christmas is coming ...

Sorry for the lack in posts recently - things in my 9to6 are pretty hectic at the moment - we've got a lot to get through here before Christmas.

On a positive personal front - I painted up my Christmas cards over the weekend, I've got one small bit to do on one (a bit of a shadow to lift it up off the white background a bit), then it's scanning and to the printers. I'm really pleased with how they are looking, I just hope that all the watercolour subtlety shows in the final printed cards. I hope to have some done for the weekend.

I'll post some photos when I can.

I've finally taken the plunge and bought a computer - I should have it delivered and all set-up before Christmas ... I can't wait, it will mean I will be able to do so much more online. I might even get my web site finished off and out there with a big push!

At the moment I'm in one of those "planning" and "list making" moods ... there's so much to do before Christmas ... where has the time gone ...?

back again

Well, we're back in Plymouth again after a fabulous week away.

It was an eventful week with Rob (my boyfriend) becoming an Uncle to little baby Harry who was born (3 weeks and a day early) on the 7th of November weighing a little over 5 pounds. We went to see the new family on Saturday and everyone was well ... Harry is absolutely adorable.

Now I seem to hear an incessant ticking somewhere in the back of my mind ...

here's one of the seal pics ...

I will be away from the Internet for a week - off to Yorkshire again - so I thought I'd leave with this pic...

frosty cold ...

Today has been really frosty cold here. I guess it's not been all that cold with the sunshine, but there was even a frost this morning, quite heavy in places, it looked like a fine dusting of snow in some of the fields ... does this mean winter has arrived?

last flutter ...

During my usual lunchtime stroll I was suprised to see a butterfly fluttering about - not what you'd expect on the 1st of November - even if it is a lovely sunny day.

I did a little bit of sketching while I was out (seagulls), nothing to write home about or to bother posting, but it's a little more than I've done for a while ...

I doodle all the time, working through ideas and thoughts, but this was observational sketching and it felt good! It suprised me how much better I felt in myself afterwards - calmer somehow - if that makes sense. I guess I should sketch more often ....

learning Flash ...

I really need to bite the bullet and get on with learning to use Flash - I don't really want to (I seem to have this mental block ... I hear the word Flash and switch right off ;) ), but it seems to have become a requirement in my present job ...

Anyone out there got any hints or tips, or a link to an online tutorial ... ??

music & faeries ....

For my Birthday I got several things including some chocolates, Corinne Bailey Rae's (she's amazing!) album on CD and a book about painting faeries from Rob. I also bought another book on Amazon as a present from my parents.

Those books have led me to a few interesting artists' web sites ... for example Linda Ravenscroft's Mystic Garden and Amy Brown.

It's always interesting to see work by different artists and areas of their work that inspires me.

I discovered another artist/illustrator Yoshitaka Amano, some of his work has a real feel of Arthur Rackham about it. I'd never seen or heard of him before and it was such a pleasant suprise to come across his work. Visit his site for a look ...»

happy birthday to me ...

Not a lot of people know this but today is my Birthday .... so Happy Birthday to ME!! ;)

so much can happen in a week

There's so much to catch up on with everyone's blogs and the forum I regularly visit - it will take me an age to catch up ... I was only gone a week ...

I'm back!

Back in Devon and back to the usual ... more's the pity :(

We had a lovely break in Yorkshire. We stayed for 7 nights in a static caravan at Primrose Valley on the East Coast, it was absolutely lovely.

All in all even the weather was also pretty good, we even had a couple of very sunny days, which is a suprise for mid October.

We visited some of our usual haunts, but also added some new ones ... amongst them were Hornsea Mere where we went to see the migrant geese etc (we saw a Hooper Swan - I've never seen one before - he was lovely!), and we discovered somewhere where we can see wild seals, there were some young ones there - what an amazing experience! I feel so privileged to be able to see wild animals ;)

I have some photos of the seals but haven't downloaded them yet - I must remember to post some here ...

not long now ...

Yeah - today is the last day of work for me before my holiday - it's only a week away in Yorkshire - but I just can't wait! Sometimes I get to a point where I just NEED to get away from the hum drum everyday things that make up my life at the moment ...

I've been doing a bit of planning and making notes about where I want to go with my creativity. I've got several projects planned and am starting to put them into action in the background - I'm actually feeling excited and positive about things which is such a change from how I've been feeling lately!

still bob, bob, bobbing along ...

Just a quick post to say - "Yeah, I'm still here - still alive - still bob, bob, bobbing along ..."

A quick catch up too ...

3 days and 30 minutes of work (9to6) to go before we have a well earned break in Yorkshire ... as you can see I'm counting the days ... As usual I plan to do some creative "things" while away from the usual pressures of life, hopefully I'll manage to keep to it this time! ;)

I can't believe it's already October the 3rd - this year has whizzed by - and with it so many of my good intentions and plans ... I think I need the time away to re-gather my thoughts and re-assess my goals and plans to move forward ...

On a different note - I also need to get the bits and pieces together for my S.O.S.F. parcel ... I'm hoping to "find" some things when we're away - I've got loads of ideas!

wistman's wood

On Sunday we went up onto Dartmoor and walked the 2 miles from Two Bridges to Wistman's Wood, an ancient oak woodland - it was a magical place, one I want to visit again. Here's some pics from our walk there and the woods themselves ...

fishy pics

Here are some initial idea sketches from last weekend ...


Sorry the quality isn't that good, I tried for some "arty" type photos, but they'd be better scanned, oh well.

I want to see how they work with colour now, I'll post the results when I've done those.

on a more positive note ...

I've some ideas underway for my Chritmas cards - I'm really please with them at this stage, so I hope to get the time over the weekend to get the paints out and do some colour roughs. I won't post those seen as they are my Christmas cards, but I will try and work up some of the other ideas I've been working on and post those ... ;)

I'm also waiting on a delivery of some bits I bought on ebay, if those arrive I could be busy doing something else too ... I'll post some pics if the stuff arrives, all all should become clearer.

it could be worse ...

Sorry, I just had to get this off my chest some where ... I've been having some hassles recently and the final straw came this morning when I was told that our central heating / hot water boiler has been condemed! It will be replaced late next week - so a week without hot water! A nightmare for me ... I've just got to console myself with the thought that it could be worse ...

the fairies have been ...

When I got home from work on Friday, after a stressful week, I was greeted with the sight of a suprise parcel. As soon as I saw the stamps from Cyprus I knew from whence it came ...

I was so excited ao I opened it very quickly, to reveal ...

... some delicious edible treats (nougat pie, almonds in honey ...), sparkling trinkets, with glass beads and rose quartz, Greek coffee, herbs and a beautiful card with even more beautiful words inside ...

Thank you to the very kind fairy (you know who you are), it was such a touching package ;) XX

quote of the day

Haven't posted much of worth lately, mostly as I don't seem to have much to say, so I thought I'd post a quote ... here goes ...

"So you see, imagination needs moodling - long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering." - Brenda Ueland

That's what I'm doing - "moodling". Hopefully I'll find something interesting to share soon ... ;)

a new blog - S.O.S.F.

Take a look at a new blog - S.O.S.F. ... there's an invitation if you'd like to join in ...

Have a go - I've got a feeling this could be fun ...

time flies

Wow, I can hardly believe that it August already. 2006 seems to have gone by so quickly. I must get my skates on and get moving with some of my personal projects ... I think I need to start making lists again ...