We are all aware of the fortunate position we are in this part of the world. I am also very much aware of the economic problems facing us all during these moments and periods of Brexit, the pandemic and internation tension, resulting in national and indeed worldwide difficulties in food supply and economic chaos. Not a good picture. In these islands things may be very hard, but thankfully. although this may not seem to be the case to many of us, there are safety nets built into our national systems of support. Maybe not very good, maybe far from perfect and still very lacking; but they, limited as they are, do exist. I know that will seem as an understatment to many; I do not like persons being in that situation, let us hope that events and situations change for the better soon.

My first statment, as to how fortunate we are, may seem ridiculous.  so let me explain. We do have that marvelous instituaion  called the NHS;  rocking yes, wobbeling yes; but still there, despite goverment lack of realistic help. In the last week the health care which I have recieved has been wonderful. Without going into details, I am so grateful. So now I rest for a few days.

The above picture was finnished the day following bilateral eye surgery and other procedures.

 As an artist life never stands still, that statement applys equally to myself as well as to others. The tree project has now reached number eight hundred and thirty one images; during the production of these images many changes in style and thinking. have occured.  What have I learned?

Principally the main learning has been about myself,  as many of these later images took well over twenty hours to produce, much of the learning as been about patience and resilience. Often a work did not seem to be working at all, but sometimes with the attitude of just carying on and stayin in there the images changed and became some of my preffered images; such as the above.

At first many of the images were roughly A5 in size, now many are now A3, which for an ink is very large indeed, and also time consuming.

Confidence in drawing which was the impossible, has happened, such as looking through undergrowth, or the massed complexity of ground cover vegitation.

This project, with other work directions has helped me to grow in confidence as an artist. On the 10th of January, St. Columbas retreat, conference centre is giving me space to show some of my recent work, for which I am very gratefull.  I keep branching out innew directions, but more of that for another day.

Isn't life exciting

As we all grow a little longer in the tooth, life is supposed to slow down a little; but for Liz and myself we just get more and more busy. Many evening nowadays I enjoy a short nap before teatime, and when bedtime comes, I sleep like a log. But isn't life marvelous; 

I have to finnish this wordy ramble by saying, Thank You Jesus.

For those simply unaware, today is national "Stress Awarness Day".

Our day started with a trip into Guildford for Liz as she had an appointment at 9.00 in the morning; at which I groaned, being aware of the rush hour traffic in the morning around that town.

Slighty negative thoughts pervailed my thinking and the probability of ages sat in traffic jams were ever present in my mind; so we left home in good time at around 8 am.. The story developed. Two cars had been in an alternation on the A3 going eastwards and to compound the chaos, two cars had bumped on the A3 going westwards. Mayhem reigned; by 9.00 o'clock we were just approaching the A3 on the Wolphestone road. Liz telephoned her appointment venue, who were fine and cancelled the meeting; we then had to extract ourselves from all the mayhem. By nearly 10.00 o'clock, we had managed toget out as far as Sutton Green, where Liz bought me a coffee.

Yes, this morning I am aware of stress. Try hugging a tree! Nice one above.

Duncan