It occurs to me that I could sometimes put a picture of one of my paintings up here. I visited Vietnam last year en route to Australia to visit my eldest son and his family. I have now painted 2 pictures from photographs I took. Here is one of them!
I have just hung my first solo exhibition. This is not quite as grand as it sounds as members of the Rickmansworth and District Art Society take it in turns to hang some pictures in Three Rivers House, the local council offices, and this month it is my turn. If you are in Rickmansworth pop in to have a look.
These all have expiry dates, I have just discovered so if you have some, check them now and spend as soon as you can. Don’t risk them running out as the HTA Horticultural Trades Association is totally inflexible on this point. If you give them as gifts, and I would not after my recent experience, make sure the person you give them to is aware of the expiry date.
It is worth checking any other gift vouchers you have, just in case they have dates.
We all thought spring had sprung and it has but you might have been forgiven for wondering this weekend. Last Friday the temperature here was 26º and this weekend it is 6º! However the warmth of last week has brought all the spring flowers out. This is my favourite narcissus, variety unknown as we inherited it. It smells lovely too.
Gosh I am behind! I had a lovely week in Wales with a group of people who were on a landscape photography tour. We stayed in a wonderful converted chapel near Llanberis. It is in the Snowdonia National Park and is in slate country. I was the cook so it was my job to keep everyone well fed and to produce meals at the right time. As ever I enjoyed meeting new people and learned a little more about photography. My purpose in taking pictures is to us them as reference material for paintings. Having spent years using pastels I am trying out acrylics with varying success. I will post a painting when I have one I think is finished.
Today on the radio we talked though a Christmas list of beautiful books to give as gifts. It is difficult to choose as there are so many I could have filled a three hour slot by myself!
Those of you who follow this blog will realise that I have a son, daughter in law and two little grandchildren in Melbourne Australia. Those of you who listen to the Nick Coffer show will know I got back from a visit on October 25th. It was so lovely to spend time with the children and so hard to leave but strangely nice to get home. The flights are just interminable but a good time for getting stuck into a good book. Weather in Melbourne in Spring is much like here in spring but warmer. This little fellow was in the Wildlife Sanctuary in Healesville. We had a great day there.
Off to Wales tomorrow to cook for a landscape photography course for a week. Good fun and in a lovely part of the UK.
This is such a beautiful time of year. I couldn’t resist this photo when walking in the woods yesterday. I just love the beech trees at this time of year, looking as if the sun was hitting them whether it is or not.
