The realisation of dreams

Well maybe just one...

For finally I am selling some prints of my artwork in Devizes Fine Arts! I was so pleased with how they turned out - they looked so professional, and he's going to sell them for £25, which will all be mine!

I am also trying to get a website setup for my art too - it's always been one of my ambitions to become a well known (at least locally!) artist, though it would never be my whole career, I would miss the wildlife too much!

Other ambitions:

Visit the Amazon, the Galapagos, Great Barrier Reef (this will be realised this October hopefully!), see tigers in the wild, become well known for my conservation expertise!

Oh, and you'll all be pleased to hear that the latest painting is still looking good, which is usually a good sign (though it has been known for me to change my mind later on!).

Artists and depression

You know why most artists seem to have been a bit loopy/depressed? I think they were more productive - art really takes you away from it all!

For instance, I have been off work all week due to an eye infection, which meant I had to wear my HORRID glasses (which made me feel drunk, and I had decreased peripheral vision, which was most annoying). I was so clumsy and bored, I just wanted to get back to work - very frustrating.

I had been putting off painting, as I didn't think it would be feasible with my glasses, but I decided to take the plunge and paint an adder for the Martin Down NNR info board, and was quite pleased with the result.

And at the end of it all, I was feeling so much better too - once you get on a roll, and your arm gets on auto-pilot for the painting, your mind can drift away and think about meaningful things, such as ER and Desperate Housewives!! (OMG - both are SO GOOD at the moment!).

My treatment finished on Friday morning, so in the afternoon I was able to go for a proper walk (rather than the stumbling across the countryside reacting to every buzzing thing attacking me with great whoops and then realising there were other walkers just around the corner...) with my lenses in and then out in the evening to Fordingbridge to celebrate Hayley's 24th (a great night BTW).

And I have just finished another painting, this time of a sub-tropical/temperate rainforest scene from NZ - took longer than expected (usually completed in a few hours - this one stretched over a couple of days), but looks good at the moment.

Though all artists out there will know that what really counts is looking at it the next day...

The Shepherd without a flock

A nice day off Thursday, in preparation for Hannah's leaving party down in Devizes that evening. I went as a shepherd (traditional/biblical!) and those who attended my Monty Python party may realise that it was exactly the same costume!

I had attempted to get Beth to come as a sheep, and expected more to be there, but when we arrived I was the only one dressed up (apart from Tom = miner!)! Needless to say, with my beard, I did feel a bit silly. But all was not lost as soon the hosts appeared - daffodils and more miners!

We had a great night, and my PGL buddies will be unsurprised to hear that the presence of SingStar on the Playstation meant I had a very sore throat the next morning!

Yes, I spent almost the entire night (and early hours) singing with new karaoke buddy Sarah - together we were an unstoppable force (I'm surprised no one complained of perforated ear drums - we were quite loud...).

A most excellent evening, where much alcohol was consumed, finishing at about 5 in the morning - groan!

Away, back, and away again!

I SO needed that holiday!

A week in Normandy was great - we visited the marshes, the Normandy landing beaches and monuments, the Bayeux Tapestry, the Normandie-Maine Regional Park and Mont St Michel. We had snow a couple of days after I got sunburnt (= mad).

Wildlife-wise, saw lots of raptors (tonnes of kestrels and buzzards, but in the marshes also loads of marsh harriers, and a suspected hen harrier), great egrets and herons and numerous storks. the best encounter was watching the epic battle of stork versus snake - the stork won (yum yum).

This week back has been so hectic. I say 'has been' because it has now finished! Monday was basically sorting out all the mess that occurred in my absence. Yesterday was a sort of team-building event at our latest reserve LowerMoor Farm, which has resulted in 'lopper's shoulder' (i.e. too-much lopping!). And today I actually got some work done! The reason we have tomorrow off is thanks to the Trust believing we should have a couple more days off a year (the other one is around Xmas).

I'm going to a party tomorrow night too, a couple of people are leaving from work - it is Welsh themed - time to dust off my Monty Python 'Woman attending the stoning' costume, and remember to bring the beard...

(oh and Lil- am way jealous of the recent house-purchase- will you be in there when I come in May I wonder? And river boat for wedding = tres cool)