All the World's a Stage...

There are the players who love performing and there are those who prefer to be part of the audience. Which one are you?

I love people who are comfortable in their own skin, or other skins even - animal prints included! I love the fact that they enjoy being themselves and perhaps that is because I am one of them.
Here are 3 of my new botanical buddies on our last day. We were asked to display our work so everyone could see what we'd achieved. This was our 'show and tell' session where we realised what a staggering amount of talent there was in the room. I would never have imagined that 8 'budding' botanical artists could produce paintings to such a high standard. Every painting says something different about it's artist.
Here's the lovely Marie with her stunning red flower and her orange. I have managed to miss off her gorgeous green kiwi dissection, which believe me, looked so juicy you could eat it!
Here is the effervescent and bubbly Sarah with her 'bloom-ing' grapes, her orange dissection and last but not least, that shiny apple! You can see just how proud of it she is. It's so realistic it literally rolls off the page. I'm hoping I can be as good as these two one day!

So what have I learnt...?
1. I have learnt how to paint a Viola and a Fuchsia leaf. I admit that doesn't sound much but believe me, there's a lot of technique involved in those two small paintings.This is the start of a new adventure and I've learnt that it will be a long road to perfection. As Susan Hillier, our tutor would say, practice, practice, practice... !
2. I learnt that veggie isn't always best - I will always be thankful that I chose the pork over the oh so charmingly wrapped cabbage parcel! It must have been chef's night off!
3. I also learnt that I don't want to be a Hardy-ite - not today, not tomorrow, not ever! More on that later...
4. That I love writing, particularly when it's to someone who inspires me... x

A 100% record...

I have a theory about keys and hotels. I really dislike keycards. You know the ones where you have to swipe the card through the key lock. You stand outside your bedroom, holding your breath, waiting to see if the green light will come on so that you can open the door. Give me an old fashioned key any day. If a hotel has a key, that usually means it's my kind of hotel. It also means that I'm going to love the room and enjoy my stay there. So far, my theory works every time and this week has been no exception. I know Dillington House isn't a hotel, but it does have old fashioned keys to all it's bedrooms. Here's my lovely big bedroom.

Back to school..

Here's where I've been hiding these past few days.

Spot the difference..?

You might be wondering why I'm asking this question? After an evening trying to master the art of painting violas, I was starting to wonder if I was on a Disney painting course! My dear sweet-faced violas looked more like Minnie Mouse Ears than pretty little flowers. Drastic action was needed. A few words with the tutor and she was sitting at my desk explaining what I should do.

VOILA success!

After a day of practice and hours of meticulous study, I now have 3 glorious violas painted to perfection. Not these, doh, they are a photograph ;-) I'll take a photo tomorrow. I have awarded myself 11 out of 10 for stickability! 5 out of 10 for my painting because there's always room for improvement. If I want to become a botanical artist then it's not going to happen over night. It's about practice, practice, practice. I always loved drawing and it's been great to get acquainted again with my 2B pencil. Watercolour is about technique and mastering the skills involved in watercolours is certainly a challenge. It's about colour, composition, creativity and lots of enthusiasm. I also have a desire to succeed which makes me very dogmatic in my approach. Even the tutor has commented on the way I've just persevered. I don't need a perfect painting. What I do need is to feel I'm improving and can succeed sometime in the future. This wonderful house is fabulous, it's more like a 4 star hotel. The food is amazing, homecooked and plentiful, the people can't do enough for you, the estate and house are very beautiful and it's just the perfect location for any course. It's the tiny touches that make the difference. Like the way the lights dim after I've switched them off in the studio, to give me time to get to the door to lock up. The bucket of very large umbrellas for you to use if it rains. And what happens when all the brollies have been taken back to the house on a rainy day? Someone refills the bucket again when it's stopped raining so you don't have to get wet. The towels in the bathroom are wonderfully white and fluffy and when I returned back to my bedroom this afternoon, the bowl was full of fruit. Not just a measly pear and a banana. An orange, apples, bananas, kiwis and pears! I'm going to book another course here asap because it's just fabulous, darlings!!

Bits of me.. or me in bits.. !

Next time you're having a bad day, here's what to do.. posterize yourself! You can look so coooooooool too and soooooooooo much better posterized!

Lady of the Manor..

Here's 'home' for the next few days! A warm, cosy room, some excellent grub and a couple of pots of paint are all I need to have a good time this week. This botanical painting lark isn't easy and my first attempts at violas are pretty dire. They are such sweet flowers but trying to convey their delicate beauty in watercolours is easier to write than they are to paint. This place is superb. The gardens and building are well kept and even the theatre, where the budding artists are hard at work, is lovely. I was last to leave this evening so i got to lock up and keep the key. Better not oversleep then!

Splashes

I never realised my paintboxes held so many memories. Every time I open a box, my last painting is splattered all over the lid! I bought my tiny paintbox to take away on holiday with me. I remember painting fields and trees in Devon with Robert and the children. My new paintbox is much smarter. It's one I acquired at a course in Hereford. Today I'm preparing for this week's adventure. I cut a leaf off my cyclamen so I could make a few marks on the paper. Author's and artists alike will tell you... a blank page is always very scary! I didn't feel the need to finish it tonight. I was too distracted by a tasty roast chicken and the strictly come dancing results. It can be tomorrow's challenge.. ;-) x

My Picture Postcard

The view from my window is like a picture postcard. Every day the view changes and at the moment, the stunning autumnal colours of the trees are creating a stunning backdrop to the water. I feel so lucky to be able to live somewhere surrounded by such beautiful scenery. I could have chosen an apartment in Cheltenham or had a city life and I'm sure that would have been great, but in a totally different way. This view is better than any garden and particularly at this time of the year. It's like being on holiday in the Lake District, in Scotland or New England, but I'm not on holiday - I'm home and that feels so good.

Oo La La.. every girl's dream..

I have found a fabulous shop, or did it find me? I know there's something very American about sitting in a coffee shop with a very large cappuccino, a piece of carrot and banana cake and great friends. Though, it was as if we'd never left because 12 hours before I'd been next door to Morans drinking coffee. This Saturday morning felt different. It felt like the start of a great adventure. I began at the artshop where I bought the finest watercolour paper for my course. I knew exactly what I wanted. There are so many wonderful shops to choose from in the Montpellier area of Cheltenham. I found a wonderful bookshop which stocks only cookery books. Then wandered into the most amazing new jewellery shop. Kate the owner, put my coat and my bag behind the counter so I could browse. I was in bling heaven. Bags, necklaces, bracelets, watches and rings and I must have tried on half the store. I was having so much fun.

Misty mornings...

I love where I live. To get up in the morning to this view is an incredible feeling. The mist rising off the lake, the sprinkling of frost on the bank, that's atmosphere with a capital 'A'.

A is for Alumni...

Alumni... that's my word of the week... ! These are my 18th birthday pictures! They are not brilliant quality, but it's not the quality of the pics that count, it's the quality of the friendships. Inspired by my Alumni experiences last week, I went in search of old school friends and found a box of slides. Here are the great, the good and the hilarious!


Want a hair cut?! Paul Kenyon and the lovely Helen.. still together after all these years!


Time to scoff a few more sausage rolls and vol-a-vents!


Whoever was in charge of blowing up the balloons had a sense of humour!


My little sib, Marie with her mother-in-law.. Aunty Pat!


I never realised that Gordon and Robert came to my 18th.. yes, that Robert, my ex husband! Yes, children, look at those sideburns... yikes!!

It's all about me...

Hardly.. this week it's all about... traffic jams, pouring rain, roast chicken, spreading your wings, keeping your cool, making tea, carrot & walnut cake, dark mornings, new discoveries, triangles, an electric blanket, time to read, no time to play, feeling extravagant, feeling foolish, feeling 18, changing appointments, creating windows, cutting corners, dolly mixtures, old school friends, a few laughs, a frothless cappuccino and leaves... leaves... and more leaves.. ;-) x

A burning shaft of sunlight...

As autumn takes hold, the leaves have turned glorious shades of gold and red. The view of the lake gets more stunning every day and here's just one moment captured through the lens of my camera.

Little Miss Ginger says...

I want to marry a lighthouse keeper
And keep him company.
I want to marry a lighthouse keeper
And live by the side of the sea.
I'll polish his lamp by the light of day
So ships at night can find their way.
I want to marry a lighthouse keeper
Won't that be okay!
We'll take walks along the moonlight bay
Maybe find a treasure too.
I'd love living in a light house,
HOW 'BOUT YOU?
The dream of living in a lighthouse baby, every single day.
The dream of living in a lighthouse,
the white one by the bay.
So if you want to make my dreams come true,
You'll be a lighthouse keeper too.
We could live in a lighthouse
The white one by the bay,hey hey.
Won't that be okay.
Yada tada ta ta ta.

I Want To Marry A Lighthouse Keeper Lyrics By Eigen Erika

Exciting adventures...!

I've had a week of adventures! From standing in the Natural History Museum in Oxford to standing in the queue in Asda in Plymouth... !! I realised I've never seen a 'real dinosaur' in the flesh. Well, actually fleshless, but they were awesome. It was just like being in a Jurassic Park movie but better! As my sister pointed out, I wasn't going to get eaten... !

How very British..!

Get in... the queue of dinosaurs... !!

The Radcliffe Camera..

Built by James Gibbs from 1737-1749 to house the Radcliffe Science Library. After the Radcliffe Science Library moved into another building, the Radcliffe Camera, affectionately known as 'Radders' became a reading room of the Bodleian Library. The building was funded by a bequest of £40,000 from James Radcliffe, hence the name.
The word 'camera' translates from Latin as "room" or "chamber".

BIKES... Bikes... and more bikes..

There's one thing that everyone remembers about a visit to Oxford... BIKES! And students, of course. From the pristine to the battered, there are bikes chained to every railing and lampost in the city. It's what gives Oxford it's unique character. It's an essential accessory for every resident in Oxford because without it, you just can't get about. I managed to park at the hotel but finding the car park was as difficult as I'd been told it would be. Hence why I left the car parked there for my visit and walked everywhere.

Happy Sunshine day...

Me & Ginger are celebrating Happy Sunshine Day! It's a way of using up all that yellow paper and card that no one ever wants. My contribution has to be said, is miniscule compared to the card making machine, MGC! They're all going to be donated to Children in Need which is a great reason to smile on our Happy Sunshine Day! x

Law of window cleaning... it's on the other side!

One thing I will admit to being truly rubbish at is cleaning windows! Never liked doing it and was always rubbish at it. Living up in my pretty stone tower, I rarely get visitors, particularly ones who knock at my windows. No, it wasn't Basil Brush knocking, it was Paul & Mark, armed with a chamois and a very long pole! Like everything in my life, my windows are yet another challenge. My windows are like a Jackson Pollack painting and I'm glad it's not my job to remove those stubborn, stuck-on-bugs! I did hear that coca cola removes them which tells me everything I need to know about never wanting to drink it! Of course, I went outside to chat to them! They don't have x-ray vision and they needed to see exactly how rubbish my windows looked after one swish round! Just like two comic superheroes (minus the red pants!), P&M took their duties very seriously and I now have seriously clean windows both inside and out! Hurrah for them!

Dr Who meets glowgirl...

Life is one big adventure! Today's notable for being a Monday. Not just any Monday either. It's the day... I turned on my heating and look what it did to me!! I'm thoroughly radiated and glowing like I'm full of weetabix :-) x

Thought-fulness for the day...

Have you ever wondered how someone could get it so wrong? I had a call this evening and the conversation when something like this.. " Obviously, I'm not ringing to find out how you are..!".. you would assume from those few choice words that the person in question has no interest in my well being. General politeness would usually mean that two people who used to know each other would at least ask after the other, having not spoken for a considerable length of time. Perhaps it's nerves, perhaps just a complete lack of any connection, perhaps it's just stubbornness that creates the big divide. Perhaps it was a clumsy attempt at humour, I really don't know. Thoughfulness doesn't cost a thing, DOH!

Beauty and the Beast

Don't judge a book by its cover! Or so the Beast was thinking when he wooed the beautiful Belle in Birmingham's Royal Ballet production on Friday evening. The set was splendid, sumptuous and infinitely more elaborate than last week's Wuthering Whatnots. The principal dancer was charming, delightful, elegant and showed every emotion of this beautiful story in her face. The story unfolded as bewitching as the sets and the time literally few by. Although I know nothing of the music, the performances of the characters kept both Fi & myself spellbound throughout the entire performance. It's the story of a handsome prince who let's himself down by being arrogant and cruel. He loses his freedom and becomes beast-like as punishment for his sins. He must alter his character if he is to earn the true love that will break the spell. Belle, who is sent to live with the Beast in penance for stealing a rose from his garden, over time learns to overlook his appearance and is able to love him for the person he is underneath. This breaks the spell and he becomes a handsome prince once more and the two dance their way to a happy ending. This ballet is a wonderful story of love conquering all with beautiful costumes, brilliant choreography and the happy ending we all seek.

Some people must have been practising... !

And I say that in the nicest possible way... when asked to pull a funny face, as you can see, some were much better at it than the rest of us! How funny are these piccies?! If we needed a contest on pulling faces to raise a smile, these would be 'up there' as some of my all time favourites. They tease me all the time for smiling and 'pulling that face' every time someone points a camera at me. Okay, I admit, I'm a scrapbooker and love photographs. If you point a camera in my direction, I'll look and smile. Some people look away, some people put their hands in front of their face, some even get miffed. My lovely friends and family know how to have fun and enjoy themselves and that's another reason why I love them so much x