See Me Run...

Something was strange yesterday afternoon....the builders were definitely there,six feet from our garden, but there was no noise...no axle grinders grinding, no generator buzzing, no saws sawing, and no ribald banter.  Not only that, the neighbours weren't playing their stereos, hammering and banging or shouting at each other...could it be that I would get the opportunity to take my drawing board outside? 

So I got everything together, fresh paper on board, pencil sharpened, kindle playing some suitable tunes,and decamped to the patio table.  Spent a very pleasant hour sketching out the next dog portrait, then decided to get the watercolours and do a few impromptu watercolour sketches of the plants around me.  The one above is my stevia plant.

Some green tomatoes and a few salad leaves.  I was just really getting into this when.....it rained!  What to save first, the kindle, my drawing board or the watercolours?  What a scramble! At least I got some quality time out there.

I've had my phone for a couple of years now but never worked out how to get the photos off it and onto the computer.  Yes, I am indeed a techno-numpty.  However, a penny dropped somewhere yesterday and I finally managed it.  Interesting to look at pictures I had stored on there from past winters. This peacock butterfly is from a walk yesterday.

I took my daughter to feed the fish at a local park - lots of ducks and a very wily heron, who makes it his business to wait on the sidelines, watch carefully until the fish are all there, busy eating bread, then swoops in and grabs his own fish dinner.

Did you know herons swim like ducks?  No, neither did I. I thought their legs would be too gangly, but here is a photo to prove me wrong.

Earlier this year we fed geese at Fleet Pond and one pair had goslings - how cute are they?

I wonder if I will get a peaceful afternoon today too?

What A Difference A Day Makes....

For so long it feels as if we have been living under a permanent rain cloud, so when a day like today comes along, it is surprising just how good it makes you feel. No lie-in today, it was up and out for a crisp walk with the dog in the frosty fields then back home for pancakes and strawberries, our Sunday morning treat.

After getting some chores out of the way, it was off to Fleet Pond to feed the birds.  My daughter loves to feed the geese and swans - my favourites are the gulls.

It is quite difficult to throw bread high in the air and then try to get photographs of the gulls in flight without chucking your camera into the pond.  I took about 50 pictures, but only a few are worth keeping. However, I plan a painting using them at some time in the future.

Just before we left, this magnificent fellow came swimming up and I managed to get the perfect picture without risking life and limb.  Now this one definitely goes in the 'potential painting' folder.

I have lots of projects on the go at the moment, but none ready to show.  A painting for Derwent, yet another alligator scarf, some footwear for the animation, and joy of joys, someone wants me to knit replicas of their 4 lurchers - I love knitting little dogs!

Oh yes, and there is another zombie on the way.....

Fetch a Magnifying Glass......

....because here it is!  If you want a living room just like Justine's, you can buy my painting.....
This is in Country Homes & Interiors, November edition. 

With a bit of luck, the current painting with the decking and the beach chairs will be finished today.  I'll be glad to see the back of it - the novelty has worn off as I discovered many of the artist's errors along the way and probably made a few of my own too.  Give me a horse or a dog to paint rather than chairs any day!

Shells & Swans

I ordered this bead from Cheeky Cherub Designs last week, and when it came yesterday I was overjoyed.  The photo really doesn't do it justice, it is so beautiful.  Now I have to think about how I am going to make a necklace with it - I am thinking on natural thread with a few shells maybe.  It's been such a long time since I made jewellery, I feel a little rusty.

I'm finally happy with the swan painting - I gave the water a fairly thick covering of white Inktense pigment whcih calmed the patterning on the water considerably.  It can be purchased on my Etsy shop now.

Sunny Sunday...

Unbelievably, this weekend it has not rained!  It has finally been a chance to get out in the garden and try and rescue what plants have not been waterlogged to extinction, cut the foot high grass and plant out some seedlings.

Also an opportunity to get out to the lake and feed the swans - I must have hundreds of swan photographs but never tire of them.  I like this one with it's monochrome, the ripples on the water and the spread of the swan's wings.

Interesting........

As you know, one of my daughter's favourite occupations is feeding the local bird population.  These days she tends to do this on a Thursday with her careworker, but last week this expedition was rained off.  So we went this morning to visit Fleet Pond instead.

Amongst the usual swans, mallards and Canada geese, there were some birds I didn't recognize at all. Luckily I'd had the forethought to take the camera along, so snapped a few pictures for reference when we got home.

Apparently they are Egyptian Geese, although are actually more of a duck than a goose.  Not native to the UK, the population here originates from escapees of parks and ornamental ponds.  Unusual and quite attractive birds and they have a weird mooing quack which sent my daughter off into paroxysms of laughter, as you can hear on  the video - if it loads!

I did take the camera along to the Fleet Carnival dog show this morning too, but as my dog was terrified by the crowds and loudspeaker system and lasted about ten minutes on the perimeter of proceedings before being taken home, there are no pictures of his shame.....

Swanning Around......

We haven't been to Fleet Pond for quite a long time as the birds were a bit scarce during the latter part of the winter.  Today I had promised Stacie to take her to feed whatever we might find up there.  There were quite a few swans already waiting by the pontoon when we arrived....

...and then they started flying in....

...until it all got a bit crazy!

Luckily for them we had one and a half loaves of bread left over from the Easter weekend, so no-one missed out.

Are You All Right?

I'm still trying to build up a stock of knitted pet sets for Christmas fairs, but instead they keep emigrating to the USA - lucky dogs!  This little pup was knitted recently to replace one of his globe-trotting friends, using a very interesting boucle/eyelash yarn.

I've had the yarn in my stash for quite a while - not too sure what the original plan was, maybe a boring scarf?  Anyway, I thought it might make a nice effect on a knitted dog, a bit like one of those cute Portugese waterdogs.
However, the closer he came to completion, the more he looked to me like he had some kind of exotic skin complaint.  Now I just can't get that idea out of my head!

But I think that adds to his appeal - he does have a very endearing little face, despite incipient mange.....
Once I have completed his accessories, he'll be in my Etsy shop - I wonder who will adopt this one!

One of our little Sunday pleasures is to go and feed the swans, geese, ducks and gulls on Fleet Pond.  Sometimes it is a quiet affair, sometimes there are punch-ups.

A couple of swans having a punch-up is always spectacular!  The victim here was fine - he had to have a bit of a flap to rearrange his feathers, and then kept a healthy distance from the posturing male that didn't want any other bird near 'his' bread.

Shady Swan

Almost every Sunday (when the car park is free) my daughter and I take the week's bread leftovers and go and feed the swans and geese up at Fleet Pond. It's usually a bit of a bun-fight with feathers flying and many a squawk. After they'd finished last week and started to disperse, I got some nice photos of a lone swan that followed us as we walked along the path. I've spent the past week painting it in watercolours. As always, what seemed simple ended up being a lot more complicated - those reflections needed a great deal of thought and planning out! The colours in real life are richer than in the photo - no matter what lighting conditions I used, I just couldn't get it correct.

I tried printing with a dead fish yesterday......more on that another day if I can make something out of my slightly dubious results....