Getting going.....home and away

Whilst planning and dreaming of my next holiday - YES, I am going to Florida in the New Year ...hooray, on the road again!!! - I have done quite a few courses recently in my quest to acquire better technique. I know they won't necessarily make me more creative or talented (I wish!) but I do find that they stimulate ideas and give you practice in a very positive learning environment. They get me going...

 My favourite workshops are those of Jane Davies, especially the ones on Composition. She has a wonderfully straightforward, practical way of explaining both her theory and practice, reflecting a vast amount of preparation which she must have done previously. I love her work, too, but don't wish to copy it, and she ensures this by demonstrating a process and then setting guidelines for our subsequent follow up which are flexible and which allow for all of us as individuals to use our own ideas and inspiration . Much more importantly, she gives a kind but meaningful critique with constructive criticism - much better than the gushing sycophancy often found on other courses! This particular course is very similar in any case to what I like doing, so it really appeals. Here are my first attempts from Lesson Two - a fairly basic technique of abstract landscape composition but with some interesting collage elements, too.

As I said, this gets me going. Once in the zone, I can't seem to stop until weariness takes over, and the thought of having to work the next day. I then did a couple of colour studies in my large sketchbook, where I gather ideas for paintings.....

A productive day is a happy day......

Humble Offerings

I have been trying out quite a lot of abstract art work recently, and this is becoming quite a passion. It takes ages for me to get started, but then I lose track of time and hours can go by without my noticing. Many of the ideas are not mine - some are ideas from various books, but I do usually try to add my own twist. Learning to paint is no different to any other learning. You have to learn technique first, try out people's work whom you admire, and only then are you really equipped to do your own thing as ideas flood in. I am overwhelmed still with the shapes and colours of South West USA - and feel a lot of urges to paint these welling up inside me....

This one's my own - it's not any specific place, just all my visual memories in one picture - just colour and shape

Pity Rothko got there first but I do love playing with colour fields. These are all sizes ranging form sketchbook pages to large canvases!

Add caption

I now have a large sketchbook for tryouts - this one hopefully will end up slightly altered on canvas one day!

More holiday impressions

These two are definitely not my original idea but I got huge pleasure from doing them in my large sketchbook....

Finally two of my small sillies!!!

The cat walked over this and made it unique - can you see the red paw print?

Needs redoing with better colour!! 

Indian Summer 2

Out birding with my good friend Binoy. We cruise for hours along the backwater canals....

Now replete, I am still thinking that it is almost impossible to get across the real experience of being in India, as there is so much more happening than just a visual feast. You have to feel the soft, balmy breezes lightly brushing your skin in the cool of dawn, sway along with the rustling palm fronds to a gentle rhythm, dodging the odd coconut dropping like a brick from high up in the tree make a huge plopping splash in the water, as straight as an Olympic diver. Drift out onto the water hyacinth-filled lapping lake to hear the distant chanting from the Hindu temples interrupted by the raucous laughter of iridescent turquoise kingfishers. Feel the intense midday sun from which there is no escape except a refreshing shower. Best of all is a special feeling I only get when I am there - that this is spiritually where I feel internally most at peace, where I feel spirituality in the very air, surrounded and protected by soft, gentle people who seem to take everything in their stride with an enviable dignity that invites immediate respect, yet with a sense of humour as free as a child's. Somehow here I can accept with more grace the cycle of life, the loss of loved ones and our own inevitable fate. Watch the colours of sunset as they turn from yellows into oranges and burnt golds, into the reds onward through the spectrum through deep magenta until, about half an hour after sunset, the sky has turned into a deep violet and the water steely indigo. Some photos and some journals - hopefully they speak louder than words.......

Dawn is misty, still and cool, though the birds are already awake and the fishermen already on the water

From yellow through orange and red.......

...........and into violet and purple

One of my more noisy neighbours - a
ring-necked parakeet

The forest glows emerald green, yellow and lime after the deluge

 

I got to experience the monsoon rain. It starts quite gently, as a few refreshing droplets, but quickly escalates into a downpour like no other, like buckets of water being emptied from above. This is accompanied by a deafening pouring noise, then swiftly made worse by the simultaneous pourings and drummings from numerous roofs and gutters, forming instant lakes and marooning me in my bungalow within minutes. But it's still warm and it's not at all uncomfortable. Then, the clouds clear and the forest seems to glow in its greenness - colours are vivid and luxuriant, the air fresher and cleaner. Parrots squawk with delight overhead as they feast on the last of the year's mangoes high on the tops os the trees, whilst bright green barbets utter shrill shrieks which penetrate the undergrowth. Everything here in Kerala is about bright, lurid colour, from the ladies' saris, to the temples and colours of people's houses and the heaps of bright in-your-face powders found in the market place so I am in neon heaven!

When it rains, it pours...............

Two of my favourite bamboo trees on the farm.....

Most people know of my encounter with this chap......

Finally just a couple more typical pages from my journals.....

The yellow trumpet bushes are in full bloom just by my bungalow

The tiniest cows in the world - Vechoor cows -  the head came out a bit large! I can vouch for the yummy home made yogurt they provide me with every breakfast...plus a little treasure which Anya gave me with love and I will always keep....

Indian Summer

This is what remained after a meal out - of butter curry and naan bread. I can still taste it in all its deliciousness..notice the lack of cutlery, I much prefer eating with my fingers now!

I had a wonderful time in India this summer - I stayed with Anu and family by the backwaters for five idyllic weeks. I miss them still - the days were languid and laughter filled, with plenty of love and hugs. I caught up with all my local bird friends and would still find it very hard to account for how the time passed so quickly. The highlights must be the sari I was given for my birthday, being in the monsoon for the first time, the visit of the Peace Boat from Japan and strolling once again through the streets of Fort Cochin. It's my second home. There just aren't enough weeks in a year to be everywhere I would like to be......

A typical spread - three times a day!

I could easily write a book about my time there - indeed I already have several bulging journals full of photos, drawings and a million memories - so it's almost impossible to select a few to 'represent' my experiences. Bear with me, please. I'll start with the utterly delicious food - Mummy's home cooking, Keralan Syrian Christian backwater style (lots of coconut) but also everywhere you go. I learnt to eat with my fingers this visit - I swear that food tastes MUCH better when eaten this way - somehow you have a closer relationship with it, in all its succulence. It really is finger-licking good.  I also eat more slowly and with great relish. I eat lots, but never feel the need to snack as it is so satisfying, so I always feel healthy, too.

My all-time favourite dessert - Coconut mousse...but I also love payasam and coconut pancakes and banana patties and and and.......

Dhosas for breakfast with Anu!

So I'll end there, with more to come - this has made my mouth water, I've just got to go and eat something!

Catching up with myself

Blogging is hard. I am full of admiration for those folks who manage to do it so regularly and don't let life get in the way at all. I have always been a girl, rather like the moon, with phases....ranging from intense activity to complete apathy with all sorts in between......you can guess what my last phase was as I haven't posted since May! I do find that if I am worried or tense about something, I find it really hard to write and post - I wonder if other people have the same problem. Anyway, here I am back with renewed promises to do this more regularly and to find the courage to publish my work alongside others who are clearly better at it than me!!! I have won a few battles with the Inner Critic, but I haven't won the war yet....but I am trying.

I loved my visit to Santiago de Compostello - a delightful easy-to-explore city, brilliantly preserved but full of life - you really feel the past in every nook and cranny.

Where have the last few months gone?  The usual helter-skelter of travels, plus looking after my home when I rent out to holiday-makers and now I have started teaching again. It was flattering at 65 to be asked back to my old job teaching English at the Psychology Faculty in Porto - nothing too heavy, two ten-week courses a year. I'm loving it, have lots of interesting students and not a moment of regret. Still not in a position to start planning my next world travels, but things are more optimistic, and I am really hopeful that things will turn out well. First stop will be Florida in January, staying with a new friend, then I will drive off and do what I love. Exploring. Just me and a car plus maps, travel journal, camera and guide books. Plus a bird identification book and binoculars. This is all I need to feel totally fulfilled, and I can't wait to hit the road again.

        For (the few) who do like to see some of my art and my journalling, I have been able to complete some pages and some pictures....I also have to fight of my worst enemies of all - LAZINESS, SLOTH and a tendency to ALWAYS find some way of DISTRACTING myself from what I really want to be doing. I would so love to know what the cure is - there are no medicines for this in the local pharmacy!

....and a few recent pages from my journals.....

I used the following idea later for a painting - I dream constantly of the South West USA.........

...and a tribute to the wonderful Isabel as well as my return to teaching after four years!

Back to Silveira

The sunsets here are unforgettable

View of Belver castle from the river beach

I have fallen quite unashamedly in love with the hamlet of  Silveira - when I go there now I feel I have come home and enjoy strolling round the village, having a chat with the locals and making sure all is well. It must be related to what we as people need at various stages of our lives. Here, I am at one with nature, entering a new stage of decluttering and simplifying.

Lynn's lovely lily pond

Chatting to the neighbours. The goats' cheese here is delicious - creamy and smooth.  My last visit was at the end of September. The prickly pears were at their best - plump with deep yellow-orange cactus lets......this turned out to be the last hot, sunny weekend of summer - it all ended with a perfect evening out with friends and a gorgeous sunset.