Carmarthen Artist

Fate

2012-02-12T13:00:00.000Z

I am in the Millenium Stadium today watching the Wales v Scotland Rugby match with Alex and a few other thousand people. The painting above is on old one of Brecon Cathedral with the old gaol in front of it. (There was another larger gaol on the outskirts of the town that is now disused as well).
There is a great view from the top of the Cathedral tower but unfortunately the tower is not generally open to the public.
I am not a great believer in fate. I believe for the most part you make your own place in the world but occasionally something or somebody crosses your path either for better or worse. Many years ago I was in digs. One of the young men with me was murdered for no apparent reason other than trying to do his job dealing with a gang coming out of a night club. It was such a waste a real gentle happy young man cut down in his prime. Another young man with me ended up serving her majesty behind bars. He had fiddled his expenses. If he had been an MP he could probably just have paid them back. I have to say though I have no sympathy with him. You are either honest or not. If you fiddle/steal five pounds or five thousand you deserve whatever you get.
Anyway out of the three of us I guess I was the lucky one or did I just make the right choices? Maybe fate does have something to do with it. Lets hope fate is on Wales side today!

Basilicum

2012-02-11T11:31:00.000Z

I have finished the commission above. I was in two minds whether to paint the name "Basilicum", on the back but although I didn't really want to I felt the owner would appreciate it. Painting names can be a real pain and I am no sign writer. If it is done badly it can ruin a painting. I think I have managed to get away with it on this occasion. Odd name for a boat though as it is Latin for Basil!
Today we are in the Origin Gallery stewarding. I have to pop home to check on my mother and walk the dog so it breaks the day up for me but I do quite enjoy stewarding on the occasional basis.
I was listening to a program on the radio this morning about people having the courage to change careers. Alex is a good example of this. Although she had a good office job as office manager with the council at 40 something she decided she wanted to do marine engineering. So she packed in the job and went to college. She was awarded the prize for best student marine engineer of the year for Wales. She then got a job in a boatyard doing all the many jobs but mainly servicing and repairing engines. Her experiences there put life into context. She had a good time although the only female engineer she had nothing but support from the other guys. Being small also had advantages for example she has worked on the top of the mast of the boat shown above. Being supported on a rope halyard 50 foot off the deck and having to work with with hand tools is no picnic.
Everything is relative. Alex thought when she worked in the Council that she worked hard. She is now pretty scornful of that and relates that working outside throughout the year in all weathers doing heavy physical work is somewhat more "challenging" than sitting in a warm office, but something she actually loved doing for the years that she did it.

Morningtown Ride ~ with apologies to the Seekers

2012-02-10T12:53:00.001Z

The painting above is of the boathouse in Laugharne at sunrise and it sold yesterday. Alex and I would quite often sail our boats around from Pilglas to Laugharne for an overnight or weekend anchorage. We would drop the anchor on the sandbar opposite the Boathouse.
In order to catch the outgoing tide we normally weighed anchor about 6-7 in the morning. If it was clear it was a wonderful sight. If it was wet and blowing it was still a wonderful sight but a bit more exhilarating. The picture above is a distant memory of those times.
The first boat we had after our dinghy was a little 2.5 ton cruiser. A big dinghy really with accommodation that for me meant kneeling or squatting down and a troublesome outboard motor!
Alex bought it for me and gave it to me as an anniversary present when we were on holiday in Sorrento. It was a lovely little cruiser that sailed beautifully. The only problems we had with it were when coming up to a mooring in a strong tidal stream you would suddenly find yourself going backwards out of control amongst other yachts as the engine had decided to pack up. Embarrassing or what?
Anyway on one trip back to Pilglas we had a very strong South Westerly wind and were flying along with as usual Alex on the helm. To coin an expression we were going like a train. We came around the corner to Scott's Bay off Llansteffan Castle only to see a fleet of dinghy's heading towards us. There was obviously a race under way. As we rapidly approached them there was a shift in the wind and we changed course heading right for the middle of the pack of frightened sailors. The gust increased and we heeled over with Alex clinging on to the helm to either control the boat or stop herself falling overboard. We ploughed through the fleet with boats going everywhere and Alex shouting "Get out of the way!" or something like that. When the gust abated we had cleared the now scattered fleet of dinghy's and resumed our natural course. I have no idea what the sailors thought, well actually I do but they never said anything audible to me. Alex put her hair back in place and carried on like nothing had happened. Luke our old dog who had been cowering in the bottom of the cockpit looked at me and I swear he shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes but maybe I just imagined that.
That was actually our last sail in Misty as we sold her shortly after to buy a boat I could nearly stand up in, but that's another story.

Link to the Seekers which seemed kind of appropriate to me anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YP7GCXqdqU

Llangynderyn

2012-02-09T14:56:00.000Z

I did the watercolour of Llangynderyn Church today. I had visited it earlier this week. The village is in the Gwendraeth Valley some 5 - 6 miles South of Carmarthen. It gets its name from the wandering British saint Cyndeyrn, to whom the church is dedicated.

The Village is famous for having successfully fought off attempts to dam and flood the valley in the 1960's, a rare achievement. There is still a circular village pound opposite the Church where stray animals were once placed. I doubt it has seen much use in the last 100 years. A lovely village and we should be grateful for the efforts of those who managed to save it.

A leap in the dark

2012-02-08T16:41:00.002Z

Some progress now on the commission above. It has at least another day to go but at least it is taking shape.
Its not a good advert for safety at sea, no life jacket and standing near the entry rail with no hands on anything still it makes for a good picture.
I had occasions in my former years to go places where it may have been advisable to not go, but on the other hand that was what I was paid for.
I recall one winters night when I was a Sergeant in Welshpool I was walking around on patrol by myself. (Two things there that are probably quite rare these days!). It was a cold frosty night. As I approached the back of the Spar I heard the noise of breaking glass. Now the only way into the small backyard of the Spar was by climbing over a pair of 6 ft gates topped with barbed wire. I grabbed hold of the gate and hauled myself up to the top of the gate grappled withthe wire and jumped /fell into the darkness on the other side. I caught the shape of someone coming at me and within seconds I was struggling with some anonymous being. We grappled and struggled rolling on the floor in the dark and eventually I gained the upper hand and "restrained" him. I called on the radio for a car to come and take my prisoner to the Police Station in Newtown. about 20 minutes later a police car arrived and took my now handcuffed and compliant burglar from me. However the two officers were in stitches.
The good natured staff at the Spar were clearly animal lovers and put out substantial amounts of cat food at night. I had been rolling through saucers of the stuff in the dark with my companion who was in a similar condition. I had cat food on my coat trousers face hair and helmet. The fact that I had sustained more than a few cuts on the wire and ripped my coat were of no concern to them whatsoever.
For days I endured the good natured digs of the shift, "Would you like a Kit Kat Sarge?" and some such until I got fed up and they got the message.

Thats Still life

2012-02-07T17:18:00.001Z

I spent most of today out and about getting references for a commission. I also picked up the grand children and then did a quotation. So no painting today but all good work. This afternoon I had another commission
so plenty to do. The painting above is a still life I did in the Victorian Style. It sold a while back.
Off to take the grand children home now.

Sea Hawk

2012-02-06T16:32:00.003Z

I have finally started this commission I have had from before Christmas. There is no rush for it fortunately.
Today I have completed the under painting. Can you see what it is yet? It is actually a Westerly Sea Hawk a very nice yacht, very seaworthy with a high freeboard and centre cockpit. This painting will take longer than usual as there is quite a lot of detail. I obviously cant put it all in but if I miss a piece of rigging or put something in the wrong place it will be noticeable. You can see I changed the figure on the back. The under painting was done in Alkyd oils to speed up the process. I will do the over painting in normal oils.

Just time now to put out my moms rubbish and then off to the gym.

St Annes Head

2012-02-05T09:17:00.004Z

The sketch above is of St Annes Head the entrance to the Milford Haven waterway. The largest natural harbour in the UK. I did the sketch as we came in to the "Heads" on our yacht. It was quite calm and we were under power. If it was not calm then we would be in the wrong place as this is shallow water and becomes very "lumpy " with short sharp seas in many conditions of the tide depending on the wind strength and direction.
To confess we did make a mistake going out of the Heads when we first moved around to sail the Haven. We were going out to Skomer Island and cut across the corner of the Heads. The wind was going in one direction and the tide in the opposite direction. The seas were short and we were getting wet and very uncomfortable. After about 20 minutes we took the plunge and turned around and went back the way we came for another 20 minutes little realising we had all but cleared the shallows. Another couple of minutes and we would have been clear,duh!.
We then took the main channel and got out to Skomer which was well worth the trip to see the puffins and seals in the anchorage of South Haven. Consulting the chart again it was embarrassing to see the shallows clearly marked. We were never in any danger as there was plenty of water to navigate in but it should have been obvious it would not be pleasant sailing in those conditions.
Still you live and learn.
Today I am doing some work in the gallery and then watching Wales v. Ireland.

St David's Cathedral

2012-02-04T15:26:00.000Z

I did this watercolour of St David's Cathedral today. I think this is the best view of the Cathedral with the Bishops Palace just in view on the left. I have a commission to start but it will probably be Monday now as Sunday is pretty well tied up with family commitments and of course watching the Welsh game.
Yesterday Alex and I were accosted by a young man selling comedy booklets in Town. I didn't want one but he was so cheeky we bought one anyway. He called me a silver fox and things went downhill from there but I couldn't help laughing and bought a book from him. In any case anyone standing around in those temperatures needs some encouragement.

Sun and the moon

2012-02-03T14:38:00.002Z

The watercolour above of Llansaint is the commission I didn't get done yesterday. Well no problems today

everything went like clockwork. I suppose clockwork is something that is hard to equate with these days maybe it should be something like went like quartz or a chip, I don't know. Anyway After finishing the painting I went for a walk over the top of Penlanffos with Jac. Lovely views. In the top field pair of kites were sunbathing on the ground with a nearby buzzard. The windfarm over towards Brechfa was producing electricity as the sails were rotating slowly. The sun was searching down the valley from the West but pretty much all the ground was frozen making it easy to walk across the muddy paths and puddles. Although only two in the afternoon in the East the moon was quite high in the sky and as it is about three quarters to full moon there's quite a lot of it.

Alex has been busy framing prints which have gone quite well this week. Now its time to go shopping!

A lesson

2012-02-02T12:39:00.000Z

The little watercolour above is of Carmarthen Police Station which stands on the grounds of the old Friary.
I did do a painting this morning. It was a watercolour commission. It was however a bit of a wasted morning.
I decided to use a piece of Cotman watercolour paper that was already stretched on a board. This is reasonable paper but it wont take much working i.e. generally after one wash it starts to become less translucent and more muddy the more washes you add. As this was the way I was going to paint the subject I should have got some Saunders Waterford Paper stretched up. All started well I did my sketches and set it out. I laid down a wash for the sky and then got onto the buildings which needed several washes then it all started going wrong. I persevered but in my heart I knew where it was going. In the end it came off the board and went in the bin. As I am teaching this afternoon I decided not to start again. I will start fresh tomorrow.
Anyway it will teach me a lesson not to be lazy and cut corners. I knew it was the wrong paper for the painting I should have spent 15 minutes preparing the right one and saved myself some time overall.

Puccini

2012-02-01T17:29:00.000Z

Ever popular Mwnt was the subject today. The little chapel is still in use for marriages and I am not sure if it has been a court in its day. Anyway I squeezed it in after the gym before walking the dog the second time. After that we went to the gallery to paint the walls.
Frank Hands was a Sergeant in the Birmingham City Police. A large charismatic chap with a strange sense of humour. He was one of those people that senior officers could do nothing with. He was either slightly touched or just didn't care. All in all a wonderful policeman. I knew him when I was working from Belgrave Road covering the red light district of Birmingham. One day a West Indian Lady came in to the front office of the police station to complain about the police. Complaining about the Police was generally not a good idea as there used to be a bye law covering being disorderly in a police station and anyone complaining enthusiastically could well be locked up for their trouble.
Anyway this lady walked in to find Frank standing on the public side of the counter performing his Operatics minus his trousers. These were laid out on the counter and he was proceeding to iron a sharp crease in them to the words of Puccini or some such. Now I have no idea what she thought but eventually both she and Frank ended up singing arm in arm and she finally left without making any complaint. Now me I like eccentrics and believe me there were quite a few in the Police around that time.

Cilhwbert

2012-01-31T17:39:00.000Z

The sketch above is of Cilhwbert Farm Brecon. Alex and I used to live in Brecon and have fond memories of the Town. We often visit or camp just outside the Town for a weekend break or if we have an exhibition there.One house we lived in had a wonderful view of the Beacons from our lounge and back garden. We revisited the estate last year and found houses had been built on the fields ruining the view, still that's progress.

I have had a good deal of experience in planning. As an old Army Captain used to say to me, "Failing to plan is planning to fail." I have over the years had to plan many and varied things and been unfortunate enough to be taught both project management and program management.

Brecon although a beautiful town did suffer from visits by the less welcome residents of nearby Merthyr Tydfil. I had very good friends in Merthyr but there were quite a number of rogues, living there at the time too. It was quite possible to go out in the morning and come back at night and find your roof had been packed up on a lorry and ended up in a salvage yard. Alternately your cocks and hens had mysteriously gone, Cocks and hens are the castellated dry stone walls that are abundant in the area. One day I went to the report of a burglary where a young man had been caught in side a house by the returning owner. He had managed to run off. Having a drive around the area I engaged in that felonious practise of stopping and checking a young man. Now the description of the wanted man was useless being extremely vague. Anyway I asked him where he was from and he said,"Merthyr". Now I am not about to judge him I can appreciate that many people would find themselves a long way from home in the middle of nowhere just happening to walk near a house that has been burgled.
Avoiding the temptation to give the lad the benefit of the doubt I asked him how he got there.
"I got the train to Brecon this morning." He said.
At that point I arrested him for burglary and I should have included failing to plan properly.
The Railway station in Brecon had been closed since 1962 about the time he was in junior school.
Today both Alex and I were in the Gallery again decorating so no painting today.

Trainspotting

2012-01-30T16:25:00.000Z

The painting above is of an old North British Diesel as it was before restoration on the Gwili Railway.
I guess we all collect things . As a young lad I collected railway engine numbers. I was a train spotter.
I loved seeing the steam trains and hearing them pulling loaded waggons on an incline. Cabbing an engine was the highlight for a young lad that is getting on the platform when she was in steam. When diesels came in I lost interest. After that I have never collected anything tangible. I like reading books but once I have read it I am happy to see it go. Alex collects lots of things, bags all sorts any type of shopping bag with Tesco, Morrisons or any place we have ever visited stencilled on it. She collects shoes, mind you Jac buries them in the garden at the same rate she buys them. Fortunately she doesn't collect jewellery.
Having said I don't collect anything tangible I do collect images. I sketch, paint take photographs and keep mental pictures as well. I don't have a photographic memory (Alex doesn't think I have a memory at all) but I can draw some places fairly accurately from memory. I suppose these images are also memories and I suppose we all collect these, it just depends on how we do it or what sensory means we use. My memories are visual. My sense of smell is negligible since an operation I had as a child. I like music but am "apparently" tone deaf so its images for me.

Gareth

2012-01-29T14:41:00.000Z

I haven't done any painting today. It has been a day of chasing up odds and ends for the gallery and an hour in the gym. Our son took Alex and I to the rugby last night. An excellent game where the Scarlets showed the talent that they are unearthing. There was a bit of a minor incident at the game but all's well that ends well and I am not going to go into details. However talking of rugby. We saw Clive Edwards on TV the other night. He was on Noson Llawen a Welsh program. Clive is a real character and was telling funny stories. Fortunately he didn't relate one involving me. Some time ago Alex , our son and I went to Cardiff on Clive's coach to watch Wales play Italy in the World Cup. I never got there. One minute I was on the motorway and the next I wake up in an ambulance. I had a bit of a pull and ended up in the Heath Hospital for 4 days. Since then Clive has always threatened to ban me from his bus. I obviously caused a stir on the coach as there were numerous bids for my ticket while I was being carried away. Alex nor my son never got to the game something they never let me forget.

Actually everyone was great. As it was the Laugharne RFC contingent on the bus I am lucky I had the pull on the way and not on the way back when everyone was "in good spirits" as I hate to think what they would have done with me.

The photo - Well that of course is of the legendary Gareth Edwards. We were in a restaurant for a Home International and he asked if he could have his photo taken with us. Well I am sure he would have done if Alex hadn't beaten him to it!

Old Oak Carmarthen

2012-01-28T11:02:00.002Z

The watercolour above is of the Old Oak in Carmarthen which used to be at the end of Priory Street.
The remnants are now in the Museum. The picture is made up from several sources including what is present today although several of the buildings on the right have gone. It is a departure form my normal style but I enjoyed doing it and finished it this morning.
Yesterday evening Maria our daughter in law came around as I was examining Mare Crisium (the Sea of Crises) through my telescope. She breezed over, looked up at the large shiny object in the night sky, peered through the telescope and declared " Oh, is that the moon then?". You have to wonder at the marvel that is the Irish Education System.
The trouble is you don't actually know when she is pulling your leg or serious. A real mischievous and lovely girl just like her daughters.

Porth Madoc

2012-01-27T18:04:00.001Z

The watercolour above is of Snowdon from Porth Madoc. This is or was a popular view in the 19th century and was the subject of many well known artists at the time. In consideration of their work I hope I have done it some justice. Anyway the painting was done a few years back on one of our annual holidays up North.

Today I waked the dog went to the gym did the drawing for a painting of Carmarthen Oak and started the work. I also went shopping for my mother with Alex.

Have you noticed how many men wander around supermarkets without a basket or trolley looking aimlessly around? They are having that draining experience of shopping with wives or partners. Alex for example will spend an inordinate amount of time looking, checking, considering which is the newest, which is the best and then when she has chosen we will move away from the trolleys into the Supermarket. Nothing is done without complete consideration. I of course will go in and grab the first item I need and be queuing to pay having spent the minimum amount of time and money. Of course I invariably get something out of date or from the wrong region and have to suffer that withering look and slow shaking of the head.
No shopping is a serious business and one that men should not be allowed to partake in. ( Is that sexist or just plain fact?). Probably both!

Anyway rugby on tonight and off to watch the Scarlets tomorrow after finishing the painting.

Ferryside

2012-01-26T17:21:00.002Z

The oil painting above is one I did today of Ferryside from Llansteffan beach. There is a rock that sits in the middle of the main channel between Ferryside and Llansteffan. This is marked by the barrel post a navigation mark. It is just a pole these days but one would assume that it originally was a pole with an inverted barrel on top. The two village's were connected by a ferry boat until just after the second world war. This was a run from Ferry Point up river from Llansteffan Village Green. Of course it was nothing sophisticated a good rowing boat.
Talking of rowing boats " Big Bill" the well known restaurateur (Yr Hen Dafarn Llansteffan) and fisherman used to keep his rowing boat moored off Llansteffan Beach. It was not unknown for him to moor it in the river and swim to the beach. He is quite a character and an excellent chef but you had better like eating a good meal, great fresh food and lots of it. I print a sample review below.

“Amazing 5 Star food and service! A little gem!”

Reviewed 13 June 2011

Yr Hen Dafarn, or Big Bills as its called in the village, really is a find! A fantastic restaurant with amazing food. Fresh seafood, amazing game and beautiful home cooking. Its such a treat. Every time we go down to wales, its on our must go list. We always book a table and have never been disappointed.

St David's Abergwili

2012-01-25T14:57:00.000Z

The watercolour above is of St Davids Church in Abergwili. I know the church quite well. One of our grandsons was christened there. It is actually quite hard to get a good view of the church. This often the case with churches. They tend to be surrounded by trees which may or may not be in need of some good pruning.
This is where a painting has the advantage over a photograph as the artist can easily remove the odd tree.

Llanfihangel Abercywyn

2012-01-24T12:56:00.001Z

I did the watercolour of St. Michaels Church at Llanfihangel Abercywyn this morning. It is a pretty little church 2 miles Carmarthen side of St Clears. It is not particularly old being built in 1847 but very striking nevertheless.
I have passed the church numerous times whilst going along the main dual carriageway and have thought it would be a worthy subject. So I finally got around to doing it, one less off my paintings to do list. The trouble with that list is that it keeps getting longer.
Time to walk the dog now.

Blackpool Mill

2012-01-23T15:33:00.000Z

Alex and I managed to get away for a couple of days. We didn't go far only as far as Canaston Oaks in Pembrokeshire. On Sunday we had a good walk through the woods and past Blackpool Mill sketched above. This is next to Blackpool Bridge built in 1830. This is the tidal limit of the Eastern Cleddau. Boats used to moor off the mill and transport flour down the CLeddau to Milford Port. The mill is in disrepair although it has all the original machinery as far as I am aware. Jac wasn't that interested and had more fun running through the bracken on the Slebech Estate.
We are currently working on getting the upstairs gallery of Origin open in time for St Davids Day.

River Bridge Nantgaredig

2012-01-21T13:56:00.000Z

The watercolour I did above is quite strong for me. It is of the River Bridge Nantgaredig. When I went there the overriding impression was of the contrast between the light behind the bridge and the structure itself. Hence I have used high and low values to emphasise this.
Alex has been to Bridgend to collect prints.We are pretty low on stocks of prints and cards. Hopefully we will get a few days free now to get on. Our first exhibition this year is in Aberglasney and then there may be one in Laugharne.

Carmarthen Quay

2012-01-20T13:30:00.000Z

The above painting is not one of mine it is by one of Carmarthen's famous sons, Edward Moreland Lewis.
It shows the Quay which is currently undergoing some changes. I like the palette he uses and also the style which is fluid and easy going. He paints over a warm stained under painting.
Strangely he is very under rated which is a pity. There are a few of his paintings in the museum but other than that the Town hardly recognises him.
He was the son of B.A.Lewis a fine amateur painter and founder of the Carmarthen Sketch Club. He died in North Africa in the Second World War, had he survived he might have gained greater acclamation.
I hope that the work on the Quay doesn't spoil its character.

Carmarthen River Bridge

2012-01-19T13:48:00.001Z

The painting above is the completed Carmarthen River Bridge.This morning I did a watercolour of the River Bridge at Nantgaredig nearCarmarthen. I am teaching this afternoon.

I had a call this morning to see if I would be able toappear on a program on S4C. My Welsh is pretty poor and certainly not up to TVstandards so no pressure there, decision made. In some respects I suppose it isnice to have publicity etc but there again it is a lot of pressure. I havestopped doing talks and giving demonstrations. I don’t enjoy doing them so whydo them? Life is pretty short why spend any of it doing things you don’t wantto? I would rather be painting, reading or walking.

Carmarthen River Bridge in oils

2012-01-18T16:16:00.000Z

The picture above shows the first stage of the painting I amworking on. Carmarthen River Bridge. You can see I have started form the topand am working down. This is a standard format for watercolour paintings butnot necessarily for oils, it’s just that it is convenient when working thisway. Some colours are mixed and laid on to be left whilst other darker coloursare mixed on the canvas adding differing shades and lighter colours. All thecolours are mixed none are straight from the tube. The second piece of advice Igive to anyone wanting to learn to paint is read a good book on colours andlearn how to mix them so you can replicate the exact hue and value whennecessary. The first piece of advice is draw, draw and draw.

Tonight I have a meeting of the co-operative. Tomorrow I amteaching but I hope to paint in the morning.

Llanddew

2012-01-17T16:01:00.001Z

The watercolour sketch above is of the little church inLlanddew near Brecon. We lived in Brecon for a number of years before moving toCarmarthen some 20years ago? We quite often return there to exhibit or camp inthe Beacons.

Some very long time ago when I was a police officer I wassent to a Road Accident. When I arrived there I found that two cars hadcollided on a narrow hump back bridge. They had pretty well met on at thecentre of the hump of the bridge colliding head on.

Both drivers had fortunately been wearing seat belts and itobviously hadn’t been a high-speed collision. If the cars had kissed each otherthough it had been a fairly passionate affair. Their bumpers were hookedtogether and both had some frontal damage. An ambulance had been called as bothdrivers had minor injuries and probably shock.

The traffic was on hold in both directions with long queuesbeginning to form.

One car was a brand new Rover the other was an oldish Austin1100. I spoke to both drivers and saw them safely to the ambulance thenconcerned myself with the vehicles. I took a few measurements and details. Atow truck then had arrived and we needed to clear the bridge. As the vehicleshad locked bumpers like a pair of stags I suggested bouncing the front ends ofthe cars to release them. We energetically bounced the front ends until likemagic them separated. Unfortunately I hadn’t taken account of the fact that itwas a hump back bridge. The Rover which apparently was neither in gear nor hadits handbrake applied started to roll backwards down the hill.

I looked on with increasing anxiety as it gathered speedtowards the first vehicle in the queue at the end of the bridge. This was aCrossville bus. The bus driver was in a worse position as there was nothing hecould do. I could see my vaguely promising career being cut very short. Fateintervened however or more probably the steering lock did and the car turnedand collided rear first into the end bridge pillar making a horrible noise. Therear of the Rover had been extensively remodelled. The stone pillar had stoodthere for years and was unmoved. It wasthe best I could have hoped for especially as the driver was no longer there.

I had both vehicles towed away and completed my accidentreport. I wondered how the puzzled driver would react when he saw his Roveragain. He had left it with a damaged front now it was equally mauled to therear. How he would explain it to his insurance company? I waited for severalweeks for an inquiry into the circumstances of the accident and its subsequentevents but strangely I heard nothing and blessed my good fortune. Being a smallcommunity I did get the odd barbed comment from the recovery men now and then,which I shook off with good humour. Is this story true I leave it up to you todecide.

Yes I have started a painting today so things arelooking up.

Old Oak Carmarthen

2012-01-16T18:08:00.000Z

Another day in the gallery today. It was a bit quiet otherthan David Elliot working upstairs replacing plasterboard above the stairwell.Still we did some trade.

Alex (she’s a saint or saintess, have to be politically correct)spent most of the afternoon at home with a couple of domestic issues mainlyrelating to my mother.

As we came home Venus was bright in the sky overCarmarthen and was being joined by Jupiter so a lovely cold bright night. Nopainting to report hopefully tomorrow. The painting is of the legendary CarmarthenOak. A watercolour I did as a commission. The Oak used to stand at the cornerof Priory Street and legend had it that when the Oak fell so would Carmarthen.Well the Oak has gone and Carmarthen isstill standing.

Sheep ~ Harlech

2012-01-15T14:48:00.001Z

The little watercolour picture above is of sheep near MorfaHarlech. We like to go and stay in the area when we can (which isn’t veryoften) for a change of scenery. We used to take the children to this stretch ofcoast for our holidays when they were young. We had a four-man ridge tent,which just about held 2 adults 3 children and a dog. It was about 8 ft by 5 ftso it was a bit of a squeeze but we had a great deal of use out of it. Camping was the only holiday we could affordthen. The area anyhow is a favourite of ours. I don’t do many completedpaintings of North Wales, as there isn’t the market for them in West Wales. Ido however do numerous sketches and little watercolours for my own interest.Sheep are a great subject probably because they are so much a part of theBritish Landscape. One of my favourite paintings of sheep is by William HolmanHunt link below:

http://artmight.com/Artists/Holman-William/Republica-SWD-017-William-Holman-Hunt-Our-English-Coasts-189174p.html

I posted yesterday about our son’s last trip to Ireland withhis family. He also told me about an incident in Tesco’s County Cavan. It’sfunny how your tastes change, as you get older. I used to like whisky, brandy,rum, port not all together mind. Well now the only spirit I can manage is ginwith tonic. Anyway my son has no such inhibitions (particularly if it is free).He went to Tesco’s and made two important purchases a bottle of gin and abottle of tonic. He got to the checkout and was asked if he needed a bag. Hedeclined having found an old bag. He placed both bottles in it. The inevitablehappened the bag split he fortunately grabbed hold of the gin but the tonicescaped. It hit the floor exploded and then took off like a torpedo sprayingits contents over all and sundry with two Tesco ladies chasing it down theaisle. He said they all saw the funny side of it particularly as he was the onethat looked like he’d had an accident.

They gave him a new bottle of tonic although he had alreadypaid and even mopped him down.

Life’s full of little incidents to make you smile(unlike the way the Scarlets played yesterday).

Cwnoernant Reservoir Path

2012-01-14T09:51:00.000Z

The reservoir this morning was beautiful with the sunbreaking through the trees. The mallards and goosander were bobbing in thewater, which had a layer of mist across it. The frost-covered branches wereshimmering a grey purple with patches of light catching the tops. Verypicturesque. The painting above is of the footpath around Cwmoernant reservoirbut not the one I was looking for which has gone walkabout on the computer.

Anyway I was talking to our son last night and he wasrelaying his experiences over the New Year in Ireland. He took his wife andchildren to visit our daughter in laws family. They arrived at Pembroke DockPort in their white people carrier and sat in a queue of cars waiting to boardthe ferry. Next thing he notices a hire car pull up 2 spaces away with otherrelatives of ours in it. It was our daughter’s mother and father in law alovely couple who come from Tullamore. They were on their way back home. Anywayhe got out of the car and walked around to the drivers side door stood over thecar so they couldn’t see his face and then requested their passports, thentickets then driving documents and anything else he could think of until hecouldn’t hold his laughter any further. They eventually realised who he was andthey had a good chat. Our son returned to his car but in the meantime another whitepeople carrier had joined the waiting cars in between them. At this pointPhillip the father in law gets out of his car and walks up the driver of thepeople carrier thinking it is our son and continues a conversation with him. Hegets out his mobile phone and passes it to the driver. It apparently it had ajoke on it. Now Phillip the father in law is very softly spoken and quitedifficult to understand particularly with a strong Irish accent. Our son and family were in fits as theywatched the driver of the people carrier pass the mobile phone to his wife andback. They obviously had no idea who this person was that had suddenly come upto them and enter a long conversation with them. The look on their faces wassomething to behold. Eventually Phillip realised his mistake and left thembewildered but probably impressed by the friendliness of the Irish.

Yes we have a very interesting but lovely large family!

Today I am off to watch the Scarlets play Northampton.So fingers crossed.

Binge Drinking

2012-01-13T15:03:00.000Z

The watercolour sketch is of Shortland farm near Druidstone where we like to stop in our camper. The problem we have is that we like to go out of season and many of the best sites are shut. I like piece and quiet, to get away so the summer is mostly out and in any case we are generally exhibiting then or generally tied up.
We often camp in sub zero temperatures and the only problem we get is when the water freezes up.
Alex thinks we live in subzero temperatures as I am not too keen on having the heating on. Have you seen the price of oil?

I was listening to the debate the other day on Scottish Independence. I have mixed views. My grandfather was Scottish and a deal of my family are Welsh. At the end of the day I take the view it is up to them to decide, that is what democracy is all about. Anyway I was reminded about the book of Aneirin. An old Welsh manuscript in the University Library of Wales. It contains a story Y Goddoddin about Celtic warriors from the Brythonic Kingdon in Scotland who along with their allies from Wales went South to fight the Angles and Saxons. Three hundred warriors met and apparently spent one year feasting and drinking mead before setting off to fight the invading Angles and Saxons. It must have been something of a suicide mission
as they faced and army of ten thousand. I suppose this explains the year of drinking beforehand. The warriors met at Catraeth (Catterick) and fought for several days. Only three of the Britains survived. To be honest I think the years feasting would have killed me off never mind the March and then a battle.

Today I have been in the Gallery again. Tomorrow its Rugby.

Carry On

2012-01-12T22:47:00.003Z

Well what a Carry On. A very interesting 24 hours. Oursister in law arrived last night with our nephew and his Vietnamese girlfriend.They only stopped until this morning but it was very nice to see them as helives in Vietnam and we haven’t seen them for some time. You can image we had agood meal and plenty of family, grandchildren. My mother was particularlypleased to see him although she was very confused about what relative heactually is. Whenever there is a lot of excitement or a break in her routinethere is normally a reaction. So last night when we made our way to bed Alexand I were particularly pleased it had all passed off well and my Mother hadgone off to bed without any drama.
I had to be off early today as I was constructing an office in the gallery withMartin our treasurer and also had to go out to check on a storage heater. Allwent well. I walked the dogs and left our guest sleeping. Alex sorted outbreakfast for them, took them to say goodbye to my Mom and then got on washingbedding and cleaning ready for our daughter, grandson and dog to come onSaturday. In the afternoon she had several phone calls to deal with in respectof framing. She then had to take the dog out as I was working in the gallery.She only got opposite my mother’s house when she was called over. My mother hadher meals on wheels stopped to go over to frozen meals, which her lunchtimecarer prepared. She found my mother looking at a sandwich. The carer had got itall mixed up and my mom had no dinner other than the sandwich. Unfortunately mymom doesn’t like bread! Meantime the dog still on a lead is being coaxed by mymother to come to her with the soggy sandwich. Alex is trying to sort out foodand then an ambulance pulls up. Two ambulance men come in. Alex is now part ofsome surreal play. It seems that my mother pressed her emergency call buttonbefore Alex arrived. My mother is lapping it up and talking nonsense to the ambulancemen who are now seriously considering taking her in. Alex has to explain thatthis is normal and apologise for the call out and the dog who is now causingchaos. Witnessing this strange event is my mother’s cleaner who comes once aweek to iron and clean.

When Alex picked me up she was convinced she had been in aCarry On Movie. I assured her I had a very pleasant and productive day eventhough I hadn’t had the chance to do any painting, again!

Oh the watercolour sketch above is of a small boat at BorthY Guest in North Wales

With Snowdonia in the distance.

A Childs Garden of Verses

2012-01-11T13:00:00.001Z

The watercolour sketch above is from N. Wales nearTrawsfynydd. It’s one of those weeks this week 2 days in the gallery relativescoming today and work in the gallery tomorrow.

I am not a real fan of poetry. I have said before DylanThomas goes straight over my head. I know I should say he is wonderful, but Iam afraid I can’t because it doesn’t communicate anything to me. I have novision of what he is talking about. I think Richard Burton has a wonderfulvoice when reading Dylan Thomas but he could just as easily be reading ashopping list for me. One book of poetry I did grow up with and love was,

“A Childs Garden of Verses” by Robert L. Stevenson.

That book for me is a projection of innocence. It is poetryI can follow to this day. I still have the volume although it is a little worsefor being well thumbed and read to various generations of the family. The illustrationstoo are wonderful, black and white etchings by Charles Robinson. So maybe I amnot quite a Philistine, but then again maybe I am.

Below is Bed in summer a child’s view of grown up logic.

In winter I get up at night

And dress by yellow candlelight.

In summer quite the other way,

I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see

The birds still hopping on the tree,

Or hear the grown-up people's feet

Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,

When all the sky is clear and blue,

And I should like so much to play,

To have to go to bed by day?

Beddgelert

2012-01-10T14:35:00.002Z

The watercolour sketch was one I did when Alex, Jac and Ivisited Beddgelert last year. A lovely spot with a heart-rending legend. Wellit is if you are an animal lover like me. The legend is written on the "grave" ofGelert as below:

"In the 13th century Llewelyn, prince of North Wales, had a palaceat Beddgelert. One day he went hunting without Gelert, "The FaithfulHound", who was unaccountably absent.

On Llewelyn's return the truant, stained and smeared with blood,joyfully sprang to meet his master. The prince alarmed hastened to find hisson, and saw the infant's cot empty, the bedclothes and floor covered withblood.

The frantic father plunged his sword into the hound's side, thinking ithad killed his heir. The dog's dying yell was answered by a child's cry.

Llewelyn searched and discovered his boyunharmed, but near by lay the body of a mighty wolf which Gelert had slain.

The prince filled with remorse is said never tohave smiled again. He buried Gelert here".

Today we dropped off our camper van and pickedup paintings from the Ceri Richards Gallery in Swansea then came back to pickup the grandchildren. A meeting of the co-operative tonight.

Worlds Most Expensive email Address

2012-01-09T09:21:00.002Z

The oil painting above is of fishing trawlers off aheadland. They are actually Brixham Trawlers and were very popular around theSouth and West Coast at the turn of the 20th century.

Personalised number plates are not something that appeals tome. I have a good a reason for that well actually two. One is the cost and theother is that I wouldn’t want to draw attention to myself. I am not a baddriver but on the other hand not a great one either. It would be all too easyto remember that car with

ART 1 registration that accidentally cut you up or pulled outwithout looking. With an indistinctive number like our plate it’s just an otherold man in a flat cap!

Now my email has been a painlately. Not arriving where it should, refusing to send group emails…So Ieventually decided to bite the bullet and change email to Gmail.

My old email address wasmarkcox@…… and obviously I wanted something similar with my name and withoutnumbers. The problem was they were all gone. So decision time you can buypersonalised email addresses. They are very expensive. I didn’t want to dothat.

I looked at my business card andfound the answer. My Business card was Mark Cox BA. “Eureka” that wasavailable. Finally I have found something useful to come from my old degree infine art. (Actually that is a bit harsh, I enjoyed it but the course wasn’t much to do about painting, not as I understand it anyway.). Anyway the Degree cost me a fortune.

So I reckon at the end of the day I have probablygot the Worlds Most expensive email address.

Bascule Bridge

2012-01-08T13:58:00.001Z

The watercolour above is of the Bascule or lifting Bridge atJohnstown Carmarthen.

Bascule is French and means see saw. This I guess refers tothe fact that a Bascule bridge has a large weight to counterbalance it at oneend.

The Rail Bridge crosses the River Towy and was built by theGreat Western Railway in the 1930’s. It is no longer in use and was apparentlylast lifted for Major Fisher- Hock to bring his yacht up the Towy to Carmarthenin the 1950’s. The Fisher-Hocks until quite recently were the occupiers of thePlas at Llansteffan. The Plas is the large white mansion next to theLlansteffan Castle overlooking the village. Not quite Downton Abbey but goingthat way.

Incidentally his yacht was called Pisces of Towy.

This morning the walk over the top was glorious. I setout as day was breaking and when Jac and I got to the top of Penlanffos the skywas orange and yellow in the East with light reflecting of the river in thevalley. Later this morning Alex and I had a walk on the beach at Llansteffanwith Jac and then tried to trace a short in the electrical system on the campervan (in vain I might add). We have found the circuit but not the cause althougha relay is suspect.

Rocky Shore

2012-01-07T15:51:00.002Z

The watercolour above sold a while ago but is an example ofgeneric subjects. It is actually off the Pembrokeshire Coast but could beanywhere. Many artists in the late 19^th and early 20^th centurymade their living painting numerous scenes like these. Whilst I am happy topaint most things I wouldn’t want to be painting these repeatedly. As I have said before I tend to paintspecific subjects i.e. a recognisable (hopefully) place or subject.

Today I did a watercolour of the Bascule Bridge inCarmarthen. I haven’t taken an image of it so I will probably post it tomorrow.All the decorations are down and life is revertingback to normal or a more restrained form of chaos if you like.

Carreg Cennen

2012-01-06T16:59:00.000Z

The painting above is the commission I was working on lastweekend. There are some great views of Carreg Cennen Castle but it is probablymost spectacular from this side.

Today was spent working on the business side and sorting outour print requirements so no painting done today. There is still a lot to bedone to catch up in the office. So although Alex has made progress the factthat we have not been working fully the last month has meant there is abacklog.

The last visitor left yesterday and Jac has now regainedhis status as top dog. We have to go to the gallery this evening and change acouple of paintings. So a quick cup of tea in to town and then settle down towatch the rugby.

PC Problems

2012-01-05T18:32:00.001Z

The watercolour above was done from the sketch yesterday. I am not wild about it but Alex likes it so who am I to argue. Alex has been catching up on paperwork for the business today. I have done the painting and working on the computer.

Cant live with them can’t live without them. I have heard that before anyway in this case it relates to a 6 year old Compaq with so many gigs? Recently whatever we have tried the internet has frozen at regular intervals at the most inconvenient times which causes more than the odd, “oh dear!”

The Pc has been scanned with every type of virus program and malware download available. It has had the registry checked and a nice man in India offered to fix it for a mere $350. A snip I thought.

Oh for the time when a PC was a large jolly man walking down the street wearing a blue serge jacket and pointy hat.

Anyway I finally junked internet explorer and tried Google Chrome as a browser. With the exception of a problem with the font size of emails it appears to be functioning very well (so far # not counting any chickens yet). No sign of a freeze on the horizon or anywhere else.

My mother thinks we are her parents, which means I am well overdue for a good number of telegrams from the Queen. At times I feel that old as well. Nevertheless fortitude and perseverance are the watchwords. I am looking forward to having another day of painting tomorrow (hopefully) as the walls are a bit depleted after a bumper end of year.

2012

2012-01-04T16:22:00.003Z

The sketch above is of the Towy Valley looking from Carmarthen towards Abergwili with Merlin’s Hill on the left. The Church is St David’s. I intend to do a watercolour from the sketch.

We still have our son’s dog as he and his family are stuck in Ireland due to Gales in the Irish Sea other than that we are resuming normal service. Alex is in Town restocking cards and prints in the gallery.

The year is booking up already with a couple of definite exhibitions and 2 probable ones. We are still planning our charity exhibition. Four exhibitions is more than enough with gallery and internet work.

So here comes 2012.

Picture Window

2012-01-03T13:21:00.002Z

The watercolour above is the same subject (Merlin’s Hill Towy Valley) as the one that went awry the other day (cockled). Anyway no problems this time. I stretched the paper fully and used good quality Saunders Waterford paper.

Yesterday we wanted a quiet day after the grandchildren left. It seems that everyone and his dog wanted to visit or phone us. Individually not a problem but it was one after another. I ended up being extremely rude to the man from Dunraven Windows who phoned at 6.30pm awakening me from my fourth attempt to doze in the chair. He wanted to discuss double-glazing! I mean it was a Bank Holiday wasn’t it? The last call was after 9pm. I sometimes think a telephone is no great advance for the human race. I shall endeavour to leave it off the hook more in future. That can be my New Years Resolution. Alex has got straight into framing and mounting prints today. This afternoon she is going to paint a room for her mother.

Lazy Day

2012-01-02T13:58:00.001Z

I don’t have the painting above it was I did when I was doing my degree in fine art. It was heavily influenced by the contemporary artist David Salle who is not only an interesting artist, he can paint. Something that can be a rarity in the avant garde.

Anyway I popped to the gallery today to do a couple of jobs then walked the dogs.
The grandchildren have gone and we are going to relax for the remainder of the day.

Try link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLexgOxsZu0

Preseli's

2012-01-01T16:21:00.001Z

The painting above of the Preseli’s sold yesterday to a couple from Lampeter. We had a very pleasant evening with friends and Alex’s mom around. Alex as usual did a wonderful job as a hostess and cook. So a good New Years Eve but we are both quite tired!

Alex’s mother stayed the night but has gone home now. We now have 2 of the grandchildren until tomorrow. Alex is playing with them now while I am watching the rugby on TV. (half time now).

A Helping hand?

2011-12-31T14:38:00.002Z

Happy New Year to all. I have been working on the commission today. Pretty well finished I think. I Also walked the dogs and have been shopping for Alex.

The computer has been playing up for a while and I am not sure if it is a hardware or software problem. It is working but frustratingly freezes when you don’t want it to. I have found many bugs and issues but nothing that has fixed it yet. I don’t want to change it or take it for repair? But I feel it is getting to that option. Last time I took a PC in I was told it had had it and who knows maybe it had. Anyway enough about boring stuff.

One New Years Eve I was working on a cold frosty evening. I was the observer in a Police Patrol car when we came around a corner to find a motorcycle and rider across the road. Somehow my companion managed to avoid the rider and motorcycle, no mean fete as the road was quite slippy. The lad as I recall was a student and his mount was a Jawa 250, not really a thing to boast about quite utilitarian machine. Anyway having brushed him down and established he was unhurt we looked at his motorcycle. He had a fair way to go, no money and no other means of getting there. His motorbike had lost its front mudguard and bent the handlebars and gear lever. He was a nice enough lad and we spent some time helping him. We had a piece of scaffold pole we used for removing Krooklocks on illegally parked vehicles. We used this to bend his handlebars and gear lever back into useable condition. We found some baler twine in the hedge and tied his front mudguard up for him. He was most grateful. He tried to start the machine, (they always were a bugger to start as I recall along with the CZ it counterpart). Anyway we told him to sit on the bike and let the clutch in when going at a reasonable speed. This was easy as we were at the top of a hill.

He thanked us profusely and got on the bike and disappeared down the hill. We watched his taillight until we heard the machine start and saw him going down the hill towards the corner at the bottom. Our hearts were in our mouths as we saw him fail to negotiate the right hand bend and continue straight on through the hedge. We ran down after him. While my partner got him out of the hedge I recovered the bike. It was then I noticed that in the dark the mudguard and front forks had been tied up tight to the frame and stopped the front wheel turning. I quickly re tied the mudguard and got it into a road worthy condition. The poor lad was mystified but swore he would sell the infernal machine as soon as he could. Eventually he got on his way no worse for his adventures and fortunately no wiser.

Is this story true? I will let you decide.

Oh and the sketch its Paxton's Tower Towy Valley.

Bambi on ice

2011-12-30T15:26:00.003Z

The sketches above are more form my Christmas pocketbook. Today I started on a new commission that came in yesterday. There is a bit of a rush for it although it is quite doable. I went to the gym first thing. I hadn’t been for a week and when I get on the treadmill at first it is a bit like Bambi on ice. Particularly if I haven’t been to the gym for a few days. My legs have to get in to the rhythm and it takes a few minutes to settle down. I probably look fine but I feel like I am about to fall and shoot off the back of the treadmill.

Painting is a bit like that as well. I am pretty confident I can paint most things to a reasonable standard. However there are always a few butterflies before I start any painting. These become worse the longer I leave between paintings. Once I start that’s it no problem I am “in the mood” and concentration takes over. I am lucky that I don’t have to be feeling creative I can just turn it on automatically. Lucky that as today I had a bit of a hangover.

The painting is coming along fine although bad light stopped play about 3pm. I have another commission to do and I had the opportunity for one yesterday but I decided not to take it. So enough to do.

Alex has had a day out shopping with her mom today so that will be a nice change for her.

How to survive at Xmas

2011-12-29T08:26:00.003Z

The sketches above are taken from this Christmas' pocket sketchbook. Doing these sketches keeps me occupied during the festivities. All good practice and in any case Alex won’t let me read a book when we are visiting. She says it’s disrespectful and to be fair she’s probably right (again). Sketching though is apparently not frowned upon. I do actually enjoy Christmas but I run out of anything meaningful to contribute to a conversation after about 5 minutes.
So sketching is a life saver.

We are in the gallery today so normality is returning to some extent. We were expecting relatives to come and stop but very sadly they have colds so they have cancelled. At the weekend we have 2 of the grandchildren staying oh and we are looking after our son’s dog while they are away.

Tomorrow we must visit the gym ~ well I must anyway. Then next week painting, god willing?

Oh Well ~ with apologies to Fleetwood Mac

2011-12-28T13:18:00.002Z

I did a watercolour painting for the first time in a while today. Unfortunately I chose a board with an already stretched piece of paper on it. This was done a couple of months ago and the tape had started to lift. Anyway I thought I would risk using it.

The result is shown above. Oh well. The painting cockled i.e. it wrinkled. I have seen worse offered for sale and it is possible to reduce the cockling but this one will be relegated to the bin. At the end of the day it pays to do things properly and if you have any doubts don’t waste time start with good paper that is properly prepared.

The view itself is of the Towy Valley in the snow a scene I love as it is part of one of my walks. Yesterday we did a lot in Origin while it was closed. We moved a lot of shop fittings out from the upstairs gallery. Many of these were donated to a charity shop. There is more space to work in now and move on, getting it ready to open in March.

link to "Oh Well"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE4HGlmtOcg

Big numbers

2011-12-27T11:18:00.002Z

Carrying a small drawing pad is a good habit and allows you to sketch anytime. I did the pen and ink sketch above in Harlech. Pen and ink itself is challenging in this format, as it doesn’t allow for any mistakes. This being the case you are pretty particular on the relative sizes and positions in a composition before you draw them.

My idea of a perfect design surrounds the functionality of the object. For example what do I want in a watch? I want it to tell the correct time always, not need winding up, be clear and easily read in the day and night, be totally waterproof, and be comfortable to wear. I also don’t want it to be flamboyant. I want simple clean lines. With this specification it is already nearly a winning design for me. Oh I want it to be reasonably priced too so I can wear it all the time. My watch is all of these things.

I bring this up because one of our daughters bought me a mobile phone for Christmas.
I am not a technophobe but I am not one to text or spend endless hours babbling on the phone. I did have a mobile phone a Nokia that cost about £12 a few years ago. It had no features except you could text with it and phone with it. It didn’t even have a camera. It is Pay as you go costing me about £10 for 6 months. One problem I did have with it was that it was difficult to see without my glasses. So they bought me a pay as you go phone with large numerals. It is great.
It is no larger than my previous one and is lighter. It ticks all the boxes of functionality I need and is simple.

Okay a different colour might improve it aesthetically but other than that it’s a perfect design.

Knott Square

2011-12-26T09:29:00.000Z

The painting above is a watercolour I did of Knott Square Carmarthen.

As a young man I used to go to the local pub and the regulars would be playing dominoes and crib. It was natural that I picked up and played these games.
Our daughter gave me a set of dominoes this Christmas, which will be really good to use in the camper van. When my father was alive Alex and I would play Bridge with my mom and dad but the only card game we play now is cribbage. I am not sure how popular card games are these days but they are probably overshadowed by video games etc. which is a pity. I know things move on but sometimes I wish they wouldn't.

Happy Christmas

2011-12-25T09:07:00.000Z

Happy Christmas to all readers of the post.

The painting above is of the Towy Valley.

Due to my work I had to work or be on call for Christmas and the New Year for 30 or so years.

I think I pretty well worked every New Years Eve which to be honest was no great sacrifice.

When the children were younger we would always try and go to my parents for at least one of the days of the Christmas holiday. They lived on an old smallholding near Knighton. We would go onto the common and either play cricket weather permitting or sometimes take a motorbike up there. (I appreciate this may not be quite legal so I will make it quite clear we always remained on the road and conformed to every statuary requirement!).

We had an old DMW at one time. Know what that is?
A DMW was a Dudley Motor Works motorcycle. Link http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Museum/Transport/Motorcycles/DMW.htm
We had a few problems with it such as the spark plug blowing out of the cylinder head and the clutch packing up. We made new clutch plates with cork mat and put a helicoil in the cylinder head. In the end we scrapped it.

We also had a trials Honda. It was quite easy to pull this over your head with a fistful of throttle and a steep gradient which was quite entertaining for those watching but something not to be recommended as good practice. Seeing the world go by with the front wheel coming up over your head and wondering whether the bike will land on you is a little disturbing.

I remember watching Alex accidentally do a similar trick at the Beguildy T Junction. She pulled up at the give way, checked it was clear grabbed a fistfull of throttle, lifted the front wheel and shot across the road straight throught he hedge opposite. My brother and I were in fits!

Several times we had to get up to my parents house through snow. They lived at the top of the hill overlooking the Valley and the roads were never cleared. We used to pull off the main road and lower the tyre pressures in the Austin Maxi and she would go like a train ~ generally most of the way up if not we would go as far as we could then leave it and walk the rest. This was always an adventure, which the children loved.

Plastic Chicken

2011-12-24T11:54:00.002Z

The sketch above is of Tin mines and I did it when we went to Cornwall earlier this year. I think it would make a good painting but then how marketable it would be in this area I don’t know.

Yesterday I posted about cooking and what an excellent cook Alex is. I do however recall one Christmas a long time ago when Alex's mom and her grandmother came to visit us. We had been married a couple of years.

Anyway Alex obviously wanted to put on a good display of her culinary expertise and we saved up for the event. Come the day everything was elaborately done with hand made place names, a table cloth, starters a bottle of wine (probably Lambrusco) etc.. Bear mind that at this time we didn’t even have carpets or much in the way of furniture other than a new bed and a second hand three piece suite Alex’s Mom had given us.

Anway all went swimmingly well until a panic stricken Alex caught hold of me and confessed she had left the plastic bag of giblets in the chicken which was now cooking in the oven. I said it would be fine and don’t admit it. Now Alex can't tell a lie and would admit anything before even being asked but on this occasion she summoned up superhuman strength and kept stum. (this saying apparently comes from a German word for dumb).

There was a little bit of an after taste with the chicken as I recall but that was probably because I knew about the plastic in the bird. Alex swore me to secrecy and I remained silent ~until now anyway.

Toast

2011-12-23T14:53:00.002Z

The vignette above is from an old sketch book of Alex in the kitchen. She is an excellent cook and one of the reasons we don’t go out that often is because it is difficult to find somewhere to eat that provides better food than she can cook. We used to like going to the Angel Vaults Restaurant in Carmarthen but that closed down. Actually our son in law at one point ran the Angel Vaults when it was still a pub.

Anyway about cooking I am useless. When it comes to food Alex waits on me hand and foot (funny saying that I am not sure where it originates).

I do a good selection of household chores but avoid the cooking variety. I always thought why cook when you have a top quality chef on the household staff? However about 15 years ago I gave in to the sexual equality jibes and decided to have a go for the sake of peace and quiet!

Alex bought me Delia Smith’s first recipe book and the kids bought me a timer in the shape of a cow that went “moo”.
Fine I thought I will teach myself to be a cook. I am a methodical person and like to perfect things before I move on. I decided to work through the book from begining to end in sequence perfecting my offerings as I went. It started off first page with toast, which actually is not straightforward. To get it crunchy not soggy and the right colour requires a little skill. Next page was omelette this wasn’t right first time so the following day I tried again, better but not perfect. By the end of the week I was turning out reasonable omelettes but not perfect. I turned a page and moved on to egg custard.

I was starting to hear moans “not omelette again and oh egg custard for pudding”. You know children can be so ungrateful. I think Alex could see where this was going and called a halt to it before everyone’s digestive system came to a stop.

So my brief flurry as a cook came to an abrupt end. I am not disappointed (and neither is anyone else).

Optimism

2011-12-22T14:30:00.000Z

The painting of Llansteffan Green above sold yesterday. I have done a number of paintings of Llansteffan and make no apologies for it. I try to make each one different. I painting many different subjects but there is always a demand for some of the most popular views. Ultimately in order to sell you must paint what the public want. For me that is not an issue as I have a passion to paint and am not too precious about the subject.

I am reminded that Cezanne painted Mont Saint Victoire on a daily basis and never tired of it, painting it literally until he he died.

Ken Howard states that he would, if he started again merely paint one subject over and over. These views are a little extreme for me as I like variety but I can see where they are coming from.

For me my art is about communicating to the world my vision. It is about revealing how I see something. Generally my art is very optimistic a reflection of my view on life.

Today I am in Origin, which is quite a nice change as you get a chance to meet new people. I can’t see me starting my next commission until after Christmas now.

A University Education

2011-12-21T14:14:00.002Z

The little drawing above was done from our boat whilst at anchor in Solva Pool.
The Pool is a small area of relatively deep water at the entrance to Solva with good holding for an anchor where it is possible to remain afloat at all states of the tide. This is quite advantageous as it allows you to go at any time also it is free as opposed to the moorings inside Solva itself. The pool is reasonably sheltered except in a Southerly Wind.

Alex and I were asleep here one night when we were awoken by a phone call from our two daughters both of whom we love dearly and are very intelligent? They had set out by car to visit my mother in law in Sutton Coldfield and had apparently got lost.
“Hello Dad?”
“Yes”
“We are lost in Birmingham somewhere. How do we get to Mother in Law’s”
Sigh.
“Right have you passed any landmarks?”
“Yes hang on Dad there is a Texaco Garage on our left.”
Sigh.
What do you say? “Very helpful?” Holding back I said,
“I tell you what. Go in there and ask where you are and ask for directions.”
"Is it me?"

Jam Sandwich

2011-12-20T13:43:00.002Z

The sketch above is of Shortland Farm near Druidstone where we tend to camp when down that way. No amenities other than a tap and a toilet. Fantastic views though across St Brides Bay. Plenty to sketch and draw.

The nickname for a police patrol car used to be a jam sandwich because of the red reflective stripe around it. Jam sandwich has another meaning for me. I have previously mentioned that when I was in the police in the early 1970’s I was quite short of funds. Well occasionally I was sent to work in the lock-up in Steelhouse Lane.

The lock-up was the police cellblock for prisoners waiting to go to court. They could be held over a weekend or merely overnight. When I worked outside the City Centre I was occasionally sent to the lock-up to sit with a high-risk prisoner (someone arrested for rape or murder). I was also sent to work there on overtime when they were short of officers.

One of my duties would be to make the prisoners meals and feed them. This is absolutely true, for breakfast they had a choice of a strawberry jam sandwich and a mug of tea or nothing.
For dinner they had the choice of a strawberry jam sandwich and tea or nothing.
For tea they had the choice of a strawberry jam sandwich and a mug of tea or nothing.
I still recall the piles of white sliced bread, tubs of spread and the catering size tins of strawberry jam.

I have to add that I too always joined them and was very grateful for a strawberry jam sandwich for breakfast dinner and tea.

I would like to say it put me off strawberry jam sandwiches but actually I still like them!

At Sea

2011-12-19T14:32:00.002Z

The watercolour sketch above is of Druidstone looking out at St Brides Bay with 2 tankers at anchor.

We have sailed across St Brides Bay on many occasions. On one windy evening we anchored under the cliffs at Goultropp Roads and were perfectly sheltered from the prevailing wind. I didn’t sleep that well in case the wind changed direction in which case you could be blown on to the cliffs. Several ships have foundered here so we took no chances in our 32ft yacht. The Wasp, the Dogstar, the Sylph, the True Bess and the Briton are all ships that have gone down here over the last 2 centuries.

Today was mixed a bit like sunshine on a lumpy sea. We sold a framed print ~ fine. But I had to change the connector on our water closet (wc) and although I got a replacement part it was an inch longer than the original which meant having to move all the other connections..not a nice job!

Then Orange locked me out of my email! Why? I am accused of being a spammer. I sent two messages to ten of the artists and craftmakers in the co-operative and Orange locked my account without warning. I have to wait for them to decide if they will activate it and there is no contact telephone number. There is an email address (how you manage if you only have the email account they locked I don’t know!).

Cutting Edge?

2011-12-18T08:01:00.002Z

The above is a drawing I did of Marie –Vigee Le Brun an excellent artist who was a friend of Marie Antoinette. She fled to England during the French Revolution. The drawing was one just for practice I did quite a few years ago.

I would be interested to have heard her views on the annual irony that is the Turner Prize. I haven’t mentioned this year’s selection but I note that it was the same old, same old, no it isn’t cutting edge. Yes we have seen footage loops of still life...etc.etc. before.
In the 60’s it was done with a projector now it is mandatory for every exhibition to have at least 2 digital projectors and an odd noise. Oh and yes we have seen bits of wood knocked together before. The last time I did this was when we were putting a stud wall up but we did have the grace to cover it with plasterboard.

Anyway art is subjective but mistaking an art exhibition for a freecycle collection is an easy thing to do these days.

Don't be despondent there are interesting and talented contemporary artists you just have to look for them and use your own opinion for example Andy Goldsworthy see the link below:

http://www.sculpture.org.uk/AndyGoldsworthy/

The Nightwatch

2011-12-17T14:28:00.002Z

The painting above of the Nightwatch is my take on the painting by Rembrandt. Anyway the painting sold last year but is appropriate to the post.

When I first joined the Police in…well a long time ago I was first posted to Cotteridge, incidentally the police station is now long gone. You were “paraded” 15 minutes before your shift stood to attention showed your appointments (truncheon, pocketbook, whistle), were then briefed issued with a radio (yes they had them then) and left the station. On nights that meant being out of the station at 10pm and apart from 45 minutes to come in for food break you stayed out until 6am.

My beat was Northfield a 2-mile walk to get there. Other than closed shops and houses there was nothing on the beat so it meant walking around for seven and a quarter hours in whatever the weather.

One night it was so cold I sat on a bench in a bus shelter with my helmet pulled down and my hands and knees inside my cape. I finally woke up feeling very cramped and heard voices. I found I had been joined by workers going to Longbridge Car Factory for the early shift. I was cramped on the bench pushed into the corner of the bus shelter. I looked at my watch and saw it was 5.55am and I had to book off at 6am. I fell off the bench as my legs were cramped and didn’t work and found myself in a heap on the floor much to the amusement of the gathered workers. I gathered my helmet in my hand got up and ran back to the station, cold and frost covered. I bet the citizens of Northfield would have slept soundly in their beds knowing I was looking after them!

Egypt

2011-12-16T14:36:00.000Z

The painting above is the one I have been working on this week. It is obviously (hopefully) of the Pyramids. An unusual choice of subject for me but it is a commission and it has turned out quite nicely.

We visited Egypt a couple of years ago and even then there had been trouble with tourists being targeted by terrorists. It was interesting how the Egyptian Police looked after us.
We were among a party of tourists going by Coach to the Cairo Museum of Egyptology. We climbed into our coaches and set off with a Police pick-up in between every coach. The Police were armed and sat in the back of the pick-ups with machine guns. As we approached any pinch point like road junctions or roundabouts the police had officers ready to stop the traffic and let us pass. All very impressive, a high level of security which put us completely at ease. We arrived at the Museum shortly before midday and went in.

The objects in the museum were fascinating and I was stunned by the quantity of exhibits. It would have been nice if the curators had updated the exhibit labels which must have been written by Howard Carter in 1920 as they were hand written in ink and had faded to nothing. The Museum was packed with representatives from all nations including the party of Japanese complete with dust masks on their faces (inside the museum?). The takings for the day must have been in the tens of thousands in sterling.

Eventually I decided I needed to visit the gentleman’s room! Having got to the front of the queue I was faced with two attendants with hands outstretched. I was impressed they wanted to shake my hand but I declined in the interests of hygiene. I went in to the lavatory and was pleased I hadn’t tipped them the toilets seats were on the floor and the drains were overflowing as I paddled around. It would have taken a man (or woman) with a toolset 20 minutes to put the lavatories right but it had clearly been in this condition for days. Obviously not a high priority. Alex stated that the Ladies facilities were no better if not worse.

Anyway we came out loaded on to the coaches and drove off. Not a Police Officer in sight no escort, and stuck in every bit of traffic. It hit me like a shot obviously we were only a target for terrorists in the morning. I should have realised.

We did visit the Pyramids and were advised not to give our cameras to anyone, particularly the Tourist Police, as they would offer to take your photo and demand money to return it. I won’t go into detail about the Hotel where we had tea but it was “interesting”.

Yes I remember Egypt a real experience but perhaps bizarre is the word that comes to mind.

Greenmantle

2011-12-15T11:12:00.004Z

Just to show you that things don’t always go right, although that may be subjective.
The painting above is of a canal in Venice from the previous visit we made there.
I don’t like it. I cant honestly put it down to anything in particular it just doesn’t work for me. I am not sure if I still have it even I think it went at the last clear out.

Today I have walked the dog, been to my mother in laws to fix a couple of things on the wall and move furniture for her, delivered a painting to a customer, creosoted my mom’s fence, dealt with some correspondence and started to read a book. Unfortunately the book was Goldilocks as I was looking after one of the grandchildren. I am not sure what the rest of the day holds but it will probably go quite quickly.

Talking of reading I am only halfway through John Buchan’s “Greenmantle”. John Buchan wrote the “39 Steps” an excellent read. “Greenmantle” is not a book I would recommend. I regret starting it and then continuing with it. It is a poor cross between, Biggles, Boys Own, James Bond and the Famous Five. You get the picture?

It is however quite enlightening about the English attitude towards the rest of the World at the beginning of the 20th century. It makes me cringe somewhat.

Light Railway

2011-12-14T12:44:00.001Z

The painting above sold last week during the exhibition. Today I finished the commission I had been working on. I have another one to start but there is no rush on that one.

Last night I watched a programme on Welsh Steam trains. It was very interesting showing unique footage of the railways before they were all axed. It reminded me of Pat Cochrane a real gentleman from Newtown. He had been a fireman on the Llanfair Caerienion Light Railway before it was shut by British Rail. He told me that one day the driver let him have a go at driving the train while shunting goods. Guess what he de-railed it. He couldn’t believe it and neither could the driver. The driver was in a spot because he couldn’t say that he had let an unauthorised person drive it so he had to take the blame.

I understand they had to call a crane from Wolverhampton to come and get it back on the rails.

This is for me another fine example of “If it can happen it will happen!”

Challenging Commission

2011-12-13T15:56:00.002Z

The painting above of Carreg Cennen Castle sold on the weekend. Today I have been working on a commission. I don’t have a lot of time to do it so I am using alkyd oils and liquin. These dry fast and are a slightly different consistency to normal oil paints.I can work with them if I need to. The painting has to be planned painted and framed in five days. I had to check with Alex first before I accepted it to see if should would have time to frame it.

I hope to finish the painting tomorrow.

Moriath Glass

2011-12-12T14:26:00.003Z

The above painting of the Towy Valley sold during the exhibition. We have now taken all the work down and got it home before the gales come in. One of the most challenging parts about exhibitions is how to transport a large number of paintings without scratching or damaging the frames. This can easily happen and lose you time and money replacing the frame. We have made interlocking crates to transport and store the paintings. These work well but are still a problem if it is raining.

I went to watch Scarlets play Munster on Saturday with our son. When we arrived we went into the refreshment area. All of a sudden the light was blocked out by a large silhouette accompanied by a loud booming voice.
“Hello Mr Cox.”
It was John a retired policeman. I had known John for about 20 years. A kind of “gentle” giant who had played for Llanelli in the 1970’s. John always treated people with the respect they deserved and in some cases this wasn’t a lot. I had got to know him quite well and had a lot of time for him. I am pleased he is doing well for himself and has hardly aged at all. I doubt there are many left like him. As for the game it was pretty poor, well we lost lets put it like that.

This morning I awoke and put on the radio at 5.30am to hear about Crafts Alive and more interestingly a long interview with Moira White a glassmaker. Moira used to be Chair of Origin and did an excellent job. She has a studio out in Drefach although I believe it is closed for the year now.
A link to her website is

http://www.moriathglass.co.uk/

Ping

2011-12-11T12:23:00.003Z

The painting of Druidstone above sold yesterday on the last day of the exhibition. In all it was a very successful exhibition, we met a lot of nice people and old friends, sold well and made a good sum for a worthwhile charity.

Yesterday I came home at lunchtime to walk the dog and see my mom. Making my lunch I heard the ping of a smoke detector indicating its end of battery life.

Now we have several detectors, 5 in fact. It isn’t always easy to identify which one is going off particularly as they go off intermittently and are at ceiling height. I was up and downstairs trying to identify which one it was and eventually tracked it down to one in our hall.

I found a new battery and removed the detector only to find it had a non-replaceable battery. I put it in the garage and then thought, “I will still be able to hear that annoying ping,” so I got the pincers, snipped the wires and threw it in the bin.

As I walked back into the hall I heard that “Ping” again. Yes, I had binned the wrong one!

2011-12-10T12:46:00.000Z

The painting above is of the Brecon Beacons and sold this week. It was nice to have Pat and Clive call in to see us. They were great neighbours and we have known them years.

Another couple of friends came into the Exhibition to see us a right couple of WAGS in the old sense of the term not Wives and Girlfriends. Glyn and Quentin are oh I don’t know 77 – 80 years old. Loud, grumpy, humorous are some of the adjectives you could use to describe them but never boring.

Quentin was explaining how he took he fell over yesterday morning on the yard taking his ferret for a walk! This was interspersed with loud laughs from Glyn that must have resounded around the building making the librarians shudder. Glyn then told a tale about Quentin.

Quentin had recently been cleaning up a grave in the local churchyard. A local farmer stopped on his Massey Ferguson Tractor leaned out of the cab and enquired over the hedge what Quentin was about.

Quentin told him he had got in to a fight in a pub in town and had been given 20 hours community service. With that the farmer put his foot on the accelerator and drove off.

Quentin thought nothing more of it until several days later he was in Carmarthen when a young lady came up to him and told him how sorry she was to hear that he had got in to trouble and had an ASBO and 100 hours community service for fighting.

Of course Quentin has never been in trouble in his life (not bad for an elderly Septuagenarian) and by now this story had spread to having been given an ASBO and an increase to 100 hours community service. Both Glyn and Quentin were in stitches at this point in the story.

Anyway not a bad day in the Exhibition but I have had enough now and look forward to a days painting.

Burgers

2011-12-09T08:32:00.002Z

The watercolour of Carmarthen Bridge sold this week at the exhibition. I painted this from the edge of the PC World Car Park earlier in the year. It was one of the few lovely hot days we had in May. I spent the morning with my watercolours and easel in my own little world. The only thing that broke into my concentration was the smell from the burger van parked nearby.

Many years ago when I first joined the police the pay was very poor although I had somewhere to live. The money could be eked out for 3 weeks just but the 4th week was absolute penury.

During that week I would volunteer for nights. That meant walking the streets of central Birmingham. It also meant a free beer from a grateful landlord for emptying his pub at closing time. More importantly if you stood next to a street trader selling hot potatoes, burgers, or chestnuts they would feed you. They liked the security of a police officer standing there, as it could be a somewhat rough at night. So the last week of the month was always a diet of burgers and beer.

Looking back this was not really the sort of thing a public servant should do. Times were however different then as anyone who has watched “Life on Mars” would have noted. It depicted a fairly accurate description of attitudes within the Police Force at the time. Obviously things changed over 40 years and now it is according to Judge Bean (yes that is his name) apparently all right to swear and abuse a police officer as they are used to it! Words fail me at this point.

Anyway going back to the burger van I can't stand the smell of burgers now so maybe those early years of living on then have had some effect.

Simples !

2011-12-08T14:53:00.003Z

The painting above sold this week and is another still life, featuring that well used item a sugar shaker. Actually I am not sure we even have sugar in the house never mind a sugar shaker.

We sat down at half eight last night and watched Masterchef. It is oddly interesting featuring a sense you cannot use through the medium of television. Cooking is all about taste so why is it so compelling to watch it?
It has many similarities to art or is it just that the chefs are trying to bring it to that level to justify high prices?

Do some people appreciate something more if they are told it is High Art or something only an elite number of persons can appreciate? Probably. It is quite a good marketing ploy anyway.

For me it is quite simple.

I think in relation to a painting
“Would I like to look at it on my wall?”

In relation to food
“Do I like the taste of it?”

There again Alex says I am quite simple!

Llansteffan

2011-12-07T19:18:00.002Z

We had a very nice day today and met a few old friends, nice to see you Geraint. Nick I was surprised you had taken up painting but stick to it, it’s a great pastime although it can be frustrating at times. I first met Nick I think when I was in Welshpool many years ago. That was a bit like being at the end of the World. I went there as a policeman in 1975 having transferred from Birmingham City. The shift such as it was has all but passed on now but their faces remain in my memory as do some of the stories. I can relate some others not.

Many Police Officers in those days had served in the Second World War and had a singular outlook on life and many/most had a black and wicked sense of humour. The Police Station was opposite the Council Offices and officers would park their cars if they had one in the car park facing the iron railings. One day a very irate PC Jones came into the station muttering all kinds of threats. He had got into his car and reversed backwards to go home only to hear a loud bang and clatter. Someone had tied his front bumper to the railings! He suspected rightly that it was the work of his colleagues but he was greeted with sympathy and offers to assist in looking for the vandals that obviously had a grudge against the police.

Now I guess this sort of behaviour might sound odd and truthfully it is but that is how they dealt with pressures and you were probably more at risk from your colleagues than the miscreants who were dealt with in a similarly robust manner.

You may be relieved to hear this sort of behaviour is less common these days and a more politically correct and less interesting Police Service is managing your issues.

Still life

2011-12-06T14:08:00.001Z

Every so often I paint something completely different. If I feel the need for a change and generally it is a still life or a childhood memory of a steam train for example.
Anyway the still life above is one that sold in the Exhibition.

They take a while longer to paint than a landscape because I generally do several layers which dry and also because I can only concentrate for about 2 hours with the amount of small detail and my eyes need a good rest. I like still life paintings and have used different styles the ones in this exhibition owe more to a Dutch influence.
Today a reader of my blog came from Abergwili to the exhibition unbeknown to me but left a note in the comments book so many thanks for taking the trouble to come and I hope you enjoyed it.

St Peter's Carmarthen

2011-12-05T14:51:00.001Z

The painting above sold this week at the exhibition. It is of St Peter’s Church, Carmarthen from the East.

Its funny how out of 80 paintings so many people want to buy the same one. If you could just bottle whatever that painting has it would be easy (maybe its just that red dot that says someone else has it?). It is always a temptation to keep painting that picture as long as people buy it. I do paint the same subject more than once but try to make them different. Different weather, time of year different angle, different painting techniques different ancillary subjects…
Anyway we had a quite a few people in today so times going pretty quickly

Mwnt

2011-12-04T13:46:00.001Z

The picture above of Mwnt went this week. It is a lovely place and with a clear sky, dolphins in the bay and a beautiful view there is nowhere better.

Yesterday a family came into the exhibition. They walked up to the first paintings a sigh came out of their mouths, “Have you seen the price of these? “ and they turned around and walked straight out.

Now I was disappointed on a number of counts and also slightly embarrassed. Firstly the cost of the painting may have been more than they could spend at Christmas for everything. So I was very empathetic. I was sorry they didn’t walk around and enjoy the paintings because although it is helpful if they sell (which they do) I really like to see people enjoying my work. I was also sorry that I hadn’t thought to put some small cheaper items at the beginning of the exhibition such as cards/postcards so people don’t feel embarrassed about being there.

My paintings are by all comparison very cheap and I only expect a good days pay for a good days work. Nevertheless they are still a luxury outside many peoples pocket something I am glad to be reminded of. Being humbled occasionally is no bad thing.

Today the exhibition is shut being Sunday and Alex has been dealing with orders from this week. I have been sat at the computer dealing with “malware problems”.

Last Christmas

2011-12-03T08:18:00.003Z

The painting above is of Abergwili and the brook in the snow last Christmas. It sold yesterday. So far the exhibition is going very well. We have met a lot of very interesting people and sold well. Last night we went to Alex’s mom who kindly made us dinner.

Thanks to Mal Pope this morning on Radio Wales for the plug.

I watched the Scarlets on TV last night and then had an early night. Hopefully a busy day today.

I said yesterday I ended up in the Police in the early 70’s. How times change. I needed a job and wanted one outside not being an office type person. I went to the army recruiting and the police on the same day. Within 2 weeks I was in the Police. Basically the Police were well under strength, under paid and they had a jacket that fitted me so I was in. The main thing was I had a roof over my head.

These days you need a degree in god knows what to get in the Police. In my time it was a just degree of common sense (perhaps that’s a bit optimistic too thinking about it, present company excepted).
Anyway back to this century we are off to the exhibition.

Salute

2011-12-02T07:57:00.002Z

It was cold and foggy when I walked the dog around the reservoir this morning. A touch of winter. The painting above of Abergwili in the snow last year was sold yesterday and is quite appropriate.

Nearly forty years ago I found myself for various reasons at Ryton-on-Dunsmore.
I had wanted to go to Art College but had neither money nor a place to live. Ryton-on- Dunsmore was an old army barracks but was then converted into a Police Training Centre.
Anyway I digress. I was sat in the front of a class of some one hundred officers in training. The class was believe it or not on saluting. Its funny how some things remain with you, but we had to learn what a salute was and when you did it.
I recall to today that
“A salute is an outward sign of an inward feeling of respect and humility.”

How to do you do it? “Longest way up shortest way down!”
Then we came on to the tricky part. When do you salute?

The drill sergeant stood at the front of the class.

“Hands up who would salute an army officer?”
We all put our hands up.
“Yes they hold the Queens Commission” he replied.
“Hands up who would salute a funeral procession?” He asked.
We promptly all put our hands up.
“Yes a mark of respect.”
This went on and it became a bit automatic for me sitting at the front until.
“Hands up who wouldn’t salute my wife?”

It suddenly became a very lonely place. I found myself alone with my hands wavering in the air and a very ugly looking drill sergeant glaring in my face.

“Why wouldn’t you salute my wife you horrible man?”Struggling for any excuse I mumbled,
“I don’t know your wife sergeant.”

My life for the next 12 weeks was hell on the drill square and I became accustomed to names that even I had not previously heard.

This story comes to mind as Lilwen came to the Private View and she was actually an instructor at Ryton when I was there. Earlier this year I had delivered a painting to her house and we had a good chat about mutual acquaintances and old times.

A Successful Evening

2011-12-01T14:08:00.001Z

The painting above of winter at Llansteffan is one that sold last night. A really excellent Private View. Lovely to see so many old friends and also to make new acquaintances. Nice to meet you Mary and hope you had a safe journey home. A 240 mile round trip is not something I would enjoy on a wet winter evening.

Anyway a very pleasant evening that went very well and raised money for a good cause. Alex has a bit of work to do now replacing all those cards!

Path of self enlightenment

2011-11-30T14:10:00.004Z

No actually this isn't Alex and I but it is kind of relevant to this post. The painting above actually went to Holland.

Today I went to Aberglasney to collect a couple of paintings. Now the other day I "posted" (or should it be "blogged" I am not sure of these techno terms, I still haven't worked out "LOL" yet.

Apparently it isn't lots of love) -anyway I posted about alternative therapies.

Well having thought about it I should admit that I am actually on a path of self enlightenment at the moment.

I am going to the gym regularly and have lightened myself by over two stone in the last 3 months. Tonight is the private view and we are doing the last bits. Last year the private view was a bit of a disaster as the weather was appalling, black ice and fog. We turned up because we had no choice but only 3 other people turned up. Fortunately the rest of the exhibition was excellent and we did well.

So must walk the dog now then start loading the car.

My first Exhibition

2011-11-29T17:15:00.003Z

We had a busy day today running around trying to avoid the torrential rain. Not ideal weather to transport 80 paintings to set up the exhibition. They are all set up and looking quite nice. The Private View is on tomorrow night.

I did have a couple of people check with me that it is on but the answer is yes 5.30pm- 8.30pm. The library itself is closed but the right hand front door will be open for the Exhibition.

If you havent bought a ticket don't worry you can get one on the door.

As I haven't been painting today I thought a picture of the Private View at my first Exhibition would be nice!

Rain

2011-11-28T18:30:00.002Z

No Painting today as Alex and I were in Origin Gallery in Carmarthen. It rained pretty heavy this afternoon. So I have shown above a sketch of Corfu harbour with Thunder Clouds rolling in over the mountains from our ladt visit a couple of months ago.

Tomorrow we set up the exhibition ready for the Private View on Wednesday night.

Alternatives

2011-11-27T13:43:00.002Z

The painting above is one I did of my Great Aunt Louisa. She appears as a tough old bird in the painting. Apparently although she had a stern countenance she was very pleasant. She was married to Uncle Alfred. He was an herbalist and they had a large double fronted shop on Bridge Street, in Worcester. My mother used to go and stay there in the 1920’s. He was apparently quite renown in the world of herbalism. He used to go to Switzerland and give talks and advise on herbal medicine.

Now I’m not really one for alternative therapies. I am however happy to be convinced and if it works for someone else that’s great. Chiropractors I am fine with, a very high level of training all based on science and very effective. Hypnotherapy no problem there. When it comes to other types of alternative medicines I remain to be convinced.
Give me the NHS anytime. Alex is the opposite and swears by anything alternative. We just agree to differ; well actually we agree that I keep my views to myself. It makes for a simple life.

Anyway Alex is very busy trying to catch up. She was up to 12.30am this morning and is getting there. When the Exhibition is on she can sit and knit all day and have a well deserved relax.

We had a bit of an issue with our camper yesterday. The battery had finally given up the ghost. I got a new one and changed it. Now the bad news although the engine turned over it wouldn't start.

No problem we are in Green Flag (other motoring associations are available). We have home start and have never used them before. We called they came. They looked we waited. They tinkered we got depressed. A few theories were expressed to Alex who was stood out in the rain with the repairman ( well I had to feed the dog). Alex didn't take to any of the theories and in fairness she is pretty good on diesels. Finally they said it would have to be towed in to a garage for them to look at it, pressurise the tank check the lift pump etc etc.... We said we would think about it and sort something out in the week. Overnight we thought about it and today we fixed it. It was a simple. There is an inertia switch fitted on the van and it will stop the fuel supply in the event of an accident. Putting the battery in the engine compartment had been enough to set it off.

Combination of things

2011-11-26T11:38:00.003Z

As I haven’t done any painting today and I was talking about motorcycle combinations I thought it might be worth posting this charming picture. It shows my Uncle Don seated on the bike with my grandmother and my father in the sidecar. I am not certain but I think it is a Norton 1926 four speed 588 OHV outfit. My Uncle Don was very keen on motorcycles and eventually opened up his own garage. I believe the outfit showed here belonged to my grandfather who probably took the picture. He was a bit of a lad. He had worked in a jewellers before he left for South America in 1912 on the SS Mauritania travelling on a passport under a different name! Anyway enough said.

I remember when you had to put a parking light on your combo or car at night. If you didn’t a policeman would call and tell you to get it done! Also when it was cold you put an oil lamp under the sump to keep the oil viscous. I’m not sure if it was the good old days but they were certainly different.

This weekend I am preparing for the exhibition and am wrapping paintings to go in crates and finalising some details. I will have time to watch the rugby but I doubt Alex will.

Laugharne Castle

2011-11-25T15:00:00.001Z

I was asked the other day if I had a painting of Laugharne Castle. I actually hadn’t and considering I have painted it several times I was quite surprised. Anyway it answered the question what am I going to paint today. So there it is!

I posted yesterday about our trip to the TT. I have previously mentioned our interactions with motorcycle combinations. Well we first bought a Watsonian sidecar when we first got a dog. We had to change the gearing on the Triumph Tiger we had at the time. That was relatively straightforward. Then we had to attach the sidecar with the correct amount of toe in etc. That was the start of my love hate relationship with combinations. Well actually with my hate- hate relationship.
My brother had previously had a BSA combination, which seemed ok but I only rode in the sidecar. Now I could ride/drive this thing but it never felt right. It was set up perfectly but the idea of braking to turn right and accelerating to turn right was an anathema to me.
Alex drove it into the canal. The back wheel fell apart in Germany. It always felt like you were fighting it. In the end we gave up. I tried other combos they were all just horrible. My brother bought a Cossack Ural combo. The sidecar was on the right side and if you were in it and he pulled out to overtake you were just thrust in to the path of oncoming traffic. My brother loved them and couldn’t understand my dislike.Some years later he had a BMW combination, which he drove through a closed gate going around a bend in France. It wrote off the combo and didn’t do him any good. He never had a sidecar since!

Percy Tate riding "Son of Slippery Sam"

2011-11-24T16:14:00.004Z

In 1976 Alex and I went to the Isle of Man TT. We went on our Triumph Daytona 500 motorcycle and camped. We had a really good time. One of the highlights was seeing Percy Tate riding "Son of Slippery Sam" the racing version of Triumph’s Trident.

The sketch above is of Percy and Slippery Sam about a mile before they parted company in a serious accident,which unfortunately ended his career.

When we left the Isle of Man we queued up to have our bike hoisted by derrick onto the deck of a ship straight out of the Onedin Line. When we were next but one to have our bike hoisted up the stevedores attached a lovely BMW onto the hoist and promptly lost it into Ramsey harbour. This did nothing for our nerves and certainly the owner was less than pleased!

Having got on the boat we were immediately given brown paper bags. This was a bit odd as the water was calm and there was no wind. However when we got out of the shelter of the harbour the boat went up the crest of a wave and didn’t stop going down until everyone had stopped screaming. It was a real good gale. I didn’t see Alex for the rest of the voyage as she went to lie down. I think pretty well everyone on board was seasick (fortunately I was fine). But the smells and scenes were less than edifying.

Today Alex went Christmas shopping with her mom in Cardiff and I stayed at home blowing my nose and feeling sorry for myself!

Carew Castle and Mill

2011-11-23T11:49:00.002Z

As you can see I have now finished the painting of Carew Castle and Mill. Its slightly more impressionistic than I have done lately. I knocked the canvas off the easel when lowering it but fortunately it landed with painted side up.

Alex has been off to the gym this morning while I was finishing the painting. I still feel a bit under the weather so I didn’t fancy spreading my germs about in a confined place or killing myself at the same time. It is actually something that I find quite interesting as an artist ~ observing people. With an hour or so of mind numbing boredom on a treadmill you have to occupy you r mind. Many people are very considerate and clean a machine after use with hand wipes that are provided. Others sweat and drip all over handles and screens and wander off blindly to the next piece of equipment.
The other day I saw someone exercising with what could be described as a big beach ball. They put it down and it rolled into the middle of the floor, walked away and left it where anyone could fall over it. For half an hour everyone walked around it. When I finished I picked it up and put it away, 5 seconds work! I believe in the main its just that people don’t think. We picked up 2 of the grandchildren from school yesterday afternoon. Someone had left a fast food carton and drinks container on the floor 2 feet from a bin outside the school. It had obviously been there some time yet it took me 2 seconds to pick it up. My point is that I am sure most people just don’t notice these things. Anyway I have to go and collect some materials now.

Carew

2011-11-22T11:43:00.002Z

I have a bit of a cold today or man flu whichever anyway painting takes your mind off it. I did the under painting for a scene of Carew Castle and Mill shown above. The painting was done using alkyd oils and liquin medium. This has the benefit of drying very fast.
I occasionally use alkyds but have to say I much prefer the texture of normal oils and linseed based mediums. Alkyds are more like toffee in texture while linseed based oils are like cream and for me are far more satisfactory when you blend and mix them.
I will paint over the under painting with normal oil. It is fine to mix them in this manner.

I mentioned yesterday that I had met quite a few celebrities. For the most part out of character they are just normal people with no more to say than you or I. There are the exceptions though. David Bellamy is no different in real life than he is on screen. A very enthusiastic, interesting and lovely man. I have had dinner with him on several occasions. His love of nature is infectious and he is really natural talking to children.

I asked the great Fred Truman (fast bowler for those too young to remember) for his autograph when I was quite young. He refused and told me to buy his book and he would sign that. Like a 9 year old could afford that. I would like to think his ability made up for his meanness but it didn’t, not for me an impressionable boy.

One person I would love to meet is Rolf Harris. We shared a railway carriage with him once but I didn’t want to disturb him so the chance went begging.

An interesting day !

2011-11-21T14:25:00.002Z

It is only 2.30 and already it is one of those days, which although fortunately extremely rare, make me want to take all my paintings and equipment outside and have a huge bonfire. It is not my painting that is the problem it is the other side of the business. Still having got that off my chest I would like to say I feel better. But I don’t. Still life goes on and we have to make do. I actually knew a painter who did burn all his works but I think he was unhappy with his work itself. I actually feel in reality quite protective about mine.

When Turner died a huge amount of his work was destroyed (by his friend Ruskin I believe possibly due to its pornographic content). Also when Edward Seago died he asked that 2/3 of his works be burned.

I finished a painting this morning and have been on the phone the rest of the time.

Alex has been in one of her moods that put her slightly to the right of Genghis Khan so not a great day to ask favours of her.

On a lighter note I was listening this morning to the radio and the presenters were talking about coming into contact with celebrities. I have met a quite a few of them in my time but this concerns one of our daughters. A couple of years ago she was in a nightclub with friends. When she was at the bar she saw someone she recognised. She knew the face, but couldn’t quite place him and assumed he worked in the Council with her. She then struck up a conversation with him about work and because he was obviously not on the same wavelength assumed he was a bit slow. So she then started speaking very slowly and making hand gestures to accompany her conversation. Meantime all her friends were now in fits. Finally she said, “Well what do you do?” He said, “I play rugby for Wales I’m Dwayne Peel.”

Motorcycling Memories

2011-11-20T13:43:00.003Z

It is next to impossible to sketch Alex as she is a complete fidget. The only time you can have half a chance is when she is having a doze. So here is one above.

Alex is always on the go and quite lively. I have mentioned before that among other things she has a full motorcycle licence. Now neither of us has ridden a motorcycle for years. I occasionally think it would be nice to get another Triumph but then my head comes in to play. The roads are nowhere near as open as they used to be and the least I could expect in a fall now would be a broken leg. No we had a lot of fun riding all over Britain and Europe but it is best left as a happy memory.

Alex had her own trials bike and a BSA road bike. One day she came home minus the BSA and sporting a nasty bump on the elbow. (She still has this reminder on her left elbow of days gone by). She had gone to Caersws form Welshpool and decide to part company with the bike on a nasty series of bends on the back road. Fortunately nothing was coming the other way and her injuries were minimal. I collected the bike and despite some protests it was sold. Some time later the trials bike was sold too. My Triumph Tiger went when our first child was born and other than borrowing my brothers BMW for a ride that was the end of our motorcycling days.

Carmarthen Bar

2011-11-19T13:16:00.002Z

Here is the painting I was working on this morning a view of Lansteffan from Ferryside. The sand extends from the end of the Castle out into Carmarthen bay for about 3 miles and is called the Carmarthen Bar. The sands are notoriously tricky to navigate and have taken a good many ships captive over the centuries. The remains of wrecks such as the “Paul” or the “Craigwinnie” are often visible at very low tides.

Of course even these days the sand and tide can catch you out. As I recall a Police car got stuck in sand here with an incoming tide. What could be worse or more embarrassing? Well actually sending another vehicle to get it out and that getting stuck! Both getting a thorough internal and external car wash.

“If it can happen it will happen”, is a good maxim to go by.

I enjoyed the rugby last night with Llanelli Scarlets winning away at Northampton. I was very impressed with one of our forwards Matt Gilbert in his first Heineken Cup Game. I was unaware he was deaf a huge handicap in professional sport. But hell he was good. A real inspiration.

Working Dog

2011-11-18T13:39:00.001Z

The ink sketch above is one I did of our old dog who died at the good old age of 15. He died about 7 years ago. He was a very placid dog great with children and would walk to heal anywhere. Our current dog Jac is a cocker spaniel who is extremely patient with children and good natured but somewhat wild. He will come when called but likes to go off and “work” the woods and bushes. He is by nature a working dog although we don’t actually use him as a gun dog. He needs lots of exercise so he keeps me fit.

Due to a variety of occurrences in my life this week I haven’t done a huge amount of painting. I am up to date with commissions and my exhibition so I can’t complain.
My next task is to rework a painting of Llansteffan. It hasn’t been shown for a while and I have been looking at it critically. Not that it is by any means a bad painting but I feel I could enhance it buy slightly changing the composition. Nearly all artists have reworked paintings over the years. If you look at some of the traditional classical painters you will find that there paintings may have several dates showing when they were started and later reworked.
It is not a thing to be done lightly as you need to blend into the work and not on top of it. Matching colour and tone is something that comes with experience.

Oily one morning ~

2011-11-17T14:18:00.002Z

The picture above is of an oil tanker “Chance” at Petro Plus as it was in the Milford Haven.

Today is a bit “traed moch” (pigs feet). All sorts going on mostly unexpected and not the day I had planned. The delivery lorry for the builders had a problem with its hoist. The hydraulics burst and they promptly deposited the sand on my neighbours drive! The hydraulic oil is on my mother’s drive. I forgot the main ingredient when shopping for our meal tonight! Other gallery and personal related issues.

I am teaching this afternoon so I need to catch up with my list of jobs. No painting on the horizon today then.

Red Sky at Night ~

2011-11-16T14:27:00.004Z

The painting above is unmistakeably a silhouette of Llansteffan Castle at sunset. It is one I finished today. Surprisingly for a simple subject it takes a bit of time to complete. I have now removed all my easels and equipment from the lounge gallery. It is quite sad really as I had been painting there a long time but as with everything you move on.

I was in Oriel Gallery yesterday and a lady was complaining about the price of prints, not mine in particular but in general. In actual fact it costs more in materials percentage wise for a print than an original in my respect. Image capture i.e. having a painting professionally photographed and colour matched can cost anything up to £100 per painting (although I am fortunate not to pay at that scale). Then there is the cost of having the prints produced themselves plus the mount board, bags and labels. After paying gallery commission and tax we are lucky to make £8 on a £45 print. It is possible to produce prints more cheaply but you get what you pay for in terms of quality. I have even seen artists sell photocopies as prints.

Cost is the reason we are so particular about what paintings we have prints produced from. It is not the quality of the painting but how many prints we are likely to sell and will we get our money back.

We heard last night that two ladies will be travelling a total of 240 miles to the Private View of the Exhibition on 30th November. We look forward to meeting you Mary.

Watercolour of Abergwili

2011-11-15T18:45:00.001Z

The scene above is a favourite view of Abergwili. I have painted similar versions of this in watercolour and oil in all seasons. This one was done for a radio program on Radio Pembrokeshire.
Today was spent in the Origin Gallery with Moira, Zoe and Martin sorting shop fitting equipment and various other items. So a hectic day and no painting but nevertheless very satisfying. It is intended to open the upstairs gallery on 1st March St. David’s Day so plenty to do but also willing hands.

Sunrise

2011-11-14T14:56:00.001Z

I finished off the painting of sunrise at Laugharne Boathouse today. I am quite happy with it now. Alex and I have seen the sunrise here on numerous occasions. We would sail up the estuary and anchor our boat on the sandbank opposite the boathouse. When the tide is out you dry out and can walk on the sands, handy for the dog! On one occasion we were anchored there and a helicopter came in and filmed us for a program about the coast. The dog wasn’t that impressed.

We are now finalising all our exhibition work, leaflets posters, cards, prints etc.
All the frames are made and Alex is fitting the paintings.
I will probably find time for a swim tonight, nothing energetic.

Stradey Park

2011-11-13T12:53:00.004Z

I went to Parc Y Scarlets to watch the rugby yesterday. So I thought it appropriate to show a watercolour I did of the old town gate at Stradey Park (Llanelli Scarlets Old and historic Rugby Ground). I think I still have the watercolour somewhere. Stradey Park has now been knocked down which is a shame but things move on.

I used to take our son there when he was small. The most memorable time was when we played the All Blacks and God emptied the skies upon us.

Anyway yesterday was very enjoyable. Scarlets won which helps and the company and fare were excellent. I must however relay one incident. While the match was on an announcement came over the public address system.

“Would the owner of an Audi registered number “abc 123” (or whatever it was) who has left their car in the car park please return to it. You have left the windows open and the engine running!”

I can be forgetful but I haven’t got to that stage …..yet.

Nominated driver

2011-11-12T10:31:00.004Z

I chose the sketch above I found because today I am the nominated driver. I am off with my son and his colleagues to watch Llanelli Scarlets play Castres in the Heineken Cup.
I don’t like driving but in the circumstances (i.e. Would you like to go to the game? We have a ticket for you if you would like to drive.) I am delighted. It includes pre match hospitality (in my case a meal) so a good weather forecast and a nice day out hopefully.

I haven’t actually played rugby for about 35-40years but still think it is a great game. I actually remember the last time I played I was tackled by Nigel Horton (former England player) and he pretty well cut me in half. Well that’s what it felt like. I have just about recovered now! I did boxing for a while but wasn’t too keen on being hit. Later both Alex and I took up Karate which we did for about 10years. So we have been active over the years.

Anyway as you can see I draw or sketch pretty much everything. I believe it is an Isuzu but could be wrong. It just happened to be there when I had five minutes spare and a pencil. I have to go now as I have to walk the dog before I head off. I did have time to undercoat ten frames this morning so I don't feel guilty about sloping off.

Bertie ~ The End of the Saga?

2011-11-11T16:52:00.002Z

I finished the painting of “Sunrise over Laugharne Boathouse” above this week. I said yesterday that Alex had made over a dozen frames. She corrected me. She made twenty-three!
Well 23 is more than a dozen.

Now I thought it was the end of the Bertie story. The mystery was where had our wayward signboard gone? Who brought it back? Well the Good Samaritan is unmasked. The kindly gentleman from Magpies had taken Bertie into his care overnight and returned him the following morning. Thank You.

Magpies is a gift shop in King Street selling very nice toys and gifts. Link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Magpies-Carmarthen/144852558860560

Today I have being doing some research. Don’t ask me. I have also decided to stop painting in the Lounge Gallery on a Wednesday for several reasons, time being one factor. As I have been painting there every week for the last 7-8 years it was a big decision.

St Marys Kidwelly

2011-11-10T15:41:00.001Z

The picture above shows the church of St Mary's, Kidwelly, which is considered to be the largest parish church in Wales. It was originally built as a Prioy in about 1114, the original church was burnt down in 1223. I understand the tower and spire date from around 1320. The river is the River Gwendraeth.

Yesterday I posted about glass artist Moira White. As it happens Alex and I recently went to the Italian Island of Murano off Venice to see the famous Murano Glass. It was an interesting time and I enjoyed watching the skill of the craftsmen as they blew shaped and moulded the glass. I have to be honest though and say I found the work iself very garish and we came away empty handed.

Today I seem to have spent half the day sitting at the computer, not my favourite occupation. The back up was not working and then I had to sort out my email. The back up is now working but the email system still has a minor glitch. Alex has made over a dozen frames.

2011-11-09T17:28:00.003Z

Last night we went to the AGM of the co-operative, Origin Dyfed. Somehow I ended up getting the job as Chairman. I suppose it’s a compliment but truthfully I would rather spend more time painting. Anyway there it is. I will do my best although it will be a hard task taking over from Moira who has steered us through some rough waters.

Moira is a very talented glass artist (not a glass maker). Technically there is a difference. I made glass (from sand etc.) when I was about 13yrs old and made a carbon arc furnace. It was very dangerous thinking about it with bare electrodes on wooden swivels, bare contacts, molten glass, and bare resistors made from fire elements etc..

Anway I digress Moira has a studio and this is the web link: http://www.moriathglass.co.uk/

Today after considering my new responsibilities I walked the dog, checked on my mother, went to the gallery did a painting, got home walked the dog, did the painting of “Santa” or in Welsh “Sion Corn”, went with Alex to Aberglasney to take some paintings in, went with Alex to Origin while she did the banking and finally (?) spent a wonderful 45 minutes in Tesco’s. Got to go now to see mom and take her the shopping.

Incidentally the Santa painting is for Christmas Cards. I suppose thats obvious isn't it? Must be an age thing.

Cymru am Byth

2011-11-08T13:56:00.002Z

I was having a bit of a stock take this morning and came across this painting of Angle, a very tranquil scene.

I have mentioned before about having difficulties in receiving payment from a couple of galleries. Well one, the one that previously took us five months to get payment, has finally yes finally sent a cheque. I should have learnt then. The bad news was they decided to date it 2010! Anyway I will be getting my work from there shortly, we don’t need the hastle.

I don’t get particularly upset or stressed by these things. I do get irritated, as I expect people to treat each other at least fairly. At the end of the day however none of it is life threatening.

Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine who was in Kabul last week and when you consider all that is happening in Afghanistan and the world in general it is hard to feel anything other than gratitude for a healthy family and a civilised place to live. (Cymru am Byth ~ Wales forever).

The return of the prodigal son ~ Bertie

2011-11-07T15:07:00.003Z

I have now finished the painting of Towy Valley in the morning mist. I did in the end add the second horse/cobb on the left and also a second tree, the smaller one just on the right of the main one. I think it is pretty well balanced now although it is an unusual and difficult composition. I did however want to get all the elements in so I am quietly pleased with it.

Now Bertie the signboard (for readers of yesterday’s blog) has returned. He was lying in wait outside the doors of Origin this morning, no sign of being worse for ware for his adventure. At this moment in time I have no idea who returned him. Possibly Glyn who has an office opposite? Still a significant lesson has been learnt. Put him away at closing time unless I want to be driven from my bed at some ungodly hour of the morning to retrieve him.

Bertie

2011-11-06T08:57:00.001Z

So yesterday I volunteered to help Alex in Origin. I had not stewarded in there before so she ran through the jobs with me. I had to unlock and put out the signboard outside in the shop enclosure. Then we had to prepare for the mass of customers. She showed me how to work the card machine. As soon as we opened customers came in. It was nice chatting to them also quite a few people we knew came in.
It was nice to see you again Geraint.
It was a very good day selling prints cards, jewellery and all manner of craftwork.It was late afternoon before I got a chance to pop home to walk the dog and visit my mom. When I got back to the gallery we had a few more visitors and then we locked up.
In the evening we went to our son and daughter in law’s for a pleasant meal and watch the fireworks and also the rugby before going home.
All had gone well and later as we lay in bed Alex woke me and whispered in my ear those tender words,
“Mark did you remember to bring the signboard in at the shop?”
Oh blast!
It was 2am in the morning and I pulled my trousers over my pyjamas and pulled trainers onto my feet and off we went to join the drunken stragglers in King Street, Carmarthen. I had visions of Bertie the signboard being put through the gallery window or someone else’s window. I perhaps don’t have enough faith in human nature. Yes after all that time it was --- gone! But at least not through our window.
(oh and yes you can start a sentence with “but”).
So Bertie had either joined someone’s bonfire, had been taken in by a kindly shopkeeper, had been used as a ramp by skateboarders, or had decided to travel the world (maybe he will send us postcards or emails?).
Anyway I didn’t get back to sleep very easily and maybe Alex will be reluctant for my help again, but I hope not.
The painting above I finished the day before.

Exhibition ~ Carmarthen and District Hospice Appeal

2011-11-05T07:12:00.005Z

The painting above is one that I have done for the next Exhibition. It is an oil painting of the River Towy just West of Carmarthen looking back towards the Town and County Hall. The painting is quite large being over 4 ft x 2 ft.

The Exhibition will raise money for the Carmarthen and District Hospice Appeal. It has become a habit for us that on the last exhibition of the year we raise money for charity, the last 2 years being for Macmillan.

The Exhibition begins with a Private View on the evening of 30th November in Carmarthen Library Gallery, open between 5.30pm and 8.30pm. Entrance is £5 all of which goes to the Carmarthen and District Hospice Appeal. Light refreshments are included also 10% will be taken off the price of all original paintings on the evening of the private view. Tickets may be bought by contacting myself or you may pay on the door.

25% of all sales for the whole exhibition will also be given to the Appeal.

So come along, put it in your diary, it would be nice to see you. Have a pleasant evening and raise a few pounds for a very good cause.

Many new paintings will be on view along with prints and cards.

The Exhibition will run from 1st December -10th December admission free.

Twt Twt

2011-11-04T14:44:00.001Z

Now I am not exactly sure I have the name of this beautiful little village in Croatia quite right but it sounded something like that and it amused me. It was a very quiet waterside village and warranted 10 minutes to sketch it.

Today I have been doing another oil painting and although I meant to finish off the painting of Towy Valley I haven’t got around to it yet. Alex has been mounting prints.

I received a parcel of materials the other day and my supplier sent me some brushes to try out. They are still in a drawer and will probably remain there.

I have literally dozens of brushes that for the most part have different stages in their life. I tend to buy a couple of dozen small size watercolour brushes at a time and use them for detail in my oils. As the brushes become ragged (which is very quickly) they become used for scrubbing, scratching, dabbing or whatever other action is needed. Finally they end up in the bin. My hogs hair brushes of which I have a large variety I pull out pretty much depending on their age likewise depending whether I want to use them to fill or drag paint about. So I have brushes of all sizes in all states. I have some very expensive sable watercolour brushes some good, some useless (i.e. they won’t hold sufficient water). So you don't always get what you pay for.

Tonight we have a reception for a number of artists and crafts folk from the EU.