Torridon, Scotland

We'd hiked two Munros' (Sgurr Mhor and Tom an Gruagaich) the day before, in the snow, along ridges 3000 ft high, up steep snowy mountain faces and down them, over ice and along tarns. I was so proud of myself for what I'd done, but a rest day was what I needed. Daniel was going on a solo adventure around a peninsula, some of the group were ice climbing up a gully (cripes!), and some where bouldering else where. I didn't even know what bouldering was! No, for me there was enough adventure in simply walking out of the cottage along the road for a minute and down onto a small, secluded, peaceful beach. Flask of tea in bag, watercolours and papers to hand. And that's what I did and it was oh so beautiful.

The quiet around me.

I was thinking about how I really do find drawing to be a meditative activity at the moment. When I'm drawing, and when I was painting this picture, I go into a zone, thinking, thinking, thinking, but calmly. I imagine the place as I draw it. I can feel the quiet. I can hear the fire crackling. I can see the darkness and the mass of stars above me. As I paint the picture takes me there.

At the Weekend

click on the image to see more detail

This is what I did at the weekend. Sorry I disappeared for two months - Daniel and I broke up and things got kind of busy - a trip to the Isle of Skye, a trip to Yorkshire, a trip to Liverpool, a wedding in Manchester, a wedding in Bath, my parents visiting London, my best friend Joseph moving into the house. It's been kind of crazy but all is well in the land of Today I Saw.

Hope all is good and well with you guys. I'm looking forward to catching up with people's blogs as I've hardly been online at all recently. I have a couple fun things to show so will be back soon. x x

Invites

A while back I showed a glimpse of some wedding invites I had been working on for a friend. Well, those invites have all been sent out now and I have taken a few photos to share. The invites included a card with the invite details, a map, an RSVP postcard, an information sheet, and the envelope to send it all in.

I hope you had a good weekend. I spent all of saturday in bed with a cold, then on Sunday I went for a walk in Regents Park. It's very fancy around there.

Butterflies in the rain

Butterflies in the rain, painted by me

I often find myself looking through the pile of paintings from the drying rack, picking out black rainbows, homemade dot to dot pictures, squiggles which are 'bath time' or experiments with brushstrokes, and hoping there is no name on the back (there usually isn't) so that I can borrow it.

 At the age of three and four (the age I work with) they are still so free from outside attitudes. They haven't yet heard anyone say 'I can't draw'. To them everyone can draw and paint. It's just something we all do.

The other day I sat with them to paint and just copied the way they were painting. So free, experimental, and enjoyable.

Oh Blossom

I guess I needed a blog break. Sorry I didn't see that coming and forewarn you guys about the quietness.

It's that time of year when I'm waiting for spring. The blossom comes early here. It fooled me last year, I thought spring had arrived. Not this year. It seems each year we get a spell of warm weather, the blossom appears and then it is cold again for a while before spring.

The blossom was starting to appear, in bud ready and waiting for that warm spell. The sun shone. Oh how it shone. Warming all our faces as we smiled and soaked it in. And just as we removed our coats and played outside in our shirts the blossom appeared.

The  blossom trees at the end of my street which glimmer at dusk as the sun sets beside them. The blossom tree which is peaking over someone's wall on my walk to school. I cross the road just to admire it. The blossom at the school entrance as I enter the building and start my day.

It seems no matter where I look I can see blossom, bringing it's joyful reminder that spring is round the corner.

The warm spell has gone already, only lasting a few days, leaving behind the blossom, like a gift from spring.

oh blossom, how I enjoy you so much each year.

Enjoy your weekend

click on image for more detail

Is that four packets of biscuits?

Yes.

Magical paintings

I hope you are having a good weekend. Thank you very much for all the wonderful comments about my book dreams. They were really kind and thoughtful.

Most of this weekend is going to be spent making invitations, for a friend's wedding and for a party we are having. Last night Daniel was out and I spent the evening experimenting with patterns. I've been thinking a lot about the books I'd like to make. I have lots of children's book ideas. These patterns are for a book about a magical girl. My plan is to make as many books as possible this year. Every time I make one I'll send it to a publisher's and I'll just keep doing that until they say yes to one of the ideas. That's my plan anyway. Simple, right? : )

Enjoy your weekend and thank you for taking the time to visit.

Winter Good Things ~ In the Kitchen

Winter makes me feel crap. I put a lot of effort into not letting it get me down, sometimes with success and sometimes not. I'm really interested to hear if winter gets you down and what you do to prevent it. Spending time in the kitchen is one of the things which helps me. So I thought I would share three things which we are making a lot.

Homemade granola. I use this recipe and add only a pinch of salt. I love to eat it with chopped fruit and yogurt in the morning or as a snack when I get home from work. I find that eating something delicous for breakfast makes getting up in the dark a lot less depressing and helps me start the day on a good note.

Lots of hearty meals. We get a weekly veg bag filled with seasonal vegetables. I've also been going to a farmers market which started up at the end of our road recently. That is where I get our meat. With good quality meat and good quality veg I find we have all we need to make hearty, tastey food each evening. We've been making things like pork with cheddar and apples with a squash and potato mash. Delish!

Chai Tea. I'm obsessed. I use this stuff mixed with hot milk and it's delicous. Having a spiced hot drink makes the dark, winter evenings a lot cosier.

I'd like to hear what you do in the kitchen to keep the winter from being grim, if you'd like to share. Hope you are having a bright, cosy and enjoyable weekend.

Happy December

Happy December! This is the picture I'm sending out on my Christmas cards this year. Not much making has been going on here recently, just Christmas cards and wedding invites for friends. I have a long list, which I haven't started, of things I want to make people for Christmas. Really should start that soon....How about you? are you making lots of gifts this year?

Tambourine Gal

Just a tambourine gal to bring you some cheer this

Tuesday morning (a day late but nevermind).

Thank you so very much to those people who bought items

 from the shop this weekend! I was delighted. Items should hopefully

go to the post office tomorrow.



Colour wall

That's how we spell colour in England, I haven't spelt it wrong, even though I know spelling isn't my strongest point. Anyhoooow, remember a while ago I said I'd been painting my bedroom wall and I'd show you when I finished. Well I haven't finished it. So I figured I'd just show you anyway. I haven't finished it because I'm not quite sure I like it. I may paint over it and do a different pattern (like the patterns I've been working on recently). Even so I still think it's fun and colourful. Hope your week started well yesterday. I had yoga which is always a positive.

Sea swimming

Last week I had hoped to tell you about the different things we did whilst staying at the yurts but time passed quickly and I didn't get the chance. I was going to tell you about when we went swimming in the sea. It got me thinking, I've managed to go sea swimming a few times this summer.

You would think living in London I wouldn't get much chance for sea swimming but as the tv show says 'You're never more than 75 miles from the coast in Britain'. The first time I went swimming in the sea this summer was in the first week of the school summer holidays. My friend Kate and I drove to the pretty sea side town of Whitstable. Kate was nervous about swimming in the sea but once she was in she loved it. We enjoyed the peace of the shingle beach, eating our picnic and swimming in the sea so much that we went back again two days later.

The next time I was sea swimming was a couple of weeks later. Daniel and I went on holiday to Spain. The sun was so hot that we would go into the sea to cool down, unlike plucking up the courage to brave the cold water in England. We lazed around on the beach. I painted watercolours of shells, read Roger Deakin, and we swam together. Bobbing up and down in the waves with Daniel next to me, looking up at the blue sky and the birds flying overhead. I thought I'd had my share of sea swimming for the summer but last weekend was sunny and the seven of us decided to go swimming in the sea. We packed ourselves into our friend's tiny car (me in the boot!) and drove to the nearest beach. We arrived and walked over to the sandunes. To my surprise everyone was so keen to get straight in the water. No standing around plucking up courage. They all ran into the sea. 'I think it's the ultimate relaxation' my friend Chloe told me. I took a few photos and quickly followed. It was cold! But oh so wonderful. I was swimming and looking at our friends around us. I don't remember swimming in a group like that since I was a child with my brothers and friends. It felt so good. We were smiling.

I think I've had my share of sea swimming for this year, but we are having a heatwave (summer dresses and sandals in October!) so you never know . . .

The Yurts

Thank you for your lovely comments yesterday about the card I made for Daniel. Today I'm sharing a watercolour 'story' of what it was like in the yurts. I couldn't recommend this place enough. It was beautiful, peaceful, every detail considered and eco friendly. If you live in England you should check it out here. I'm interested to know have any of you stayed in a yurt before? This was my first time.

On friday evening after work we took the train to Suffolk. When we arrived at the 'campsite' the taxi drove us down a path leading us to a grand thatched cottage. Behind the cottage where the yurts. It was dark and we couldn't really see the site but oh the stars above. We were lead through the field to the yurts. As the wooden doors opened we looked into a cozy, lantern lit yurt. I was so surprised to see a wooden floored, beautifully hand crafted place to stay. We slept so well in the comfy beds as the wood fire crackled. In the morning as I woke I looked up to see the blue sky shining through the sky light. I'd love to stay there in summer when the perspex cover is removed and I'd be able to clearly see the stars as I lay in bed. Oh the stars! We could see so many stars at night!

Daniel and I shared our yurt with Hatty. There's two double beds in each yurt. Early in the morning as Hatty opened the door we looked out at grassy pathways amidst the field, surrounded by trees and able to see the other yurts not far away.

I began to potter around, making cups of tea, putting the coffee on and preparing breakfast for our small group. This was the view from the kitchen. I knew it was going to be a good weekend. I'd managed to find a little haven.

Painted shells

A recent late night painting and crafting session at my desk ended with these painted shells and a pretty necklace (photos of that soon). These are slightly different from these ones and these ones but sort of combine both styles, don't you think?

I hope you are enjoying your weeks and thank you for stopping by.

Return to shells

Here are three more of the quick shell paintings I did earlier in the week. You can see the others on yesterdays post. You know, when I was a little girl I used to LOVE collecting shells. My mum would always take a plastic bag when we went to the beach so I could collect lots. I had shoe boxes upon shoe boxes full. I don't have those shoeboxes anymore but my own collection of shells is growing. I'm hoping to use some to make more jewellery. I like returning to old ideas. Leaving an idea then coming back to it later, returning to it again and again. Returning to shells again and again throughout my life.

Forever shells

I'll never get tired of shells - painting pictures of shells, painting on shells, embroidering shells, making jewellery with shells or just good old collecting shells! The other day I did a series 0f large scale (for me) five minute and two minute paintings. Here's a few and I'll show a few more tomorrow. Hope each of you is having a productive, happy and peaceful week.