sea blue sky abstracts

I'm wide awake when I should be asleep, so now is as good a time as any to post! Yesterday's rain, and did it rain, non stop for hours - has been followed by a day of bright sunshine. Quite brisk and breezy, good for drying the washing though and warm in little spots out of the wind. Walking the dog at around 4pm and passing through one of those sheltered spots, I was delighted to see an absolutely perfect Red Admiral, flawless and richly coloured, with wings spread resting on a bramble and soaking up the sun - having surely just emerged from its crysalis. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera, so by way of compensation have included a small painting completed many years ago depicting a Red Admiral feeding on a fallen apple. Night, night.

Yes, where has the time gone? Blogging in September - following, reading, commenting - yes, posting - no, not once! Life has been turbulent, personally and professionally, for weeks and weeks, so I'm hopeful that October brings a period of calm. Soothing and comforting, like the photos below taken on Porthmeor Beach today, at around 5.30 pm. There would have been more, but guess who forgot to charge the battery! That's not all, the best pic - which showed the leaden sky in the West also included an area of sunlit blue sky and blue water to the East - couldn't be included because of a badly sloping horizon. Does anyone know of a programme that can correct this? Using old photo editing software for my camera, it was possible to tilt and crop the image a little at a time until the horizon was straight (Fotostation Easy for Nikon) but it doesn't seem to be compatible with Vista. Any advice will be much appreciated. Talk again soon, Lesley x

My Etsy shop has been updated with some additional photos and artwork. This first is an A4 giclee print, 'Sunrise' taken from a watercolour/gouache diptych. This print is entitled 'Porthmeor Rocks'. 'Let's Dance'! 'Lucid' The next is an original painted on primed card and is called 'Gannet Seas', because we often see Gannets diving here in such conditions. This too is an original on primed card - 'Seascape & Headland' - I'm not always so imaginative when it comes to titles! I forgot to include close ups of 'St Ives Harbour & Godrevy' in the previous post, so here they are (below) - makes it easier to see brushstrokes, texture and the grain of the wooden support.

Oh I have had so much fun with this painting, though am unsure as to the title, something along the lines of 'Floral -Planters' or 'Floral - Patio' , what do you think? It's not framed yet, is rendered on canvas board and started out as a figure study! The figure wasn't coming together at all, so I rashly slathered black paint onto anaglypta and printed onto the surface and then glued a piece of the wallpaper on for good measure, as in the collages featured earlier in this blog. Next came the green paint applied with a knife, which made me think of leaves, the leaves of Montbretia, so I mixed a lovely orange and tried creating flowers, again using a knife. Later I picked some Montbretia flowers and painted them (the two on the right hand side of the painting). Then, my daughter gave me some beautiful magenta coloured Gladioli and so they were incorporated too, it was such a pleasure to watch them open out from deep, red buds. 'Summer Bay' or 'St Iv...

Walking in soft rain: Birds sing Wet vegetation gleams Earthy scents sweeten the air. I think of those who cannot share The quiet joy Bound to beds without ties Imprisoned in rooms with open doors. There is no reason to complain when Walking in soft rain.

Well, it's a bit embarrassing - warning that I might be offline for quite sometime, possibly a week and here I am, back after less than 24 hours! Luckily, after half heartedly trying again in the hope that some computer miracle would happen e.g. switch on, wait 30 seconds and hey presto windows desktop appears, displaying most importantly the Internet Explorer shortcut icon (didn't happen) I realised that there were some options open to me, thanks to those little F keys - no, I'm not swearing - F9 I think, allowed me to opt for a 'System Restore'. So that's what I did, restored the computer to its factory condition. Wonderful! Everything's so fast, because, apart from the Internet connection, the computer has no files! I'm not too worried because there should be some back up via PCWorld. So for now, the sea-blue-sky-abstracts Etsy shop will remain in Vacation mode until I can ensure that the relevant image files are back on my computer. Thanks for ...

Dear All, I am unable to get into my computer (why do these things always happen at the weekend?) - the hard drive I think - and am quickly writing this post on the laptop at my parents house. So please don't think I'm ignoring visitors or not interested in the posts of all the terrific blogs I follow because that's not the case, it's all the computer's fault and I'm effectively silenced for a while, boo hoo. Have a great weekend everyone and hopefully I'll be back soon! Lesley x

Today, we headed off to picturesque Portscatho on the South coast of Cornwall, to visit the long awaited Home Spun Fair . Although quite cloudy, the weather was bright and warm - the village is much quieter than hectic St Ives, too. Here's Jane who organised the event with Christine of 'The Sea Garden' Portscatho. Pictured here are some examples of the wonderful wares that Christine has for sale in her shop - including lovely sewn pieces by Gertrud Strahl. Truly beautiful hats by Clare of Daisy Darling millinery. Abundant bunting on the left and Niki's 'Vintage Magpie stall on the right - her home-made mohair teddies are adorable. Cynthia of the Spindrift Gallery, Portscatho, with examples of her lovely artwork. Here she is, the one, the only, Viv of Hens Teeth fame ! It was great to actually meet Viv and the other bloggers today and I hope it won't be long before we have a chance to meet up again. Viv chatting to other stall holders. Clare with her t...

Rather a lame title, a cover for not really having much idea of what to blog about this evening. Workwise, I've almost completed the commission for Beverley - it's a view looking across St Ives Bay, with The Quay (Smeaton's Pier) on the left showing Godrevy Lighthouse in the distance. There's no photo yet. The support is a thin piece of wood from an old wardrobe, primed with 2 or 3 layers of gesso. Right at the beginning of this blog, when I first posted in mid March 2009, I mentioned spending a day a week at St Ives Ceramics, selling studio pottery - and have included this link http://www.st-ives-ceramics.co.uk/ today for Julie's benefit (see her quirky and individual work here ). I have bought in a small way, mainly pieces of domestic ware for myself and as gifts for family and friends, loving the combination of beauty and function. The photo shows soup/pasta bowls by Peter Swanson and a Kaori Tatebayashi plate. Was interested to note recently a new publication l...

Thanks to Carolyn at Love-Stitching-Red for tagging me - a first and I'm thrilled out of all proportion! So here goes, 'six silly things that make me happy' are: 1. Summer dog walks (smiling and feeling young - which I'm not). 2. Smelling roses in the gardens I pass. 3. Putting washing on the line and watching it 'set sail' against an endless blue sky. 4. Seasonal fruity desserts - syrupy stewed blackcurrants and frothy gooseberry fool. 5. Sipping ice-cold lager or Cava (Champagne too if I get the chance, of course)! 6. Witnessing the breathtaking clarity of a Western, summer evening sky. Now, who to tag? Probably should have decided this before starting the post. Some bloggers prefer to remain tag free, so please ignore this should I inadvertently tag YOU. And if you haven't been tagged and want to list your six, then go for it anyway! 1. Country-Lite 2. Mimilove 3. Denise Burden 4. Karen Faulkner 5. Julie Whitmore Pottery 6. One Pink Goose

I forgot to explain how the butterflies were produced! Squares of fabric cut out ready for quilting. Trusty PVA again slathered on and the fabric glued to lightweight card which, when dry was cut into butterfly shapes which in turn were glued to the canvas.

In this detail, the anaglypta, pink florist's cellophane and paint on canvas can be seen. Reddish/brown transparent glazing in the centre section and swirls of aqua opaque impasto on the right. This includes a piece of anaglypta from Carol Parsons painting class back in March, 2009? This particular piece of wallpaper has already been used to 'print paint to canvas'. Victoria Hilliard produces lovely ceramic pictures inspired by nature, including the portrayal of moths and butterflies. Would I have produced this collage if Tori were not a member of Art Space Gallery? Maybe not. Everything is 'grist to the visual mill' as far as artists are concerned. 'Floral - Pedestal' this painting just evolved. Fun, fun and more fun! 'Floral - Feel Amazing'. I love this artwork! My daughter's boyfriend bought her flowers, including old fashioned roses, which provided the inspiration for the flowers at the top of the painting and the cellophane wrapper is...