The Week in Watercolour #2

Where does the time go?

Welcome,

Firstly, apologies for the slight publishing pause, I'm hoping you'll understand and cut me some slack! It got pretty busy and my art and writing suffered, I'm guessing I'm not the only one this happens to!

There was the small matter of having a newborn baby to welcome into the family; I'm a grandad again to Cecilia, beautiful 3.6kg baby girl. Mother and baby are now doing fine❤️

Then there was the small matter of getting older; 58 year birthday, say no more about that 🤣. I did get some creative presents though, two sketchbooks, a Moleskin Art book and a Stillman & Birn Beta Series, a lovely Turquoise Rosa Gallery pan. I can't wait to use that one.

I also managed to get some time outside to sketch and take a few photos but somehow feel the balance, I started to take for granted, went a little off track. The physical exercise to keep my heart healthy (I write a little about it here) and my creative self have both suffered a little bit. Perhaps this happens to you sometimes when life gets a bit busy, what do you think or how do you get back on track?

Some of the recent creativity forcing its way in!

The Stone wall and the Sad tractor are part of a little experiment I’m trying on my chat whereby you can use my photos as prompts to sketch, or create in any other way, in case you are having one of those artists ‘block’ moments. It is always nice to hear from you and I welcome all contributions to the discussion. Come and join in and say hello.

Health

I mention this from time to time as it seems to be more at the forefront of my mind theses days. Along with the recent heart surgery there is a tooth extraction looming and now shoulder surgery on the horizon. I was hoping to put off the surgery due to personal circumstances but was advised that may not be the best long term decision. The Dr. was lovely and we discussed my reasoning, although she did advise me to seek counselling to help me overcome the regular thoughts about life expectancy that stems from the heart surgery. Suffice to say us men are not always the best at this sort of thing!

Birthdays, Babies & Anniversaries

Now this is more exciting. We were invited up to visit my son and his partner for the the meeting of Cecilia as her proud grandparents. Such a bundle of cuteness. We spent a few days helping and cooing, doing as much as we could to help the doting parents. You see your children in a whole new light when they have life of their own to look after.

The birth day of Cece will now precede the rest of the July celebrations culminating in our wedding anniversary. 28 years and still going, quite a good achievement I think. We ended up in this lovely hotel¹ where I was able to spend a relaxed Sunday morning with a little sketching practice.

Stanton House Hotel

A little celebration of 28 years.

Football disappointment

But alas there seems to be the symbolism of ‘yin & yang’ ever present with the bitter disappointment of England’s valiant yet unsuccessful loss in the Euro2024 football final to Spain, who after all were the best team in tournament, so congratulations to them. It was still a bitter disappointment I have been playing out for years as a supporter of our national team. These tournaments always fall around my birthday so it is now 58 years of waiting for the elusive 2nd win of either the World cup or European cup for England football…bring on the Fifa 2026 world cup and off we go again!!

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Some creativity looming on the horizon

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Finally

Thank you for reading, I’m always happy to hear from fellow enthusiasts in the comments👇 Anyway ‘till next time, happy sketching.

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1. https://maps.app.goo.gl/1Ee93W4A43Anhjjo8