Salt Breezes and Other Stories

Hello.

This has been a funny old week - one of restless mind (yes, again) which was partially soothed by a nice morning making Rocky Road but followed by a general unsettled~ness which began with a very tiny need to be by the sea, and which turned into a bigger and bigger one as the week drew on.

Saturday promised to be a fine day, and without much persuading we gathered ourselves, buckets, spades, shrimping nets and hefty picnic and drove off pronto to the east coast, to Filey, where we set up camp on the vast sandy beach and enjoyed a warm and happy day which we finished off with delicious salt and vinegary fish and chips on a bench overlooking the Brigg.

I'm so happy by the sea, I can hardly put it into words. Its all the simple things like the wonderful scent of the salty sea breezes, the fresh and tangy air, the views, the light heartedness that inevitably comes from being by the coast...There are other little moments too, like that divine feeling of soft white sand under your feet, and cool crystal waves lapping about your ankles as a seagull cries overhead...

It was a tonic, but alas we had to drive home that evening as the following day there was a rather Important Job to be done.

We were off to buy our tent!

Well, at long last we have brought it home, along with a few other goodies such as a little stove and cooking set...and you probably want a peep at it don't you? Oh - well alright then!! Here you go!

This is our new portable home!! Next weekend it will be coming with us to the Cotswolds for its first outing. We are having a trial run (a sensible thing to do we've been told) and are going to put it up in my parents back garden first, to familiarise ourselves with it, and then probably go loopy with excitement and jump about in it a bit, like you do!

We are all looking forward to the adventures we are no doubt going to have, and I will try my hardest to remember to squeeze the camera in the car somewhere and take lots of pictures.

So what else has been going on here?

Well, some art work has been done - here are a couple of line drawings that I did and rendered with greyscale watercolour. These sorts of drawings are fairly quick to do and great fun, it's almost like messing about and not 'proper' drawing at all, the imagination can go wild!

This one above looks a bit like me, going wild in the kitchen on baking day...!

...and this one was inspired by my two little nephews, I think they're monster hunting or something boyish that boys generally do when equiped with torches and much mischief!

The picture at the bottom of this post is from my sketch book, and was done using watercolour and inks. It was just something I did for fun, but overall I'm liking the effect of ink and watercolour together, and the rather scratchy way I've edged it all. I generally work with acrylic paints and so it's nice to experiment with new stuff to see what works (and what doesn't) and move away from what's familiar. I think I'll be making some new pictures with the ink in future!

Well, someone Small is in the sandpit, the sun is shining and I can feel a spot of crochet coming on, a nice and relaxing pursuit for as long as I can get away with it methinks!!

I hope you all have a nice weekend, we are off to my Mum's village tomorrow for the yearly Carnival, I just hope the weather holds!

Til next time, much love and thanks for visiting me today!

J x

Happy, Sweet Days...

It's been a busy day in our little house. Well, for me at least as Ive been drawing for the most of it! New ideas are presenting themselves for paintings left, right and centre. Oh yes, Im having rather a time of it with old Mr Inspiration of late!! Ive also found myself waking up in the wee small hours, only for an idea to burst forth and bring me into the land of Wide Awake - at 4am this is not a good thing, and although it's exciting to have so many ideas to play with, I would be happier with a good nights sleep under my belt and the strike of inspiration at about 10am instead - preferably with a nice cup of tea.

But I don't suppose us creative types can pick and choose. Inspiration visits at random and I am always grateful for it, as it usually leads to something good.

As well as all this sketchy doodly activity, Ive also been busy with line drawings as you can see from my first picture today.
I have thoroughly enjoyed doing them. Here's a couple more for you to see.

Now what could this one be about...? Bedtime story? Homework in PJ's? Saturday morning comics? I'll leave it up to your imagination!

This one could be called 'A blustery afternoon' I think...


So, art wise, things are progressing. Things are also progressing quite nicely with the RR which has become a bit of a late night habit for me, something to settle down with last thing before bed. I don't think this picture does it great justice, we are suffering at the mercy of gloomy days here in Yorkshire and so the lighting is not so good for photographs. But you can get an idea of how its going I think!

Now, Im sure it's not just me, but cold weather and dreary days bring out the baker in me. We have been very busy of late, me and the Tiny Chef, creating all manner of scrumptious delights from Blondies and Brownies to Cupcakes and Sponges. And I have to say when Im not wielding a sketch book, or crochet hook, my mind is very fixed on deciding what treat to make next. And its not going to be much of a problem because yesterday our nice postie brought me this from the wonderful land of Amazon.

Oh people...for those of you who do not have this on your shelf, but who like to indulge now and then in these decadent little mouthfuls, then this is one to get. With things like Coconut Cupcakes with Pink Vanilla Buttercream and Caramel Cupcakes, Im rather overcome to say the least and it wont be long before these are given a whirl in our kitchen. Of course, I'll have to run it by the Tiny Chef first, see which ones she likes the look of best!

For now though, we are munching our way through generous slices of orange cake, the scent of the oranges in the kitchen when we were zesting and juicing was just like being in Seville! Oranges and lemons always remind me of warm sunny climes and are always happy little fruits in my mind. Is it usual to think of fruit in that way? Probably not. But thats me all over - ever so slightly bonkers!


Well, its about that time where I say 'Im off' and it usually entails a nice cup of tea and a bit of something sweet and naughty. But not today, having indulged in two slices of the orange cake already Im keeping away from the cake tin and instead Im going to announce that in the next week or two, I will be doing a little giveaway.

Yes.

And its going to be a nice one. Im telling you now, so that you can spread the word - more the merrier with these things methinks, so do pop back now and then as it will definately be happening sooooon!


I hope you have weekends full of sunshine and surprises - they're the best kind aren't they?! I'll be visiting your blogs as soon as Ive space for another slice of cake! So, thank you for stopping by today, it's lovely that you did!

Love Julia x