Not everyone wakes up on Sunday morning, hoping it is raining, but we did today.  And not only was it raining, it was raining hard enough to have the desired effect.  Cricket was cancelled!

Mr Cooper was very pleased with this result, and settled down happily to listen to radio 4, and to look forward to roast chicken.

 Last sunday the weather was glorious, as was the cricket tea that I produced.  When I went over to the ground to set it all out, Mr Cooper was busy fielding.  He actually chooses to be the wicket keeper!  I think I would prefer to be in 'silly mid-off' but always watching out for any 'googlies'.

 As I laid out the last plate of cakes (iced ginger shortbreads, to be precise), one of the opposition said to me "And how many of those cakes have you actually made?'  

I felt justifiably smug when I said "All of them, actually" which wiped the smirk from his face and happily they went on to narrowly lose the game, ha ha!

Last weekend, as well as baking and buttering, I spent quite a time getting ready for the 'Hands on your Memories' workshop.  As this was to be the first workshop in a new venture, I packed lots of varied materials to cover a range of outcomes.  There were so many 'unknown factors' that I wasn't even sure whether the target audience would be there.  

The brief was to facilitate the making of 'memory cushions' for elderly members of the community in Fratton.  It was a good job that I was geared to be flexible as none the people who attended were elderly, most of them had children at school, one woman had a young daughter with her, and almost all of the participants Bangladeshi. It was a pleasure to work with them, and it became a really fun and productive 2 hours, with most of the women wanting to know when date for the next workshop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUNZxyZDE1I

And on a purely personal level, it was also really fascinating to see my material remnants become a different work of art in another's hands.  Here are some of the results.

This design features motifs cut from one of my Christmas dress fabrics, plus edging for the aprons I made for close friends and family, after my garden wedding to Mr Cooper.  It is going to become the design on the back of a denim jacket.

This little bag is made from the dress fabric that I wore in the evening of my register office wedding, again to Mr Cooper.

This one is made from my 'posh summer frock' fabric, plus apron decoration.

And lastly, posh summer frock, whacky summer frock and Christmas dress.

It was really uplifting to see them being used in many different ways.  

I am looking forward to meeting Melanie Rose this coming Friday, at the Aspex Gallery, who is leading this new venture which I am so pleased to be part of.  http://www.aspex.org.uk/events/generate-workshops-for-people-with-dementia/

On Friday I was all set to start work on the crucifixion image, but not without trepidation.  As well as the importance and significance of the subject matter, it is a very technically challenging project, and I have spent many an hour last week lying in bed in the middle of the night, considering ways to overcome some of these.  The first challenge was actually one I had not foreseen.  As soon as I started the initial preparations, the heavens opened so I was unable to carry the work to my shed, and had to quickly transform the dining room into a temporary studio space.  

Mr Cooper does so love it when I spread my work out all around the house!

You will see no more of this project now until it has made its first appearance, when Nigel White preaches for the first time. http://www.missiontent.co.uk/

But after that first obstacle, work proceeded swiftly, which was handy as the dining room is needed this Sunday, when it will be filled with friends Susie and Werner, and roast chicken.  Plus a chocolate and raspberry pavlova to follow.

Book club next Wednesday.  I look forward to it with interest, as the choice was mine. It proved to be a remarkably interesting book, but in no way an easy read. Half way through it, I took a light-hearted break from it, to read a modern day version of Emma.

I found this book most enjoyable, and a really good interpretation of 'Emma'.  As well as being a Jane Austen fan, I very much enjoy the works of Alexander McCall Smith, especially those set in Edinburgh, unlike my Mum and big bro.  

(Thanks for the book you sent me, Si, I am really looking forward to reading it)

So, here is the book I chose for the girls to read,

I think that our opinions of it will be extremely varied, and the book will not have been liked by many.

But all will be revealed on Wednesday.

I whole-heartedly agree with the comment by Anthony Burgess from the back of the book,

                                                                                   and I will re-read the book very soon. 

If I used some of the phrases as quotes, not only would it be extremely funny, but also highly offensive! 

You will have to read the book, to see what I mean.  If it were a programme on TV, there would be many and varied  warnings about it!

And I leave this week with something else to look forward to, which is definitely not washing up at 'The Greyhound'!  If you ever want a difficult 12 hours, make sure you are in an extremely hot and busy kitchen with 2 chefs who are actively hating each other, falling out, and generally making life difficult for all.  Thank goodness for the 'Young At Heart Club' whose friendship humour makes a sometimes bad experience bearable!

What I am looking forward to, as well as roast chicken, lunch in 'The Moose' pub on Monday, and book club, is another commission.

  My friend Gareth the poet's mum wants me to paint her a seagull in flight, against a blue sky/rocky cliff background.  I went to tell my shelf of seagulls this, and most of them immediately spread their wings, hoping I would choose them to be the model for it!

Wishing you all a happily productive week ahead. 

 I look forward to sharing the coming week with you all.  And don't forget to have fun!

What a week!  But then, I seem to be able to say that about every week at the moment.

Monday saw Mr Cooper and myself travelling to the Wimbledon School of Art, with my 3 entries for the Jerwood Drawing Prize.  It is the 3rd year that I have entered this prestigious event, and the first year I have entered more than one drawing.  Mr Cooper was enlisted to carry the two smaller works, and I wrestled with the largest work.

Wednesday morning found me baking flapjacks before doing my fortnightly hoover for Joyce, then in the afternoon, for the first time, I went to see John at work at Butser Ancient Farm.  Instead of carrying salt and pretty beads to pacify the natives, I had armed myself with flapjack, not knowing how many woodworkers there would be on the site.  It wasn't hard to spot the most important one for me.

Here is John shaping some oak to fit as part of the construction of the timber frames.  These are made on the ground, using tools the Saxons would have used (I bet they wished chainsaws or even saws had been invented by then, but sadly they hadn't)  When the frames are all complete, they will be raised and joined together.  Hopefully I will have enough time to be able to visit again this coming week, bearing more edible gifts to pacify and refresh the woodworkers.

 Above is the view of one of the frames, and also the back view of Darren Hammerton, who is in charge of the design and construction of the longhouse.  He has a very nice front view too!

My culinary discovery this week came from a brilliant book, the latest in this series.  I know some of you are familiar with these books.  For those of you who are not, they are well worth discovering!

In this book, the heroin, detective and scientist Flavia de Luce, aged 12, tells of her discovery of how to make the best hard boiled egg, with no discolouration around the yoke.  Don't boil, just steam!

And it works a treat.  Steam the egg over boiling water for exactly 10 minutes then cool in a bowl of cold water for the same time, roll to break the shell then peel and enjoy. This is the way forward for me.

I have come up with a culinary idea for another cake,  this one based on a game from my childhood. Granny Beba bought a game for us all called 'Mousie Mousie' and I thought I could easily turn the game into a decoration for the top of a cake ( it was a very simple game)

I told Mr Cooper that I had an idea for a cake that I would make for when we get together with Mum, my bothers and our various offspring in August. 

 "I have come up with an idea for a cake that will really make everyone smile,"  I said.

"What," said Mr Cooper in all seriousness.  "You are going to put cannabis in it?"  

 I think Mr Cooper has been such a long member of his own 'Young at Heart' club that he has reverted back to his college days!  I had to explain that, sadly but responsibly, the fun would be in my design for the decoration, based on 'Mousie Mousie.'  I will let you know how it progresses.

The reason that this particular blog is arriving later than usual, is as last Saturday, Mr Cooper, myself and Sam set sail for Eye, to take Mum on another short break to Sheringham.  We had the added bonus of seeing Si, Nik and Lucas on at Mum's on Saturday evening where we all enjoyed a cold collation, Pimms without gin, Pimms with gin (thank you Juliette for telling me how good that is!) then a little more gin before bedtime. 

On Sunday, Si, Nik and Lucas left for Glasgow, and we set sail along the coast road to Sheringham, pausing only for coffee and sausage roll at Norfolk Lavender, and a brilliant lunch at Cley, at the 'George and Dragon'.  Only order a dessert there if you are feeling mighty hungry, which you won't be after their  stunning mains.  Lovely food, lovely location, lovely decor.

We stayed again at the Two Lifeboats, and it was such a treat be able to lie in bed, hearing and seeing the sea.  We also saw some of the Norfolk Broads, a wherry, a paddle steamer, beautiful sunsets over the sea and many menus.  But that was when we had got out of bed.

Back home and back to reality……….I had to work in the kitchen 2 days back to back, which means I am in bed between shifts for about five and a half hours.  So on Friday, feeling rather tired and washed out, it was a bit sad to get my rejection email from the Jerwood Drawing Prize.  I didn't really think my drawings would be accepted, but there was always a ray of hope shining through.

Here is a section from one of the rejections, a topical slice.  All change at Woodfire soon, as Tom is leaving.  I hope to have a guest appearance as a KP before then, as it would be fun to work with him and Sam together, one more time.  

When Mr Cooper and I made the return journey to Wimbledon Art College, to collect the rejects, I did ask how many drawings they had received at that centre.  It was 30,000, and that is one of 10 centres nationwide, so my rejection felt less painful alongside those figures.  Plus, all 3 works made it through to the first round!  Better luck next year, keep buggering on.

One piece of excitement for me is happening this coming Monday.  I was asked last week if I would lead a textiles workshop, working with elderly residents from a centre in Portsmouth, to create a memory cushion.  This is a very new and exciting venture, and has come along at just the right time for me.  I have been wanting to work with people to help them to use art to express emotions, getting away from using art in a school/exam content.  I will let you know how the first ever session went!

And to leave you with a piece of calm, at the end of a still hectic week ( I have to do the cricket teas tomorrow. I came back from London to create other works of art in the form of many cakes, all recipes from the Green Donkey Cookery Book.)  

Feast your eyes on a photograph of the replica iron age dwellings at Butser Ancient Farm.  A lovely place in such a beautiful part of England.

I will try to see you all in one week's time, not two, for the next thrilling episode of my life, and the excitement of being an artist in my fifties!  How did that happen?  Have a great week.

Here it is at last, my commission that I couldn't show you until now.  This was because it was for my niece Olivia 'Masterchef' Haslam's 21st birthday, which was on the 4th July.  So of course Olivia had to see it before all of you did.

It was a really enjoyable commission to do, especially as my brief was to create a painting for Olivia's 21st birthday, my choice of what it was about.

I spent a week taking my sketchbook out and about with me, jotting down ideas, reviewing sketches, and boring Mr Copper every time we went out for a drink (which we always do responsibly) by producing my sketch book and saying 'What do you think…..?'

So this painting is all about being in a sunny cafe in Hunstanton, with a plate of meaningful cakes.  From Chinese chews on the bottom layer, owl-eye biscuits on the middle layer, and topped by an individual avocado cheesecake, a dessert created by Olivia, when she was on Masterchef.

My current commission is proceeding well, the design has been approved, and materials ordered, for the creation of the crucifixion image.
Last year I made a fluttery silk flag for a friend, another fun commission, and one which also gave me a real boost in the technical know how, something which I am using again for the crucifixion commission.  Here is the fluttery flag I made for friend John.

Son Sam is on 2 weeks holiday, and is spending some time with us, which is lovely.  Son John is not on holiday, and is making a model steam engine from scratch, in his spare time.

We decided to have a barbecue on the Saturday night, and Sam requested a fish barbecue. 

 'Don't worry about getting the fish, I will do all that', he said, and went on to talk about lobster, turbot and scallops.  Mr Cooper wondered whether to get sausages too, but I convinced him that we were in for a glorious, plentiful, fishy feast.

On Thursday I asked Sam if he had ordered it all, and he said not to worry, as he was going out on Saturday to buy it.

I had to work at the sinks on Saturday, so I saw Sam that morning, and asked if he had the fish.  Not yet, was the answer.  Later on he rang me to ask if he was getting the fish for everyone, or just himself. When told that the original idea had been for everyone (all three of us) he asked if we liked mackerel, as he was thinking of buying 4, one each and one for second helpings!

We did end up having a lovely barbecue, with a mackerel each and some chicken in Sam's special marinade and of course I had made lots of salads.  The sun shone, we drank beer (Mr Cooper) rose wine (me) and rum with pineapple tropicana (Sam, of course) and took it in turns to choose our favourite tracks.  Bliss.

Last week saw the completion of summer dress number two.  I really love the fabric for this one.

Last week also saw me complete the entry for the National Open Art Competition, as the deadline for that was the 5th July.  Although it is an online entry, so work does not have to be delivered, it still takes a big chunk of time to add your CV, write about the work, photo, measure and price it all.  So that was on Friday, when 2 of my ink drawings sped through the ether, at a cost of £20 each, to join all the other entries.  The ones I entered are shown below.

'Awakening Conscience…..'

and 'Deepening Conscience…..'

Seeing them again has made me think of ideas for a third in the series, I will show you when these ideas become visual.

Last week was really good on the reading front.  I got a detective novel from the library that was so good that I actually rationed my reading of it, to make it last longer!  Here it is.

If you enjoy reading crime, I thoroughly recommend you read the Tony Hill novels, as well as everything else by Val McDermid.

And after working on Saturday, I had the urge to make Sunday extra special.  Roast chicken to please Mr Cooper, and the two items below to please me.

Thanks Dan (fellow K.P from 'The Travs') for giving me the chocolate as a short-lived present!

Well, another week ending, another one beginning.  As always, I aim to, in the words of Sir Winston Churchill, 'keep buggering on'. Or KBO, for short.
Or, put another way, just  'keep flying the flag.'

Whichever you choose to do, I look forward to being with you again, next week.  Have a good one!