Seaside Inspiration

Hello dear people!

After an unexpected interlude (a two week one actually), I'm back ~ and how are you? It feels like an age since my last post, so let me explain what I've been up to!

First of all I'll tell you about the picture above. It's the beginning of a new/old painting. I say this because I started it several months ago and suddenly stopped because I lost all direction and couldn't for the life of me decide where to take it. It's strange how that happens, despite sketches and being able to see it so very clearly in your mind, some paintings just follow their own journey and end up being nothing like you intended. Which isn't always a bad thing, and I'm sometimes quite good about this process, being very patient and just seeing where we'll end up, and other times not; I stamp my foot and get cross. I remember how this painting stirred up something of a small temper and the painting ended up being shoved carefully out of sight, until I rediscovered it a few days ago and realised exactly what was needed to make it good...and I will share that with you as soon as its done!

Lets just say for now (and you can probably tell by the colours) that it's going to be a very happy, colourful, coasty type of painting!! Hurrah!! :D

And that's something else I've been doing too, spending a bit of time at the coast! I have been staying with my sister in Suffolk and we had the absolute best fun crabbing at Walberswick (near Southwold) one warm, sunny afternoon!

This is that lovely sort of fun that takes you back to childhood, putting pieces of ham on your hook then lowering your line and waiting a while...drawing it up slowly through the luminous green water to see if you've caught anything, and oh so exciting when you do!! (happy little dances on the quayside when we realised we had actually caught a real live crab).

After a long and enjoyable while, someone suggested ice-creams and so we walked over to the little beach and let our crabs go...nothing better than a nice ice-cream after a spot of crabbing eh?!

Off the little chaps go...

...scampering safely back to sea!!

There's such a lovely nostalgia about this part of our coastline for me, old fisherman's huts, upturned old boats with peeling paint, it feels as though nothing has changed in a very long time and I do like how coast meets countryside here and is so very, very pretty.

As for the rest of my 10 days in Suffolk, although the weather wasn't too fabulous for August, we did enjoy some gorgeous sunsets from the garden, chatting and enjoying a nice drink together once all the kiddiwinkles were in bed fast asleep.

Continuing with a seaside theme, I had to show you these postcards I picked up at a very nice shop in Walberswick. They are taken from etchings by a very talented fellow called Glynn Thomas.

This one above is of Southwold lighthouse, and the one below is of Aldebrough:

I like to collect postcards and cards like this, they are very good for inspiring me when the creative well has run dry. Luckily at the moment, I'm full of enthusiasm for my new/old painting and I also had a fabulous idea whilst away for another new crochet project. Yes. I know...another one.

I can't help myself.

But....I'm being very strict with myself, I have bought the wool...

...see how coastal and seasidey blue they are?

Very nice, I know - but I am absolutely and completely going to finish my Popcorn Granny bag first before I begin my New Project.

And whilst I haven't made much headway this last week or two, the squares are mounting up and all I need are a couple more before I start to join them ~ and I will share a little tutorial for this as I've been asked how you do this, and so I will gladly explain (with the help of a few trusty pics) as soon as I get to that point, which won't be much longer I hope as I'm itching for a new bag, my old one is dropping to bits!

I might just have to take my squares off to Northumberland when we go, for something to do in the evenings as those nights are quickly drawing in aren't they? We have taken to lighting a few candles of an evening, to enjoy the last stretch of evening before night falls (about half past eight in these parts now) and resist putting the lamps on until we can barely see one another! I do like this time of year, for lots of reasons, but notice inwardly that subtle things are changing, like the scent of the air in the morning, and the sun now lower in the sky, altering how the shadows fall in the garden...

And it feels as if Summer is quickly ebbing away, and so, to help holiday memories linger a little longer I have repackaged my Beachside Art Cards, which are a fabulously printed set of five of my most favourite seaside inspired paintings! They come in a sturdy brown box that is prettily flecked with white (and reminds me a little of sand) with five envelopes, and they are blank for your own message.

And this is what is inside!

They are available here for UK customers, with free P&P - and for my lovely customers overseas, please check my Etsy shop (link up on the right there), as I'll be listing them there too.

Because Summer isn't quite over yet, is it?

I'm looking forward to catching up with your blogs now I'm back, and want to thank you for visiting me today, it's always a pleasure to know you have stopped by!

Have a great weekend, much love

Julia x x x