Lean On Me

Lean On Me

Start typing...just start typing...everything needs a beginning...

So, a big thank you to anyone reading this, I really do appreciate you.

I know that I have been away for a while, reasons.

I am back painting, my Muse has said that I should just get on with it.

She's right.

I should. 

So I decided to finish some of the 'UFO' projects which were abandoned.

So many...where do you begin?

I have lots to show but this post would get rather tiresome for you dear reader, so I will try to edit them down a little.

I painted this pair of mermaids a while ago but they needed lots of work done so, of course, they were abandoned for something else...sound familiar?

There seems to be a pattern here. (me)

Here they are are in the early stages on my little old easel.

 

As you can see...lots of work to do...

At first they were just sitting enjoying the view but as I painted them they seemed to be doing something else, there was more between them.

It seemed as though one was supporting the other.

By the end of the painting they had a new title.

Because we all need somebody to lean on.

Even Mermaids.

Hope you have your special shoulder...

A Mermaids' Tale/Tail

 Mermaids...

Strange to think that something so lovely can also be seen as terribly deadly.

The part of our memories where fear lurks, tells us that these females can lure men to their watery graves if they listen to their songs.

You would think that these ladies had better things to do with their time...?

You would be right.

No one would want loads of human corpses floating around the seas when there are so many other human things floating around to clean up.

 

As you can see, my mind is doing thinking stuff.

Which makes my art do thinking stuff too.

So, I was thinking about the beautiful coral seas and how they need to be protected.

(Along with all of the other seas)

And this idea of a beautiful strong female found her way into my sketchbook.

Along with some of these other scribbles... 

Can you guess which one she is?

So I started painting her, well that was the idea...

But she didn't look right to me, her tail was wrong, it was too chunky. 

I also didn't like the angle of the tail.

The hair looks a mess right now but I have plans for that, so it doesn't concern me too much.

Just that chunky tail.

Time for some repainting...

 

Now, I have to confess here that I forgot to take more pictures of her being painted.

So I'll try my best to describe my actions...

I did all sorts of daubing and scraping and mopping of brows.

I did layering of paints and then wiping off the same paint because it was horrid.

I even did hair styling!

After lots of chocolate and many cups of tea...

I think she finally looked how I saw her in my head.

(Although paintings are never really as good as the ones in your head!)

Here she is, finished, along with her story.

 

 

'Coral Sea Guardian'

This lovely mermaid is one of the Guardians of the Coral Seas.
She swims many miles in the beautiful water each day making sure the reefs are safe.
Sometimes she takes a little rest and gives the coral a (careful) hug.
She is caring and protective and tries to ensure that no one harm the precious sea bed in any way.

(Painted in oils size 12 x 16 inches or A3

 

The Water is Lovely, Dark and Deep...

 Oh my, it appears that I have been absent long enough, so I thought I would show some of my work in progress.

As you can see, I change my mind many times while I paint.

It will also show some of my horrendous mistakes! 

I had an idea for a mermaid/siren, floating (see what I did there) around in my head.

She started as a rough sketch as usual, like this

I'm not sure red is my colour...

Here she is as I start the painting.

The first layers of paint make her look a little creepy!

 

The water is lovely, dark and deep...

 

 

 I think she is a little too skinny for my idea...time to give her a little more flesh...

Also, something needs to be done about that hand!

 

After a few snacks  😀

That's better...she has some fingers and flesh.

Now the part where I leave the painting to fend for itself whilst I get on with other 'important' stuff. 

(Like looking on ebay :o) )...

 

Some time later...

After buying tacky items which Oscar Wilde would love...

(I'll show and tell one day, just so everyone can laugh at my taste).

 

She now has a little more colour...not too much as I want her to look fishy.

Just a dab here and there with the makeup, and maybe a new hair do.

Because she's worth it...

Almost done...now is the hardest part of painting.

Everything in the early stages is just blobs and changes and big brushes and daubs.

When you get near to completion it is so much harder.

Small brushes, tiny strokes, lots of mistakes to cover.

 

Then comes the time when you have to ask yourself if it will ever be finished...well, will it?

I do not think that I am ever truly happy with a painting.

They are just never as 'good' as the painting inside my head!

They never will be either.

But that's the thing which drives you on.

Never being quite good enough.

 

So here she is, along with her story...

 

'Sea Guardian'

 

'Guardian of the Seas'

The sea is so vast and so precious.
We need to protect it any way we can.
This is how I envisage the Spirit who guards and protects the waters of this beautiful planet.
She may be a Mermaid.
She may be a Siren.
She may be a Nereid or Naiad.
She goes by many names and in many guises.
She loves the waters and keeps them safe for us all to share :o)

(Painted in oils size 12 x 16 inches or A3)

Hope you enjoy your next visit to the beach ;o)

- Cee

Sparkly Spiders, Latin Inscriptions & Other Fairy Tales

I'm not sure I want to share this post.
It has taken me a few days to write it...

Firstly, let me just say that right now, I am very happy.
I'm calm and feeling groovy and I am okey-dokey.
I just feel that it is important for people to know about this...so here goes...

Last year ended with me in Intensive Care.
I woke up after being unconscious for some time.
I could see sparkly bright coloured, teeny-weeny 'spiders' dropping down from the ceiling, really pretty and gentle.
There was also gold writing in Latin carved over the walls, (?), this went away after a couple of days.
I just lay in a tiny bed, like Snow White - (the ICU is also the children's ward, it's Wales...).

Artist, J Batten

 I felt completely happy.

I had no idea how I got there.

A few days before this I had been to the same hospital for tests.
They had taken lots of blood and scans, sadly they didn't test for the right things.
My bladder had stopped working so I was given catheters to use myself, which I did, and was given some antibiotics.
The antibiotics made me vomit and I had a weird reaction to them.
My own doctor wanted me to have some more tests next week...they didn't happen.

I am usually very healthy, eat well and exercise three times a week, don't drink, don't smoke,
(wow that makes me sound such a goody-goody he he he).

A couple of days later...  I fell unconscious and Steve (AKA 'The Giant Troll' ), called the paramedics, who got lost and took and hour and a half to get to us.  (We live up a mountain in Snowdonia).
I was taken to A&E.

Steve told me what happened...I have no memory of anything that was done to me, which seems to be the best thing really.
He watched everything the A&E team did to save me, sounds horrific.
Glad I was not there to witness it!
I just woke up with rows of IV drips down both arms and groin and a big fat catheter.
See, I will do anything for attention ;o)

Turns out that I had Sepsis and went into Septic Shock.
Google it and it is really scary reading.
You can be very healthy one day, and dead the next morning!
So please, find out about it, learn all of the warning signs and act quickly.

Sepsis kills more people each year than cancer does!

The team said I had about an hour of life left in me.
The A&E doctor told Steve to bring my children to the hospital to say goodbye to me.
Mmmmm...that part makes me cry...
The thought that I would not have said goodbye to them...
Steve said, 'You don't know her, she will be up and walking around next week'.
I was. (Though it was hard).

I was moved to the ICU, I was there a few days.
It was a very odd place.
About five beds and some children's toys. 
There were a few very poorly elderly folks and a me, then a young woman (maybe late 20s) was brought in next to me.
She died.
The young doctor was distraught, she kept sneaking back to check that she was really dead.
So upsetting.
She was sitting upright propped up on pillows and looked so young and peaceful.
I hope she went somewhere nice.
Steve had walked right past her and not noticed she was dead.
Until they covered her face with plastic.
Steve asked me, 'Is she really dead?'
'Yes, she died this morning'
'But she's so young'
'Yes, she is'

December, the most wonderful time of the year!
We had been tidying up ready for our Yuletide celebrations.
That was put on hold until I came home, so our decorations are still up.
I'll take them down when I feel like it, they are a comfort to us at present.
A reminder that life could have been so very different this year.

I know that I have not been myself this past year.
Trying to motivate myself to finish things became harder and harder.
I felt drained.
I was tired all of the time without doing much really.
Naturally, I put it down to just being a lazy old sod.
Artists can find any excuse to not paint :o)
I could still draw every day because I just sit on the sofa to sketch.

Sketching ideas 

Painting and sculpting...now that is harder.
I do my 'Art' and sewing in the kitchen,  so everything has to be moved and then put back, way too much effort for lazy old me!
(Even sewing had become a tiring chore, yet I did manage to finish a special Memory Quilt.)

I  had also been hungry all of the time, stuffing my face, yet strangely getting thinner and thinner.
My children said I looked like a Wraith.
(Scrawny does not suit old women, they just look really really decrepit, like when the 'fountain of youth' goes wrong and they rapidly age then crumble to dust !).
Magic diet?
You bet!
The kind of diet where your body burns all of your fat, just to make sugar...till you drop down dead.
Magic indeed.
It appears I was a diabetic and no one had picked up on it.
Which was why my body could not cope with the bladder infection.

I now know that I had a thing called DKA.

So, I now have type 1 diabetes.
I'm old (57) to get this, usually it arrives when you are much younger.
Guess I'm just lucky hey?  ;o)
Told you, anything for attention!

I have this little kit of things to check my blood/glucose levels.
There is a little black thingy.
I call it my Tamagotchi of blood.
No matter how much I feed it, it always wants more!

I want your blooood

And a pricker for my fingers, to draw the blood, which is fine if your hands are warm, mine never are, so I sometimes have to do it a few times.
Where is that Spinning Wheel and spindle when you need one?

Touch the spindle dearie...

Then it says if you are within the correct levels or,  'having a Hypo, or a Hyper'.
This little black thing is really judgy!

Then you are okay to inject yourself with insulin... four times a day, (yup, 4).
Before meals and at bed time.
Three in the tum and at night, in your thigh.
Fun and larks eh?
I also have to check how many carbs I'm having and not eat too much, otherwise you have to have lots of insulin.
I'm greedy, so this is no fun :o(
I like big dinners.
I don't like the effects of having loads of insulin though...dragon tum, just saying.
The diabetes nurse gave me a magazine about type 1, it was a cheery read.
If you aren't 'good' you can get all sorts of lovely complications like lower limb amputations, blindness, organ failure...see, very cheery :o)
I think I'd prefer to read 'Pretty House' mags instead!

The doctor/specialist at the hospital was a right beggar, so lovely and sarcastic.
He was small, skinny, totally bald and looked like a goblin.

Arthur Rackham must have met my doctor ;o)

He shook my hand and I said, 'Oooh your hands are freezing!!'
To which he replied, 'The heart is colder!'...:o)

He told me I had been a bit crook, (his words), which I think summed me up.
He would come to see me in the mornings.
He asked me how I felt about the needles and having to do this.
I just said ''I have no choice'.
Which I don't.

He asked me what I did for a living, I told him I'm an artist.
He said, 'That's a job is it?', then went on to talk about the artists he was reading about.
He knew quite a lot about art really, for someone who thought it wasn't a proper job.
I love sarcastic people, they are so amusing.
He was also a really good doctor.
He said the A&E doctor, (the same doctor who said I was dying), ran down the corridor to him when I arrived, to ask his advice.
Glad he did.
The A&E team saved my life.
The ICU team helped me recover.
The diabetes ward, (most folks there didn't have diabetes, it's Wales ), helped me get stronger and learn to become a diabetic.
I am eternally grateful to them all.

My doctor works a day a week on A&E and came to see me on the ward, she found me walking down the corridor and looked up at me and said, 'My god, you're strong!'
I'm not sure if I am...
I'm stubborn see.
I knew it would come in handy one day!

So, that's about it.
This is my life now.
The sepsis alone can affect you for years afterwards, it can make you sick for a long time, some folks get flashbacks or PTSD from it.
As I cannot remember anything about being in the A&E, I'm hoping that won't happen!
The type 1 diabetes is enough for me.

As it is now a new year and a new decade, I'm going to look on the bright side.
Maybe when I feel stronger I will be able to get some of my UFOs finished.
At least I have a 'real' excuse now though, so I might milk it a little he he he.
I'll post some pics when I can...you see I have this bone in my arm...

As for the 'sparkly spiders' and 'Latin inscriptions'?
I have no idea what they had given me in those drips...

I just know that when I fell unconscious at home that I had left my body and didn't come back until it was safe.
My children say that I was 'away with the faeries'.
Well, the Fae do know that I love them, so I like to think that they took care of me.
I will make something special for them when I can.

Seems the Fates didn't think it was time to cut my thread just yet...
Thank you ladies :o)

Artist, J Strudwick

Ivy

I saved this as a draft last year, then...reasons...
I'll write about them in the next post :o)

Ivy is a beautiful sacred plant.
Many Gods and Goddesses are honoured with it.
We have lots of old gnarled Ivy here.
Birds nest in the deep dark holes within.
Insects buzz around the fuzzy flowers.

The weird black berries disappear in the Autumn, I'm not sure who takes them all, but I know the thrushes love them.

I wanted to make a picture which shows the depths inside an old Ivy 'bush'.
It seems that the Fae wanted to join in too.
Who am I to say no?
So, here is the sketch.

Sketchbook Ivy

I liked her pose, she looked deep in thought but she wasn't quite right.
Anyway, the painting started, this is the fun bit, where you can make a mess...:o)

First, scruffy layers

Okay, I'm really not loving this, it just looks wrong.
Not how I picture the lovely old Ivy when I peer into it...or the little Fae.
I'll give her some more layers of skin.

And some leaves, and redder hair...
Mmmm...still not loving it.

Looking better, but still not right, damn...

So, now I think she would look better wearing a floaty little dress.

I really don't mind painting over her body, it is useful to have as a base.
(Yeah, right, I'm saying that because I'm annoyed with myself for not doing it sooner!)
So, after lots (& lots) more layers were added and some dew drops...taddaaa!

 'Ivy'

(Painted in Oils on canvas, size 12 x 16 inches)

When Bert Came Down The Chimney

We have an inglenook fireplace, a very huge one.
We found it behind a modern ugly replica inglenook fireplace !?!
We had soot in our eyes and up our noses for months trying to clear the stones away and find the chimney.  But we managed it eventually and this demon of an inglenook was behind the modern thing.
It would have been a place to roast a dragon no doubt, in the days of Yore ;o)
It would have wasted so much energy to heat the house, so we installed a cast iron stove, those square ones on legs, with glass doors.
There is a reason I'm telling you this bear with me...

So, the other day my children and I heard this scratching noise coming from the stove.
The torch showed nothing inside it but you could hear something, then it went quiet.
We have lived in other old houses and have had dead jackdaws fall out of old chimneys (on top of my head!) before, but these were in big old wide chimney stacks which had never been lined..
Our chimney here has a flue liner and a cap on the top, with just enough gap for ventilation around the rim.
It is also very high.

The chimney stack

Needless to say, we thought it might be a little mouse or vole but couldn't see how it could get inside the flue pipe.
We opened the doors, holding this big net in front to catch the little critter...nothing.
So, 'The Giant Troll' aka Steve thought it would be a good idea to clean out the stove, it needed a visit from the chimney sweep as it hadn't been used in a while and there was a pile-up of soot inside the stove.
Strangely, on each side...
He wriggled the plate which is just below the pipe and tipped it sideways to get it out and...
This thing shot out, jumped on my back (I was bending over looking into the stove) and vanished.
Steve: 'What the hell was that?'
Me: 'A Jackdaw?'
I looked around the room to see where it was flapping, expecting it to be going crazy round the room, nothing.
Then I saw this weird black thing quickly crawling into the front room, up the step.
So, I rushed over and saw this totally black, long-tailed creature jump onto the mantelpiece and run along it, so fast, my eyes couldn't make out what it was.
I closed the door fast, to contain it.
Then we all heard things smashing and glass breaking, never a good sign.

My children ran in to ask what was in there.
Me: 'I'm not sure, I thought it was a Jackdaw but it has a big black, fluffy tail...like a cat...but too big, more like a black kitten?'
A black kitten?
How could it be?
Well, how were we going to catch the whatever-it-was?
We decided the front door to the house was the best bet, so stood with a big net guarding the stairs and making a pathway for it to run out.
Steve opened the door to the room and this just made it go crazy, Steve is a Giant Troll after all, the thing just went mad flinging itself all over the room!
Soot was flying everywhere, over everything and pots were falling over and smashing.
We told Steve to go outside out of the way and it might come out.
It did, it saw the open door to freedom and ran/skulked out the door and off into the front garden.

So, what do you think it was?
Yup, a jet-black fat squirrel.
It was so covered in soot you had a hard time seeing it clearly.
It disappeared over the wall and away to the fields.
And left us with the mess.
Soot prints everywhere.

I don't think it liked the radio channel!

My children were laughing because I had footprints on my back!
I also had soot on my face and in my hair.
We are still cleaning up after it, probably will be for a while, soot is evil to clean, it floats on water you see.

Even the curtain pole was covered, not to mention the curtains!

One good thing did come out of this though.
'Bert' as he will be forever known, did a great job of cleaning the chimney for us, with his big fluffy tail.
We even had a fire in there to celebrate .

These pots are covered, the small one has now lost a lid :o(

As they say in the 1960's Mary Poppins film

'Chim chiminey, chim chiminey, chim chim cher-ee
A sweep is as lucky as lucky can be
Chim chiminey, chim chiminey, chim chim cher-oo
Good luck will rub off when I shakes 'ands with you
Or blow me a kiss
And that's lucky too

(Which is probably why my face was black) :o)

 

And I am just not even going to try to clean my art stuff...

 

Art Prints or Foot Prints?

 

Did anyone ever think that country living was relaxing?

 

And if anyone is worried about 'Bert'...he came on the bird feeder this morning and stuffed his face with nuts.

We knew it was him because he had a big black stripe down his back and head :o)

Working with those Elementals...

'Dance of Fire and Water'

Well here she is, actually finished.
I have to say she's looking a lot smoother now and the fish are just how I pictured them when I began, not just blobs of orange!
Sometimes when you are creating art, there is this awful stage which you just have to push through. (The 'Wall' which everyone hits).
The voices in your head are telling you that this is dire, that you have messed everything up (again), that you are rubbish and should try digging graves instead ;o)
These are the times that you have to be the bravest.
Luckily, paint is very forgiving, you can cover most things up and no one will ever know just how bad it was before.
But...I wanted to show my early stages, for just those reasons.
So that those of us, struggling with our paintings can take heart in the fact that all paintings start off really really horrid.
They don't just appear on the canvas looking pretty and perfect.
They are all ugly ducklings. (I actually think ducklings are adorable).

This one is for the Elementals.
I wanted to paint two forces of nature playing together.
The mermaid represents Water, so is cool and blue.
The fishes represent Fire and are warm, red-orange.
I wanted them to dance the Eternal Elemental Dance within the water.

I have to say, that they were great fun to paint.
I now need to come up with an idea for the other Elemental beings...
After all, I wouldn't want them to feel left out :o)

See you again soon, maybe with some more awful beginnings...
(Painted in Oils, size A3)

Well it is still January

Happy New Year!
I know I'm late, I'm always late, what can I say?
Better late than never?
Anyway, to me it still feels all midwintery as we have left the decorations up, for a while more, it's too dark here in the mountains of Snowdonia, we need the lights of the faeries to keep our spirits up.
That's a good reason isn't it?
We do take them down eventually, usually around Imbolg, we like to celebrate with the seasons and this seems fitting for this area.

This year I'm concentrating more on my painting and my fabric art 'stuff'.
As the room in which I work a.k.a. the kitchen, is full to the gills with paints and canvas, fabric and trims, I really do need to get on with these ideas to stop them just roaming around in my head.

I also need to get more organised with scanning and cropping etc so that I can actually show others what I have been doing , I mean, it might just appear to everyone that I am a lazy artist who just has ideas and no content, can't have that now can we?...he he he.

So here's one I prepared earlier...
I have been lured by the Siren's song yet again...

The sketch

First daubs

I know, she looks awful.
These are the early stages of the painting, where I can throw paint at the canvas and not worry about it too much.
I have the idea of what the finished work will be, so I just 'place' things where they should be without much thought, then I'm not too concerned about covering them up when I find the right place for everything.
The 'fish' are just blobs of fishythingys and will be changed completely later, they just need to remind me where I wanted a fish in the picture.

So, that's a little peek at what I have been doing, how about you?
Hope you have a lovely, creative year ahead, doing something you love.
Now, I really must get back to 'work'...the Muses are pulling my clothes again...:o)

Still sitting here, but now I have a little friend, or two

'Waiting for Jack'

The septic tank is broken...
I won't say more.
Let's just talk about Pumpkins...and Faeries...(and mice).
I found this little lady sitting all alone on a pumpkin one evening.
She seemed as though she was waiting for someone.
I hope they turned up, the weather can be a little harsh this time of year.
I do love seeing the leaves change to rust though, and to smell the lovely fresh morning air.
I say this because I just let a field mouse out of a humane trap, down the lane, and it was rather pleasant (the air, not the mouse, although it was a pretty little thing), just seeing the dawn rise.
Everywhere is starting to feel all crispy.
I suppose a pumpkin, a fairy and a mouse would make a sweet fairy tale, unless someone has already done it? he he he

Speaking of freeing little critters, it is a natural part of living in the countryside, that others will want to come and move in too.
And, I can say that Beatrix Potter was telling the truth in her story 'The Tale of Two Bad Mice', we have had mice and voles move into dolls houses and rearrange the furniture!
I don't mind them finding the residence desirable, it just gets annoying when they chew the tables!

Ah well, if you can't handle a little wildlife, then the countryside is not the place for you :o)
I'm off to add some peanut butter to the traps...
(Forget cheese, peanut butter is by far, the best)

This painting is done in oils on canvas :o)

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

'Pumpkin and Little Spode Jug'

So, 'tis now the Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness...mmm
I think Keats lived in a gentler age.

But, as I promised/bored you all with my Autumn rant, here is another pumpkin.
This one took backstage to a little Spode jug who thought she was a prima ballerina.
The apple took offense to being in the sidelines and sulked.
None of them truly shone but they were all treated with care and affection.
Little delicate things are rather prone to accidents, after all. :o)

Now, I'm off to jump in the fallen leaves...maybe not...! :o)
This one is painted in acrylics on canvas.

Just Sitting Here, Waiting for Autumn...

'Pumpkin in Blue Chiffon'

 Summer...
Lots of folks just love it.
I dread the beginning and long for the end of it.
That may sound a tad melodramatic but that's me.
Excuse me while I hold the back of my hand to my head and look ethereal :o)
This summer has been such a strange one, all over the world ; too much dry, too much heat, too much rain in some parts.
The mountains we can see over yonder, are always green, endless green.
This month they looked like Arizona in a heat wave (I must say, I have no idea what that would really look like, I'm just guessing), everywhere was yellow, dry, wispy parched.
It no longer looked or felt like North Wales.
It was weird.
And so very wrong.

Our water comes from a natural spring, way up in the mountains and feeds down to a gravity-fed tank, then to our taps.
Each day we searched the sky for rain, weeks go by and you see it not coming.
We were waiting for the day when our beautiful water maiden dried up.
We have no other water supply.
Droughts are a scary thing up here.
So far, she has been doing a great job, slower, but still there.
We have left roses for her at the source, she deserves so much more.

So, you see what I mean about Summer...
And so, the pumpkins come out.
Not really real pumpkins, just the ones I have painted or made over the years.
It comforts me to know that Autumn is crawling ever nearer and they can come and play.
So, for a while I will be getting everyone (who cares) into the spirit of the next season by showing you my pumpkins :o)
Here is the first, this pumpkin fell in love with a blue chiffon scarf and wrapped itself up in it.
They did not want to be parted and so I painted them enveloped in their friendship.
Even though the pumpkin was well past its prime, and had lumps and age spots, it still danced beautifully.
This one is painted in acrylics on canvas.

How To Grow a Rose Faerie

Okay so maybe not actually grow a Faerie...it's my artistic license coming out and waiving itself about, so bear with me...

I have been asked how I 'come up' with ideas 'where does the inspiration come from?'...so...
I will let you into a little secret...I never come up with any ideas and I do not have any inspiration at all...naaah, that isn't true...the opposite is.
I can never ever shut off my damn brain and ideas for subjects to create are everywhere, always pulling at my clothes and nattering in my ears...they are doing it right now, telling me to move away from this evil machine and go and create something!
So, before they pull me into their dark, mysterious lair, I will share how this little lady came about...

1. Find a willing model...this is quite easy as the Fae are naturally vain and love to be sketched, if you do it quickly! If you're too slow, then forget it!
This lovely lady was sketched out on a big sheet of A3 paper with lovely black charcoal which we both enjoyed smudging and then getting covered in it.
She later washed herself in the birdbath...:o)

I then completely forgot about the sketch and went and created something else...
(I think it was either a miniature hatbox or an Art Doll...see what I mean)

I found this sketch tucked away behind the cupboards where it was covered in cobwebs, that's how long she had been forgotten...that's why she looks a little accusingly at me :o)

2. Find a pretty flower...this should be easy, there are plenty around...but not in the hay fever season oh no, because of the nasty pollen...and winter is a little too harsh for many flowers to poke their noses up...mmm...so that leaves the spring and autumn...but this is Wales, it rains most of the time...spring is always soggy and everything is droopy with rain...okay, so spring is out, that leaves autumn...nope, by then I have forgotten about wanting to paint a flower and am painting pumpkins instead...sigh...and another sigh...
So, look through your photo's and see if you can find one which will do for inspiration instead! :o)
No, stop looking at all of those other pics, you're looking for a flower, maybe a nice rose, not pictures of your children when they were little and cute...so very cute...sigh.
So, after a while you may find something which might do, if you squint at it, or use a lot of imagination...

This is Gertrude, not the most beautifully named but she smells divine :o)

So, now we have a model and a flower...what shall we do with them?

No.3 Try to fit your subjects together into a pleasing composition
Okay, sorry, that sounded like 'art speak' and we don't allow that here...
Because my charcoal sketch is big and I want to paint a small A4 picture I am going to have to get the old sketchbook out and see if the Fae will come and sit on the rose.
Easier said than done...although as the rose is so sweet smelling she eventually consented and it didn't turn out too badly. (Who needs critics when you can do it yourself?)
The sketch is now A4 and done with pencil, so that the lines are clearer-ish, (I never can stay tidy), so we are about to reach the next stage...unless some little squirrel in very shiny Armour comes by, then we will be off somewhere else with the Fae and this will become yet another forgotten painting (I should know, those armoured squirrels have sucked me into their dark wormholes many times).

 No.4 Decide which media to use... 
Although I love painting in oils best, for this picture I thought watercolours would be nice so everything in the sketch was copied onto watercolour paper and tucked away in a file to keep it nice and clean and away from cobwebs...can you see there's a pattern here?...
Then I went outside to play with the squirrel knight...

No.5 Remember the painting you started ages ago...
So, you're looking for something to do and because you don't know what you want to start, you go around tidying up your workspace...
And guess what you find?
Not just this picture but loads of other UFOs (Un-finished objects), just lying there in a box, who would have guessed there would be so many lovely things all ready for you to paint?
So, you say cheerio to Sir Squirrel de Wormhole and make a cup of tea and try to choose which one you fancy painting...
Because there is a rather pouty-looking faerie glaring from a big rose, you decide you should maybe choose her... and so the painting begins...after you have found a cookie to go with your cup of tea...

Almost finished, just a little blushing of the cheeks to do ;o)

I use old rescued plates and dishes as palettes, hence the rather fancy gold-rimmed painting equipment! he he he :o)

So, there we are, she just needs a little more eye-liner and she's good to go...I think...maybe I should add a little more shading here and there?
Maybe a little more green on the leaves or more creases on the petals?
Can you have too much paint?
Or, maybe I should just be happy that this one is finished at last...and she isn't looking too grumpy, well, not for the Fae anyway...

Do you think she has forgiven me yet?

Now I really must get my squeaky Armour oiled up...Sir Squirrel awaits...
I may be some time...:o)

Invictus...or trying to keep your spirits up...

I am battling with myself at the moment, I don't want to get all heavy with details as I do not want to be known as the 'miserable blogger'...I don't want to be that guy. ;o)

As we all know misery loves company and I do not think it fair to share mine with you, so in that spirit I will try to be uplifting.
One night last week I was having fitful sleep and as I tossed and turned, lines from the poem Invictus rolled around my head.
Next morning I re-read the poem and began to smile...some part of me, or from outside of me, was trying to help.
I am feeling a little better now, I am in a good place and I am feeling stronger.
We all have those Dark Nights and can find ourselves in a place of sadness from time to time.
I thought I would share the poem with you in the hope that it may help, if you too visit that place of sorrow.

A strange thing happened shortly afterwards...
I was contacted by someone...you know, the type of person who has nothing to say to you for years and years and then sends messages of misery.
If this message had arrived at a dark time for me, I do not know what I would have done.
Thankfully, it arrived later.
And like the poem says...

'I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul...'

William Ernest Henley is still a fascinating character, his life was so full.
He was also the inspiration for 'Long John Silver', (seriously, how cool is it, that he was also a pirate?), Robert Louis Stevenson was his friend and wrote the character based on him, because of his inner strength (it helped that he also had a wooden leg) :o)
Henley's little daughter was also the inspiration for 'Wendy' in Barrie's play Peter Pan.
Margaret would call Barrie 'Fwendy'...sadly she did not live to see the play, but, like Peter Pan, little Margaret lives on...she has become immortal...
What more could we wish for? :o)

So, remember, you are the master of your fate.
You...are the captain of your soul...
And I shall return soon with some pretty pictures...:o)
Bye for now...

Dolls Houses and Chewed Fingers.

Okey dokey, I have taken off my poufy frock and finished some more teeny weenies...
It isn't that I don't finish things...it's just that I get side-tracked by shiny squirrels and start other more interesting (at the time) projects.
So here we are again...
Autumn, punkins and toadstools time.
I am painting in oils again, Fae and other tinies, they are a wee bit shy so are not allowing me to show you yet but maybe soon...maybe

I also make miniature things throughout the year but I seem to forget to invite them to my blog so here is a little peek at some of them...

Playing at sweet shops :o)

 These are from a few years ago but you get why I enjoy playing :o)

When I was a little girl my friend Susan had the most fantastic dolls house, it had little jars of real sweets!!!! (They would seem massive to me now).
Her dad had fixed it so that a light bulb (a pea bulb) would turn on when you flicked a (giant) switch.
Gawd it was fantastic, I loved it so much, I loved the fact that we could stick our big heads in there and it was lit.
Magic!
Naturally, Susan was an only child and 'got' everything she wanted, yet she was not spoilt at all, she was lovely, I would dearly have loved to hate her because of this fabulous dolls house, but you just couldn't hate Susan, she was too okay.

I found it astonishing that every year she would choose some of her toys and give them to the Children's Hospital, see what I mean, way too okay.
My little sis and I held tight to everything we had, hey don't judge us against Susan, we were dirt poor and our things were meagre!

One year we both had a doll, me a Sindy and her a Tiny Tears ...the smell still wafts over me when I remember opening her box, plastic and newness and probably lots of chemicals but who cared it was Sindy!!!
And she was mine, all mine.
My sis and I didn't have clothes for them but we had the dolls.
Later my mum made us some dolly clothes from a library book after I copied out the patterns.
My Nan and my mum were good seamstresses, I think most folks were good at needle work then through necessity.
I had a Tressy doll too which an auntie had given me but my youngest sister took her behind the sofa (her favourite hiding place for doll-destruction) and bit her fingers until they had stretched into a long flat paw about an inch long, eugh!
She was a doll hater, she loved soft toys instead, cute and fluffy and to me, boring, they couldn't dress up and wear heels, you couldn't brush their long tresses, they were just cuddly.

One day my Nan dragged a dolls house all the way to our house, many miles walk.
She had bought it from a junk shop because she thought us three girls would like it and knew that she would get the money back from my 'dad' (I say this loosely).
We were overjoyed, it was even better than Susan's.
It had furniture and all sorts of really cool stuff with it.
It was humongous too!
We jumped with joy (I could cartwheel then but the house was too small to roll around in otherwise, me, cartwheeling for the love of this doll paradise!)

Dear old 'dad' came home from work, took one look at it and ranted about the couple of pounds she expected to get from him, and told her to cart it away with her.

My nan was heartbroken but she took it home in her big wheelbarrow cart thingy.
Later we would all play with it at her house.
She disliked my 'father' before, but this just iced her cake of hatred.

Trick or Treats?

So, you see now why I make mini things, somewhere within me is this need to recreate the dolls house of my dreams, the one where everything is peachy and a big switch turns on a light bulb.
And Susan and me are sticking our big heads in to have a look at all those little jars of heaven.
Such delicious memories.

Calorie-free chocolates :o)

I often think of Susan and what became of her...
and her dolls house :o)

One Upon a Time

One Upon a Time ...

At least that pumpkin is large enough for us to travel in.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into The Land of Blog, who should there be tap tap tapping at the keyboard...but your little Old Faerie Godmother (aka Me)!
I have my wand at the ready to turn your autumn pumpkins into beautiful coaches...
Any little mice shall become horses...
You my dear, shall go to the ball!
Now, what do they wear for formal occasions these days?
Are poufy dresses still worn to the Royal Balls?
Ahhh never mind, in my head you are all dressed in the poufiest frocks I can imagine.
(And I can imagine really real poufiness!)

As you can see I have been swept away into my own world once again.
I think it started many years ago Doctor...when I first learnt how to fly.
Since then there has been no stopping me...

It doesn't help that the Fae are constantly begging portraits from me...and you know how much they like to flounce around!
So, here I sit, wand in hand, wondering if anyone out there is in need of a Faerie Godmother.
Do you feel in need of a little wand-waving?
Are your clothes all tatty and ragged?
Are you still looking for Prince Charming?
Fear not!
I shall endeavour to right this injustice!
Just say the word...
All you have to do is believe.
The rest is magic...:o)

Now, I really must finish these paintings...maybe I should take this poufy dress off first...

From Little Acorns...

I don't know about you but I love Autumn...although to be honest this year most of the Summer has been very Autumnal!

I haven't had much access to computers this year and it's been a rather strange experience...on the one hand I have missed and craved the way you can peep into other folks' lives and see how you all are and what everyone's been doing...on the other hand, it makes you so free when you can no longer do that :o)
As I'm rather isolated up here in the mountains of wet and windy Wales it's lovely to be able to travel the world with you all and come to have virtual tea right in your homes but because I haven't been able to visit I have had withdrawals, isn't that odd?
One good thing though is that I can actually get on and finish things begun last year which I always left in the 'to-do' pile...so be warned, you'll all be sick of seeing me soon ;o)

My little Elves are now speaking to me and not sulking and I have even done a few Halloweeny things...maybe I should get on and photograph them...(yep,that would be a good idea ;o)) then I could share them with you over an nice cup of tea, and a cake :o)

This painting was supposed to be finished last Autumn but got buried under piles of my other  'oooh shiney' stuff  (my attention span is not great when a new idea pops into my head) but at least I've done it for this year!
(As you know I'm a slow worker, I hate being rushed ;o)
To be fair to myself though, I do fit these things in around home-schooling children, trying to tame the wilderness which surrounds our garden and all of the other boring day-to-day things like cooking-gawd I really don't enjoy cooking, and yet I do it every day...come rain...come rain...feeding teenagers is a never-ending story, how can they be so skinny and yet eat so much!? Please let me in on the secret :o)

Well, enough of that...here she is...this one is for all of you who have that little Acorn waiting to be planted, you know the one...the little idea or dream, just waiting for you to give it some encouragement and a little care ready for it to grow...and we all know what little acorns grow up to be :o)

The ELF need your help!

Boo!
Hello out there in the Land of Blog...
I'm part of the E.L.F. (Elf Liberation Foundation) and I need your help!
This lazy 'Artist' will not finish us...we have been lying around this (very messy!) house and she just keeps ignoring us!
I have tried to look her in the eye to get her attention, I even put on my bestest sweetest smile...nothing!
Please, if you can help, or know of any help groups out there for lazy artists, please send us a message, we can now work the keyboard by using our feet and we enjoy jumping from one key to the next...and we can access her blog behind her back (we aren't as behind the times as she thinks).

To prove our point...

This poor creature has only had her head made, yes it is rather large we know, but surely that should not be a valid reason to leave her without a body!

And just look at the mess she makes us stand in!
We keep trying to tidy it but she always plonks her drawings down and covers us up!
Then she gets black smudgy pieces of stick and scribbles on paper and makes a black mess everywhere, there's no hope for her :o(
When she starts painting her Faery pictures she completely forgets about us...talk about fickle!

We also have a question...do you think we would look better in hats?
She gave some of us big fluffy hair and we aren't sure we approve...(it's so 1980's) and she only made me a hat (which is making some of the members a little envious)...

I have also been 'promised' (her promises are pie crusts) a little waistcoat, but I bet she's forgotten all about that idea...especially when she saw that naked Fae sitting on the flowers...her attention span is worse than a child's.
Oh...she's coming back...remember, she mustn't know about our conversation...keep it under your hat!
She doesn't come on this bloggy thing much so she will never notice...
Farewell people in the Land of the Blog and thank you from all of us...especially the ones we could not show you...they would make your hearts break...
Shhhhh...she's looking over here...tra la la la la...(I am the picture of innocence) ;o)

My Bleeding Heart

Call this summer!
Rain rain go away...(not really true as I hate having to water the poor plants when it's dry!)
We have another small flood in the front room, the rain has gushed down the mountain and banked up against our poor old house and is now trickling in through the stone walls and into the room (which they call The Parlour round these parts, there's posh for you ;o))
We have had this before...we lost our new carpets and underlay when we first moved here so don't put anything down anymore (learned that one the hard way, funny how no one mentioned that before we bought the house)...but, we do have to house the 'puters and stuff in there and when the puddles start we all rush around picking the wires and things off the floor to stop them getting wet (as you can see we have learned not to mix our water and electrics, safety first my dears!)
I'm huddled into a corner now with wires trailing all over things and it does look a little like a spider will be having me for dinner tonight!

Ah well, you gotta love June...if anyone is planning on being a June Bride, you may need to rethink that one...I hear December's quite nice ;o)

Spring passed me by so quickly this year that I didn't get to show my painting :o(
He was done for a Spring Challenge... and for some reason I decided (on some mad whim), to tidy up the house, so I packed him away safely inside a sketchbook (as you do) and then lost him!
I looked through all of them, over and over but nope...then...when I was no longer looking for him as Spring had made way for Summer (Ha! see top of post) and had decided that my Fae had flown the coop...I opened a book and there he was, trying not to look me in the eye (as usual) Typical!

So...here he is (the naughty boy)...he's sitting on my daughter's clump of Bleeding Heart...so of course, that's what the painting is called :o)

Hope the rain is being good to you wherever you are...
I'm off to try to catch Faeries...in the rain...
Cee :o)