that'll be a new hard drive then......................

It just goes to show, threats of violence only work temporarily. The laptop really was poorly, very poorly.
Having now had the techno equivalent of a heart and lung transplant, the dear thing is on fire. Fast, steady, dare I say reliable !!! Outstanding.

In other news, I have been mostly teaching for the last couple of weeks. Covering for illness.......... a bit like fire fighting, you feel suitably heroic doing it, but you can get a bit smoke damaged.

Now we are out of February, things are speeding up alarmingly. Open Studios is looming in to view. I think I will have enough work done, but I would like to be embarrased by the amount, rather than trying to convince visitors that the use of white space in a gallery is essential to show the work at it's best !

The life drawing class is up and going well, the piece at the top is really a study of hips legs and feet, I was feeling a bit colour-radical, and I reckon I got away with it.........

.....by way of a change

....I'm on my daughters laptop, as mine has rolled over again.
Makes a change for me to be hogging her machine !

Some of you may know that I'm a part time team member and governor at North Walsham High School. Currently there are several staff and pupils from the school making a feature film in Romania........yep, Romania.
The Major Domo of this project is Mr James "Francis Ford" Coulson, he is being ably supported by Miss Emma "Viewfinder" Cooper, who is DOP, Mr Dominic "Drama" James, who is what I believe used to be called a factotum, and Mrs Suzanne "Mutti" Eke, who is a force of nature......Not to mention the students who are acting/producing/lighting/doing the stills/sound/tea etc.
I think this is a bit of a major acheivement, and I would really appreciate it if you go over to;

http://vpositivemovieblog.blogspot.com

and leave them as much positivity as you feel able.

The film itself is a 'film noir' vampire flick, written by James and supported by a great team at home and on location in Romania, and no small undertaking for hard worked teachers and students.

Please go and give them much love.

thoughts of summers past

Just finished this.

I used some photographs and sketches for reference, and painted it onto a canvas prepped with fairly lurid pink ground. Hopefully the little bits of pink showing through have helped to give the impression of a warm summer morning.

The boat in the painting was called the Valerie Teresa, she was one of the last wooden crab-boats working from the beach at Cromer. Some of the best days work I have ever had were spent on board this boat, with her owner, John Balls and his sons.
John has since moved to North Devon, and the boat no longer sits on her carriage below the gangway.
I miss them both.

don't panic......

.......just because I might be.

While sorting out some work for an upcoming exhibition, an away fixture incidentally, I realised that I'm a bit short of finished work.
The five pieces promised to the aforementioned show constitute about half of my current stock.
I do have several of the small nudes that I have posted recently, but somehow I have to finance frames for them.....maybe I'll sell something at the weekend.....not likely in mid February, but it could happen !

bookworm

One of my real guilty pleasures is reading. Whenever I get a few minutes I like to get into a book. I can even read in the shower.........indeed, my multitasking knows no bounds.
This evening I have finished re-reading a book that I had sort of skimmed a few years ago. Without going into too much detail, it's a story of danger and dastardly deeds on the high seas, the true tale of a disastrous shipwreck off the coast of Australia in the 1720's. A cracking yarn, and well worth re-visiting.
Oh, in case you fancy it, Batavia's Graveyard by Mike Dash is the book in question.
So, what are you reading at the moment ? Got any recommendations ?

it's been taxing..........

filing a tax return online.
I'm not going to have a rant, mostly because I have nothing left to give. Suffice to say, that by the time my unique user identity number arrived in the post, I was already late. And that has cost me £100. Outstanding.
The best bit, apart from managing to exit the site, was the THIRTY TWO......count them...32 ...character successful receipt reference code. What are the chances of typing that in without making an error ?
About the same as me getting my return filed on time next year I guess.

On another note, my good friend Tommy Two-Sheds was back in the hospital this week. That will be two weeks running then.
A swift appendectomy last week, followed by rushing back in this week with a post op lung problem, that turned out to be not one, not two but three blood clots in his lung.
According to my sources, his employers are not too happy with the amount of time he has had off sick. What the fuck is that about ? Welcome to modern Britain, home of the understanding boss.
I think he should go back to work, fall over, then sue the wankers up the road and back.
I feel so bad for him, that in my capacity as Director General of Sam Robbins inc. I shall be having a half day off tomorrow. Solidarity, that's what we need more of round these parts.

Get well soon Tommy. X

as requested by.....

Travelling But Not in Love, here is a male nude.

The funny thing about pastel work, for me at least, is that the less you do the more you get away with.
For instance the feet on this piece have no toes, but if there were, my feeling is that the eye would be drawn to them too much.

Incidentally, referring back to the 16th Jan post, and vigour/immediacy in general, I think this has a certain amount of what I'm getting at.

It might be time to browse through some old sketchbooks........