I gave my six year old grandson a job to do last week. He built a ladder out of Lego to prop up against the dolls house for a drawing I'm making for my next painting 'Old Wives Tales'.
Each object ( the ladder being one) is a clue to what's happening in the final painting. If you ever saw the film 'The Draughtsman's Contract' you will know what I mean.
You can see my efforts on my latest Facebook and Instagram posts.
With an age range of 1-81, about twenty members of my family gathered for our annual model boat race in Sheringham last week. As usual, my brother (the 81 year old) won all three races!
I made a painting a few years ago about this ritual entitled IF THE BOATS COME IN, musing whether everyone would make it this time.
This year, only the families from America and Australia were unable to attend.
You can see my painting and this years race on my Instagram and Facebook posts
We've just got back from our annual holiday in Sheringham - this time with 25 members of the family.
I made a painting called '30 DAYS' (you can see it on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts) of our holiday in Sheringham in 1983, using a jigsaw piece image for each day we were there. The central one marks the moment when Hazel dislocated her kneecap and had to use crutches for the rest of the trip.
Happily, there were no such dramatic moments this time but I did slip on the steps going down to the beach. I must throw those old plimsolls away!
I have changed the title of my next painting from ' Travellers Tales' to 'Old Wives Tales' so as to reflect the superstition lurking in the minds of my grandmother and her sisters rather than any truth in what they imagined. (more on that another time)
I've been making more drawings for this project and the results can be seen on my latest Facebook and Instagram posts.
My nephew visited Blackpool recently and sent a photo of a plaque he had seen which he thought would interest me.
It recorded the spot on the pier where Harry Corbett bought a glove puppet in 1948 which would later be called Sooty.
I used Sooty and his friends to represent various members of my family in two paintings in the 1990s
'Duet', painted in 1991 was about my parents going to live near my eldest brother, who had recently divorced.
In 1997 I again used Sooty and friends in 'Offrenda' - a work recording my mother turning 80 (although I would later use it to remember her by, in the tradition of Mexican 'Day of the Dead')
You can see these images on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts.
Last week I had my first Skype meeting with some fellow art student friends whom I first met at Bath Academy of Art some sixty years ago.
Paul from America, Marian from Switzerland, Jayne and Jean from the UK (only Diana from France couldn't make it because of computer problems) joined me for a two and a half hour chat and the years seemed to roll away.
The college had been situated in the village of Corsham at the home of Lord Methuen and we all had happy memories of our time there.
I thought we'd all talk at once but it was surprisingly civilised but we did have a good chuckle over our youthful experiences.
My Open Studio weekends are now over with 268 visitors coming through the doors! I managed to sell seven of my preliminary canvases, two prints and various postcards, tour guides and gift cards.
