A thing of Beauty

The kitchen is finished! And very beautiful it is too.

I have watched it grow from the bare bones of stripped back walls, to the room where I can create a culinary masterpiece.How creative my builders are.

Whilst I've watched the building, I in turn have been watched.
The workmen have been the first to see my new paintings and have marvelled at how I created them.

Seeing them work reminds me of art.
We start with the bare bones of a blank sheet of paper  - and from there something beautiful grows. Whether we draw or go straight in with paint, whether we paint loose or tight, abstract or realistic... we create. It will be a thing of beauty. Even the paintings we may think - oh, that's nothing - others will see the beauty we sometimes miss.

Just like my kitchen.

Happy creating, whatever you create. Never lose the wonder.

If you want to see all the kitchen photos in one place, go HERE

Cuthbert leaves Lindisfarne

I photographed all the stages of this painting, because I thought you might like to see it.
If you don't, skip to the last photo :)

Saint Cuthbert was the Bishop of Lindisfarne (Holy Island) and he was buried there when he died. Sadly, we had some naughty marauding Vikings sail across the water, who just loved to turn up and pillage, loot and all manner of unspeakables.

So when the monks had gist of another invasion, they exhumed the body of the Saint and carried him across the water to England, where his final resting place is Durham Cathedral.

There is a brass sculpture (first photo) to commemorate this voyage - but I tried to imagine how it would be when the real monks were carrying Cuthbert across the sea. And I had to include some fog, for my painting friend , Peg..

 the sculpture.. thanks to Lynne for the use of her photo. xx

my pencil drawing

first washes where there will be no fog

adding more washes to the visible parts

first swishing over the fog area in sweeping strokes with a wet brush, then dropping in the fog colour mix.. 

Adding in a touch more colour to the vestments beneath the fog and some shadow on the faces - and we have the finished painting:

Cuthbert leaves Lindisfarne

Belhus Woods - Missy's day out.

We went to a fun doggy day at Belhus Woods today.
It was a day in aid of bull terrier rescue, but all dogs were welcome.
Missy thoroughly enjoyed herself - and given when we first adopted her she wasn't too keen on other dogs she did really well, with confining herself to a bout or two of yapping. That quickly ceased when daddy sat on the floor with her, and fed her cheese biscuits :) 

Belhus Woods is local to us, its a beautiful place for a walk, with or without a dog.  We met two friends there, who came back to ours afterwards for coffee and cake. And to pick up a couple of paintings - "Gently Down the Stream" and "after Kahlo's Love Embrace" They had four dogs between them, so we really had a doggy fun filled day.

I took a few pics, so you can enjoy the day with us:

Belhus Woods, the field section

Open field, grass very dry, due to heat.

The fun day stalls with Woods beyond

Go that-a-way, mummy!

We even saw an old fashioned plane fly by!

Missy being a good quiet girl :)

Missy and Paul in the woods

Home, please - I'm getting hot!

Safely belted in for the journey home.

Heat and being good are so tiring!

I hope you enjoyed our little journey through the wood and field .
No doubt some of those tree shots will be making it onto my easel  - and I'm seriously tempted by the one of Paul and Missy too :)

Creature comforts!

Whilst all the planning of the kitchen was going on, Missy wrapped the builder and tiler round her little paw!

The builder made her a little present - her very own pet tray made from the same worktop as our units. That was a complete surprise to us, but not to Missy! She's used to adoration :)

 and then, the tiler laid a beautiful, natural slate floor. When he'd gone, Missy was delighted to find that this floor was wonderfully cool on a hot day. What bliss to cool your tummy !

She showed the tiler some of her tricks - and he found it unbelievable that a rescued doggy could learn so much and would do the tricks for him too!
His staffy, Dylan , is in for some training now :)
Hope you do as well as Missy, Dylan!

I'm for dogs !

The builders are doing the fiddly bits to the kitchen to make it beautiful and the electrician is fitting sockets and lights!

Somewhere in the melee, I found time to paint these three, which I have donated to a local dog rescue (South East Dog Rescue) for their online auction to raise funds for building some new kennels.
Auction is HERE if you'd like to bid :)

The paintings:

and, in other news, for all my blogger friends who have been concerned for us, we are not near the areas in London where the riots have been taking place, we have only watched it on the news, as you have. 
Thank you for thinking of us. xx

For Claire and Sarah

Claire is a friend of mine, and Sarah is her sister.
Sarah passed away recently and was laid to rest yesterday.

I was thinking about them both and a couple of songs kept running round my mind. Firstly was the old nursery rhyme:

"Row, row , row your boat
Gently down the Stream,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream"

secondly were some lines from a Stevie Wonder song:
"You are the Sunshine of my Life, forever you'll be in my heart"

I liked the idea of flowers being placed on the water and travelling gently down the stream.  So my flowers are the colour of Sunshine...

For Claire and Sarah, in memory of a life shared, in memory of happier times.
Until the sun shines on your reunion..

Gently Down the Stream

Exploding Into Life

Morning all - the kitchen is progressing really well.
If you would like to see the progress in photos, go to the Kitchen Specialists blog HERE

I managed to do a painting also!

Exploding Into Life

Its one of those paintings, that if you look very closely, you will see all manner of things within. Already I can see a dog and a face! Happy hunting should you care to join in :)