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Pockets, Paintings and Prezzies.

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Presenting 'Art Gallery #3', which features my oil and watercolour paintings from 2016, plus a couple of drawings.  Not exactly a prolific output but in my defence it had been a busy time, what with finishing my fourth novel, Fabian, and completing my second NVQ Level 3 course.  This video doesn't include my sketches done in Birkenhead Park - they'll keep for a separate video which will appear eventually.

I hope you enjoy looking at the video.  If you like any of the paintings, you can purchase them via my online store, Spooky Cute Designs.  They come as quality prints, (framed or unframed), on t-shirts for men and women, greetings cards and a wide variety of items.  Payment is secure with PayPal, and international shipping is available.  Browse the store for further details.

Anyway, guess whose birthday it was in February 17th!  Richard gave me two wonderful art books:  Artists Painting Techniques, edited by Bob Bridle and others; and Van Gogh:  The Complete Paintings, edited by Inga F Walther and Rainer Metzger.  I've been an admirer of Van Gogh's work for a very long time, and this book features many paintings I've never even seen before so I'm really thrilled to be given this.  I aim to get to the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands at some point, so I can see some of his work for real.

I've been on annual leave from my part-time day job for this week, and it's been a very enjoyable week.  I travelled to Southport to have lunch with my sister Evelyn, and we had a fun day browsing vintage furniture and china which we both have far too much of already.  I have beautiful china tea sets I've never used even once, which is a bit mad really.

I've been swimming several times, and took the dogs for a long meander through West Kirby sand dunes then around the marina and then into the village to see what's changed since we moved from there two years ago.  I also had walks round Prenton, Birkenhead, The Arno and Oxton, and finally got round to pruning the last of the roses in our garden.

I finished writing a short story.  Well, it's almost finished; it needs a tweak or two but the body of it is there.  So far it has the riveting title of "Cat Story".  This will change.

I fell in love with a lightweight coat.  It's a hybrid cross between a duffel and a raincoat, so it has toggles like a duffel but it's of a light yet showerproof material.  It's a lovely muted orange colour, with a white and navy stripy lining in the hood, and the hood's detachable, and the whole thing can go in the washing machine.  It has two big pockets.

Womens' clothes so often forget about practical things like pockets.  Well, technically it is the womens' clothes designers who forget about these things.  This is why women are usually seen clutching a bag - not because we've (necessarily) a fixation with bags but because our clothes have no pockets.

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