Halloween

One of the unexpected benefits of fatherhood is having your 12 year old son (the strawberry blonde on the left), lift your mood when you feel a bit down.

This is Sam and his mate Henry, on their way round the village to scare old ladies earlier tonight.

N.F.N......................

Phew..........

Tough couple of weeks. Much decorating of the new studio, (pics to follow), sudden influx of commercial photography, plus lashings of domestic trauma. Nice.
.
I'm getting seriously twitchy about my auction purchased Chaise Lounge...............every serious artist should have one................it has sat idle for over a month, too much decorating going on to be used for proper painting.
I have a couple of volunteers to be the first to be painted on it, so I need to crack on.

Looks like the studio will be finished next week, which means getting into it and thrashing some paint about.

Anyhoo, back now, more regular that syrup of figs, love to all, especially if you have been nipping in and going away disappointed.

Gotta go, need to find a cravat that doesn't clash with the Chaise...........

New work

Managed to get a bit of daubing done, despite all the Dulux getting slapped on the walls in the studio.

I'm trying to work on some home-made boards, that I have covered with heavy duty canvas. This has the effect of making it very hard to paint prissy details, thus I hope freeing up the composition.

This one worked ok, gonna do some nudes and portraits as soon as the studio is finished.

Any volunteers to sit ?

It's been over a week.................

since I had a minute to post. The main reason has been this.......................the new studio is more or less redecorated and starting to take shape.

More later today.

Curves, oh yes.

On a much warmer, cuddlier note than the post below, I just lurve drawing and painting curves.

Last night, running the life drawing class with a pounding skull ache. I did two or three crappy scribbles, and then this happened.
Head much better, neck un-wound, skip in the step............the magic of curves. Proven.

That will be all.

Jingo-tastic

When the dog needs a walk at, or around dawn, you see a lot of unusual stuff. For instance, this sunrise, which was actually on Sunday morning, but I only just got round to posting it.

This morning, however, was windy grey and not at all beautiful. As soon as I dragged the poor creature out of the warm kitchen, our ears tuned-in to an insistent 'ting-ting-ting-tinging' coming from the direction of the main drag.
Rounding the corner at the end of the road it became obvious what was causing the noise. At the top of the Haig Club flagpole, just visible against the still dark sky, was the Union Jack fluttering wildly and causing the lanyard to twang on the metal pole.
Well, thinks I, bet the neighbours love that. Inconsiderate wanker.........Imagine my surprise, when I cross the road and draw level with said pole, to see a bloke balancing against the forty foot flagstaff, on a small step ladder.
There he is in the dark, with a roll of black bodge tape, trying to stop the 'tinging' by taping the lanyard to the pole about ten foot up from the bottom.
Did I stop and offer help or advice ? Did I fuck. I loudly guffawed and kept on walking.

You see, it's like this; if you are going to fly a flag.....any flag.....but especially the Union flag, show some respect and do it properly.

Up at Dawn, down at Sunset.

Miss Smack

Two really good things already today;

1. Miss Smack the sassy antipodean lovely is back on the block.

2. Her nom de plume gives me a perfect excuse to post a painting with some shiny plastic in it............. Bargain.


http://honeysmack.blogspot.com

The hat has gone away for the winter

Teats.........

You can't say fairer than that.



(Pic courtesy of photogdownunder, New Zealand).

Because he's been a good lad today.........

Here's a frame of the dog looking cute.
Ahhhhhhhhh.

Dramatic skies

A good day creatively yesterday. Earlier on from the life drawing (see below), I spent the morning chasing clouds across my canvas, trying to get a feel for the sea and sky, while the clouds rolled past quietly laughing at me..................along with the gulls.

Tuesday night comes round again

Amazing how fast the weeks pass, measured by me in how quickly the Tuesday night life drawing class comes round.
We have had an influx of young students over the last two or three weeks. It's a real change for the group, as previously I was regularly the youngest person in attendance.
(Not often you can say that when you're 40 !)
Excellent news, not least because it makes paying the rent on the village hall a formality, rather than a constant worry.
Three of the new kids travel from Norwich,(an hour's drive), so their commitment can't be faulted. I think the willingness of these young people to spend time and money on life classes reflects a general return of drawing to the art student's armoury. All in all a very good thing.

Goodbye darkness my old friend

The sky was torn open by the dawn this morning.
It was as if the light moved the clouds, without any involvement from the air.
As I watched the blue-grey clouds parted to reveal the livid red and yellow scar of daylight. Beautiful, and distinctly autumnal.