Sliding Doors

It saddens me that as we get older we lose our ability to see the wonder that surrounds us, yet children marvel at everything because they see everything anew.

I was struck by this while exiting my supermarket today, the doors were a little slow, so I had to stop a moment and wait. As they slid back smoothly, I was transported back to my childhood in the 70's.

I must have been around six, every Tuesday evening we were glued to the TV screen to see the latest episode of Star trek, the original with Captain Kirk, Spock etc. What I really loved about the show was the sliding doors! Wow, I thought, what an amazing thing, imagine having doors that slid open like that!

So I spent the rest of the day marvelling at every sliding door I stepped through, what wonderful technology that is so every day now, we don't give it a second thought. (I did wish they made that lovely whooshing sound though!) It makes me think of all the things that are impossible right now, but give it a few years and it will become the norm!

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I am currently enjoying painting with glitter! this is a butterfly, around 1m by 1.5m on canvass. The round shapes are actually little mirrors.

A new notebook!

I just love notebooks! I have lots of them everywhere, I enjoy the newness of a blank book, it reminds me of when I was at school and you are given your new exercise books at the beginning of term! Oh how I used to sweat the first few weeks because the new book was an opportunity to up my game, to write neatly etc! After a few weeks I would make a mistake and then all my good intentions would be forgotten.

I have been looking at art journals for a while on You Tube, wanting to do one of my own, so imagine my delight when at Asda of all places I found a delightful journal for only £3.00! It has the most gorgeous thick cream paper strong enough to take paints etc! So Yippee!

The next hurdle I had to overcome is the fact that I don't like messy art, the type of art journals on YouTube, seem to involve making a huge mess! Don't get me wrong, if you could see my studio right now, you would not agree with my statement, (not to mention the whole decking sparkles with blue glitter! very nice I think, but Clive is not so sure!) What I mean by messy is all the painting, over painting, scratching etc!

I remember doing anti - colouring at the Art House's Creativity Booster, and found the small five colour pack of crayons delightful to work with... so alongside my gorgeous journal I bought a 64 pack of crayons! It must be the cheapest art materials I ever bought 64 crayons for a £1.00! A bargain!

Well, lets just say I am sending everyone crayon crazy, Karen was over last night and she is hooked! You can get so many delightful results with them and they are so easy to use.

I went back to Asda today and bought a notebook for Clive and Mel (it is her birthday!) .

As you can see from the picture above, you really can get delightful results with them!

So bring out your inner child and have a go! you will be delighted I guarantee it!

Poppy Painting 2

I realise it looks similar to one of my previous paintings, but that is intentional! Sally and Tony are always eyeing up my poppy picture, so I thought I would paint them one of their own! (it also means I don't have to keep my eye on mine while they are visiting!) They are getting married in September, so it is a sort of wedding / new home gift. (Now I sound a little stingy!) It looks a little strange here, as I have taken the picture at an angle! I love acrylics, and have to admit, I did struggle to let this picture go!

A lost art

Since I moved my Grandmother's writing bureau into my bedroom, I have started to write more letters! It feels fabulous to sit at my little desk with all my envelopes, notelets and pens just waiting for me to pen a word or two. It feels wonderful! Not only does it give me the opportunity to unleash my passion for stationery, but it delights my artist, especially when I use a proper seal!

There is a delight in writing, especially when you take your time and let the writing develop slowly. This advice came from the Artist's Way, when we slow down to write it actually calms our thinking too!

I have a lovely pen pal, it is such a pleasure to see her writing sticking out among the junk mail, it gives me a little tingle of pleasure. So much so I am thinking of finding one or two more!

I have started to write all sorts of things, to friends I don't see that often and who live far away, a thank you note here and there. It gives me so much pleasure, and in an age of text or email, it gives the opportunity to savour the words, re-read them if necessary. Texting invites us to be succinct, to the point, but will we have a record of our lives as previous generations did?


Alongside my writing desk, I have my noticeboard, (painted on a previous post) and I have letters and cards I received from friends, it is the first thing I see in the morning, and it makes me feel loved and appreciated.

I often feel very busy and there are times when there doesn't seem to be a spare moment, but since I have stopped watching TV so much it is surprising just how much time I have! (Thank goodness for sky plus I say! I don't waste any time on drivel!)

So keep the art alive, write a letter today!

What a great holiday weekend

Clive had been working really hard on the kitchen over the weekend, so he announced today his day of rest! I got to work painting the kitchen, but managed to get most of it on the floor and my hair! It is now at the stage where it looks worse than it did before and we have worked so hard on it!

After knocking over a whole cup of tea, I downed my tools and agreed with Clive today was just to lovely to waste! We headed up to Lepe beach, just a ten minute drive away and sat looking across a wonderfully choppy Solent to the lovely Isle of Wight. After eating a creamy Whippy Ice cream we promptly both put the seats back and fell asleep! What seemed like a ten minute nap was actually an hour! Sea air has a way of doing that to me!

We stayed a little longer, I took a stroll down to the water's edge discovering my wellie boots have a leak! We supped our tea, chatting about this and that while people watching. The gulls circled above, quiet for once, and the boats and windsurfers were interesting to watch.

I took this picture of the little light house up on the road to Exbury, I love the way all the trees are leaning away from the wind! There is a long line of cottages that look out over the water, I like to imagine they are smugglers houses. What a wonderful place to live, i would never tire of the view.

Such a great way to end a wonderful Easter weekend, hope yours was good too.

Happy Easter

At last the sun is out, the chooks are happy and on the whole peaceful sand bathing in their new box! (I am still sneaking out to the shed trying to get past them, as they make a terrible noise if I don't feed them!) They are fat enough already!

I was looking at the great items on You tube about vision boards , so I have been cutting up magazines and pictures most of the morning! It is surprisingly relaxing, the difficulty is trying to choose what I want to focus on!

Anyhow, it was a lovely way to spend the morning, happily ignoring the objects and items scattered all around me that needed to be put away. I am really going to have to do a complete re-organisation of the shed, as it is getting totally unruly and not the relaxing space it once was! (painting is sooooo messy, I can't seem to do it without getting paint on yet another pair of trousers, my arms and even my hair!) I spotted some great storage in Ikea, which I have my beady eye on!

I was also taking refuge in the shed, because Clive is revamping the kitchen. I was wandering round Fordingbridge and came across a delightful shop called the butler tray. There was the most gorgeous, (my favourite word) plate rack, which sent me in a bit of a spin for revamping the kitchen over the Easter Break!

Clive is one of those wonderful people, who does things properly and it is a good job too, as I am a very slap dash sort of person! He has spent the last three days, re tiling the kitchen, as a stage one of the revamp! He is having tomorrow off and so it is my turn to paint!

We spent a lovely afternoon having tea with Sally and Tony, we went to visit their new home, can't believe they have been there now for nine months! We are so tardy! Where does the time go!