I am feeling that there needs to be more hours in the day, more days in the week and possibly more brain cells in my head.  This year is just getting busier,  mostly in a good way.  It does mean that my 'time juggling' skills are coming to the fore, and I am painting walls and ceilings at very odd hours.

Last year my brothers and I decided to stop buying Christmas presents for any niece or nephew over 18, but to continue for the two who are under ten.  On Monday, I went to a most marvellous craft shop in Chichester, and saw such a lovely boxed knitting kit.  It was not only so lovely, but it had Rowan's name written on it (Rowan being one of my three nieces)  So the item was purchased and posted to Rowan as a 'happy un-birthday present', something that Winnie-the Pooh was fond of, I seem to remember.

So not only do I hope that Rowan finds her knitting kit as fun as I did, but I shall have fun during this year, purchasing un-birthday presents for rest of the cousins.
(Don't worry Jamie, they won't all involve knitting!)


And it was later on Monday that I felt the need of either more brain cells, or more time to discover all about the Greek Gods.  At Trinity, the art group took on a slightly different slant.  Ali told us the story of Perseus, and we took both drawn and written notes as the tale unfolded.  In our tea break, still steeped in Greek mythology, I thought of the second painting that had been inspired by the Greek mythical figures I had seen in the moonlit sea, whilst staying on Kefalonia.

What I saw ( and Mr Cooper too) to inspire this painting was a goddess in the sea, swirling and dancing, and helping children to cross the moonlit path.  She reached out for them, and held them to safety on the other side, as she danced with them.

This is another painting that was also inspired by this.  I went on to produce a series of etchings to describe the most magical and beautiful events we saw happening in the sea that night. I will have to have a rummage in my plan chest, and track them down for you to see!

Back to the art room, and back to the dramatic part of the story.  Perseus has to sever the head of Medusa, an almost impossible task in itself, without the added problem of avoiding the gorgons, and Hades, and a 3-headed dog to boot.  As I was driving home afterwards, my thoughts were still full of myths, and magical happenings, and being turned to stone, and I recalled a painting that I had re-discovered last week, and one that I thought I had lost track of years ago.
In this painting, I am one of a couple painted as an effigy, but I am not yet dead, but I am slowly turning to stone.  I painted this when I was deeply unhappy in a relationship, and was unable to communicate successfully with my partner.

When I am going through a difficult time, I often create a painting inspired by my feelings and quite often my frustrations with the situation.
Quite a sad picture, but don't worry, myself and my then partner are both happily married.
Myself, of course, to Mr Cooper.

When I got home, I went to the garage to find the painting, as last week I had found several from the past.  But no, it wasn't there.  I had destroyed it years ago, in kindness to the other person in the painting.  So I will add instead another 'emotion packed and sad' painting.  This was painted about 15 years ago, and took 18 months to complete.  When I first met Mr Cooper, we were not able to have the easiest start to our relationship, for reasons that were out of my hands.
 It is called 'The Mistress'.

I never was a Mistress, of course, but the difficult situation made me feel like I was viewed as one.

But on a far lighter note......now I am writing regularly to inform you all of my thoughts and doings, I find myself jotting down sentences and ideas on scraps of paper, which I then find in all sorts of places.  At the weekend, Mr Cooper and I went for our usual evening jaunt to 'The Travs.'  Perhaps we didn't drink too  responsibly that night.....I do remember ending the evening with a tequila based liqueur, which reminded me of my fondness for Tequila. This made me think that  perhaps we should plan a Tequila night soon.  The next morning I found a scrap of paper on the kitchen surface which said.....'Tequila night, me and Whoops* Ho Ho Ho (bucket)  Perhaps if we do have a tequila night, we should plan to do the 'ho ho ho' but to stop short of actually needing the bucket!

Thursday saw me heading for the Havelock Community Centre in Southsea, for my first workshop there.
It is a lovely community centre, and I set-up with anticipation.

You can sense my presence, as I hardly ever travel without a bottle of water and a backpack!
The latter does tend to annoy Mr Cooper sometimes, but it contains my survival needs (water, sketch book, note book, camera, pencil case) and that's just for a trip into town!

The workshop went well, but not quite as planned.  By it's nature, these 2 hours have become a 'drop in' session, so we started at 12.30 with one person, gained another at 12.45, and ended up at 2pm with 10.  So it was a case of introducing the aims of the session about 8 times.  So next time will be mostly a continuation, with a few people coming along for the first time too.

Pop-up workshops do involve an awful lot of loading equipment into cars, then unloading and carrying items up stairs, then reversing the process.  Sewing machines, ironing boards, boxes of examples, boxes of materials.......

With the workshop being on the Thursday, I had to work on Tuesday and Wednesday at 'The Greyhound', which leaves me having about 4 hours sleep between those days.
When I re-packed my car at the end of the session, then drove to B&Q to buy yet more paint, then Tesco to buy yet more food, I felt very weary.  It was an effort to put on my painting dungarees, and put the first coat on yet another room.
Then, as my son wanted me to make an Iced Bakewell, I made my pastry case ready to be filled the next day.  We were creating a 'Festive Feast' to take to Mum's at the weekend, to celebrate Mothering Sunday with her.
When I read through the instructions, I realised I no longer had any piping equipment, and the frangipane and the red icing both needed to be piped.  Too late for that, I thought, as I coaxed the mixture to be vaguely flat over the jam, and then used a plastic bag as a makeshift piping bag......

It did taste absolutely delicious, but I must make it again, with the right equipment to hand.
It looks a bit as if I made it during a 'Tequila Evening'!  Easter is on the horizon, let's try again.

Well, I think I shall leave you with a successful baking image.

This was taken in The Pink House. If you have a broken bird bath in your garden, you too can turn it into a beautiful cake holder!  The colour of the yellow walls in this picture is when I re-painted the room, to make it more neutral, ready for sale!  You can imagine how bright the room must have been before that.......yes, it did appear to glow.

I hope you all have a productive week ahead, interspersed with fun and laughter.  I am looking for the same, but am also hoping for some cash to come along too........there has to be some compensation for carrying ironing boards and sewing machines around.  Keep buggering on!  See you all next week.

* My pet name for Mr Cooper (or sometimes Mr Whooples)