Something For The Weekend

Ry Cooder ~ How can a poor man stand such times and live.

Last time the economic 'poop' hit the 'fiscal fan' (late eighties/early nineties) it had some pretty dire consequences for the tartist and I. That will probably merit a post in it's own right at some point, anyway to cut to the chase, as they say...I've always been an enormous fan of Mr. Ry Cooder's music and this from a concert in 1987 from California seems just as pertinent today as it did then. Here is a man who's music to my mind has real integrity and his guitar playing is a joy. If the slide solo doesn't make the hairs on your neck stand up you can have your money back!

Something For Your Sausage

10 minute sketch, Conté & Pastel

A Brisk Walk & TBTM

I'm missing the tartist this morning as she's away to see her poorly dad in Norfolk and listening to radio 4's news of ongoing economic strife I decided to take our labrador Mabel for a brisk walk along the beach.


Through the village and down towards the 'Monkey Beach'.


The 'Blackwater' was crystal clear this morning.

The weathered remains of an old 2nd world war concrete 'pillbox'.

I'm beginning to use this mobile phone camera a bit like a sketchbook, it's quick on a cold morning and convenient when there's a black labrador tugging at your arm and I recon the results are perfectly good enough for reference purposes.





This little feature in the wall facing the estuary used to house a barometer many years ago...back when local people's livelihoods (especially our fishermen's) were more dependant upon the vagaries of the weather.

Icy Blast Anyone?

View of the church from the Artcafe this morning


We awoke this morning to our first flurry of snow this winter here on the east coast and my brisk walk to the cafe was with woolly hat and scarf, hunched shoulders and hands firmly in pockets. Although the snow didn't amount to much the wind for a while was very cold. I must confess I was hoping we'd see a bit more than the fine sprinkling we received, in order that I might gather material for some winter paintings, however I have a feeling we may be at the start of a particularly cold one this year...we'll have to wait and see. Things look so very different when we have snow that covers everything and stays a while so in the absence of any real snow today here's a pastel of St. Peter's Well I did a couple of winters ago.

We've been 'Friday Interviewed'

This morning the tartist and I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Juliet for her regular Friday interview and what a pleasure it was to be drinking coffee, talking food and art and also to meet Jonathan who has taken some excellent pictures for the piece.

SFTWS20081121

Something for the weekend sir? at last our very own acronym.

Something to warm us all up this weekend...these guys have been very 'groovy' for years!

An Hour's Sketching

Having just returned from West Mersea Beach after a bit of sketching I have to tell you the weather seems to me to be getting a bit colder here on the east coast...or maybe sitting still on a breakwater for an hour in mid November just makes it seem so. Although cold it was dry, and glorious, low, winter sunshine lit the huts from behind my left shoulder from over on the Bradwell shore.


I have to confess my hands were freezing, so I dropped by the Artcafe for a sneaky take out cappuccino before heading home!

Some TBTM's

Some 'The Beach This Mornings' from The Monkey Beach taken with my mobile phone camera.




Lacking an acronym of our own we've decided to start SFTWS...something for the weekend sir?

Intravenous Sunshine

After closing up at the artcafe this evening, locking the door, loaded down with a bag full of dirty tea towels for the wash and some sausages for tea I headed home to artistandtartist towers. It was pretty dismal stroll in the rain, so I popped on my i-pod (a present from the tartist for my last birthday) and twizzled the little menu dial round to Ruben Gonzalez and pressed play and wow! it was as if someone was pouring warm sunshine into my ears...



The sausages were pretty good too!