Life is exciting on the Twigg studio desk at the moment. Over the last weekend the volume Woodlands 2 was been finished; it contains forty eight, watercolors, photographs and ink drawings and with quite a few of the pieces, I am rather pleased. So now the next step is the start of volume Woodlands 3 of which number 1 is above; of autumnal beech tree woods behind Fairoaks airport. Number 2 is an ink which is about halfway way towards completion. I am so fortunate in having this art work to do; I love being busy this way.

Am giving a talk this week to a group about my adventures as an artist, that will be fun. I love relating the tale of when  guy with a Kalashnikov rifle ran out of a building towards me in Cairo; suddenly I remembered how to disappear very swiftly, which I did. That was one guy which I had no desire to have a chat with. It is nice to realize that life is a little more peaceful around here.

See you all soon. Duncan.

 Good morning all, a photograph today, or more accurately about twenty photographs. These multi image photos are such good fun and the images they produce are rather clever; believe it or not the above image is approximately a 160 degree view, with virtually no observable distortion. Now I have a lens which will do this, but it is big and heavy: now this way is taking many shots overlapping each other. You might notice tas mentioned earlier hat there is so little distortion, which you would expect in such a wide angle shot of this type when taken with super wide angle lens. The tricks are;-

1  Keep the camera dead level, do not tilt the camera in any way at all, as if you were using a spirit level in your head.

2   And two, use the camera in manual setting, taking  the exposure from the center of where the finished image, will be, then using the same setting for all the photos.

3   Putting the images together in photoshop is relatively simple, well not to hard.

You will also notice occasional duplication of certain parts of the image, that's ok, it adds to the ethos and fun of the shot.

Well must go, as the slave driver wants me!

 Occasionally when you are around with  cameras or sketchbook something of note happens We had just finished our recent trip in Sidmouth, just before we arrived there was a significant land slip on the cliffs a couple of hundred yards from where I was seated, just look how the land slip colored the sea. Landslips on this coast are common, having said that the sea isn't often that color.

 We  I am back and agreat deal has happened since my last posting, but lets keep it to the art world.

The workshop in Taunton Somerset went exceedingly well, they were encouraged and I certainly was.

The above watercolor is of a tiny bay near where we stayed on the Rumps Head in Cornwall. During our trip around Cornwall and Devon we visited many small inlets and bays and most resulted in a watercolor. A finished watercolor can take quite a while to produce; the above picture is a good example of this. So I have developed a system of quick watercolor painting, illustrated below, which incidentally is of Heddons Mouth.

The method is ever so simple; splash a lot of watercolor around, with a relaxed attitude to draughtman's skills. Let it half dry and then tighten it up with a pen or pencil; it works. There is another even quicker way which I will show you in a day or so.

Duncan

 Today has been a superlative early autumnal day. Very warm, but not hot, gentle breeze, but not cool; just lovely. So we jaunted off to Polesden Lacey and had a picnic looking at the above and then after about three miles. finished of our coffee flasks at the second picture, What a day.

We are so fortunate to be placed in such a wonderful world. Seeing so much more which included a massive sycamore leaf which with autumn coming had changed to all the colours of the rainbow. Then the above photograph, which in fact is five photos joined together (a cheap and easy way of doing wide angle stuff), that was followed by a line and wash, painting, which is a quick watercolor method of getting an impression onto paper; its good fun as well.

So tonight, maybe feet up and watch a DVD.

 Today we have the two other mornings in Lee Bay.

The top one, all calm, not a ripple on the sea surface; not even a proper breaker on the shore. So a gentle ink seemed to fit the order.

Then the lower image on the third morning. The wind had got up a little, the seas were rising and everything looked a little threatening.  A HB and B3 pencil in hand, then using a white soft crayon to smudge and soften the lines. It seemed to capture the impending drama of the scene.

But that little exercise of three images, shows just how varied and changing our landscape can be.

Oh well its my turn to cook tea, a curry and Liz is hungry so I must get on.

 Today we are at Lee Abbey on the North Devon coast, in the bay immediately below the affore mentioned abbey. It is a lovely if rather steep walk and climb down to the bay along decent roads/paths, then back up again; well worth the effort. It was certainly my cardiovascular work out for the day.

The method used in producing this image is the same as that used to paint the boats at Beer on the other days blog.  But what is different here is that this painting is one of three produced on consecutive mornings to capture the differing moods of the bay, by using different media. The mood of the bay on the first morning was moody and a little threatening. Over the next three blogs you will see how the waters mood change.

Oh well must run, or I will be late for church.