OK so I'm cheating slightly, I didn't do this one today, I finished it off last night. It's the one I've been working on in the drawing class and I'm pleased with the results. I've used a wet on wet wash of Iris Blue for the sky, then a pale wash of greens for the hills. Then after masking out the boats a wet on dry wash of Iris blue and paynes grey for the sea. Then picked out the details with a 0.03 black ink pen and finally a grey tria pen to fill some shadows on the mast and boats. Oh and to reflect the colours I put a little more iris blue over the hills and a little green into boats although it doesn't show well on this photo.

Thursdays Pudding

Ok, so I haven't posted for a few days, there has been a reason for this. Firstly I did write a whole blog then decided not to publish it. Mainly because it was for yet another business adventure but as it included a diet I decided against it. Don't worry, I saved it for a rainy day when I feel like dieting. Secondly I have been trying to decide what the focus of my blog should be. I am interested in a few things and I do tend to flit from project to project (for evidence of this check out www.butterflyshed.net) but I need to focus on just one thing. So I have been turning this over and over in my head and have finally decided what my puddings will be about!

I have always drawn and painted since I was a teenager but never anything worth framing but as of late I've had more time to myself so have been doing more. So I thought I would do a sketch a day and post it on here with my thoughts behind it. I vaguely remember seeing someone doing something similar but can't find the site now to give them their due credit for the idea so, thank you, whoever you are.

Tomorrow I'll start with my first daily pudding picture, I hope you'll join me drawing my life, one day at a time.

Flo

Is it tomorrow yet?

And I'm asking the question not because I don't know what time it is but because I keep putting things off until tomorrow.

I can guarantee that come the late evening when I'm on my own with a coffee, the television and my trusty laptop with only my dog Spindle as company, I get to thinking about how to make my life better. Out come the ideas for the next money making scheme that won't cost me anything to start up, the great promises to my body that yes, tomorrow I will change the diet/start exercising/get a new way of thinking.

Then I go to sleep only to wake up feeling like I've been hit by a bus and only barely manage to get myself out of bed to let the dogs out and feed both them and the guinea pigs.

I'm glad I've got the animals or I'm sure I'd not get out of bed some days. That is the curse that is Fibromyalgia, no matter what your mind tells you, if your body feels like every joint and muscle has set like concrete overnight there's only one thing you can do, take things very slowly and gently move each joint in turn to 'break' the concrete. OK I know there's no real concrete in there but I swear I can feel the crumbling as I move and it's quite painful! If it's a good day a couple of painkillers and keeping warm will move the process along so I can be mobile within an hour or two, on a bad day I manage to get to the bathroom and back. On bad days you just have to accept it and hope it's better tomorrow.

I think of myself as a positive person, I keep busy helping at a local animal sanctuary if I'm able. I paint, I draw and of course look after my two teenage sons that are still at home. I remember how good it was to get up and go to work, mix with real people, business people and public alike. That was almost four years ago now and I'd love to go back but no one wants someone who 'might' be there, if my joints haven't 'set' overnight! So I look at different things to keep me busy and maybe one day make my fortune. I like to do portraits of pets or peoples homes so my latest idea was to do some hand painted miniature landscapes and still life paintings for dolls houses but looking on e-bay they only sell for a pound or two at best so don't think that will make me my fortune.

I'll keep thinking, one day.. one day.. tomorrow...

Saturday Night Freeze

OK, I meant to post a pudding last night but the grandchildren arrived and my laptop got hijacked for the grandson to play World of Warcraft. Ah well, at least it keeps him quiet! I did try to get him drawing but he soon got fed up.

So here I am on Saturday night having had a strange kind of day. I went to look around my local market that used to be a thriving second hand market on a Saturday. People used to clear out their loft/garage/cupboards and take it all down there and sell it for a bit of extra cash. In fact my Mum and Dad used to have a stall for many years. They used to go around the boot sales and pick up things for 50p and sell them for a quid. They never made a fortune but loved the social aspect and they were both well respected in the community for their 'bargains'. They ran that stall for about 15 years until they were both in their 70s, when the open air got a bit too cold. The market itself has since moved to a new site and although it's all modern and new it just isn't attracting the sellers and sadly hardly any stalls were taken up and none were just locals selling up their odds and sods. I was discussing this with my daughter and we decided it must be that people sell all their bits on ebay now, thus leaving all these stalls empty. Well that and the fact that the council charge through the nose for a stall. I'll never see the point in charging so much for a stall and having so few takers. Surely it would be more business like to charge much less and get more stalls occupied? That way the whole community would benefit and the council wouldn't lose anything at all, after all their costs are not going to be any greater no matter how many stalls are taken. If I were in charge I'd give the stalls free for a few weeks to get the traders in, then charge enough to cover costs and maybe make a profit without being extortionate (as it is now). I'm sure the town as a whole would benefit by this as the more people who come into the town the more that is spent in the town. Even the council would make more money from the parking charges!

Ah well that's one rant over. After the market we went to our local charity shop, we love to have a browse and spot a bargain (I get it off my Mum, my daughter gets it off me). I got a lovely cream chenille throw for £3.50 which I have over my legs as I type. I need it too as my thermometer is showing 57 degrees so it's quite cold in here and that's with my little oil filled radiator on full blast! I think I'll be getting my scarf and another jumper on next. I hear it's going to be -10 tonight!

Well I was going to have a rant about how busy Asda was today but I think I've waffled enough for this pudding. Tomorrow I'll tell you all about helping son make a cake...

Flo

First Pudding

Oh well, here goes, my first pudding. Absolutely nothing to do with anything edible. It's going to be my name for the blogs I'll be doing. I thought about other names for them, Flo's ramblings, Flo's flavours, Flo's useless information but none seemed to fit. So as I'm from Yorkshire and I'm a little rounder than I should be I thought Yorkshire puddings would be appropriate.

Next I need to decide what kind of puddings I'm going to make, should I write about my daily antics? Or maybe about things that happen in the news, or are there lots of people doing that already? I think I might include how much money my sons borrow off me, I might remember then and ask them for it back. They tend to confuse me by for instance, borrowing a tenner, then giving me back a fiver, then borrowing another tenner and giving me back a tenner and calling it quits, clever eh? I think I've brought them up well, depending on your viewpoint!

So you've had a hint there that I have sons, two of them. One is 19, the other is 17 and I'm so proud of them, mainly I think because they have both topped six foot, which is a feat in itself being as I'm only five foot one on a good day and their dad is only five foot four. Must be the manure I put at the bottom of their beds each night. They are both at different colleges and doing well. More about them in the future I guarantee.

OK, I'm going to explore the blogger site and see what I can change, hope I don't lose all this, mind you if I do you'll never know...

Flo