hey-ho

So, PDF files, what are they all about ?

At the risk of sounding tetchy, why can't I create a simple table, then e-mail it out so others can fill it in ?
Currently that's a rhetorical question, by the way. I no longer care. I've moved on. Oh yes. It's not bothering me. Not at all. Bothered I am not.

No, really.

Back to the easel then, hope you dear readers are all well, speak soon.
X

I was sent this by e-mail......

........and I want to make it very clear that I am not leading a double life.

My irregular wafflings on here have detailed some of the thoughts trials and tribulations of a struggling artist.
I now find that my namesake is quietly undermining me with his burgeoning jewelery business, somewhere in our nations capital.

It would appear that somewhere in the dim and distant, a branch of the family escaped the daily grind of digging out coal in rural Leicestershire.

I wonder if the dynasty was formed with cash gleaned from a well concealed night shift find, at the end of a seam deep below the Vale of Belvoir.............

we can be a bit short of surf.........

..........on our coast.

But not today.

Got up later than planned, and didn't get wet myself, but there were several folk up and at it early on.
I took these pics at what used to be a secret spot.......but judging by how many people were in the water, I guess the word has spread !

Nice to get back behind a camera, I'm in the mood now, so off to a place called Sea Palling to get some more pics.........I might even take the board.........

Follow Ed to Paris

This is my good friend Ed Foss, (the one at the bottom of the picture)

Today he has set off from London, accompanied by his team-mates and several hundred others, to cycle from London to Paris in Aid of the Royal British Legion.

You should be able to follow his progress here;
http://norfolknomads.blogspot.com

Give him a look if you have a mo', and leave comments of love and support, he's a top bloke.

it must be summer..........

................because I have failed to post for sooooo long !

Anyway, no boring excuses, the image above may help you understand my lack of application. The image was taken a few hundred yards from my house, one morning last week.

Would you be stuck in front a computer ?
I think not.
While spending a more than reasonable amount of time on the beach, I have managed to do some work.
Working from holiday makers on the beach comes with it's own problems. I can deal with the sand in the paint (texture), I can deal with the sunburn (struggling for my art), but I do wish people would STAY PUT !

In other news, the eldest teenager has had her GCSE results, (OK) and is starting College in a week, the other teenager begins his GCSE courses at the same time..........more joy.

Hopefully more regular post's will commence as of now, but life keeps getting in the way a bit !

Later.

nobody here but us chickens.....

I spent some of yesterday sanding down and re-priming a couple of metre square canvases. The work on them was more than a year old, and part of a series that didn't quite hit the spot.

Not so long ago, I would have been really reticent about obliterating stuff that had taken a fair time to produce, but lately I have been embracing the cathartic elements of destroying old work.

There is some masochistic joy to be had in gleefully slapping white primer over carefully modulated brushstrokes, and the re-primed surface has a kind of two and a half 'D' ghost image, which is interesting to work on top of.

I'm hoping that a couple of ideas floating around in my head will come to fruition on these refreshed surfaces, a fair amount of development is needed, but they will be engaging if all goes well.

If you have a moment, and an interest in craft skills and/or poultry keeping, nip over to;

http://www.nicklyonsnorfolk.co.uk/

Nick is a fabulous craftsman, to whom I have a couple of coincidental connections.
Like me he is an artist, also like me he has had to embrace a little diversification in order to weather the vagaries of artistic fortune.
Now, even more strangely, he is a former Eastern Daily Press photographer who gracefully retired from the industry to pursue his painting.
Before you ask, yes, his last post was the Cromer office...........Fate?Coincidence?Dark Forces?, you decide.........

onwards

So, Open Studios is closed, so to speak.

I'm pleased to say that I had a good one. Around 250 visitors over the seventeen days, some interesting and interested people, and a good level of sales.......hurrah !
I even had a 'runner'.......that's someone who comes in and is frightened by the sheer level of filth on display, stays for no more than a minute, and immediately goes out through the door like a long dog.
I like that, it makes me feel like I'm getting it bang on right.

In other news, the Dark Princess, (my daughter), is more than halfway through her exam's and has also managed to get a pair of shoes for the Prom..........hurrah again !

That's all I have for you, except to say a big thank you to all of you who sent best wishes for the show, and even bigger love for those who were close enough to actually turn out and visit.

Off now to claim some spurious expenses from the public purse.
Later.