Colouring to Relax

I really enjoy colouring but am not good at setting the time aside to do it. This book called the Secret Garden is wonderful as it is so detailed and intricate but it can take a long time to finish a page like this. 

I do have other books but I can quickly get bored with the simpler ones. 

As other colouring fanatics will know, it is very, very relaxing having to totally concentrate.

Another thing I find relaxing is my new wall hung fire.

Was really worth getting rid of a chair for.

This sun room is where I sit and read but having a flat roof it can be quite cool in the winter, even though there is a large radiator along one side, and especially in the freezing temperatures that we have had this year, as it has a flat roof.

So all set now for when I don't want to spend an evening in the sitting room watching TV.

Wendens Ambo in Watercolour

Something I had planned to do for a very long time.I painted this watercolour of Wendens Ambo about 12 years ago. I copied it from a photograph belonging to my then art teacher. I had always wanted to find the village and take my own photograph but just never got around to it.

On the day we drove through Newport (last post) I did just that. Wendens Ambro is about 2 miles away and a 5 minute detour off the road.

The trees are in fuller leaf

And the cottages have been repainted

And there are a couple of cars - but apart from that I think I have a good reproduction

I have been playing around with the new 'updated editor' here but it won't do what I want it to do!

More Of My Artwork

While on the subject of my art work around the house, here's a few of a different kind.

Illuminated Lettering on this paper weight

The gold is done with gold leaf

Combination of watercolour and calligraphy

A poem I wrote when my cat died

done in calligraphy and illuminated lettering

An interesting composition of the word PEACE

Calligraphy and illuminated design

A prophetic banner

painted on silk with silk paints for our House of Prayer

A charcoal sketch

Calligraphy was an art form that I really did enjoy - so relaxing, but I did eventually give this up too and passed on all my equipment. One needs a very steady hand for this lettering and as there are so many different alphabets and strokes it is essential to practice every day.

My teacher was a Master Calligrapher who often did work for Buckingham Palace and even at her level of expertise said that she MUST practice every day and that it took about half an hour to get settled and relaxed enough to produce good lettering.

I have too many interests and hobbies for that level of committment so again it was something I enjoyed for a season.

My Watercolours

Thought I would indulge myself and post some of my recent watercolours. By recent I mean in the last 10 years or so. Just over a year ago I decided to give up painting and gave away all of my equipment. Now before anyone wonders why, I always seem to have seasons for my hobbies and card making took over from my painting. For me painting was time consuming and I did not enjoy it enough to want to give the needed time to it. However I can still enjoy these lasting images that I did produce. Hope you do to and for the professionals out there, I am very much an amateur.

Angles Sur L'anglin in France

The church in Essex where my daughter Janie was married

Entering the Old Town at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex

with some artistic licence thrown in

Leigh-on-Sea from the other side

Sedona, Arizona

copied from one of my son Peter's photos

Lower Slaughter, The Cotswolds

Wendens Ambo, Essex

http://www.geocities.com/wendensambo/wenden.htm

Interesting history at this link

A Cotswold Scene

Another Cotswold Scene

Danbury Church, Essex

A Poppy Field

Cotswolds in Watercolour

We are going to The Cotswolds on Friday for a week. We have rented a cottage on a sheep farm. I will not have access to a computer - how will I survive!

It is such a pretty area that I can't imagine how many photos I will be taking. Have taken photos there in the past but that was in the days before digital cameras.

These are a few paintings that I have done of the area. They are framed and the photos taken through glass so the reflection affects them.

Painting on Silk

Today being The World Day of Prayer I thought I would have a change from 'garden' and show you a painting that I did on silk some years ago. I did it for my church. I suddenly had a strong desire to do it. It felt like a prophetic painting as the Lord gave me a scripture and I began from there. Once I got started I stayed up late into the night to work on it.

For the uninitiated, painting on silk is difficult. There are special silk paints, but the paints run all over the place, except where something is outlined with Gutta. Some one does on dry silk and some on wet silk and of course the silk is stretched out on a frame and there is nothing to lean on. So as it was my first attempt I just got on with it. It is certainly not professional but I think it served it's purpose at the time. It is quite large and was used as a wall hanging when we used to get together with a lot of other churches in the area to pray for our area and city.

It says "Shout, for the Lord has given you the City"

Joshua 6:16

If you double click on the photo you will get a full screen picture.The buildings are representative of different parts of London. In the bottom right hand corner you will see a little cat sitting on a brick wall. This was my personal touch. Can't have a city without a cat!

In His Image

One of my art projects, done in Calligraphy. If you look carefully you will see that this is done by just writing the word peace continually for 5 lines so that it ends up with peace on all 4 sides.

IN HIS IMAGE
By Dietrich Bonhoeffer


Each individual will make a matchless discovery: he will be able to cease from constantly scrutinising the other person, judging him, condemning him, putting him in his particular place where he can gain ascendancy over his brother and thus doing violence to him as a person. Now he can allow the brother to exist as a completely free person, as God made him to be. His view expands and, to his amazement, for the first time he sees, shining within his brother, the richness of God's created glory.

God did not make this person as I would have made him. He did not give him to me as a brother for me to dominate and control, but in order that I might find within him the creator. Now the other person, in the freedom in which he was created, becomes the occasion of joy, whereas before he was only a nuisance and an affliction.

God does not will that I should fashion the other person according to the image that seems good to me, that is, in my own image; rather than in his very freedom from me God made this person in His image. I can never know beforehand how God's image should appear in others. That image always manifests a new and unique form that comes solely from God's free and sovereign creation. To me the sight may seem strange, even ungodly. But God creates every man in the likeness of His Son, the Crucified. After all, even that image certainly looked strange and ungodly to me before I grasped it.

Strong and weak, wise and foolish, gifted and ungifted, pious or unpious, the diverse individuals in the community are no longer incentives for talking and judging or condemning, and thus excuses for self-justification. They are rather cause for rejoicing in one another and serving one another.

Leigh-on-Sea Tearooms

Just a quickie this afternoon as I am about to prepare a meal for guests. This is a watercolour I did of Leigh Tearooms. Sadly it has since closed. One went through the side lean too (see behind the tree) and ordered directly from the house kitchen and then if weather was good sat out under the red and white umbrellas in the garden. Not sophisticated enough for todays clientele I guess. The brown boat is one of the old Thames Barges. The green area in the background is part of Two Tree Island which you can see in a previous post.

Sedona, Arizona in Watercolour

Thought I would do a quick post before reading through some of my favourite blogging buddies. Decided on a photo of one of my watercolours. Unfortunaately, taking the photo through the glass of the frame did not do well this time. The subject is Sedona, Arizona and painted from a photograph taken by my son. I painted the picture for him so it is not in my possession to try and get a better shot.
We are having some amazing weather so I must make sure that I don't miss it all through sitting blogging over coffee instead of sitting in the sun. The London Marathon took place last Sunday and the temperature hit 81f.

Leigh-on-Sea and The Oscars

As many people know, this last week the Oscars have been won by Dame Helen Mirren. Helen I am told was born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex and there have been various comments about this in the media. For myself, Leigh is one of my favourite local places, local being about 20 miles away.

The picture above was taken on a cold Autumn evening which is why it is so quiet and isolated. During the summer months there are hoards of people sitting drinking and eating seafood, etc and enjoying the sea air.

This is my watercolour impression with a little artistic licence.

This is the old town where one will find places to eat and drink, art and craft gallery, craft shop, museum and right at the end a very small beach where one can swim. There is also a quayside where fishing boats offload their catch. A little to the West is an area known as the cockle sheds and this is where most of the fishing boats offload and where fresh fish can be bought to take home.

However, this is only a small part of Leigh. There is the main town where one will find the largest collection of individual and exclusive shops that I have ever come across. Everything you could think of including many art and craft shops. Enough for them to have an Art Trail last Autumn where there were about 50 locations open to visit and buy or just browse. Then there is Two Tree Island. A bird sanctuary out in the Thames Estuary reached by road and bridge from Leigh. This is my favourite place in the area. We are so fortunate in that we have friends who live at the top of the cliffs who allow us to stay in their home when they go away and this is the view from a few yards in front of their home. I have many photographs of Leigh to share in the future but for now here is one of my favourite. It is taken early evening when the tide is out and the late sun and sky formed this beautiful picture which has not been touched up in any way. It is part of the ever changing scenery in this beautiful spot.

I hope you have enjoyed your short trip to Leigh and I will be taking you to visit again in the future.

Calming the storms

Had friends to visit all day today and thought I would not be having time to post a blog. Then after they left I got to reading a number of people's blogs which led me to think of posting this quick one.
I think it is clear enough to read without typing it. I did it in a combination of caligraphy and watercolour.

My Siamese cats

I really wasn't going to do any 'blogging' tonight, once I had checked my E-mails, but then realised that my husband was watching his favourite football team on tv. Yes, I could go into another room and watch another tv but if I want to settle down and watch a nice film on dvd then I would rather relax in my sitting room. So here I am taking photos and blogging. What would we do without digital cameras! (The following photos of my cats are only photos of old photos so not a good quality, but enough to see what beautiful cats they were.)


They both died of old age some years ago but I still have photos of them in my home and they will be forever in my heart.

This is "Misty" the Mother

Pedigree name Annabel Stasia

Misty had 7 kittens. We gave one away, sold five and kept one who you will see below.

This is "Sandy" the daughter

Pedigree name Zarabell Zavita

When Sandy died I felt distraught and in my grief I wrote the following poem which I imortalised in calligraphy with ornamental lettering, photographed below.

I know you will not be able to read the above so have typed it out.

SANDY

That pretty cat who stayed awhile

and shared her life with us

Gave so much pleasure every day

and always made a fuss

She knew not of her beauty

that was for our eyes to see

Food, warmth and love was all she asked

then graced us with her dignity

The family was her refuge

the garden her whole world

Her elegance would make you stop

and stroke her back as she uncurled

The pleasure turned to pain one day

as we watched her life just ebb away

But the pain was a flame in a fire of joy

with sparks that brought back memories

Of the day she was born by our bedroom door

to a very proud cat who we still hold dear

Who if she could speak, would I am sure

join us in our epitaph

"A gentle lady missed a lot Sandy darling you are not forgot"

Angles sur l' Anglin, France

I have just been reading Cherry's blog Tales from pixie wood where she is talking of and showing the trinkets that she has brought home from her recent trip to Switzerland. It got me thinking about a beautiful place we visited when staying with friends in France. Our friends live on a farm in La Barre, South of Pottiers where they have turned their barn into a gite. Summer wine holidays http://www.summerwineholidays.com/ This photo was taken in Angles sur l' Anglin, about an hour's drive away.

Once home I decided to paint this picture and here it is. There are so many beautiful scenes in this village, apparently it is one of the top ten in France, that I will post more photos from time to time.