Views from España

Córdoba

2012-01-20T16:40:00.000+01:00

One of the items on my "Bucket List" was Córdoba. It was with delight we found we could take a day trip from Almuñécar to visit the Mezquite at Córdoba. The Cathedral and Mosque at Córdoba has a fantastic history, is of outstanding beauty and is a World Heritage Site.

Originally a pagan temple, it was a Christian church when the Moors converted it into a Mosque. After the Moors were driven from Spain it was converted again and a Roman Catholic Cathedral was built into the middle of the mosque complex.
I found the place awe inspiring. You cannot help but feel the history as you walk the ancient floors and touch the fabulous pillars. The work of the artisans is breathtaking.

The view as we cross over the bridge on the way to the Mezquite.

Entering the old town.

The bell tower in the gardens of the Mezquite.

The characteristic red and white stone arches are supported by marble pillars. You can see the lower parts of the columns are polished by the hands of the many admirers.

When additional arches were built later on they could not afford the coloured stone, so the arches were painted to match.

and

Incredible ceilings

soaring arches.

Detail of stone work in the Choir part of the Christian church.

An impressive carved wooden altar.

The Altar

The bell tower was built around the existing minaret.

A small Mosque in the Muslim quarter.

Shopping in the old town.

In this lovely courtyard pots decorate the wall.

Inside a tiny ancient Jewish synagogue in the Jewish quarter.

Lovely musical tiles decorate the wall in the narrow street.

It would have been nice to go into this restaurant for a meal, but we did not have time.

Walking back towards the Catedral.

We pass one of the doors to the Mezquite as we regrettably leave.

If given the chance I would return to Córdoba to see it again and explore more of the old town.

Almuñécar

2011-11-23T18:28:00.016+01:00

Time for a break, a holiday, a rest. Ahh, yes, off we go to Andulacia to the town of Almuñécar! We took one of those special Pensionista "Imserso" deals; board and lodging at reduced prices.
We were late, as the drive down here took much longer than we thought. We probably should not have taken the lovely lunch break with our friends Bob and Maz down in Mazarrón! But we are glad we did. We like catching up with old friends from back in the U.K who are also living here.
We continued our journey, first opting out of toll roads! BIG Mistake!!! The country road was very winding and slow; hard work. We stopped and reset the Garmin, (I do not like her, she is worse than Tomtom). We found ourselves very near the motorway and rejoining was not a problem. Even so it did become interesting along the coast where the weather was affecting the roads, undermining and washing away the infrastructure. At one place the road suffered from a landslide; there were loads of red mud being removed by heavy machinery. Along the coast there was no shoulder to the road as it had dropped down into the sea and heavy shoring up was in progress.
It was dark by the time Garmin dumped us on a corner lying through her teeth that we had "reached our destination." Er, where is the hotel? We were told at a nearby in a restaurant, that it was further down the road around the corner..... ah, yes, which one. We got past the first corner to find no hotels, so we doubled back. Another person we questioned suggested we go a bit further, that the hotel was a new one, just round the bend. And that is what we did, "going round the bend" looking for it. At last, persevering "round the bends", we finally spotted something that was well lit; It was our hotel, at last. I wondered, as we arrived so late, would they still have a room. Ah, yes, our room was on the third floor. And so it was, that we got "A room with a view!"

This is what we found upon opening the curtain in the morning!!

We asked for a change of rooms but as we had arrived so late we got the booby prize and all the other "Imserso" pensionistas got the sea view. We needed to be well ahead in the queueing, these pensionistas are not slow at coming forward. They know the ropes and we,...well we don't. I have to say the majority are happily sitting on their terraces in the sun, overlooking the sea while we count rocks.

Now for the pretty pictures:

The view from other people's balconies is very pretty indeed!

Our hotel is sited on a lovely quiet secluded part of a beach.

There is a bus that stops outside the hotel that will take you to the town, for just €1. We actually took quite a long ride on the wrong bus, into the interior!!! Who can complain, for that money we got to see more of Almuñécar. We finally came full circle to the town centre.

Almuñécar is a town of the modern and the ancient, with a brass band!

We followed the band up the hill into the old town to the church and then had a wander back down the hill on the way to our original destination.

I love old windows, the older the better. Plenty of those here.

An ancient Roman fountain and very pretty narrow streets.

We finally made it down to the shore near the fishing boats, and carried on down the promenade looking for a café near a bus stop so to keep a watchful eye out for the bus back to the hotel.

We found one and crashed my diet with thick hot Spanish chocolate and a local pastry to dunk in it!!!

ATC Still Life

2011-10-23T21:45:00.000+02:00

The Wet Canvas Forum I belong to the latest ATC trade project was Still Life. I enjoy this format very much. My cards were done in mediums from pen and ink to watercolour and coloured pencils.

Ref photo-mprince. This is in watercolour a pleasant arrangement of a pear and grapes.

I like setting up my own still life arrangements to paint. Vegetables from my kitchen are always interesting.

The above is in coloured pencil.

Onions and garlic are good subjects for watercolours.

Ref photo by wtrclgrl It was an interesting exercise to do this in pen and sepia ink.

Fuchia ref. Stephie20 The fuchia called for coloured inks with new ink pens.

Ref photo-LadyCarol I used Faber Castel water soluble coloured pencils.

It has a different quality than watercolour paints.

This on was an exercise from a coloured pencil instruction It is my first attempt at glass. I need more practice. These ATCs, all 3.5 x 2.5 inches will be with their new owners by now or soon depending how good the post is. In return I will have an ATC from each recipient.

Birthday

2011-10-17T21:25:00.000+02:00

It is great to be spoiled on your birthday. Usually it is uneventful, a quiet meal somewhere and a few cards, but this year was a special one and very special it was indeed. I was spoiled by my two daughters. My husband stoically stayed at home in Spain to look after our two dogs, while I flew off to England to visit my family. While I was away he cleaned house, did the laundry, washed windows and.....

still found time to make me a beautiful box for my trinkets.

My daughters took me to London to the Tate Modern Gallery for luncheon and a wonderful afternoon of art appreciation. My artistic grand daughters joined us to make it a very arty girlie feast.

,,,,, and what great works we saw. Not everyone will agree, but art like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

"Now don't lose your head over all this, it is art! I am only joking.

"....amazing what can be done with a paint brush and a can of red paint."

A woman's dilemma, "What shall I wear today!"

"I'll just nip upstairs for a look."

" I think red suits me."

" I woodn't bother if I were you."

"and then it got very windy."

Sad humour down to me but the lovely photos are by my daughter Holly.

Holly - Me - Ivy
Me and my two lovely daughters in a mirror.

Buffaloed

2011-10-13T22:59:00.000+02:00

Sometime you see a photograph that just catches your imagination and you cannot wait to paint it. This is true of a photograph by Max-E, from one of the blogs I follow. I could not wait to start it. There is something beautiful about the arrogant and belligerent bull African Buffalo.

I started with an outline sketch to accurately portray this face, on Strathmore Bristol Vellum.

I can see where my corrections are needed already and make my alterations as I add shading.

The colour is gradually added using Derwent Studio Coloured Pencils.

I checked the values with a greyscale scan, correcting the drawing as I go. It is an invaluable tool.

The progress was slow as this painting is 8x10 inches.

I think I might call this finished, unless.......

Thanks so much to Max-E for the inspiration.

A WIP,( work in progress) Labrador

2011-09-16T23:02:00.000+02:00

I have a commission to paint a Labrador dog. It is to be Christmas present and I have plenty of time yet, but decided to get down to it. Labs have such an appealing face and I need to capture that. As in any portrait I will start the painting process with the eyes. The photo supplied is from my client, Pamela Linger.

My first task is to accurately draw the subject and choose the colours that I am going to use. I scan at several stages as I go to provide myself with a objective view of my work and to keep track of my progress. I am using Bristol Vellum paper as the support. The dog's colour is very light so it was a challenge finding the right colour pencils.

I was using Derwent Coloursoft and a couple Fabercastel polychromos, a bristle brush and blender pencil for blending, the ubiquitous blue tac for lifting colour, a white rubber pencil. and my paint brush used to brush off the surface of the paper removing any rubber crumbs or pencil dust.

I wear a special glove to keep my paper clean. Note the important tool beneath my poised hand....my laptop!

My trusty pencil sharpener, must be over 50 years old, but makes an excellent point on the pencils.

Not very portable though.

I can now see if I have a good likeness of the dog and if my colours are working well from the scanned photos of the work so far. The scanner is an important tool.

I will fix that green cast, as suggested by a fellow artist Rosemary, on wet canvas, by a little lifting of colour with my trusty blu tac. I spray my work with a workable fixative to give the paper more tooth for the pencil layers.

I have started putting in the background. I chose a petrol grey as it has a blue look, complimentary to the yellowish colour of the fur. This is only the first layer; It will need more layers to darken it.
At last, I am leaving it as it is unless I see a glaring error. It is not due yet so it can sit around for me to spot anything I want to change before delivery.

Tomatoes still life

2011-09-13T13:37:00.000+02:00

I almost forgot. I finished this coloured pencil piece earlier and think it has turned out fairly well. It was great fun and made me realise I need to do more work on leaves. They are not easy. I started thus...

I then progressed to a near finish getting more and more into the leaves.

I am finally finished but am far from satisfied, so will continue with more projects with leaves.

The original photo by kayekcpaug of Wet Canvas is the reference below. I do not follow slavishly the photo reference, it is my inspiration for an original piece. I crop, then select the elements that appeal to me, removing and adding for composition´s sake.

Vegetables make excellent still life subjects and are readily available in your fridge drawer to make your own set up.

Rainbows over Almunia

2011-09-03T14:37:00.000+02:00

The clouds gather over the Segaria mountains.

The weather ended the storms with a colourful display!

A rainbow appears after the storm as the sun comes out again.

The rainbow strengthens as the showers move along the sea.

A double rainbow appears on Monte Pego. When I stepped out onto our terrace I could see the whole rainbow.

The showers are still moving west.

The rainbow ends on top of Almunia.

A beautiful light develops as the sun breaks through the clouds.

Cooling of the weather

2011-09-02T16:56:00.000+02:00

Oh sweet smell of rain, laying the dust and cooling the air! We had some good thunder storms, losing power for a few minutes but all is normal now, just much fresher. We used to have an impeccable view from our terrace until our neighbour put up that flat roofed monstrosity. I am hoping they might take it down now that the place is for sale. Our thunder fearing dog has come out of hiding and we can open the windows again.

The sharp horizon shows a more bad weather to come. Storms are predicted for the weekend. The rain will be most welcome. With the coming of the cooler season perhaps our garden will begin to look a little livelier. It has been a bit lacklustre and dry.

It also means we might soon return to the beaches as the tourists leave. We look forward to this a great deal; the summer is to hot and crowded.
Hopefully I will find it easier to do the art work again. I have been working on a coloured pencil work which I will post the finish soon. This is the work so far.....

Hot post

2011-08-26T18:06:00.001+02:00

It is so hot, it just makes me feel lazy and sleepy. The fan is going but it is just propelling hot air. The only good thing about it is, it is moving air, not that hot feeling against the skin, feeling like hot parchment. A shower and hair wash does little to cool me, so I will have to go in the pool and then sit in a wet costume in the shade to cool off. Ahhhh, that's better!
I have managed to keep up with our latest ATC exchange, subject matter...Animals. It has been great fun and it looks like we have 100% participation which is great. It is easy enough to find animal subject matter. At least I hope that the artwork looks cool enough. I have had some stunning works sent to me from my fellow traders.
As for mine, I have been busy mostly with pen and ink this time, with a dash of a watercolour wash here and there. Size is 3.5 x 2.5. They were well received.

Chicken? / Bulls?

2011-08-07T01:02:00.000+02:00

We went to Orba today to buy two new lances for our sprayers. As the Pollo Asado, in our favourite Bar al Carrer is extremely tasty, the plan was to go into the town centre, have a drink and then take home the luscious spit roasted chicken packed with herbs and lemon. No cooking tonight and it will do us two meals!

We weren't to know it was Bull running week in Orba. The street was lined with the heavy bull running cages. Cages that are for the bull runners to retreat to, and the less adventurous to hide in.

Mind you the street was not empty. We would have to make our way, going cage to cage past the "raging bulls" in the middle of that street, to just past that barrier that looks like steps. Well, they are steps actually that the runners run up to a platform at the top, out of reach of those long sharp horns. Sometimes a clever bull runs up them too... whoops! and it is a quick retreat into the cages that line the street or climb the ramps you see on the left. You need to be quick and nimble in this game.

I am safe inside the cage here as this young bull decides which way to go and his best chances of hooking someone!

Is that a Mexican stand-off I see?

Oh, okay, TAKE THAT!

We finally make our way to the bar, having to cross at one point, but the bull was at the other end of the street. My husband who had had a fall recently didn't look he could be very quick and nimble with an arm in a sling and walking stick. It is surprising how quickly you can walk with a stick!

The bar was cool and not crowded so it was a respite from the hot glaring street.

(Note the mural on the wall.)

Once inside the cool bar we had a drink while we waited for our chicken.

An ice cold lager on a hot day, mmm rather nice.

~~~ * * * ~~~

Thank you to my husband Pat, for some of the photos here. Yes, he can take photos with his arm in a sling.

We were both armed with our trusty small digital cameras ready for any photo opportunity.

In Black and white

2011-07-27T22:47:00.001+02:00

Sometimes it is nice to just pick up a pen and attack the paper in a different way. No water, no assembling pencils, squeezing out paint; just pick up a pen and start sketching from a reference photo by Pat Issacs of Wet Canvas.

I found a good cow photo on the wet canvas photo library posted in the pen and ink challenge that appealed to me for a quick freehand sketch. It is a relaxing past time. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this art form.

In an earlier life, before I found an art shop in Kampala where I was living, I started doing lots of pen and ink work. There was plenty to inspire me there. The following are works I completed in my travels.

This is a Karamojan from Uganda.

A quick sketch of a "Fish Mammy" in Nigeria

Another quick sketch of a construction worker in Tanzania.

I have even used a biro ball point in some work. That artwork lasted 30 years so although the paper has discoloured and the black ink has faded to a sepia colour, I still have my chimps on the wall. The paper I acquired at the time was not archival, but in Africa you may not always find a good supplier.

"It's a Skirl"

2011-07-20T22:11:00.001+02:00

My great grand daughter, Louise, could not say squirrel and said "skirl" instead. I decided that this painting of a squirrel I will dedicate to my sweet little Louise, sitting here with her brother Daniel.

A photo by Brenda Dup was the inspiration for this coloured pencil painting of a "skirl". It is 5 x 7 inches on Stonehenge paper. It took several days to finish it but I am happy with the result.

Allsorts of sweets

2011-07-15T00:01:00.000+02:00

Licorice Allsorts, is the favourite sweet/candy of so many people. My Dad loved them and I have a fondness for the sugary chewy sweets. Some love the round coconut wheels, but my favourite is the chocolate sandwiching the black licorice chewy centre and the solid black logs.
My coloured pencil painting on Strathmore paper is inspired by a photograph by "deveymarie". Which is your favourite?

If you don't like Allsorts, you must love Jelly Beans, everyone loves Jelly beans. My favourites are the spicy ones with flavours like cinnamon, licorice, wintergreen and anise. The little ones so popular today with so many colours and flavours do no appeal to me. There is nothing as good as a good old fashioned jelly bean. The jelly beans are in coloured pencil on watercolour paper, ref photo: by "olika"
I have not done a painting of marshmallows, yet, but I cannot end without a word about my other favourite...now I have to say this...coloured ones taste awful, give me white ones only. Just ask my daughter. Then, you put a few marshmallows on a skewer to toast over an open fire; now that is a flavour to to stir memories.

Monkeying Around

2011-07-03T10:26:00.001+02:00

Apes are great subjects. They have so much character and are beloved by most people. Of all the apes, my favourite is the gentle gorilla, portrayed by Hollywood as some sort of monster. Man's perception of apes have changed over the years due to the efforts of people like Richard Attenborough, Jane Goodall, Allison and Jim Cronin and many others who have worked so hard for their welfare. I like the challenge of trying to capture their character and attitude.

The colourful Mandrill

6 x 4 inches, Pen and ink with watercolour

Ref photo by Canatella

A baby long tailed macaque monkey done with coloured pencil in the ATC 2.5 x 3.5 inches
I used coloured pencil to illustrate the wrinkly new face of the baby. It has a lot of filling out to do.
The reference photo came from on-line stock photos.

From a photo I took of a thoughtful macaque monkey sitting on a wall near a temple in India.

17 x 24 inches in watercolour

The two biro pen chimps I did a long time ago and have lasted well for over 20 years.
Well done the Bic biro.

Over the years the black ink has gone sepia in colour.
The first one I removed the colour in photoshop.
The references came from photos in Jane Goodall's books,

My gorilla 8 x 10 inches in coloured pencil has been in this blog before.

The photo ref. by Lisilk

Only a little sparrow

2011-06-10T11:32:00.000+02:00

I am only a little sparrow, hardly out of the nest.

I finally got up the courage to fly; I did my best.

I am only a little sparrow,
A cheeky little chappy looking for a crust.

I 'm not a dirty vagrant, I bathe daily in the dust.

I'm only a little sparrow my feathers drab and brown,

So young my feathers still have their baby down.

So don't look down your nose at me, as I scratch on dusty ground,

or I'll sit on your chimney and then you'll hear a sound,

as I chip away, my song is heard by you and all around.

the song is not like song birds, I'm really not that sort

I sing because I 'm happy, for that there's no retort!

Apologies to all poets for my silly rhyme, I hope that you will forgive me, in thyme!

I am marginally better at art and I hope you will enjoy that.

I started out sketching in a payne's grey pencil getting down some values.

I used a mixture of coloured pencils on 140lb Strathmore vellum for this work.

Gradually the ruffled feathers take shape and I can start adding the colour. I used complimentary colours for the background. Finally the colours are beginning to work together for what I hope is pleasing.

The reference is from a super photo kindly sent to me by my friend, Samuel Lannigan.

Apologies

2011-06-02T00:02:00.000+02:00

Sorry, I have forgotten how to do this. The previous post is all wrong. It has been so long since last posting it took me ages to assemble the blog using the Windows Live Writer....boy is that confusing. The photos dodged all over the place and the writing starts from the right and the full stop is at the beginning of the end of the sentence. There is nothing sensible about it. It is ridiculous and more difficult than using the Blogger method. I guess I will just have to write more often and get back in the saddle. If you fall off a horse, you get back on. Cannot delete a horse..... or shoot the computer...

An ATC Project called “Water”

2011-06-01T21:07:00.000+02:00

Technorati Tags: ATC

The month of May I hosted a ATC trade project on Wet Canvas titled "Water". Anything to do with in, on, by, about, or under water.

The response was very good indeed with a plethora of original ideas. Whether I was as original or not is not for me to judge. I shall let you do that.

A quay is a splendid to find subjects for this project. After all it is all about water. There is plenty just laying about that make interesting paintings. Bollards, buoys, rope, chains and anchors.

There is no absence of colour on a fishing wharf or quay. I liked the bollard and buoy depicted in my second painting.

I found the lovely bright pink colour of the buoy near a boat just right for the project.

Did I mention I used to dive? Of course I did. In the course of this pursuit we were privileged to visit some exotic places. This painting is of a dhoni, a local Maldivian dive boat. On this occasion we anchored in shallow water near the proverbial desert island for a picnic lunch.

Of course it is under water that we encountered some more colourful subjects and clown fish were my husbands favourites so they were subjects of a couple cards. Wonderfully colourful and very brave fish as they would make a defensive move at you when you come too close, but dive quickly back into the fingers of its protective symbiotic anemone.

A sea fan with creatures! The colours found underwater are so vivid. However, to enjoy them it is best in shallow water. In deeper water you will need a strong torch.

Blue masked butterfly fish dart around the coral reef! Always seen in pairs, so a single one is single, sad, she says tongue in cheek.

Anchor shank with chain.

All cards are 2.5 x3.5 inches, all are watercolours.

For the birds

2011-03-31T21:36:00.000+02:00

Still doing the little miniature paintings and painted these two little chappies.

A chickadee and a gold finch.

I thank D. Slaughter for the reference photos.

These have been in painted with watercolours on 2.5x3.5 sized 320gsm/140lb watercolour paper.

Denia Castle

2011-03-12T11:28:00.000+01:00

Denia castle can be seen on the top of the hill from the beach.
26th February 2011

A couple weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit Denia Castle,

something we have wanted to do ever since we first visited Denia.

Then we went on a walking tour of Denia Castle with the U3A, University of the 3rd age, intercambio exchange group. It has a long history of occupation, from Romans, Moors, Napoleon, Franco, all leaving their lasting imprints.

From the Roman fortifications on the top of the hill, where 2 of the 5 Roman towers remain standing today, to the further central fortifications added by the Moors in the 11 and 12th century, when they overran the Spain.

One rustic old canon.

View from the castle of Denia harbour.

One of the two Roman towers still standing of the five after the Napoleonic occupation.

After the Moors were thrown out of Spain the Castillian Spanish built a walled precinct around the castle.

Views over the old town.

From here you can look down on the old town and the Church tower with its blue tiled dome.

Leaving from the gate.

In the 16th and 17th Centuries a residence was built inside the Castle walls by the Marquis of Denia. In the Spanish War of Succession (1701 to 1714) the Castle and town suffered heavy fighting. In 1859 the Castle was finally abandoned as a military post. Since then it has lain in ruins only lately have the remains been shored up, renovated and today the Castle is open to the public. It was well worth the visit and still undergoes restoration.

Hey Soul Sister.

2011-02-27T23:19:00.000+01:00

My grandson Joshua is at 15 an accomplished musician. He plays guitar, ukulele, keyboard and sings. I hope you will take a moment and listen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bby3etec7bA

Almond Blossom time

2011-02-24T18:49:00.001+01:00

This is the glorious time of year when the almond trees blossom.

All over the Costa Blanca the beautiful pink and white blossoms fill the air with their scent!

Our walk starts at Parcent.

Our neighbours, Paul and Penny, led us on a walk with other friends in the area through and behind the orchards on a good track, over looking Parcent!

The almond blossoms can be either white or pink.

This is the nest of the dreaded processionaire caterpillar. There were many pine trees along this walk.

They build their horrid web nests in pine trees and are very active this time of year. I am so glad we did not have the dogs with us as these caterpillars have fine hair that, if ingested by a human or animal can set up a reaction so fierce that it can be fatal! The dog usually steps on it or its trail and picks up the hairs, lick the irritated paws and it gets worse from there.

They are called processionaires because of their habit of moving in a head to tail procession

from one tree to next tree. They are often first mistaken for a snake. They don´t look dangerous do they?

Our intrepid group step over the thin trail of caterpillars and carry on up the path.
No one feels inclined to step on them.

Below the path we see the first groves in the distance. A derelict orange grove on the left hand corner, is often the case as the profit margin on oranges is so low. It is being overrun by a climbing weed, like the cudzu in the southern States of America, or as invasive as ground elder in England.

The mountains in the distance are beautiful.

Behind us is a bigger range but in the shade so I did not take a photo

These are the white blossom, which are bigger and more impressive than the pink ones.

We walk past grape vines, pruned and ready for the coming season.

Underfoot alongside the path are tiny daffodils.

They are very tiny and I could not get down on the ground to get a good macro;

I would have been left behind by the time I had finished and would have to run to catch up.

It takes me forever to get up once I am down.

I like the remnants of old watering and irrigation systems which drily litter the agricultural landscape. This looks like an old trough while below is the channel the water would pour through and be diverted to various groves or fields.

Time for a drink of water for us.

There was a chapel here but it was locked up so we could not enter to take photos.

Denise and Terry resting!!! After a short break we carried on the last leg, back to Parcent.

The retaining wall for the almonds in the grove above and on the left is a home which I am guessing might have been a convent because of the chapel across the road....but I am only making a fanciful guess. I like the idea.

A lonely, leaning tree in full bloom in spite of being left out of the orchard..

Eagerly heading back to Parcent and the "menu" awaiting us there! You can see the row of old chicken houses or factory in the distance before you get to Parcent.

A welcomimg chair to rest our tired legs and ready to order a lovely meal. Me, I had calamari, salad and ribs. Tirimisu and coffee to finish. I feel we all earned it.

Kindness of friends

2011-02-12T20:28:00.000+01:00

It is nice to become friends with other artists. We all have our art in common, struggling with drawing, colour, composition, and much more. The support of others is always welcome. I have learned a lot in the last two years that I have belonged to the Wet Canvas Online Forum. There is always someone there to answer questions and advise. Amazing artists are so generous with tips and instruction. We share ideas and even art as in the ACEO trading projects.
Recently I mentioned I would not know where to find a product called suede board in this part of Spain. The generosity of one of my WC friends astonished me. ElaineV sent me some large sample sheets of 8 x10 inch suede board to try. The only proviso was I show her what I accomplished with it.
This board is as the name suggests, feels like suede. It took me some time to pluck up the courage to have a go.

I chose the black suede board for my first project and I laid down a grisaille of light grey as a ground for the colour. Without this the colour would not come out true and vibrant. I am using Derwent Coloursoft and Faber Castel
Polychrome for this piece.

After doing some patch tests on black paper, I began adding colour to the grey ground. I learned that a sharp pencil tends to scrape off the nap, blunt ones laid down colour better and the colour was building up in nice layers. Protecting the nap of the background is important otherwise you are left with finger marks on the surface. I had to do a little bit of brushing to remove the ones I left.
This is the way it turned out for the February Coloured Pencil challenge.

Onions, tomato and Garlic

my photo reference was by "missi51" from the Wet Canvas Image library.

I might need to do just a little bit more.......

Flood stained card

2011-01-15T21:21:00.002+01:00

Today I removed an envelope from my post box that told a story. It left the Australian home of the artist Val de Vries who had painted the ATC card to send to me. It was posted the end of November. I don't know how the Australian system works but I would guess it went to a central post office somewhere, to be sorted for posting on to various corners of the globe. Now either the central office suffered flooding, or the postman dropped his bag in a stream, but that envelope arrived in my postbox in a state of obvious distress. Val had written a note with the card and wished me Happy Christmas in words now blurred by bleeding into the dampened piece of paper, In astonishment I opened the note to find the card, the painting seemingly safe, still clear, no smeared painting. Then I took it out of the transparent sleeve and found it was still wet! Now dried out it, sits with my valued collection of original art from my many artist friends around the world. It is my connection with and a reminder of the terrible floods in Queensland and other less well publicised parts of Australia.

It is interesting to be able to read the transferred address of the letter is must have been on the pile with. Estapona, Spain, it reads; so, perhaps the central clearing keeps letters until they have enough to send to Spain. Yes, it must have been at the central post office that it suffered from the inundation. So much for my forensic know how; due to my last job at police headquarters.
I cannot bring myself to throw it away as it represents for me the floods in Australia. At least the soggy pile eventually made it to the Iberian peninsula.

Happy New Year

2011-01-09T14:25:00.000+01:00

Must get my skates on and start the New Year off with good intent and some new works. Just to prove my intent I only finished this about an hour ago. Its a drawing completed for Wet Canvas Coloured Pencil challenge for January. The apple photo reference for this was Ivyleaf, another WC member. Many thanks as always for people who provide these marvellous reference photos for our use. Wet Canvas has been such an inspiration to me over the past couple of years since I joined. The work of others, the encouragement from others and a forum to discuss and share has been so useful and also has made possible to make some new friends.
So my first effort this year is a simple apple.... a reasonable start, a good exercise.

Happy Christmas

2010-12-23T22:27:00.000+01:00

Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Pet Portraits

2010-12-20T22:58:00.000+01:00

I have finished all the ATC pet portraits and a new project starts in the New Year. It was a good project which I very much enjoyed. I have sent all mine out and have quite a few painted for me back already.

I think I learned quite a lot in the process and made some more friends in the world of Art. This little puppy is a little Stafforshire Bull dog I think.

I liked this little Beagley doggie, very perky and colourful.

How do you paint a white cat. White reflects the colours around it so I decided to put lots of colour into this watercolour ATC. Makes quite a pretty kitty.

Laughing or so it would seem this dog is in stark contrast to the dour continence of the dashound below. All are in watercolour.

While the dog below is less colourful in just plain old pencil.

It just seemed to suit the medium.

Lastly a colourful cat again in the three colours of the little lady.

All these paintings are in the home of the pet that has been painted. I hope the owners enjoy them. I certainly enjoy painting them and the paintings that have been sent to me in this exchange. For that matter my collection of original works of art is growing and brings me so much enjoyment I cannot wait for the next project.

A Diving story from our past.

2010-12-05T22:30:00.002+01:00

Eight years ago we were divers, diving a few marvellous sites near us in Spain. Before that we were diving regularly around Britain and in a few exotic places overseas. The seas around England abound with fabulous sites and some great wrecks. It was on one of these dives that we had an unusual adventure which we wrote about and had published in two major U.K. diving magazines.

This is the story as published by Eileen and Patrick Cannon. The magazine decided to publish it from two points of view.

Trapped on the Wreck of the “Salsette”

Eileen's story. August 1996 my husband Pat and I were diving out of Weymouth in Dorset, from the dive boat “Skin Deep," owned and skippered by Andy Smith. It was Sunday, 05 August, 1996, when we and the other members from the Guildford branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club set off to dive the wreck of the “Salsette" 10 miles west of Portland Bill in the English Channel. She lies in 48 metres and stands some 15 metres off the seabed.

The day was looking good; still warm and sunny. The wind had got up a bit but the seas were not rough, just “a little fresh," as our skipper said. Pat and I had dived the day before, but it had not been a very good dive, so we looked forward to today.

We donned our gear, and on Andy’s signal, stepped from the platform on the back of Skin Deep into the water near the shot-line. As we descended, I noticed the line changed colours. A blue line was spliced to a white line and a glance at my dive computer told me it was 20 metres. We descended further into the darkness.

The grappling hook was on the wreck and we paused while Pat attached a line to reel us back to the shot-line at the end of our dive. It was very dark at 35 metres, and we could not see on which part of the wreck we were. I waited just below Pat, watching while he fastened the line. Looking down I could see nothing. My torch beam disappeared into a pitch-black abyss, I had no wish to descend further. Pat joined me, signalling to go down, but I signalled emphatically to go up. My hand was resting on a curved metal strut the edge a hold. I started to move up but felt snagged on something. Moving my hand upward for a better grip, I could see, with horror, a strand of monofilament fishing line. Deciding to cut this, to avoid it from becoming tangled in my gear, I tried to reach for my knife. As I reached for my knife I saw two strands of line and fear gripped me. Looking up I saw that Pat was moving away. I tried to follow finning hard, but the lines held me. I pitched up and forward into his retreating fins, my mask was kicked from my face.

I could not believe this was happening to me. I was tangled in fishing line, my mask was gone, and Pat was finning away. I really believed that I was going to die. I screamed and started to gulp my air in panic.

Something made me stop and think. I held on to my demand valve for dear life, having nearly lost it screaming. If I were going to survive I would have to control my panic, regulate my breathing and think how to get to the surface. We were at 40 metres and I was blinded without my mask. I was unable to read my gauges and was risking an uncontrolled ascent which could result in a bend, burst lung or air embolism; that’s if I free myself. I was seriously frightened.

Suddenly a light flashed in the darkness. It was Pat's torch, but what could he do? Could he pull me free of the lines without entangling himself? There was nothing to do but remain calm and pray. He grabbed my stab jacket and with a strong pull I was free.

I don’t know how long it took him to lead me back along our line to the shot-line, I could see nothing, but when he placed my hand firmly on that line, I knew we would make it back. He offered me his “Octopus”, but I declined, indicating I was OK. I relaxed and we began the ascent. I paused a moment to open the automatic dump on my dry suit. The ascent seemed excruciatingly slow; I had to suppress the urge to bolt for the surface. It was so dark. Then I felt the thickening of the rope -- a splice! For the first time I knew exactly where I was -- 20 metres! The waters steadily became brighter. Pat stopped me and indicated that he intended us to do a decompression stop! We must be at 6 metres. Three metres later we stopped again. I thought, “He’s having a laugh!” I longed for the surface, but he could read the instruments and had to make the decisions.

At last we reached the surface. I could see again and the boat was rushing reassuringly toward us. Andy spun Skin Deep stopping the ladder right in front of me. My strength gone, Andy and a friend Anne Marie helped me aboard. They found metres of the fishing line wrapped around my fins and legs. Later I found one piece still lodged in my octopus vent. It was clear I had just escaped from the worst possible scenario.

Pat’s story: Eileen had signalled very positively to ascend rather than descend further, so I turned and started to wind back up on the reel, expecting her to follow close behind. After a metre or so I stopped and turned to check her position ...... my heart skipped a beat - she wasn’t with me. Oh $*@t! Not here; not at this depth and on a wreck.

I did a quick visual search all around, above and below, but there was no sign of her or even her bubbles. Next I shone my torch in a sweep below me where I had last seen her. There was only a very dense blackness which even the intense beam of the big torch failed to penetrate more than a couple of metres; still no sign of my wife or her bubbles. Perhaps she had already moved back to the shot line, passing over me out of sight. I twisted round on my fins to face the wreck, ready to start reeling up again, when I felt something brush against my fins. Either there was some very clumsy marine life on that wreck, or it was Eileen below me.

Quickly releasing the reel brake, I descended, shining the torch downward. After a short drop the torch picked out the edge of what appeared to be an open hatchway. Moving down over this, the beam suddenly landed on Eileen’s face; I cannot begin to describe the intensity of the relief that swept over me at that moment. I noticed several things, seemingly all at once. Her mask had gone and her eyes were staring, wide with obvious panic, but unseeing. She was holding on to her DV, with bubbles rising in a profuse and almost continuous stream -- was it free flowing? The other hand was gripping some sort of spar and her body movements indicated that she was finning hard without effect -- had she lost buoyancy -- maybe holed her dry-suit on the wreck? I didn’t stop to look for answers, I knew only that I had to let her know that I was there and get her back to the shot line to stabilise the situation and calm her down before surfacing.

I must admit that the initial, instinctive urge was to grab her and rush for the surface. Fortunately, years of B.S.-A.C. training immediately cut in without conscious thought. I reached down to grab her by the arm, but my gloved hands slipped on her dry-suit, so I reached right under her arm and got a firm grip on her rather than her equipment. There was an instant expression of recognition or hope in her face. Assessing that she needed pulling out of that hole, but not knowing that she was caught in line, I dropped the reel onto the surface of the wreck, took hold of something that felt solid and just heaved her upwards. She came clear, and towing her with one hand and following my line with the other we made it back to the shot line, around which I clamped her free hand. To calm her down and reassure her that she was safe, I grabbed both her arms firmly and gave her a big squeeze. The response was immediate; she nodded, her eyes started moving and she started breathing more easily.

Only the week before, my dive computer had been sent away for repair, so I had used the B S-A C 88 tables for my dive plan and a “D Timer” on my console for dive information. Our intended dive plan would have required some ten minutes of decompression stops. With only one 12.2 litre cylinder each, it wouldn’t have been a long dive anyway. I checked the dive time and our air contents -- we had enough for a normal ascent and some stops. Holding the shot line below Eileen’s hand, I started pushing hers upwards. After a few metres I realised that the clip of my reel line was still round the shot, between our hands, and that the line was paying out below us, possibly endangering other divers. I stopped Eileen by squeezing her hand on the shot line and started to pull up the reel. About a minute and a handful of knitting later, it became obvious that the reel was caught on the wreck with the brake jammed open. To have simply dropped it would have left a serious hazard below for the other divers, so I quickly made it into a hank, wrapped it tightly around the shot and secured it with the clip; hopefully it would stay clear of the others. We continued a steady ascent and at six metres I stopped Eileen again and did another check of our timing and air contents: all OK Her dive computer showed clear (no decompression stop necessary). However, because we had both been breathing at depth --40M+ - under stress, I knew that our nitrogen absorption could well have increased beyond the norm. To be on the safe side I decided to do two stops as we still had enough air

It was with no little relief that we surfaced by the shot buoy. Andy Smith wasted no time responding to my distress signal, bringing the boat very accurately alongside in spite of the heavy swell. It was not until I ducked under to help a very tired wife to find the spine ladder with her fins that I noticed the tangle of fishing line around her legs and all her problems on the wreck became clear!

Back on board I quickly developed a splitting headache, which I knew was stress induced rather than dive related.

The incident has had its benefits. We have both learned a great deal from the experience and it has confirmed for us the value of good buddy diving. Thinking back it was with some surprise, but also with great comfort, I realised all my actions had happened naturally and quite automatically. I have to attribute our survival not only to our six years of formal training and our own frequent practices, but also to knowledge gained during many informal chats with other experienced divers in our club.

(Five days later we were back diving on the “Hens & Chicks," Southwest Wales, in poor visibility looking at feather stars. We were still able to dive with confidence. We have also become Instructors at our local Diving club.)

Pet Portraits

2010-11-17T20:53:00.002+01:00

this has been a great trade. We all submitted photos of our pets, past and present. I only had the couple current pets of my own, but also submitted my daughters pets as well to give more choice. I am in receipt of some wonderful portraits from other artists, and am still awaiting a few more. I thought I would show a few of the ones I did and sent on to some of the other artists.

The variety of pets submitted is quite wide, reptiles, goats, guinea pigs, horses, cats and dogs of course. it was a challenge on how to approach each one. With the guinea pig I chose pen and ink as it seemed to be the best medium.

The addition of a chicken was a really exciting challenge. What a lovely Henny Penny it was.
I think I was more worried by the cats and there were several submitted. My personal favourites were tight crops of the face mostly the eyes. It worked well and I was not the only one to utilize this cropping.

This cats colour just begged interpretation, But then how do you paint white? Well, this is my interpretation.

Moving on to another unusual critter, take this lizard... this is different.

Each pet was another challenge and I learned so much from each one, not only about the character of the animal but the use of the various medium applications. The next animal, was a goat and I chose gouache for the medium.

Part two next time.

Miniature Art

2010-11-02T00:06:00.000+01:00

ATCs or ACEOs are miniature art cards 2.5 x 3.5 inches. But ATCs, I love them. I love painting them for others and receiving theirs in return. That is what trading art is all about, getting to know other artists through their art, making friends and joyfully opening mail! Email has taken the joy out of normal post. There is no permanence in email, unless you download them and file them away or download the photos they send. But personal, original letters, are now a thing of the past. Now arriving on the door mat... they arrive with original artwork and sometimes even a note within them. Post is now fun, something to await with anticipation. As a group we set themes and then work within those parameters.
My first project was Primary colours, all had to be done using primary colours red, blue and yellow. Any other colours had to be made by mixing them. The first is watercolour and the other two are in coloured pencil.

The second project was Abstract. This was a challenge for me as I wasn't sure I could do Abstract, but then found I do do it after all.

I loved doing the Abstract and hope to do a lot more, perhaps even going up to bigger sizes. These were in watercolour.
The next project was even more abstract, Zentangles, more like doodles, I found I was not too good at these. But what fun I had doing them.

The next project was stepping outside my comfort zone. Pet Portraits! Choosing from a selection of photos submitted by each participant of their pets, I would have to paint their pet to hopefully meet with their approval.

It was a very enjoyable challenge painting a pet belonging to someone else. All three are in watercolour. The ATCs I have received in return are fantastic and are so treasured. I cannot wait to start the on the next project...Chimneys!

A Choir that Rocks

2010-10-20T00:10:00.001+02:00

My daughter joined a choir. I thought, good, she need something in her life other than being laundress, taxi driver, wife and mother to 5 children.
There were several performances in towns and cities, then the next thing I hear is that they are recording an album and celebrating in the Hammersmith Apollo in London. Not an ordinary choir, but a Rock Choir led by the founder Caroline Redman Lusher, with whom the numbers rose to thousands of voices. The choir now has appeared on nationwide television programs promoting their Rock Choir Vol.1 album.

The phenomena has also reached the American TV CBS morning show report. And they sing such joyful music, the sort that make you want to sing along and dance with them.

The enthusiasm is so contagious, I would join myself if I lived in England.

Recently I went to a perfomance in Basingtoke Festival Theatre, of the Basingstoke branch of the choir.

They rocked, singing songs like "Joyful Joyful" here.

Their repertoire includes songs like "Valerie", "Walking on Broken Glass", "Rescue Me" and my personal favourite, "Something Inside So Strong".
If you have the chance to see them, do so. Better still, I can recommend the album. It will brighten your day.
My daughter is the one in the back row of the last two photos.

The Finish

2010-10-06T00:33:00.000+02:00

This is my finished Gorilla. I do feel that I could do a lot better and hope to do another in the near future. I learned from this one and the advice given me by my artist friends. One of the joys of belonging to a on line forum such as "Wet Canvas", is having the advice of your fellow artists and friends. This has been invaluable to me over the last couple of years, encouraging me to go on when I might have so easily given up. Thank you all for your encouraging comments which also keep me going.

Wip gorilla in coloured pencil

2010-08-08T14:15:00.000+02:00

This is a first gorilla but not the last. They are so very strong but gentle. However, don't get in their path if the are running.. I always like the story about the little boy who fell into the gorilla enclosure at a zoo and the gorilla that cared for him. That was some time ago and amazed the world. Where was the roaring, chest beating monster as depicted in films. Hollywood has a lot to answer for.

I have had some advice from fellow artists which I will now apply to the finished work. That is the beauty of belonging to an artists forum like Wet Canvas.
I would like to add, that part of the reason for our disappearing apes is the eating of "bush meat"! This is imported from Africa to the United States and United Kingdom to be consumed by Africans living abroad. This must be stopped.

Work in Progress

2010-07-23T22:47:00.000+02:00

I started an new painting with coloured pencil from a photo ref. by "Imaginie" of Wet Canvas. It is very difficult but of all the great apes I love gorillas the most. These gentle giants are in such danger of becoming extinct, it is alarming. This is the work so far.....

I am using a mixture of Derwent Studio and Faber Castel polychromo coloured pencils on a watercolour paper.

ATC or ACEO

2010-06-20T17:52:00.000+02:00

ACEO OR ATC are Trading card Collectables!

Not everyone knows what they are, though most artists do. You can "google" them and find full explanations and history.

ACEO, Art Cards,Editions & Originals, are small works of original art of a miniature nature, only being 2.5 by 3.5 inches in size. They can be in any medium, watercolour, pen & ink, acrylic, coloured pencil or oil for instance. Collectors can find them for sale on sites like Ebay and Etsy or from the artists own web sites. Artist sell limited prints, or original works to the public this way. Obviously prints are cheaper than originals. It is up to the collector.

ATCs are Artist Trading Cards, exchanged by artist in a trade for each other's art. It is great fun and I am enjoying my first project exchange. My first exchange was between another artist and myself by agreement. It encouraged me to try a multiple exchange project on Wet Canvas. I joined one based on the Primary Colours, Red, Blue and Yellow only to create the other colours. It was an interesting exercise in mixing colours in different mediums. Most of all it is fun.

This card was the first card I traded. It now has a new home. I have given others to friends or family.

I have many more eligible for sale or Trade. Judging from examples on Etsy they sell anything from $10.00 to $25.00 or some can even charge higher. I have much to learn about this activity but am enjoying the learning curve and getting to know other ATC artists.

Some of my favourite ACEOs

The Olive Jar

La jarra

Bee on Lavender

Ladybird

Pumpkins

Ladybug

Walking Near the Bernias Part 2

2010-05-31T12:10:00.000+02:00

(If you scroll down below this entry you will find Part 1 if you have not already seen it.)

This is a good walk, with lots of interest besides the fantastic scenery. Finding abandoned ruins,ancient tools, spring flowers and a working farm along the way, all add interest. There is so much to enjoy that I forgot how hard the going was at times and its all worthwhile.

We continued our walk that took us nearer to the mountains. The path winds down again, which means at the bottom we will be going up again, oh dear!

Rough going here. Imagine what it must be like on top of that ridge?

At last the path gets easier near the working farms.
You have to stop and admire your surroundings.
The song of birds is the only music here!

Clearing terraces for spring planting.

An Iris farm at the halfway point of our walk.

We did not stop to do a tour as we still had a long way to go. It was a good place to stop and rest in the shade of a tree and have a drink.

A beautiful Spanish Pine further on is shaped by the prevailing wind.

A skeletal remains of what might have been a hide or rude shelter for a shepherd? No doubt also shaped by that wind.

Not much going on here, not long abandoned perhaps, but could have been explored more, however, I must keep up; I am being left behind taking all these pictures.

This large stone was hollowed out and I cannot work out its purpose, but it is perhaps for some sort of hand milling.

It is easier to work out what this one might have been shaped for. I should think pounding wheat into flour was its purpose.

The spring flowers are so simple but very pretty.

The view of the Mediterranean coast from the restaurant where at the end of our walk we enjoyed a well earned rest and hearty meal.

The restaurant is called El Refugio.

The walking group enjoy a coffee outside on the terrace, after their meal.

(A big thank you to Paul and Penny Vickers for arranging and guiding the walk.)

Walking near the Bernia Mts. Part 1

2010-05-24T18:19:00.001+02:00

Walking is a great pleasure in the mountains of Spain. No manicured paths here, quite the opposite. It is rough terrain and you need to keep your wits about you, stopping often to enjoy the beauty all around you. It is a wilderness full of wonder as the mountains unfold. The wild herbs scent the air in the warmth of the sun and the only sound you hear is bird song, the bees going about their business or the cry of a bird of prey. One circles above too high to identify or photograph. This a beautiful place near the Bernia Mountains the other side of the Jalon Valley.

Isolated casitas here and there nestle in the secluded beauty of this valley. The neglected terraces tumbling down the hillside.

These ancient terraces were built by the Romans and the Moors during their occupations and have survived over 500 years. The people living here would eke out a modest existence.

These tiny blue flowers survive on the path, dwarfed by lack of moisture and the step of trekkers feet.

My favourite flower, the Gladiolo Palustre is everywhere, and I even found a tiny Bee Orchid on the edge of the path.

Its petal is half eaten by some hungry insect.

This valley flows down to the sea with this cliff a barrier on one side to our left,

and the impressive Bernia bars the right. In the middle of this valley we find abandoned remains of agriculture and industry connected to the produce of the area.

We found this old old mill.

Not a mill stone but the base of the press that produced olive oil, I am assuming as the way the stone has been worked to make channels and then an exit channel for the liquid into the receptacle.

Inside the building we found this very old press. It shows a channel cut to the bowl hollowed out of the stone floor.

I am only assuming it is for olive oil; my assumptions based only on my practical reasoning. Some thought maybe for wine. If anyone knows please comment. These are abandoned buildings with no guides or signs, they are just there! It is what make this mountain trekking so interesting. You see sights that only the intrepid trekker sees.

God Bless the Bee

2010-05-17T15:24:00.001+02:00

What a beautiful day. I sit in my garden on the kneeling seat given to me by my daughter in law, Pauline, and dead head my Margaritas. The sun is warm on my skin and a breeze ever so slight stirs the flower heads and my hair across my face.

The bees are buzzing all around me, one, its panniers so full of orange pollen from the aloes that I think he will never make it back to his hive as he flies away.

One is crawling up the orange tubular flower of the aloe but the breeze blows him away. Their work is not easy.

I think of my loved ones and say a prayer for those in need as the sun bathes me.

I pray for the bees.

The receptacle for collecting the clippings is nearly full. I will put them in an area that could use some more colour, the dried seed will germinate in the scrubby area and brighten up a less than interesting area.

My wild Gladiolo Palustres are bending too far over and need propping up so we can see its beautiful fuchsia pink faces. I passionately love these for their delicate flowers and colour. My first ones came from the mountain where there are now houses standing. My rescue flowers now dominate my garden since they are reseeding here and there where ever they feel is best suits them.

The disturbed thyme scents the air as the bees crawl over their tiny flower heads. The sound of the bees fills the air, but my iPod is singing in my ear, music that seems to fit the beautiful air around me. My grandson is singing to me one minute, then dramatic strains from Vangelis fill my ears. Can there be a better way to spend the day than this?

A green lizard scuttles for cover as Lucky-dog trots up with a ball she wants me to throw for her. She drops it in my clippings bucket and gazes expectantly at me cocking her head. I threw it as far as I could but she was there to catch it. She is my constant companion, shadows me where ever I go.

There are lots of Passion fruit flowers, we are going to enjoy lots of fruit again this year.

Life is good and it is the little things that make it so.

God bless the bees.

Tiger, tiger burning bright...

2010-05-13T23:48:00.001+02:00

I seem to be on a roll. After weeks of non productivity I am back at work. For the next May Challenge in Wet Canvas Coloured Pencil project I chose the tiger from a reference photo by Crias. It was not as difficult as the peppers, or was it.
My paper is a heavy watercolour hand laid paper of a rough texture. I can tell you no more about it as it is something my husband bought years ago. This would be a good chance to try it as we have quite a bit of it languishing on the shelf. Right away it was apparent that the pencils that worked best were the harder Derwent Studio coloured pencils. It is a tough paper and I think it will a lot of punishment. This is the start....

I am happily going along and enjoying working on this paper. I think the pencil moves almost too well on this surface and I will have to use a fixative to make sure it moves no more.

This is the final work, a little over 7 inch by 5 ish. Hope you like it!

Bell Peppers

2010-05-10T22:01:00.001+02:00

Back to the art! I was interested in May's coloured pencil challenge on Wet Canvas coloured pencil forum. There were several reference photos to choose from and I chose the Bell Peppers by Jade Fox.

Working on black is not easy but reading some advice I first rendered the drawing in values with a white pencil.

The white pencil gives the coloured pencil a base and keeps the colours true.

Sorry about the bloom against the black paper, I think it is the reflection of the scanner glass off the black paper. Perhaps cleaning the glass will help. I have applied the harder Derwent studio pencil colour first then built up the layers with the Faber Castel polychoromos.

After the additional layers the work is finished.
I hope you like it.

On the Campo

2010-05-04T17:28:00.000+02:00

On the way home from shopping we decided to explore a road on the campo. Between the mountains is a flat agricultural valley floor, called the Orba valley, which is criss-crossed by small roads. They are in various states of repair, from very good to atrocious. However they are access to the citrus groves primarily and short cuts for the locals. The river is crossed many times mostly by fords and one or two small bridges. It is a pleasant place with very few homes among the orange trees. There is a restaurant there behind Sanet y Negrals, we thought might be worth a visit when we next wanted a menu del dia. There is also a ford next to it and we found an small attractive waterfall. It made pretty pictures.

Sanet across a field.

The river in the Barranca.

The river is tamed by an artificial water way

The little water fall is really where the irrigation ditch is overflowing into the river the result of a lot of rain recently. Pat gets his camera out to get some fine photos!

Eileen crossing the ford to get closer.

I can take a better angle for a photo at this point.

Pat is still taking pictures.

We can exit the campo at Benimelli, which is our neighbouring village. It was great fun and I think we should come again and bring the dogs. We have walked here before following the river bed when it was dry. It was the same time last year, but this year the river is still running.

In the garden

2010-04-29T09:32:00.000+02:00

It was a beautiful sunny morning and we decided to walk around the garden to decide where Juan, our gardener would clear next. As we came around the corner I saw a lizard on the rock and alerted my husband to freeze and keep the dogs away while I ran back for the camera. They are usually skittish and I fully expected him to be gone when I returned. To my surprise it was still there. A sudden move as a fly darted by made me fear his next move would be to scuttle away before I could frame a shot. I took numerous shots as I edged closer to my prey, all the time waiting for him to make his dash to freedom.

It was soon apparent that he was steady as the rock he perched on and I was able to take several shots. I would guess he is probably about 6 - 8 inches long as we could not see the end of his tail but it is usually the same length as the body and more. What a treat to find a cooperative lizard. If anyone can identify him I would be grateful.

The Campo

2010-04-11T23:04:00.002+02:00

We drove down to the campo today near Tormos, where there was a model aircraft club that my husband wanted to seek advice from.

This impressive aircraft was the craft used to tow the gliders into the air. At one point there were three model gliders in the air. The skill and coordination of these model aviators was amazing. What a lovely place to fly these incredible machines.

While Pat enjoyed the flights and aircraft chat, I went for a walk in the orange groves.

The orange blossom perfume was heavy in the warm air and the sound of bees busily collecting nectar and pollen filled my senses.

Waxy blossoms and leaves of the orange trees are very attractive and a worthy subject for photography.

Quite often you will find the fruit and blossom on the tree at the same time.

At the edge of the orange was an olive grove with some elderly trees with gnarled trunks

and the grey green leaves of the olive branch.

A very peaceful place to be on such a lovely day.

Hitchhikers

2010-04-03T23:05:00.000+02:00

After a trip into Orba, a town about 20 minutes away, we decided to clean the car. It was then that my husband told me that there were some critters building a nest on the car. Sure enough there they were industrially working on their nest.

In the corner of the number plate recess under the protection of the number plate light holder was a paper nest under construction by wasps. These wasps are not usually aggressive and they were not the least bothered by my opening and closing the lid of the boot, (trunk to the transatlantic reader). They did not even mind me sticking the macro set lens of my camera only an inch or two away from them, but carried on with their task.

No doubt you think me mad as I do not intend to dislodge the paper construction but see what the affect of a trip to Sagra for lunch and an absence of a couple of hours will have on their endeavours. If they continue to carry on working after that, the next step will be to try moving the nest at night to an alternative site. I am sure you are absolutely riveted by this tale and cannot wait for my update!!!!

Roquetas de Mar

2010-03-25T23:59:00.000+01:00

From the window I look out across a sea, of plastic tomato sheds in the distance. They are every where, reminding you, as if you need to be reminded, that this is the tomato capital of Spain! We are in Roquetas de Mar, not far from Almeria. If you stay at your hotel and at the beach it is quite nice. The houses are attractive and prettily coloured, the local architecture is suitably exotic. But stray off the main avenue and it is a different story. To go anywhere locally you follow roads that are alleyways between the vast acres of plastic sheet covered sheds, every shred of land is encompassed in plastic with tons of tomatoes in varying stages of development from seedlings to decay. African migrant workers cycle or pick their way along non existent pavements. The recent rain has turned the road side into a plethora of puddles. There abandoned plots lay in dilapidation with shredded plastic trailing from wires and collapsed frames of old sheds, flapping in the wind. Rubbish collects in any unused corners. This is the tomato red lifeblood of this part of Spain, the bread and butter for the region. I am sure the locals do not see the ugliness, like the train that rumbles past your house you no longer hear. This is not a sanitised, “touristified” part of the coast. What you see is what you get. Yet, there are pockets of beauty, roundabouts with attractive sculpture, a palm tree lined Avenue.

The trouble is, just to get to the haven of tourist hotels and beautiful beaches, you must somewhere, get through the agricultural barrier of plastic sheds. We went to Agua Dulce, “sweet water” a pretty place we were told. We found the coastal oasis after our route march through “plastico” covered sheds that lined roads. We found two English RVs parked up in the car park, obviously “staying for the night”. It started to rain.

We asked at the desk if they would recommend villages in the mountains worth a visit. Non tourist!!! Setting our" “TomTom”, off we went to visit Orgiva and Trezvelez in the Sierra Nevada, the number one on our destination “wish list” for this part of Spain. I will leave out the miles of sheds before the mountains revealed themselves to us, free of plastic shrouds. We started to climb and my spirits soared at the sight of the scenery as the road narrowed and wound its way onward. The sun was out and it was just beautiful. Trees were beginning to show signs of spring. Almond trees were in blossom on the higher slopes. The recent storms that flooded large areas of Spain also showed the affect here. We noticed that the banks on the uphill side of the road were soft and sliding into the road in places. The further we got into the mountain the more damage we saw. Roads were newly cleared of the soil and rocks from small landslides. Then we came to more dramatic affects of the heavy rains the week before we came. The road dropped and slid away heading down the mountainside, leaving the guard rail bent and hanging in mid air, the tarmac surface cracked, the road heaved and undulated as the ground underneath liquefied and washed away, with only a just passable one lane to get through on. In the mountains we did find the villages that were very pretty and overflowing with tourist buses. But it was a great day out!

Painting out the window

2010-03-21T23:28:00.001+01:00

After nearly three weeks off line and a week away, having a "break," we caught colds. We are back home recovering and the Internet connection finally is back up. While away I did do some painting. The scene outside the window even in the rain was worth painting. I don't usually paint architecture so it was an opportunity to try something different. I had taken water colours with me and a selection of small pieces of watercolour paper to use. We were in Roquetas de Mar near Almeria, about 5 hours drive away from home and a couple hundred metres from the beach. The weather was not favourable, rain, cold and wind made walks on the beach uncomfortable. So out came the paint brush and colours.

The architecture is typical of this area.

Abstraction

2010-02-28T11:08:00.000+01:00

I admire a lot of abstract art and the artists that have accomplished it so well. I have made some feeble attempts and they all ended in the bin. Yesterday was different. I was struggling with a gouache painting and in desperation went at it in a different way....I thought, ah, now that looks abstract to me. I like it whatever it is and I wonder what you think. I have lots to learn.

Painted in gouache, size 6 in x 4 in on watercolour paper.

Trading cards

2010-02-26T16:09:00.000+01:00

Someone said "sausage tree" and I thought, oh, yes, I remember them and the fascination I had for the strange tree when I lived in Africa. It had what can only be described as fruit that looked just like meat sausages hanging from the branches. The tree actually is Kigelia pinnatas and is native to tropical regions of Africa. The memory spurred me into action and I quickly painted a 2.5 x 3.5 in ACEO of it in watercolour with pen & ink. It was a nice addition to the other trees in my series of trading cards.

A baobab also fascinated me, the "upside down tree", someone told me. Trees have always been of interest to me and the more exotic the more interesting, forgetting the wonderful "ordinary" trees surrounding me as a child. The were there to be climbed, to sit in the shade of, to tie my horse to. Later I began to draw them.

Pencil painting

2010-02-23T13:27:00.000+01:00

Been busy with my pencils again, painting in the Wet Canvas February Challenge, from the photograph ref. provided by the member Sandcastle, I did the old London Buses.

These old buses now sit rusting away if not in museums. many have been turned into a business making them available for such as weddings. This is a 6 x 4 in painting on light grey Mi Tientes paper.

This photo is borrowed from the following link:

https://sslrelay.com/www.redrover.co.uk/sess/utn;jsessionid=154b83ba2cc3b11/shopdata/index.shopscript

The second piece was from a photo ref. by MerithT of Wet Canvas, a lovely old barn.

I tried to get a painterly look but am not sure it worked. As always it has been a challenge, but fun. This is 7 x 5 inches on rust coloured Mi Tientes paper with Derwent Coloursofts.

Clouds over Almunia

2010-02-17T20:00:00.001+01:00

The sky is a source of constant amazement. There are countless sites that celebrate skys with the most beautiful photographs. It fascinates me and I take lots of photos and now and again find one or two that are not particularly beautiful, but are unusual. The the following are two examples.

The first one was taken one morning as the sun rose. The spirals on the layers facinate me and must be caused by some atmospheric activity which I do not understand. The one below was taken just before midday, attracted my attention when I was coming back from walking the dogs.

I ran into the house to grab my camera and catch these images. I was not sure if I was even seeing it, that perhaps my eyes were blurry from too much work on the laptop. However, the photo has captured the rainbow edge of the cloud. The sun is behind the cloud.

It looks like an aberration on the photo, but no that is what I saw. I think somewhere I read this is caused by ice crystals.

If anyone can explain this phenomena better I would be grateful for your comments.

Blue is the Colour

2010-02-10T22:09:00.002+01:00

of a shuttered window in France

of a Valencian sky

of an upturned boat

of fishing nets on the Denia quay

of a reflection of the sky on a flooded beach

of iridescence on a butterflies wing

The Last Leg

2010-02-06T20:45:00.000+01:00

The day started clear with some dark heavy clouds on the horizon. The snow covers the peaks of the Pyrenees. We soon were over the border into Spain and looking forward to a GOOD cup of coffee at the next stop. We were missing our Spanish coffee.

Further down the road the weather is deteriorating and the wind very gusty. There is snow on the ground here.

The snow starts to fall and soons becomes a blizzard and visibility becomes very poor. Traffic slows to a crawl.

At one point the traffic halts as we head for Valencia, not far from home now. There is plenty of snow laying here.

It is very pretty but not good news for those on the road. This weather has slowed us down a little, changing the time for arriving home about an hour later. Our very good friends and neighbours Katy & Ralph had a hot meal waiting for us.

It is great to see our gate and our home at long last. A long way from all the snow and ice we had travelled through, but it is still cold. First on the agenda, get the boiler going, unload the car and put the kettle on and make a cup of tea!!

After a rest we walk up the road a few yards to a welcoming friends and splendid meal! Can't get better than that! Thanks chaps

Sorry

2010-01-26T20:24:00.000+01:00

I must appologise for the state of the last post. I used the Windows Live Writer and the result is less than pleasing. I am unlikely to use it again, unless I find out I was doing it all wrong....

The Journey continues

2010-01-24T23:41:00.003+01:00

The next morning we continued our journey. After our usual "continental" breakfast we gathered our belongings and two frisky dogs and left the motel. There had been no snow overnight so we decided to come off the peage for the rest of the journey and enjoy the countryside, as the roads were clear.

This old road would take us to Millau. This area is a haven for walkers and climbers.

In years past it was an arduous journey taking a long tortuous route down into the Gorges du Tarn to Millau and a long steep climb back out again. We had the time now to drive back down into the valley for a change. Now the valley is spanned by the Millau Viaduct which we have used several times.

The views are lovely but it is overcast making the photography pretty dull.

This bridge is an amazing and beautiful structure.

Link to the Science bit. http://bridgepros.com/projects/Millau_Viaduct/

The road winds down and down in a series of bends to the town. It is so quiet and the roads are still clear of snow and traffic. The cliffs of the Tarn rise above us. I often wish we had the time to stop and explore the area more, but we have to go on and get home, each night away becomes another expense that we try to avoid besides, this is not the time of year to go walkabout. The temperature out there is below freezing. The photos taken out the window of a moving car do not really make good photos but it does give an idea of the areas we passed through. It is about the journey not the photography. It takes three days to make this journey now. We used to make it quicker but that was too stressful. This time in spite of the threat of snow I enjoyed the passage and already look forward to our next one.

This is the view overlooking Millau on our ascent out of the valley. There is a spot where we can pull over and appreciate the view. Too bad it is so dull and dark on this day.

We are now driving towards the Mediterranean in earnest. We must get to Perpignan before dark.

The landscape when we climb out of the Gorge soon becomes very like Dartmoor. The land is open with huge rocks. Now it begins to get dark and no stopping for impressive photography.

Our next landmark we look for is the tunnel. Once through there we are into a totally different environment.

We can smell the sea...., no not really but we know we are on our last leg when the first sign post for Barcelona appears.

The countryside is more arable and farms appear. Before too long we will be on the coast at Perpignan and our last overnight stop.

That is.... will the GPS gets us to the right one.

A journey

2010-01-16T17:16:00.000+01:00

We were lucky to leave England for France when we did. A few hours delay would have been a huge mistake. Soon after leaving it started snowing in England and the worst snow storms for 30 years paralized the south and southwest of England.

The crossing to Dunkirk was smooth and the ferry excellent. Our dogs were curled up asleep in the car on the car deck below. After disembarking we drove south towards Boulogne and Rouen.

Near Boulogne we encountered a blizzard that brought the traffic to a slip, sliding crawl. The snow scenes were beautiful; I have not seen snow for years.

Soon after passing Boulogne the snow thinned out and progress became easier. When we reached our Motel it was clear that they already had had a light snowfall.

The next morning we found it had snowed heavily during the night. Driving through Rouen, which usually took half an hour took over an hour. Once clear and on the motorway we found the traffic light and the roads clear.

We were on the way to Clermont Ferrand and had hoped to reach Issoire where we stayed on the way up but it was clear that we would not get there by dark so chose to stop in Riom instead. My husband put the motel into the GPS.

It promptly took us round the houses and up a dead end road. Oh joy, and it was getting dark.

I don't like driving around strange strange countryside in the dark. Pat was getting very annoyed and frustrated by the failure of the wonder kit to get us to the destination. Again he entered the name of the Motel as I reversed and turned the car around on the narrow, increasingly slippery road. It decided that it really did know the way and took us back and to the Motel. We finally reached our destination. Lucky investigated the snow while Pat booked our room. We enjoyed a good night's sleep and after a delightful meal in the hotel across the road while our canine companions slept in the warmth of our motel room.

Home

2010-01-11T14:08:00.000+01:00

Hello one and all, Happy New Year.

We are back home with the washing machine running flat out to catch up all the travel laundry. The weather here is looking dreary but compared to those in the northern climes we are positively hot at 12ºc.

The house has warmed up and gradually the unpacking is done and we settle down to the usual chores.

We only had one disaster and that the unusually high winds on New Year's Eve blew over a huge pot with my sago palm in it. The pot is a write off but I will get someone to plant the palm in the ground for me. The house plants survived their incarceration in the outdoor shower, where a friend was able to water them for me. They are now back upstairs in the Nyah again, sans frostbite. There is only 1 kumquat left on my little kumquat tree, but the lemon tree looks a little better. I shall have to make some lemon marmalade again.

The dogs weathered the trip as usual with no problems at all. They are so used to the routine that they just settle down to it without so much as a disgruntled growl. The moment they have their travel harness on they settle down, curl up and go to sleep in their beds on the back seat.

Now I have to get to grips with installing Windows 7 in this thing, (laptop) sorry all the photos have been backed up onto another hard drive. Will be posting them soon and get this blog updated. I had a tiny spurt of artistic activity over Christmas but with no scanner or internet handy, it remains in a bag, .....somewhere.

I found out that my blog can be accessed on Facebook on my Profile, Notes! That is quite handy. Don't know how I did that, but it is there. My fan page is even looking healthier, but if I don't get busy and put some more work out, it will get boring.

In the meantime, I will get over my cold, sniff, sniff and start working again.

Now where did I put that packet of new paper.......

The Hill

2009-12-04T19:38:00.001+01:00

Behind the village of Rafól de Almunia, is a hill where the old cemetery is and on top stands a cross. Most villages have a hill behind it on which they erect a cross. The hill is fittingly called Calvari. It has been on my "to do" list for some time and last week we ticked it off our list.

You can see the cemetary, the white up on the hill above the houses on the right. It is not that it is arduous, but because it is on the doorstep you sometimes leave it for another day. Having done this too often in the past, today was going to be the day.

The road winds its way up the hill passing the "Stations of the Cross". You look back over the tiled roof tops of Rafól. The day was sunny but not too warm making it a comfortable walk up the hill. We passed behind villagers homes where in some were tethered packs of hunting hounds which set up a dreadful din as we passed. I was glad they seemed to be securely chained as they would happily shred Lucky if they escaped. Our walking sticks were not really to aid our aged limbs up the hill but to protect us from the dangerous animals we encounter. It has been my habit when walking the hills near home in hunting season to carry a staff. It is useful for defence against aggressive hunting hounds. They are not pets and are trained to hunt and kill small game. I doubt they know the difference between a rabbit and small dog.

Nearly halfway there Pat and Lucky stop to admire #5. We are out of range of the raging hounds of the baskervilles and it is quiet once more. We can take time to look at the stations and enjoy the scenery.

Set into each station column is a tiled picture of the ordeal of Christ.

A rocky hill with the Cross on its crest has no easy path to the top. Its a little bit of a scramble. One wrong step and you will feel the hard sharp wrath of the rocks.

There I am with Lucky at the Cross. The views from here are lovely but I left the camera with Pat as I did not want to break it if I tripped up the hill into the rocks, or skidded down the gravelly bits between the rocks my camera flailing the air on the end of its lanyard, destined to be split by razor sharp rocks on its decent. I was sorry that I did not have it, as on the way down a huge black snake crossed my path. He had been sunning himself on the warm rocks. I judged him to be at least three feet in length. He reared up his head to have a look at his assumed assailant before he dived under a huge rock.

The church tower and houses of the village below as we made our way down the mountain back to the village square.

And a well earned drink at Bar Moreno in the village square. This is our "local", where we often go for a cup of coffee, or an occasional caña. (small draught beer)

Yellow is the colour

2009-11-27T23:33:00.000+01:00

Yellow is the flower of interest in my garden.

From the Alicante Buttercup considered a weed, which grows like a carpet under the citrus trees.

A Yellow Hibiscus or

the yellow flower of a cactus.

It is the colour of interest to insects as well.

Honey bees make many forays to this enticing flower cluster,

But they are not the only visitors.

I like this little bug eyed critter!

His eyes are incredible!

You don't have to go further than you own garden to enjoy the wonders of nature.

I love gardening and often regret not having my camera with me. However, there are many times I just go out to see what I might find. The insect life is fascinating. They are however very difficult to capture and when you do it is very rewarding.

A walk around Parcent

2009-11-25T00:33:00.002+01:00

Parcent with its church tower can be seen on many approaches to the village.

We went to Parcent to buy the excellent olive oil.

Above is one of the many olive groves. Below is a close up of the netting that is laid beneath the trees to collect the olives as they ripen and fall.

I picked one up and squashed it between my fingers. The oil ran out and over my finger; It smelled delicious, like a good olive oil does. Extra virgin olive oil is slightly greeny yellow and has a great taste drizzled over toast, bread or salad. It is so loved here that I have seen workmen in a restaurant actually add it to their stew.

Well drizzled with oil and liberally salted, tastes great with a cold beer.

Every village has a fountain of one sort or another.

And all have very narrow picturesque streets and passages.

L'ERA happens to be the best Paella restaurant in our area!

A closer look at the bell tower.

We were walking down that narrow street when someone called out, "Mrs. Cannon, Mrs. Cannon." We turned to see one of our earliest acquaintances when we came to Spain many years ago. It was great to see Maria again and so nice that she not only remembered us but ran to catch us to say "hello". We went on with that warm feeling of meeting such friendly people.

Little bit of fun

2009-11-23T00:01:00.002+01:00

Been having masses of trouble with our server again. It is so agonizingly slow that I had to give up trying to update blogs or post even on Facebook. I kept getting "Timed Out" white pages. We do take the internet for granted sometimes, and we have had lots of problems here on this mountain with communication companies, so we should be grateful for what we do have. We don't have the usual land lines up here. We have what are called "track fones", which is really nothing more than a mobile phone in a box on the wall which acts as a transmitter to our "phone". It is less than reliable and often people cannot get through to us, nor can we count on it completely so the mobile phone is the answer. With our satellite internet capability we can use various VIOP phone systems online. Because Mobile phones are so popular and lucrative we have no chance of the phone company investing in the infrastructure for land lines.
I have been keeping busy in the meantime catching up on some gardening as well as usual chores, and doing some ACEO paintings. ACEO are small works of art, 3.5 x 2.5 and are very popular, being sold regularly in places like Ebay, where collectors can aquire them.
The subject matter can be anything, and my efforts are varied. Seasonal ones are popular, as well as certain animals, cats being one of the most popular.

This one I did after Halloween just for a laugh, "Humpty Pumpkin" on the wall.

Then this one I decorated with sparkly crafty stuff, which does not scan to well. But it is fun and a break away from concentrated efforts on larger pieces.

Alicante

2009-11-13T16:02:00.000+01:00

Alicante is located on the Costa Blanca, Spain,

and is one of the main cities of the Valencian region.

Views from the Castle of the city and the seaward side.

Steps hewn into the solid rock, worn over the centuries by many feet.

Modern sculpture contrasts with the ancient sculpture of the steps.

I am glad for the current fashion of sculpture for the people, decorating streets and roundabouts all over Spain.

Modern Alicante against the Ancient Castle.

More Street sculpture for the masses.

Beautiful old buildings surround the church square.

I like the mix of modern and ancient.

Near Alicante is Jijona, home of the Valencian's favourite sweet, Turron!

The El Lobo 1880 brand sign is pointed out by my friend Katy.

We had been to the factory earlier in the day.

My favourite window decorated in simple plants and simple pots.

The yellow and blue...colours of great favour here.

The side door of the Basilica, the main door in was in shadow and less photogenic.

The nearby cafe window.

Near Home

2009-11-12T23:06:00.001+01:00

The Sierra Segaria

The village nestles at the foot of these mountains.

You can just see the white cross sitting on top of the hill.

The village church tower rises above the tiled roofs.

An old casita behind the village gently falls into ruin.

This is the place to take it easy and enjoy life, slowly.

A for Apple

2009-11-10T00:33:00.000+01:00

A for Apple, Autumn, Art or Aardvark. I always believed them to be a mythical creature invented by someone to illustrate the letter "A". Then one day I saw one. It ran across the back of my garden. How lovely to see my mythical creature in the flesh, now how many people get to see a real live aardvark in their own garden!

Wikipedia says, "The Aardvark (Orycteropus afer) (afer: from Africa) is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa.^[2] It is sometimes called "antbear", "anteater",..... or "earth pig". The word "aardvark" is famous for being one of the first entries to appear in many encyclopaedias and even abridged dictionaries. The name comes from the Afrikaans/Dutch for "earth pig" or "ground pig" (aarde earth/ground, varken pig)..." Many companies have adopted the Aardvark for thier company names because it will appear first in any listing in phone books or classified adds....there are no other words beginning with 2 a's. Further down the list is APPLE........ little green apple.

8 x 6 inches, Coloured pencil on watercolour paper.

Apple delight

2009-11-06T23:02:00.000+01:00

I have a lovely photo by Karrie from the Wet Canvas forum. It is one of the November Coloured Pencil challenges. This time I decided to work from the upside down photo to make me concentrate on the shapes. This is the photo upside down. Sorry Karrie.

I am hoping that it will prove to be a successful exercise. It is not as difficult as you would think, although I did keep turning the work over to check I was on the right track.

I am using watercolour paper and I wish I had not.... I just like the texture. I used a mixture of pencils.

I think it looks better upside down.

Autumn

2009-11-01T09:52:00.003+01:00

Good grief, Charlie Brown, it is November already and I did not even notice until I opened my laptop and saw the date. I wish I could say I have been really busy in the Art department but that did not happen. Today is a lovely day, sun is shining and the birds are scolding in the bushes. There is probably a snake looking for a meal, hunting below. We get snakes here and although not common, Ladder snakes are the ones I have seen here. They are constrictors, not dangerous. They should be encouraged as they eat rats!

I disturbed a nest once under a tree where I was working in leaf litter under a tree. The young soon slithered out of harms way. They must have only recently hatched as they were together. Another time I found a very young one in the road having difficulty climbing the kerb in its efforts to escape. I guided it to a more accessible spot before the dogs or a car found it.

The heather blossoms are dying off leaving their rusty dried remains. Meanwhile other plants are budding, ready for the winter blossoming. I have lots of Aloes of various types that grow anywhere in any conditions. As they are so easy to propagate and thrive, my garden is nearly over run with them. Aloes are very medicinal and very good for the skin. Break open a leaf and rub the gelatinous contents on burned or sunburned skin for fast relief.
People pay good money for these plants, yet I cannot get rid of my plant surplus and have to throw them away. Sometimes I take them to scrub areas near us and plant them. The rabbits love them.

Shades of Pink

2009-10-31T21:54:00.000+01:00

On the Marshes

2009-10-27T19:50:00.003+01:00

One of my favourite places is the Pego Marshes. Here you have no sounds of cars or

barking dogs; It is only the sound of the birds on the water or in the reeds. This is a peaceful place to walk or just sit and enjoy nature. Great for Plein Air Painting. On this day it is far too muddy after recent rains, so we drove on through puddles that straddled the dirt track to leave the marsh.

The Sierra Segaria can be seen in the distance.

The light enhances the reed heads.

The reed heads stand against the dark reflection in the water.

The smooth surface of the water mirrors grasses on the river bank.

The reeds and grasses are the only Autumn colour that

we get in this part of Spain.

Red seed heads of the marsh grass.

Storm clouds

2009-10-23T18:00:00.000+02:00

The trouble with good weather here is an uninteresting sky. Bright blue skys over a blue/green sea palm trees gently swaying in the sea breeze, quite boring for a cloud lover. Stop, you say, just give us a little of those blue skys, palm trees and SUN, SEA & SAND, as we are languishing under grey skys, and gloomy days. Although the rest of Spain was having big storms, copious water everywhere, we enjoyed the sunshine and endless blue sky. So it happened the next morning the sky was a gloomy grey. The TV weather map showed us one of those clouds with the sun peeping from a corner. There was no sun peeping here. The black clouds gathered and the wind blew fiercely through the palms, threatening a downpour. Workmen downed tools and headed for cover, potted plants blew over, and rain pelted the windows noisily.

However, in another minute it had blown away and clouds began breaking up above. Ah, ha! Grab the camera, look, a very interesting sky now!

And the clouds blew away for another beautiful day.

Pests

2009-10-19T21:47:00.000+02:00

I get the impression that this cute little critter is not universally loved. We encroach on the territory of wildlife and then complain when they want to share our house or bird feeder. "Ahhh, sweet," I said, but no, "it is eating my bird seed" or "It got into my attic." I used to see them in the woods, shyly skittering up trees. Now there are houses in those woods and people getting cross at them for wanting to live in the same space. Poor little critter. Guess this won't be a popular painting.
Ref: photo by Ona, Derwent Coloursoft pencil on Canson smooth paper.

Autumn

2009-10-18T18:23:00.000+02:00

Autumn brings those early morning mists and heavy dew. Gathered on spiderwebs, it makes a lovely picture. I have used a Patrick Hedges photograph for inspiration. The pencils are Derwent Coloursoft and the paper black Mi Tientes. It is an ACEO size, 2.5 x 3.5, miniature art. I have been doing a few of these as the miniature art scene is very interesting. Besides, it is helping me get caught up on some of the Wet Canvas challenges. Since coming back from my holidays I have been somewhat lax with my website and artwork. Hopefully I will not be quite so slow posting work.

October Challenge

2009-10-07T17:50:00.002+02:00

It has taken some time to get resettled at home after our trip to the States, getting the broken boiler sorted out and recovering from jet lag. At last I got back to Wet Canvas and took up a challenge in Coloured Pencil to give me a kick start. The Owl by D-Dog seemed the best choice at this time and using my new Derwent Coloursoft pencils on Canson paper I started with an ACEO, 3.5 x 2.5in painting. Perhaps if I did a small one I could manage doing more of the offerings in the October challenge. The Derwent Coloursofts are rich and blend nicely. I will enjoy using them. Of course I had a chance spend a little time in a couple well known Art Stores and pick up some more interesting items. I also purchased a small set of Prismacolours. Yes, I see why so many people like them. To think I gave the ones I had away.....

I have "pencilmania" bad!!!

Lots of bugs and things.

2009-09-16T01:38:00.000+02:00

Been busy travelling and visiting but did take time out to take some pictures. They sure got big bees here! In walking around the garden here I found an amazing number of bees in the flowers.

The Mosquitos were making a meal of me! Here and in Georgia I found I was the subject of attack from these very bitey beasts. The weals on my arms and legs after a foray into the garden were numerous. Midday in the full sun they were hiding and I was safe from them but the heat soon chased me indoors.

They don't seem to mind the attention of a camera person!

Bees and wasps

2009-09-02T16:58:00.003+02:00

After some examination I could see a few things that really annoyed me and I have made some alterations, I hope for the better. The wings are more transparent and I have altered the background that was proving somewhat distracting.
One of the things I find helpful is scanning the work on my scanner and checking it in the preview. I can then make alterations and repreview. If I am happy with what I see, I can scan the art and create my copies for archiving or viewing online. Even after downloading the scan I can come back days later and groan, because something else catches my attention. So here is what I hope is the final outcome. I must find another bee.
I might try a wasp, or as the Americans call it, a Yellow jacket. We don't have the variety of wasps over here so "old yeller" is called a wasp. I was fighting with the ones near the pool but have recently come to a truce. They can drink at our pool and I am allowed to weed near their nest. They fly around but they do not buzz me or seem to be at all upset by my presence. I like the arrangement. So now I rescue those that fall into the pool instead of exacting revenge or punishment.

Bees in her bonnet

2009-08-31T14:17:00.000+02:00

That must be what you are all thinking. In a way I guess that is true. I am getting very interested in bee anatomy. Next time a find a dead bee, I shall put it under a magnifying glass to study it closer. Photos can hide so much. This is the last one for awhile as I doubt I will be doing much posting while away on holiday. Too many things to do before departure and too many things to do while there. I shall post my findings. For now my current painting in Derwent Inktense pencils on watercolour paper. My reference photo by Macdragon. I hope I do his photographs justice.

Bee in done

2009-08-29T00:04:00.002+02:00

I think this is as done as it can get, unless you know otherwise..... don't be surprised if I make another change.
It was an interesting exercise using the mat board and maybe I will get more. First I need to see if the Derwent pencils will be better on this.

But while I have a "Bee in my bonnet I have already done a miniature art version of a bee in lavender which is interesting. This one is 3.5 inches x 2.5 inches on a watercolour paper in watercolours with pen and ink. No guessing the photographers reference photo is Macd again. The bees in his garden are getting very used to him following them around. Thanks once again Marc.

Bees again

2009-08-27T00:52:00.000+02:00

I enjoyed doing the last bee so much I could not wait to start another. This time in Faber Castell Albrect Durer coloured pencils on mat board. It is a 5x7 in. piece using another Macd photograph for reference. His photographs are very inspiring. I think the bees are getting quite used to being stalked by him as he has many included in his collection of photographs in the "Flower" thread on Wet Canvas.

Insects are really great subjects. Looking at this initial start I see where I must lengthen the rear leg on the left. It is funny how you see your mistakes once the work has been scanned.

I have started putting in more darks and worked on the lavender flower head. It is not an easy flower to draw.

I will update the progress of this WIP (work in progress) as soon as possible.

Scribbly stuff

2009-08-24T21:20:00.004+02:00

Doing some small 6x4ish sketches that needed a boost with some pen work. I am not sure that they benefited or not. But they were quick and fun to experiment with. One is a small Spanish town and the other is a farmhouse from imagination.

Save the bees

2009-08-17T11:49:00.004+02:00

Honey bees are in decline and that is a big problem. I painted my buzzy bee, using a photo reference by Macd of Wet Canvas. Insects are actually quite fun to paint. I probably mentioned before the huge numbers killed crossing main highways that go between orchards and the hive. We need a bee crossing! How about screens that would make the bees fly higher over the motorway? We build tunnels for badgers, fences for deer, crossings for frogs and ducks. It is our need of transport that is killing so much of our wildlife. So why not consider the humble honey bee which is so important to our lives. Without them to pollinate our flowers, our fruit and vegetables will disappear, not a nice thought is it. In some countries they are already starting to hand pollinate. Expensive, as you have to pay to have that done. Bees do it for nothing, and produce the most beautiful by product ever, honey, pollen and wax. All creatures were created for a reason, so before you squash that bug, think what its job might be.

Fiesta a Rafol

2009-08-15T11:40:00.004+02:00

Last night was my favourite night of the Fiesta in Rafol d'Almunia. The Fiesta of Saint Francis of Paula. The procession of villagers progresses around the village, with 8 men carrying the heavy effigy through the streets. It ends with fireworks when the effigy returns to the church, Església Parroquial Sant Francesc de Paula which is nearly 500 years old, established in 1535. Afterwards the villagers go to the venue of the main fireworks, and then back to the plaza for their supper. This about 11:30 pm. Later on around 01:00 am, the Oquestra Vertigo will entertain the young members through the night. It is a fiesta we have attended every year. It has been known for us to get home around 3 am leaving the youngsters to the rest of the night. Young and old gather on these occasions which are very family orientated for a truly Spanish evening.

Fruity one

2009-08-13T14:28:00.005+02:00

I planted a passion fruit seed about 4 years ago. To my surprise it sprouted and produced the sturdy vine I have today. For the last two years it has supplied us with far more passion fruit than we will ever use. I love them in my fresh fruit salad or in yoghurt; it gives it a really special tropical taste.
It also is a subject of one or two paintings. This early one of a fresh picked one and the ready for eating wrinkled one. Slice them in half and scoop out the seedy flesh inside for your salad or yoghurt.

This is the latest one, which I cannot call finished yet. There are a couple things that still need attention. I am waiting for suggestions from my artist friends on the Wet Canvas site.

Wild Fires

2009-08-09T14:13:00.010+02:00

Yesterday two fire fighting planes flew low over the house alerting us to the wild fire that was just the other side of our mountain. Black smoke rose into the air behind our urbanization, causing concern that any stray spark would ignite the tinder dry brush on this side, behind our houses.

The smoke behind our neighbours house was quite alarming.

The fire fighting aircraft rises steeply after dropping its payload on the fire below. The aerial acrobatics as the aircraft flew into the narrow passes to drop the water on the fire was impressive.

Helicopters flew in with their buckets of water to drop on the flaming hillside.
Spain has lost over a dozen fire fighters so far this year. The dangers of fighting fires in such tight mountain areas made flying difficult and dangerous.

Their efforts were rewarded with the flames being extinguished after many hours of hard work. The stench of the burnt hillside was strong when we opened our windows on that side of the house last night. Today's rain is more than welcomed.