I'm often asked if my son and daughter are artistic like me. I think they are but their creativity shows in different ways. So, I thought I'd show you Kirsty's customized boots that she wears to raves. These boots were plain white to begin with and now are pink and white....unique I say.
The writing on them is special, and reflects important things happening in her life.

What a great time with my VIPs staying for the weekend. With shopping in Norwich on Saturday and the Sunday in Cromer giving baby Liam, who's almost 5 months old, opportunities of experiencing  many firsts., including the sandy beach ,and did he love the texture of sand on his feet!, a bus journey and a visit to The Little Gem  Shop where many beautiful crystals can be seen and bought, greeted by my very special Crystal Healer friend Kathy who works in the shop. We also paid a visit to The Sticky Earth Cafe where we got little Liam's feet printed onto a pottery tile as a keep sake. I'm going to collect it in the week once it's been fired. In the evenings we had fun on the computer with a video link to my son, and to his girlfriend but Steven had some additional functions on his web cam that did amazing effects and we were doubled up laughing!!! The house has gone quiet again and I'm thinking 'did I dream it?' but no, the time went quick as we did loads of things, so now it's all in the 'nice memories store' in my head.and digital pics

It's one of those times when I'm glad I hadn't heard the news last night, otherwise I'd have had a longer period of worry. As it was, this morning I just vaguely heard a reference on TV about there being big trouble at the West Ham ground last night where I knew my daughter had gone. So, I was a bit horrified to see snippets both visual and written, about the clashes between the opposing fans and police. I couldn't get my daughter or any of her friends by phone today, and nobody had updated news on facebook, so imagine my relief when I'd finally found out she and her friends were all fine late afternoon. Phew!! It's sad to think that many others may not have had the same satisfaction of having their offspring return home without injury.  My daughter told me that although she was where the most trouble appeared to be, all the men made sure that she was kept out of harm's way to her surprise..... but for me remembering the battlefields of the past, I was glad to hear that at least any women caught up in the disturbances were protected and ushered out of harm's way.
WHERE DOES ALL THIS ANGER COME FROM????

A beautiful hot sunny day with a gentle sea and clear blue skies, so perfect for another trip to see the seals at Blakeney Point. This time we chose ' Temple' for an afternoon trip with a half hour stop on the island. The trip was lovely despite having loads of boats active in the area and it was good to see that there were still
some white fluffy pups around even though it was past their main breeding time.

The UK weather this year has been great for a lot of insects and butterflies. I've taken lots of photographs in the garden, but oh was I sad to see the amount of aphids on my Victoria Plum tree..... I was thinking that there were just too many of them to deal with.... then next day I looked and there were loads of  ladybirds, a far better option than anything else to keep the aphids at bay.

So, with that dealt with, I walked into town Monday and by the time I'd got there my clothing was decorated with red ladybirds all over, they were swarming everywhere and heaps of them against the kerbstones......... they're quite slow flying but I had to keep ducking to avoid them still. Then I was thinking of going down to the pier but I heard people saying that there was a swarm of wasps there, so I thought I'd give it a miss after all.
I'm going to put a link here if you want to see some of my butterfly photos but don't take too much notice of anything else as I've only just started that portfolio.
http://arisingmoon.daportfolio.com/gallery/103076

My studio has been full of hoverflies this week. I don't mind them too much as they don't seem to do anything horrible apart from making a lot of noise from hitting the carbonated roof but it is unsual to have so many of them flying around. I'm beginning to wonder what will turn up next!!!! Oh summertime, don't you just love it?

Having been a non-active member of UK coloured pencil society for some years I thought it was about time to do something about it. I've just joined the UKCPS Yahoo Group and have been so pleased with the warm welcome I've had in becoming one of their new members.
There is some amazing art work in the albums, reflecting many different styles, interests and abilities and is so inspiring to see such  lovely pictures, it's started to make me want to get out all my coloured pencils and get a new piece of work on the go.
It's great to see how people are prepared to share their experiences and I was surprised at the range of surfaces that people used as a support. I already have my favourites but I'm definitely tempted to experiment on other ones to see how different surfaces affect the final results. All exciting stuff for an artist believe me!

Today I went out with my friend Anna to visit a few places in Norfolk. Anna is known in the area for organising Craft Fairs over the last couple of years, but now she is concentrating on designing and making jewellery. Anna is multi skilled, and very talented in a number of crafts, but her speciality is jewellery created primarily from glass and silver. Anna hand crafts many of the beads she uses in her jewellery working the glass in high temperatures and adding intricate patterns by the use of different colours and techniques. So today, I accompanied Anna taking her jewellery to The Gallery@Horning (in the Broads). Not only was this a gallery with beautiful handcrafted goods, paintings and photographs but also a deli serving delicious food to eat in or take away. I had an amazing cock-a-leekie pastie  with salad and couldn't resist buying a blackberry and apple pie to take home with me too.

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We also visited Alby Crafts, a collection of working studios, gallery, shops, and a tea room. We had a look around and chatted with Sue who makes the Lli Mai jewellery and then made our way to see Helen C.Dixon, sculptor as Anna wanted to ask a few questions about firing and materials. Helen was really helpful in giving her time, and I was enjoying looking at her beautiful sculptures and seeing the many versions of the Green Man. There is also the possibility of Helen creating a Green Man of somebody you know.......how cool is that?!


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This is a picture of Helen and Anna http://www.helendixon.co.uk


I thought this was a lovely sculpture in the garden ......... pity about the white streaks though.

Yes, fun! I'm moving all sorts of things around to make space for my Open Studio and in the process, discovering many things I'd lost, or forgotten about.
I've got a vague plan of how I'm going to display my completed pictures, but as I'm intending to enable visitors to watch me working, I've got to allow myself working space for the different types of  art that I do. To have left everything as it is in my studio, just wasn't an option from a health and safety viewpoint.
On-going and unfinished pieces that I will be working on throughout the 2 weeks will include oil or acrylic painting on canvas, water colour painting, mixed media collage, and pure water soluable pencil pieces.
I'll be happy to offer any advice on materials and the creative process but of course there are many varied ways of working and many artists have their preferences, usually there's not  a right way of doing something, just a different way. With so many materials available today, it can be hard choosing what things you will need if you want to set yourself up with art as a new hobby so if visitors want to know more, I'm willing to share my thoughts with you.
I'm really looking forward to meeting and chatting to visitors.

I just want to say HELLO! to the Chinese person/s who visit 'mirrorspace' from http://www.baidu.com, WELCOME

The other evening I went with friends on a boat trip to see the seals at Blakeney Point. It was a funny affair as you had to buy the tickets for the trip by the quayside at Blakeney  then drive up the coast to the next village, Morston. From Morston Marshes car park I noticed that everyone around were wearing welly boots, the thought ran through my head as to whether they knew something I didn't. We then had to walk out across wooden bridges until we arrived at the landing stage for Bishops Tours where there were 2 boats moored in the mud, and no sea to be seen, just a narrow stream of water filtering past. With half an hour to go, there just didn't seem to be enough time for the water to come in deep enough for the boats to set sail.
We were a little late setting off by the time we all climbed into the boats, but sure enough the water was there when we were ready, and off we went. The tour leader gave us all the safety talk and then this was replaced by telling us all about the birds and seals along the way and answering any questions people had. It was so lovely to see the seals popping up out of the water although the 'heavens opened up' and we were as wet as them after a while.We saw both the Common Seals and the Grey Seals (apparently the Grey seals are more common than the Common seals) and there were many swimming around and many more just lying about on their island. I did try taking a short video but it would make you sea-sick if I put it on here! So, I'm hoping to install some still pictures instead. I would love to take this trip again when the waters are calmer as we were told that the seals will swim right up to the boats in those conditiond and another time would be June when there are all the seal pups to be seen. A boat trip worth doing for sure.

Hey this is me today!!! I've been thinking deeply on a few issues but I'm a little disappointed that my expected visitor hadn't been in touch to tell me they weren't coming after all.a simple was all they needed to send.....................

I have now moved home to the edge of Cromer on the North Norfolk Coast,and I'm never going to move again as I have the most beautiful garden ever, and when I look out of my kitchen window in the morning I can't see a single building, my garden just blends into the landscape into the distant forest, as far as th eye can see. It is the most peaceful place I have ever lived and mostly I cannot hear traffic either. I'm just so happy!