, above is a painting of the old "Midland Bank" by the hole in the road in the centre of the city, the scene is a little differant now, but I have always loved this picture.