The Alpha

My son-in-law and daughter-in-law are both Irish and have dogs called Paddy and Murphy. I am a dog lover, which is just as well as we are frequently dog sitting whilst the owners trot off to America or Ireland.


The watercolour sketch above is of Murphy a black lab. He is obviously spoilt when he comes to our house and will leap on the sofa next to me. At home he is not allowed in the lounge at all. He is a big dog who is reasonably well behaved.

Paddy a golden retriever is the interesting Steve Davies of the two and has no personality whatsoever and does tend to smell. Strangely both these large dogs are completely dominated by my youngest daughters spaniel bitch who is comparatively minute.

In many ways this is replicated in my life. Alex who is the petite lady likes to think she is the boss and gets her own way. The truth is she does. I think this is probably a trait passed on to both our daughters.

Anyway today I went in to Origin Dyfed to help hang paintings ready for the opening tomorrow. Jane Russell an artist from Llansteffan came in and we spent several hours getting it right while Moira and Martin did the displays.

Alex has got on well framing and has finished about 8 paintings today. Tomorrow I will push on with my still life and am teaching in the afternoon.

Triumph 750 Motorcycle Combination

The above is a sketch for a painting of Llansaint. I haven’t done the painting as yet but I expect I will get around to it one day.


Today I was in Origin Dyfed the Arts and Crafts shop in Carmarthen. We were redecorating the shop ready for re-opening this week. I was chatting to Helen Elliot who is a member and very good artist. She is a keen motorcyclist and I thought I would add a tale about our exploits.

Motorcycle combinations love them or hate them, whatever they are different. The main problem with them is that because there is a third wheel in order to turn right you have to brake and in order to turn left you have to accelerate. This is great unless you wish to stop at the same time. They take a lot of getting used to. Anyway we had a Triumph 750, which we added a motorcycle sidecar to. The main reason we did this was because we had a dog so he could go with us in the sidecar.

I eventually got used to it and decided it was time Alex had a go. She could ride a motorcycle and had a BSA herself. We went to Welshpool Car Park one Sunday and I gave Alex some lessons in how to handle it.

All was going well and she was going around in figure of eight accelerating and braking. I was standing giving instruction. Suddenly she accelerated when she should have braked and the combination swerved into a parked lorry trailer. Fortunately Alex was wearing a full-face helmet as the combination went under the trailer and knocked her off the back of the bike onto the floor. The Combination carried on under the trailer and through a hedge into the canal.

Alex was stunned temporarily having taken a hefty blow to the head. The bike had meanwhile disappeared.

I took Alex home and she rested for the day. I then went around and scrounged a crane and lorry. I then provided the main amusement for the local youth as I waded into the canal to find the combination and hook it up to the crane.

At the end of the day it all turned out ok. It cost me 2 bottles of whisky for the unofficial hire of a company crane and lorry. Alex was fine and after changing the oil and drying out the bike it stated first time.

Alex replaced the lemon today so I can finish my still life.

Still life

Today I started a new still life picture. It took a bit of time to work out a reasonable composition with a crab in it. There is going to be a lemon on the right behind the bottle but Alex used the one I had for cooking yesterday! So I will add it later. I also added the spoon after I started painting. The bottle is one Alex dug up in the garden when we lived in Brecon. I am hoping to finish the painting this week!
Tomorrow I am going in to help redecorate a local gallery Origin Dyfed in Carmarthen. I am a member of the co-operative that runs it.

Alex is busy framing two large prints and Jac our dog is apparently going through the pockets of my old sports jacket looking for dog biscuits. When I walk him I keep a couple of treats in the jacket pocket. He is quite well behaved except he has a requirement to steal and bury shoes. If you leave a pair of shoes unguarded they will quickly become one. A search of the house is then required and then a check of the gardens to look for recently disturbed soil or gravel.

For my part I only have a couple of pairs of shoes. I wear them until they are worn out then throw them away and then buy another pair. Unfortunately one of the pair is now in the singular and the missing right shoe has so far eluded me.

Eventually Jac digs them up and returns them although this may be weeks later.
You will see him come into the house with a shoe filled with gravel or soil.

Saundersfoot Harbour

The painting above is the one I re-worked this week. I have lightened it fractionally.


Today has been spent with the grandchildren and also did a spot of DIY for my mother. Alex has been attempting to keep the peace between the two siblings with some but not great success.

When I talked about Merlin (our old cat) yesterday I omitted to mention one of his characteristics.

He was, it could be said with absolute truth of a very generous disposition. He would often bring home presents and leave them in place for us to discover. These would be sparrows, moles, and earthworms alive or dead. He even managed to find room amongst Alex’s huge shoe collection to deposit a magpie. How he managed to get it through the cat flap I will never know.

After Merlin moved away from us to neighbours up the road he apparently moved on again.

Occasionally I see a black cat with a wild look in its eyes and wonder as I pass if it is in fact Merlin. Although it is rumoured he died of a poorly liver, I like to think of him still out there causing h

Cadair Idris and Merlin

The painting above is of Cadair Idris. I decided to make a few minor changes in it today before it is framed. So I spent an hour on it. That’s it. It's finished.


Its been like “Fred Karno’s Army” here today with dogs and children. “Fred Karno’s Army” actually refer’s to a group of comedians including Stan Laurel, Charlie Chaplin and of course Fred Karno who as a group caused mayhem and were completely chaotic. I can think of several organisations I have dealt with that could rightly adopt the title. My sympathetic nature prevents me from naming them.

Anyway we are looking after two children and a dog until Sunday. Alex has been painting garden furniture, sorting out our prints and shopping. Having prints made of your work are really quite essential but it is easy to get carried away with it. It is expensive to have them done properly, which of course we do. We use the DOT Foundry near Bridgend. They are award winning Fine Art printers and are lovely to deal with. They are also perfectionists.

We only have a dog ourselves (when we are not a boarding kennel for the family) but we have had cats in the past.

Some years ago just before Christmas I heard a noise and went to the front door with the dog. I opened the door and a black cat ran past me and shot into the living room making himself comfortable on the sofa. No amount of persuading would move him and he was quite wild although of a tolerant disposition. That is he would allow you to feed him and shelter him but wasn’t keen on being fussed. Although he would sometimes jump on my lap when I least expected it. Merlin (as we called the cat) paid him no attention whatever to our dog. One look from the cat would send the dog to sulk in the corner.

It wasn’t so much that we had a cat but we had a lodger.

Our neighbours also experienced Merlin’s idiosyncrasies. One night Wendy our neighbour was in bed when she was awoken by something.

She said, “Mike what’s that on the bed?”

He replied, “It’s the cat.”

Wendy, “But we haven’t got a cat.”

Merlin had climbed on their roof and got in through a velox and made himself comfortable on their bed.

On another occasion Mike ran out into the road to stop another neighbour driving up the road. Merlin was on the car roof facing forward apparently enjoying the ride.

Merlin stopped with us for two or three years and then moved into a house at the top of the road ~ just like that. We would see him from time to time but he largely ignored us. He didn’t write and he didn’t call!

Tomorrow will be spent entertaining the children I guess.

Milford Tug

Started today with a stock take. With so many paintings it can be a job to know what we’ve got and where they are. We spent a few hours going through them and identify paintings for the next exhibition, and also paintings to be written off. There were a few old paintings and chipped frames to go and quite a few paintings that need to be framed. It was all a good exercise.


We came across several marine paintings of shipping hence the painting above.

I then got down to doing some fencing for my mother.

This afternoon I have been reworking a painting and Alex has done lots so quite a good days work. Tomorrow we have got two grandchildren coming for the weekend so I’m not sure what’s in store.

Gwili Railway

I went to the gallery today but it had been booked for an event. They had forgotten to tell me. It was a lovely day for a walk so I didn’t mind. I called in at Oriel Myrddin on the way back to see the exhibition. To be honest it was not really my cup of tea but there were a couple of drawings I liked. I also went to the library.


I did a painting of Gwarchodwr Cymreig a little tank engine on the Gwili Railway when I got home. See above.

I then took my mother to the beach and she sat while I walked the dog. In the meantime Alex was in gardening mode. She also bought another set of click boxes.

Whoever invented them I would like to meet them. I think we have more click boxes than paintings in the house.

Tomorrow I have to repair some fencing.