A Slightly Sheepish Obsession....

I must confess to having a few on-going minor obsessions that seep through into my creativity - zombies for one, that is still up there. I'm watching The Walking Dead, knitting a couple of zombies and one of the children I teach art to is currently drawing endless highly detailed comic strips of his version of Walking Dead.  Another is birds - I like to paint them, own them, watch them out of my window (as I type a pair of blue tits are investigating the new nesting box I put up on our pergola) and even wear them in the form of jewellery and patterned clothing.

The past couple of weeks it appears sheep have entered the mix.  Needless to say, I have been working with their wool for most of my life in some shape or form.  But recently sheep themselves have come to the forefront.  Perhaps it was when the local farmer decided to go into sheep farming rather than arable and my daily dog walks have turned into sheep avoidance exercises - the idea of my saluki let loose in a field of stampeding sheep doesn't bear thinking about! (You must have seen this clip - this is what I have looked like during dog walks more often than I care to mention.)

I've recently sewn a lamb toy, knitted numerous sheep related items for the animation, bought a sweater with a sheep on the front, eaten lamb stew (does that count??) and now I have an idea for a painting that just won't go away.  So hopefully today I can start to get it down on paper and out of my head.  Does this happen to anyone else, a subject that emerges from the sub-conscious and won't go away until it has been exhausted?  Just me then......ok, I'll go quietly......