So don't worry, I have not completely lost the plot.
Now just sit comfortably, travel back in time a little way and, hopefully, enjoy........
I am safely back at work now, after a festive family time. As always, it was really good fun, if tiring. The last two words are more a reflection on my advanced age, rather than any weariness produced by tiresome people. There are no tiresome people in my family. And talking of people, tiresome or otherwise, I do intend to introduce into this weeks' blog more glimpses of actual people.
In my last blog, I was starting to learn about the complexities of my new camera, if not photography in general! Here I am taking copious notes in an effort to change my photographic life forever, and here you can see Barry's copious notes and numbers, in his effort to aid me on this path.
The journey has started, but is having to jostle for place with numerous other important projects.
Easter was spent at Mum's, with my brothers and a good selection of partners, nieces and nephews. No sons with me, as one was working and the other still taking things easy.
You should now be seeing a picture of the chocolate Easter bunny sitting on its green grass jelly, but I managed to take the photo of it on my 'broken' phone that I thought had 'mended' itself. I thought wrong, so the image may be lost forever! It was a much more defined bunny than last time, and also two-coloured. When you are pouring the blancmange into a mould and your elderly mother tells you to 'be careful' and you ignore such advice, the mould has a tendency to lose its balance and spill some of its contents. As you are then in a situation where you are in the presence of more fastidious family members, you are then unable to scrape the spilt blacmange up from the table and back into the bunny. You have to wait till what is left in it has set, then top it up with a lovely stripe of raspberry flavoured blancmange. It was a good photo, very lurid, but one you shall just have to imagine ( I told you my photography journey was proceeding slowly, didn't I?)
When at Mum's, we were remarking on the carpet being very 'seventies', which is not surprising, as it was purchased then. Mum said that it was very good quality and expensive, but she has never liked it, and it was chosen as it would 'hide the dirt'. Here is a photograph taken by Simon demonstrating that not only can it do that, but it can also 'hide' small toy cats called Chantelle. Simon is dead clever, and he changed his settings to take this in black and white. I am looking forward to those days!
Whilst at Mum's I had a short and enjoyable escape where I went to visit my best friend from years ago, and to meet her husband too. As we had been out of touch for some years, I had not yet met Martyn, and it was really lovely to to so. It is also really lovely to know that we will not lose touch with each other again. Whilst I was there, Deborah gave me an Easter present, of my favourite sort. Something to do with eggs but not to do with chocolate. What else could it be but egg cups, and even better, of my most favourite sort! Here they are, having a chat on a table I decorated years ago. I think the bunny cup is communing with his new bunny biscuit friends.
This was a table that I painted and decoupaged at least fifteen years ago, so if you are at all hesitant about commissioning me to create a painted table top for you, fear not. The design is varnished to be very hard-wearing and long-lasting, and my prices are fairly reasonable too.
Here is one I was commissioned to make, for my friend Janeese. Another benefit of you wanting one done is that it is also a job that I very much like to do, so we would all be happy. Plus, I can always do with more earnings, particularly art-based ones!
After Easter, we travelled back to something approaching normal on the Monday. It was far better than normal life, however. I went to work for just the lunchtime shift on Tuesday (9am-4pm) avoiding having also to do the evening shift (6pm-11pm) as my bro Mark was coming over that evening with his partner George and big-boy Jem. Sam was also coming over with his partner Molly. Following a question from Sam earlier that day, I explained that Mark's partner was not trans-gender but was called George, short for Georgina. That saved having any awkward conversations that may have started with 'And how far have you got in the process?'
The next image might not include any people, but it gives you many clues as to who was visiting. The flowers on the left were from Mark and George, and those on the right from Sam and Molly. What excellent taste they all have, and how well they know me!
Little Snowy, who belongs to me, is very happy to be with his cousin Big Snowy, who lives with Jem. Not only is Jem rather partial to variety packs as fodder, but also their boxes as sculptures.
There is a soft-toy theme running throughout, and just over a week ago I was asked to mend a green teddy, who had been assaulted in a pub by non-Irish rugby fans, and was in a bad way.
Each month I attend a crafty morning in Southbourne, where you bring along projects and share ideas. It seemed just the place to take Green Ted, so I gently parcelled him up ready for the operation to come. You will be pleased to know that it was a complete success, and I will show you a picture of him, when he has fully recovered from the anaesthetic.
In between working, producing studies for an important commission and mending bears, me and Mr Cooper are striving to do a substantial walk every week. We studied the forecast carefully and picked a rare day when it was not raining in the south of England, and set forth.
I had previously adjusted the white balance and the saturation on my camera, and it was my intention to capture moments from our walk, and also to include a picture of Mr Cooper having fun.
We set off from the Pub With No Name after a swift half (Mr Cooper had fun in there, but no photos were taken) and headed across beautiful countryside, towards Happersnapper Hanger.
Here was my first photo opportunity, freshly cut yews in The Warren.
Mr Cooper kept suggesting many other subjects for me to photograph, and I kindly suggested that he would be able to take all those pictures, were he to buy his own camera.
A little later, we were visiting again the two elderly Massey 35 tractors. The moss is really flourishing, and it won't be long before all traces of red have turned to green. We saw a difference since last year. It always seems so sad to see two old faithful work-horses just abandoned.
Then came the hardest part of the walk. In fact, it was the hardest part of the actual day, the ascent of ....Hanger. It should really be called the 'I can't believe that I'm actually doing this' Hanger.
And if you look very very carefully, you can see Mr Cooper enjoying the ascent.
As my camera has an amazing zoom, I was able to zoom in more closely, to make the tiny speck turn into a climbing upwards Mr Cooper. I'm sure if I had zoomed in once more, we would have been able to see his sunny smile as he enjoyed the steep ascent! At the end of the day, we decided to do this walk of our own free will. Perhaps we are losing the plot, after all.
I love being in the countryside, especially between the showers, and just lately I have been bringing the countryside into my shed, as I have been working to produce a detailed drawing of wildflowers, to form a frieze to be painted around a charming vintage caravan.
The eight wild flowers were chosen for me, and I spent a rainy but happy Sunday in my shed, sketching away, aided by Radio 4, starting with my Sunday favourite, The Archers Omnibus.
I was also greatly aided by a fantastic wild flower book, featured below.
Although I was fairly pleased with the outcome, I knew that it was not me that had to like it, and as ever, with a potential commission, I spent a lot of time thinking about why the drawing might not work, and what I could do it to improve it.
After all the mental stresses of being an artist, it was time to turn to another book, and seek solace with beautiful food. Another link to the countryside here, as the recipe I was making was from plants only, and it was delicious. Mr Cooper really enjoyed it on Saturday night, and enjoyed it again on Monday night, but perhaps a little less as he was then in charge of the chopping and shredding, as I was enduring my Monday evening spinning class. If only it were with fleece, and not cycles!
Here is Green Ted, upright and up-together once again. Let's hope he can put that upsetting afternoon behind him now, and move on to a brighter future.
My future is much brighter now, as the past two weeks have been spent looking after my elderly mum, who became very ill very quickly and is now becoming well again, but a little less quickly! I know she is a lot better as the need to have the last word has re-surfaced, and having a glass of wine with a meal has replaced the desire to have no meal at all! So that explains why blogs have remained un-written and work has been cancelled. Thanks all the Greyhound chefs for your kindness and understanding, and I am looking forward to returning to work the week after next. I dare say that I will wonder why I was looking forward to it when I am actually doing it, but it will be great to know that I am returning as my poor nursing skills are no longer needed!
On another bright note, my wildflower design has met with approval and although the start of the job has been delayed, all the materials and myself are now raring to go.
And on a final bright note, I now have a new-to-me phone, courtesy of Mark's fab partner, George. And as well as that, in the process of learning more about phones, I learnt that I could still use my phone without its Sim card and was able to send myself the rabbit photo from it.
Looking at the actual image, and the way its head is apparently detaching itself from the body, I think the bright note here is that I learnt a new process, not that I created a splendid bi-coloured rabbit.
However, you must judge that for yourself!
Looking forward to seeing you all again very soon. Until then, take care of yourselves and have fun!
