A smaller commission - another Poppy

This is Poppy, another Poppy ;-). I was requested to undertake this one by a gentleman down at the RC flying field. I hope he will be pleased with it....I am sorry I don't actually know the breed of dog!



I find myself increasingly doing requests/commissions and think I am going to have to professionalise myself just a little and come up with a schedule of prices.

Our holidays

Well back to work for us both today but thought I would post up a selection of photographs from our holidays.
We don't have too many from Skiathos this time...we didn't really get chance. I confess that I still feel pretty cheated. If you check out the ATOL website it tells you that if you are protected, they will ensure that you get accomodation and will be able to continue with your holiday....well that is quite clearly not true! So traveller beware! I know things could have been worse and I should just get over it.....
Anyway here are a few good moments:

Skiathos Town


Tsougrias



Making a splash

On our return home we managed to get a visit to the Falconry centre:




And a couple of days flying (the best weather of the year)....and Ron bought chocolate cake!



I don't suppose we will forget our 2008 holidays in a hurry for lots of reasons!

Simple Christmas Cards

These are all fairly simple Christmas cards.




However, this is likley to be the last of simplicity for a little while. I now need to concentrate on some fairly personal projects for my friends and family for Christmas. Understandably I won't be able to show these for a little while ;-) ). I am also working on some fairly complex projects at the minute.
I have also had requests for a couple of commissions, one of which is a pretty big oil painting. I will post details and progress of this one on my oil painting blog....
Happy week to you all :-D

Two lovely awards

Whilst I was on my "trip" ;)....I was nominated with two lovely awards from this blogger...
Crafty This and That
If you have the time, do go and check it out. I downloaded this ladys templates for some wonderful calenders which have turned out very nicely (sorry I haven't got around to uploading the results) and her latest recipes look wonderful too.




To translate the gift from Portuguese to English, it means:
"This blog invests and believes, the proximity"

[meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proxy]

"They all are charmed with the blogs, where in the majority of its aims are to show the marvels and to do friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize, and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut, or that they propagate?
Then let's try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to 8 bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.


Bloggers I am passing both awards to are:

Robin - she is beautiful person. Also check out her latest post and help her and Robb save some mountains http://nakedineden.com/nakedinedenblog/

Henry - he is a "wonderful" writer both humerous and spiritual and I love his SOH http://soulmerlin.blogspot.com/

Nessy - is a lovely lady and very talented and just so creative http://nessysnotes.blogspot.com/

As is Nards (a lovely lady), who I think about at the minute because life is a little difficult right now http://nardeeisms.blogspot.com/

Tina - cos she is a sweetie, a good friend to lots of people and makes lovely personal cards for so many - she just cares...;D http://macpurp.blogspot.com/

Gina for being such an incredible person with amazing courage in the face of so much http://gina-imaginations.blogspot.com/

Terrie - because I know her to be kind and caring as well and is also having a tough time. She is an amazingly talented crafty person but also a wonderful writer http://alienadventurereports.blogspot.com/

Emma for a great blog with some wonderful creations http://elf-creations.blogspot.com/

Timethief for such informative stuff....so much research, she amazes me with her energy http://thistimethisspace.com/

Oh and as always....if people find these awards then all good and dandy, if they want to post them, thats good too but I don't mind if they simply just accept them either. Awards don't always sit well on all blogs so I leave it entirely up to the recipient:-D

My first pastel drawing

Well it should be Fridays fable but I am taking a break this week. I am afraid I feel in a bit of a nothing, lets jut hope that unlike the Never Ending story that "the nothing" doesn't take over...
I had my first little play with pastels this week and this is the first result. I do like the soft effect and think they are especially good for animal fur :-D

Portrait of a little girl

I took some materials away with me on our little "trip" and managed to get quite a lot of drawing done. This is the first one that I did of a little girl. I found a photograph on Wet Canvas and thought she just looked such a cutie. In hindsight, I would probably used lighter, warmer toned paper.
Hope everyone is good, at least we still have some time off work so I went on a big spending, shopping spree today at Hobbycraft as a treat to "myself" :D

Repatriated

I guess a few people may have noticed that I was missing....we have been on our holidays to Skiathos. Unfortunately we went on 12 Sep which some of you may recall was the the day that XL went into receivership...except I don't think that Air Malta knew this at 05.30 in the morning, so we got there.....
We were covered by ATOL so thankfully we were found accommodation for a week. Eventually we were offered a flight home too although this was a week before we should have been back and to a different airport. The journey took us about 15 hours and I can honestly say that I don't want to see the inside of an airport again any time in the near future.
At the minute I still feel mightily upset, peeed off and I want to stamp my feet and hold my breath until I turn blue ;) I confess I am in a grump.....
But, as always there are a few good things. We met some wonderful people. We were put up in the Hotel Arco and met some lovely people who were in a similar situation to us. At least we had a chance to cry in our beers together and the owner very kindly bought us a drink too. The staff were really great and it was good to meet them all :D
If any of them get to read this, I would like to thank the Kosmar representatives once again. To try to move mountains when you have just been told that your job is no more is not the best situation to be in and I still feel sad that some people felt the need to sound off at them!
If any travel company gets to read this, the reps on Skiathos were fantastic.
For everyone else, you may not be aware that it is unlikely that your holiday insurance will cover you should your travel company go into liquidation. I understand the Post office and M&S annual cover does, so I know where mine will be coming from next year.
There were people mightily worse off than we have been and I can only feel so sorry, I know that a lot of our time was spent in uncertainty which really didn't make for a good break but at least we are home safe and sound.
Unfortunately many villa owners were owed money and so the knock on effect will be even more people going out of business. I feel really upset for them, I have a great liking for the greeks.

However, as you can see, it wasn't all bad. Gavin in this bar makes a mean cocktail :D

Fridays Fable - Autumn

This Fridays fable is for my good friend Mike...I know that Alfonse Mucha is one of his favourite artists.

To Autumn by John Keats
I
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

II
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

III
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend :D

Fridays Fable - Here comes the Sun

Sunshine - Laura Alma-Tadema

When The Sun Comes After Rain by Robert Louis Stevenson
WHEN the sun comes after rain
And the bird is in the blue,
The girls go down the lane
Two by two.

When the sun comes after shadow
And the singing of the showers,
The girls go up the meadow,
Fair as flowers.

When the eve comes dusky red
And the moon succeeds the sun,
The girls go home to bed
One by one.

And when life draws to its even
And the day of man is past,
They shall all go home to heaven,
Home at last.


To continue with my story from last weeks fable, this week was the week, three years ago that changed everything. As it happened I had taken the week off as leave and as so often happens when two people whose relationship is on rocky ground spend time together, it cracked wide open. Incidentally it also rained incessantly!
So it was that I was sitting one Sunday morning sitting on a manhole cover at 4 am in a narrow winding Welsh lane knowing that I had a few people to contact.
I knew I had to reach out.

I needed to ring my friend Vine, he wasn't too aware of what had been happening but he knew things were badly wrong. He was also a long term friend that I knew I could trust.
I needed to ring Andy, I hadn't actually ever rang him up before but I had chatted both down the flying field and on a forum and he knew things were not right. The fact that we did chat had resulted in a few accusations which I now knew would worsen, so he needed a warning before he went to the flying field the next day.
I needed to ring my parents, who had despaired when the relationship had begun, I was almost embarrassed.
I needed to ring Stef, I needed a place to stay.

I sat there in the dark, just trembling which was odd because it wasn't really cold, just wondering who to call first.
I had, throughout the evening, become increasingly afraid for my safety. I was just sitting there in the middle of nowhere knowing that soon I had to go back and face someone who I suddenly realised I didn't know at all.
So I started to make my calls not knowing when or how I would get the chance again. I didn't expect anyone to answer, I assumed from the time of day that everyone would have their mobile turned off and I could leave a message.
Andy was second on my list and he called me back……….
I was no longer alone.
That was my first glimmer of light.
I laughed last week when Tina asked what my cards are like now. (Tina actually I use a beautiful oracle more nowadays- another post sometime).
Anyway, on that day in a quiet moment I did my tarot. I remember having the Tower, Death, The Devil, three, nine and ten of swords. It was September 11th, it is odd that such things that linger in your memory.
In case you are unfamiliar with tarot cards, I would suggest that most people who got this kind of a spread would probably try hibernation, LOL.
However, the very last card in my spread was the two of cups. The second glimmer of light.

I met Andy for the first time on our own for a drink on 13 September 2005.
There were many things to be resolved. A lot of anxious times followed, some things were very hurtful and hard to overcome….but all of that isn't for this post.
More importantly, most of my friends were there for me, I had just lost sight.
As far as Andy is concerned, I felt like someone with a mighty hand had rearranged my life. From then on my highs and lows, my thoughts and my feelings have been truly shared.
In the words of James Blunt "My life is brilliant". This post is dedicated to Andy, Happy Anniversary for tomorrow and thank you :D

9/11

My thoughts are with those people that lost loved ones.

Vanessa's Blog Candy

I did this card to take place in Vanessa's celebration of her birthday. She told us to make a girly card with glitter. I think this is suitably girly and it does have lots of glitter, Andy will testify ;)
Check out her blog and her celebratory blog candy here.

One of my favourite all time tunes

and videos.............I love fireworks. If I could choose one all time happy song, it would be this one :D

Soul Merlin and his Grandson

I needed to move out of my comfort zone with portraits and try something more complex. I saw a wonderful photograph on Henry's blog that inspired me...somehow it just reminded me of Miracle on 34th Street, the look from both of them...Incidentally, I just so love that film. I love Christmas and I love making it magical...but thats another post sometime.
Henry very kindly allowed me to use the image and this is the result:

I will tweak it a bit in a couple of days....and Jen any pointers from an academic point of view are very welcome:)
The reference photo can be viewed here
Footnote: Here it is updated after working on Jen's suggestions...I didn't quite have the nerve to do too much more to the young man, I know from past experience that it is very easy to mess up blonde hair. I ended up putting a few more darks and lights in it, darkening shadows, a slight adjustment to Henrys forehead, sorry Henry ;)a few more whiskers and darkening the background..


I know that the time has come to leave it alone now...

Fridays Fable - Follow Your Rainbow

Bathing at Asnieres - Georges Seurat
This weeks Fridays fable has been inspired initially by music that I have been listening to and singing to this week from the Sound of Music, in particular "Climb every mountain".
But, there is a bit of a story behind this weeks too, which will go into two parts, the second part will be in next weeks fable.
This time three years ago I was deeply unhappy! I don't mean "down", I mean seriously inwardly unhappy. The year before my brother had lost his battle with cancer and the winter had been the darkest one of my life. It was the only year that I can recall, that I couldn't be bothered to put up a Christmas tree. I was deeply concerned for my parent's health too and submersed myself into family history obsessively.
I was also in a huge amount of debt, which wasn't really down to me, but I hadn't been taking enough notice. The relationship I was in at the time was very wrong for me and I was also being carefully and skilfully manipulated. Most of my friends had long gone and I was alone in every sense of the word. Really alone.
I remember this time three years ago spending a considerable amount of time (hours) talking to both God and my bruv on a disused flying field. I remember consulting my tarot cards and all I kept getting was the wheel of Fortune, Death and in every spread, the Fool.
This time three years ago, little did I know that my life was on the brink of a huge change….one week that changed my life beyond recognition. :D
So for this weeks fable you get "The Rainbow".

On this long storm the Rainbow rose by Emily Dickinson

On this long storm the Rainbow rose --
On this late Morn -- the Sun --
The clouds -- like listless Elephants --
Horizons -- straggled down --

The Birds rose smiling, in their nests --
The gales -- indeed -- were done --
Alas, how heedless were the eyes --
On whom the summer shone!

The quiet nonchalance of death --
No Daybreak -- can bestir --
The slow -- Archangel's syllables
Must awaken her!

Oh and if you have the same amount of rain and grey skies as we do here in the Midlands, try singing a few songs from the Sound of Music ;)

Chris Craftlings Blog Candy & drinks on my blog

I don't take part in many blog candy thingies, I think if I don't normally comment on their blog, it is a bit of a cheek. But, on this occasion I do (comment that is!). So Chris Craftling has some great blog candy. She is also try to educate us all into getting rid of that horrible "blogger word verification". Well I did that ages ago. If you get a spammy comment it is so much easier to just click on the bin..............
But apart from all that, congratulations to her too because after a lot of effort, she got the job she applied for today, a big well done :D