Climbing Ladders, Brush in Hand, Nose in Books.

Estuary Moon by Adele Cosgrove-Bray; watercolour; 2018.

I've been busy decorating my art studio, stripping off old wallpaper, mending dents and holes with Polyfiller, (one and a half tubes' worth!), and then climbing up and down an ancient step-ladder in order to paint the walls with three layers of plain, pristine white. The job is not quite finished; one small wall needs a final coat of paint and its skirting board doing with white gloss, and the door frame needs white gloss too, but the end is in sight. Photos to follow once it's completely done!

I've also been pulling out armfuls of forget-me-nots from our garden. There are supposed to be 74 official species of forget-me-nots, some of which are very pretty. Unfortunately, we're lumbered with horrible hairy things which self-seed prolifically and swamp all the other flowers and, once they've bloomed, flop over, turn brown and go brittle. Pull them out then and the spiny hairs cause a nasty rash.

We both enjoyed watching The Dressmaker, a film starring Kate Winslet whose character gets revenge on small town malice. She played the role so well, and having gown up in a small town myself I could easily relate to the issues of gossip, boredom and narrow horizons.

I found myself engrossed by EV Thompson's novel, The Dream Traders, which follows the struggles of a young Cornish merchant whose dream career opportunity in China brings him into conflict both with his European peers and with the Chinese rulers on Hong Kong in the 1830's. The factual politics behind the story describe the East India Trading Company's heavy involvement in opium production in India and subsequent illegal sale of that same opium in China for vast profit, with the British government's full knowledge.

Also good reading was The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman, the first in a fantasy trilogy about the life of a boy raised to be an assassin. He is equal parts naive and vicious, knowing only the confined and brutal world of the fanatical monks who trained both him and others like him.

I've also just finished re-reading Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, which I've loved since my teens and have lost count of how many times I've read it. Many years ago, in 1981, I watched Granada TV's serial production of this novel, which featured Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews. A film was made in 2008 but I wasn't keen on this version as it messed up the plot by having Julia Flyte go to Venice with Charles and Sebastian, and lost many of the novel's underlying themes. Anyway, as anticipated I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading Waugh's novel, and have no doubt I'll read it again at some point in the future.

Do you have a favourite novel which you've read and read again countless times?

Haven's Approach by Adele Cosgrove-Bray; watercolour; 2018.

Daftness, Dogs and Drawing.

Life drawing; pencil on A4 paper; 2018.

First take a look at this interesting and diverse series of photos which depict womens' jobs from around the world, then have a good chuckle over the absurd descriptions of women by some male writers. The contrast between the two is quite telling.

I am reminded of a conversation, which took place years ago, between an ex-boyfriend and myself.  He remarked that it must be marvellous to be a woman as we have breasts. I looked at him in bewilderment, and then pointed out that we also have knees and elbows but don't pay them much attention most of the time.

"Oh," he said, crestfallen. "You disappoint me."

"Really? You're the one with the delusions about female anatomy."

It is no co-incidence that he became an ex.

Life drawing class, March 2018. Photo credit: Marie Mairs.

Here's a photo of my hands holding a pencil. The A4 sketchpad I'm using here is nearly full, mostly of life drawings done during an enjoyable class I've been attending, which is organised by Wirral artist Marie Mairs. It is held in a church which has a towering pointy spire, in a side room of the community hall which has a high ceiling and lots of tall windows, so the quality of light is good for artwork. There are plans for some kind of summer exhibition for the group - more info will follow, as dates and details are confirmed.

In the garden, daffodils and narcissus have taken over from the snowdrops, which have finished flowering for another year. The cherry tree's branches are knobbly with ripening buds. The bird feeders regularly attract blackbirds, robins, wrens, sparrows, pigeons and wood pigeons, a shy pair of collared doves, blue tits and a pair of hooded crows who perform acrobatics as they try to hover in mid-air to peck at the hanging seed feeder even though it would be much easier to land on the patio and eat from the seed tray placed on the paving there. Maybe that's just not as much fun.

Here're two small oil paintings, Tree #1 and Tree #2, which go together and which form the start of my Birkenhead Park Series. There are heaps of sketches and photos for this series, waiting for me to turn them into paintings. If you click on "Art" in the menu at the top of this page you can watch a video showing some of these. I thought I'd finished painting Tree #1 when I shared an image of it in my last blog post. I changed my mind, and the one you're looking at here is the finished version.

These two trees are both in the park, and these paintings taken from my ever-growing collection of pen and ink sketches done in pocket-sized sketchbooks. I've taken a shine to pocket-sized sketchpads for the stunningly obvious reason that they fit in a pocket, which makes the activity less cumbersome when there are two fidgety Jack Russell Terriers tugging at leads held by the hand which is also holding the sketchpad.

Emily and Poppi are quite patient, sitting by my feet as I scratch away at the page, but after a while their quiet 'gruggle' noises get steadily louder and the tugging on the leads gets more acute, and they know that eventually I'll stop drawing and say something like, "Oh, come on then, let's go a bit further." This is usually when they'll walk 6" along the path before slamming on the brakes to painstakingly sniff a stick.

Trees, Snow and Confused Dogs.

Richard was undeterred by the weather.

So far this week we've had snow (twice), icy winds, torrential rain and a fleeting glimpse of spring sunshine. This figures, as I'm on annual leave for a few days.

On Monday we decided to take the dogs to the beach, seeing as the first batch of snow had melted. Would it be New Brighton or West Kirby? We chose to board whichever bus came first, and a short while later we disembarked at Hoylake. We meandered round the shops along Market Street then took the public footpath which runs between the railway line and the golf course, coming out on Greenbank Road in West Kirby.

Emily got  a bit confused and wanted to turn left, the route we used to take to head for home - or rather, to what used to be home three years ago. The familiar sight of the beach cheered her up, even though the tide had only just turned and much of the sand remained underwater. Poppi gave a chunk of seaweed a good barking at because it was there.


Richard is currently watching a DVD which shows every goal ever scored by Everton FC. My updating of this blog is not coincidental.

Sport bores me. It always did. I simply do not care who can run in a circle the fastest, or who can jump over the highest stick. If people wish to risk life and limb by hurtling down an icy tube whilst clinging to a little metal sledge-thing, then they are totally welcome to do so. Each to our own, etc., etc. Just don't talk to me about it.

Moorland Stream; watercolour.

Tree #1: Birkenhead Park Series; oil on canvas.

I have begun working on paintings for my planned Birkenhead Park series. Here you can see the self-explanatory Tree #1, though it's not a particularly good image as I had to scan it while holding the still-wet oil painting off the screen. Consequently the focus is marred, and the scanner has zoned in on the weave of the canvas.  

Tree #2 has been started. Both paintings are just 7.5" square, and based on sketches done in the park. The tree in Tree #1 stands very close to the Roman boathouse, and I've sketched it a number of times as I'm fond of its lovely gnarly, twisty shape.

Our Garden, 8th March 2018.

Stingy Chips and Sidestreet Surprises

Gentle Waves and Tranquil Days; watercolour,2018.

Eagle-eyed regulars have already noticed that I've changed the name of my online merchandise store from Spooky Cute Designs to something more direct.  There was nothing wrong with the old name, as such, but had become rather misleading.  The store's earliest designs tended to be teddy bears wearing a witch's hat, or the ever-popular Beelzebear designs or similar, and while many of these items are still available, (printed onto T-shirts, bags, household furnishings, posters and more), the majority of the store's merchandise now derives from my art and photography, plus the range of items for writers which remains popular.  Therefore the old store name was misleading to new clients.  I only changed its name recently but sales are already improving.

One of my nieces recently posted on Facebook that she was thinking of combining her two YouTube channels into one.  As I said to her, a hazard of having any kind of website is that you then spend forever tweaking the thing.

New store banner - it sells exactly what it says on the sign!

My birthday was on the 17th.  There's an old superstition - in which I don't believe, incidentally - which claims that the predominant theme of events on a person's birthday will continue to be the main theme for them throughout their coming year.  The main activity of my morning was a life drawing class, and in the afternoon Richard presented me a box of Dairy Milk chocolates and two paperbacks, The Underground Railroad by Colin Whitehead, and Birdcage Walk by the late Helen Dunmore, who's one of my favourite writers. 

Richard also took me out to dinner.  We had planned to dine in Chester but the torrential rain encouraged us to cancel our plans.  One hour later, with the two of us moping around, he suddenly said, "Oh rhubarb to it", or words to that effect, "let's go out anyway."  As Southport's Lord Street in mostly under cover, that's where we headed to, and we both enjoyed a lovely day out.

Life drawings, 17th February 2018.

We lunched at a small but busy cafe which annoyed me by serving chips wrapped in a paper napkin and tucked inside a little aluminium bucket whose base was stuffed with a second napkin in a lame attempt to disguise the miserly portion.  It's not as if a couple of potatoes are an expensive commodity in line with, say, a bottle of Rothchild's finest.  Easy solution:  we'll dine elsewhere in future.

When heading back towards Southport train station, we wandered down a sidestreet which we've obviously not been down before as we came across a fabulous bookshop.  Spread through cramped rooms over several floors, it sells both old and new books which are stacked to the rafters, and the subjects are split up intelligently so you can find what you're looking for.

Richard bought a couple of old Star Trek novels, while I picked three second-hand art books:  The Big Book of Painting Nature in Oils by S Allyn Schaeffer; Fresh Watercolour by Ray Campbell Smith; and Coastal Landscapes by David Bellamy. We'll definitely be calling into this bookshop again now we've found it.  We were told it had been there since the 1920s, which is quite an achievement in itself.  These-days there are hardly any independent bookshops left, all squeezed out by Waterstones and WH Smith's, plus exorbitant high street rentals and rates which crush small businesses, plus competition from online outlets.

I'm seriously thinking of changing the title of the final Artisan-Sorcerer novel.  The previous four novels in the series were each named after the predominant character in that novel.  However, while I'd planned to call this last book Morgan, it is more about Bethany Rose than Morgan himself, though his presence is felt throughout.  I've already told Bethany's backstory in the third novel, Bethany Rose, but this fifth novel focuses on her life in the here and now, her choices, issues, problems and resolutions. Obviously, I won't be calling it "Bethany Rose #2". I'm toying with the idea of giving it the simple title of The Artisan-Sorcerer.  Another underlying reason for this will come clear when you eventually get to read the finished thing!

Snowdrops are in bloom in our garden, and in the park there're drifts of purple crocus.  Spring's on its way, folks!

Goals for 2018

 Since 2012, I've created a list of annual goals which I aim to achieve during the next twelve months.  This is one way to keep track of the progress of various projects, and it's a bit of self-entertainment.
 
These were my goals for 2017:-

1. Write a minimum of one short story per month; 
2. Write a minimum of one poem per month; 
3. Write the 1st draft of Morgan, the 5th of the Artisan-Sorcerer series; 
4. Paint, draw & photograph; 
5. Take up swimming again.

Well, the first two goals weren't met at all!   I wrote only three short stories and four poems, which is a spectacularly lousy output.  However, the reason for this is my focus on #3, ( and #4), and progress with Morgan is doing very well.  Will it be finished in 2018?  Here's hoping, as I've been playing around with an idea for another novel for some time already, which explores the subject of reincarnation, karma and soul growth.  It will be a stand-alone novel; in fact Morgan will probably be the last in the Artisan-Sorcerer series.

#4:  Throughout 2017 I was sketching in Birkenhead Park again.  If you scroll down this page, or use the menu to go to the Art page, you can watch a video slideshow of these sketches, plus previous years' work.  I've finally begun the first in a planned series of oil and watercolour paintings in this theme.  Watch this blog for progress reports!

Why Birkenhead Park?  I often walk my dogs there, and it proved too tempting not to start carrying a small sketchbook in my pocket. That's all anyone needs in order to to go sketching:  a pad and a pen or pencil.

The park is an important green space in a heavily built-up area, and offers a range of subjects for any painter - woodland copses, ponds, wildlife, buildings, bridges, meadows...  The sketches tend to be done very quickly out of necessity, as people and wildlife move continually.  Some of my sketches of people look more like cartoons, probably due to the rapid speed that they're drawn at.

I find myself attracted by the shapes of old trees, and will continue to sketch their twisted, arching, gnarled forms.  Winter's great for this as their shapes aren't hidden behind foliage, but then summery leaf coverage brings another whole range of shapes and tones to explore.

I've done quite a bit of photography around the park, too, and I plan to use my photos in conjunction with sketches.   I use photography as a reference but don't reproduce "reality" exactly as I'm more interested by impression, atmosphere and the effects of light. 


So, it's time to create my goals for 2018!

1. Finish writing the 1st draft of Morgan;
2. (Then if I've done #1) Write one short story per month;
3. (If I've done #1) Write one poem per month; 
4. Paint, draw, sketch & photograph!

Incidentally, I did keep my 2017 goal of taking up swimming again, which is something I enjoy.  However, after around six months I cancelled my membership due to the unsatisfactory hygiene conditions of the facility.

Video - Birkenhead Park Sketches 2017

Video - Paintings and Drawings from 2017

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Paintings, Paintings Everywhere...!

Sunrise Wave; A4-size, mixed media, 2017.

My week's annual leave seemingly passed in the blink of an eye and I enjoyed my time off, and took the dogs on several extra long walks.  I managed to get some of the garden pruned back too - most of the roses and the St John's wort.  The bin's full now so I will have to wait until that has been emptied before finishing the job.

I went to the Tate Gallery in Liverpool to see the "Constellations" exhibition, which thematically links select works by well-known artists of the past century to look at different contemporary approaches to similar subjects.  The diverse exhibition brings together works by Lowry, Rothko, Braque, Duchamp and Warhol, and many more, and is well worth viewing.

I also saw their small Roy Lichtenstein exhibition plus a third exhibition, this one by two lesser-known artists, Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley.

After a much-needed pit-stop at Cafe Nero, I visited the ever-fabulous Walker Art Gallery which houses some of my favourite pieces of Pre-Raphaelite art plus other old favourites, such as Harold Gilman's Mrs Mounter - I love the bold colours and loose brush strokes of this painting, and the resigned expression of her face, as if the weight of the world is on her narrow shoulders and the highlight of her life is indulging in this simple pot of tea.  The artist produced several versions of this piece.  It reminds me of the person I fictionalised as Beatrice in Tamsin: An Artisan-Sorcerer Story.

The life-drawing group is proving to be a useful and fun activity.  It's a small but friendly group.  I hadn't done much life drawing since my art school days, other than a few hastily sketched portraits, so of course I was totally rusty.  However, my skills are slowly improving.  These are from the two most recent sessions.

Life Drawings; 8B pencil on paper; 2017.

A corner of my art room, 28th November 2017.

I took this photo of my display table in a corner of my art room this morning.  You can see four of the miniature canvases I've been playing with, plus some oil paintings and watercolours.  The work in the two small folders are all watercolours, and you can also see a small stack of greetings cards.  The blue box poking out from under the table holds prints of photos by Richard and myself, which I use for visual reference.  Beneath the box are some sketchpads and beside them, in the lower left hand corner of the photo, you can see some card-making supplies.

The table in my art room, 28th November 2017.

 Here's a photo of the table in my art room.  The drawing board used to be a part of a kitchen cupboard, but it serves the purpose.  You can see a table-top easel with some life-drawings in a sketch pad, with my watercolours in front of that.  The folded towel is used to control the amount of water on my brushes.  There're watercolour pencils in a pot I made many years ago at a pottery class; the square pot holding watercolour brushes is one I made too.  They're not great examples of pottery but they were fun to make!  The brushes in the glass jug are for oil painting.  The felt tipped pens are Richard's. 

Behind the tube of Reeves gesso is a vintage pipe rack I use to holding brushes.  The pliers are used for prising lids off obstinate tubes of oil paints.  There are some larger brushes beside the table lamp, which I rarely use.  The wooden box decorated with a gondola, which you can see behind the glass jug, was made by an uncle during his joinery apprenticeship - he's an elderly man now, so it's pretty old - and it contains art materials which I use less often, such as acrylic paints, charcoal sticks, oil pastilles, conte crayons, artists' chalks etc., most of which date back to my art school days some 30 years ago.

Readin', Writin' and Rovin' (with a sketch book).

The exhibition at Seagrass Studios and Gallery, in West Kirby, Wirral, closes this weekend so if you wish to view my watercolour painting on show there - plus lots of other truly lovely art - then be sure to call in.  The gallery can be found on Acacia Grove, which is directly opposite the train station.

Birkenhead Park sketch, and my painting (centre by lamp) in Seagrass Gallery

These last few weeks, I've been busy writing Morgan.  Explained simply, there are three ways to write a novel.  One way is to plan everything in advance, making detailed notes which are then followed rigidly.  The opposite method is to plan nothing at all, to have a loose idea and start exploring this through writing and slowly discover where it might lead.  The middle way offers a compromise between these two extremes; the writer has a few notes which log important plot twists and outcomes, but which also leaves plenty of room for flexibility and improvisation.

Each writer needs to experiment and discover which method works best for them.  For some, a detailed plan helps them to produce finished work more quickly and so ensure publishing deadlines are met, while others say a rigid plan stifles creativity.  Having no plan at all works fine for some people, while others find themselves floundering, staring at a blank page for far too long while wondering what to write.

Previously, I've used the middle method,  filling a few sheets of A4 file paper with jotted notes about the main events with a clear intention of how I want the novel to end.  I've found that knowing what needs to happen by the novel's end prevents plots from wandering off purpose.  A person might fairly argue that foreknowledge of the end point is the most important part of  any plot plan.

There's also the little matter of getting on with the actual writing rather than wasting time on addictive social media...but that's another issue.

Having now written approximately one quarter of Morgan, which will be the last novel in the Artisan-Sorcerer Series, I re-read my plot notes and found that so many things had changed that the notes had now become redundant other than for reminding me of where the novel needs to end. Fortunately, I prefer the written version to the planned version.  So it looks like I've moved to a more intuitive approach without intending to, but if it works then I'll continue with it.

Life drawing, September 2017.

I have begun attending a life drawing group.  The drawing shown here comes from the first session.  Having not done any life drawing since my art school days some thirty years ago, I'm as rusty as it gets.  There's only one cure for that, though - practise, practise and more practise!

The group is organised by Marie Mairs, who has a studio on Wellington Road, Oxton.  I first met Marie around two years ago when I visited her studio as part of the Wirral Open Studios Tour.

Storm's Approach; watercolour; September 2017.

I've recently finished reading a lively and imaginative novel by Elle Newmark, called The Book of Unholy Mischief, (also published as The Chef's Apprentice).  The main character is a homeless orphan who struggles to survive on the unforgiving streets of Venice in 1498.  He's given a fresh start in life by a kindly chef, but this leads to danger when rumours of a book containing alchemical secrets of immortality and vast wealth begin circulating the populace. 

I enjoyed the story, and not just because it was set in a city I've long wished to explore.  A dash of gnostic philosophy was woven neatly into the plot, too - nothing that I've not encountered many times before but it was pleasant to find it tucked away in a novel.  Unfortunately the author wrote only one more book before she passed away.

Birkenhead Park sketch, 2017

My Birkenhead Park sketching project has continued from last year.  I've shared a few of the results in my blog - scroll back to find them - and here's two more with this post.  It's been fun to do.  I've used quite small sketch pads which fit into my pocket easily, and have used an ink pen for almost all of the work for sheer convenience - plus I like the strong line made by the ink.

My two dogs have become entirely accustomed waiting around while I sketch waterfowl, interestingly twisted and gnarly old trees, or draw cartoon-like studies of whatever people are doing in the park.  Richard likes the cartoony-things best and says I should paint them just as I've drawn them.  They were only intended for my own entertainment, really.  Anyway, I'll post one below and you're welcome to make of it what you will.

Children's football coaching, Birkenhead Park, 2017.