Beach Stroll ~ Watercolour

The Studio At The End Of The Rainbow

We came home from closing up the Artcafé this evening through a premature April shower to see this spectacle over the artist's studio at the end of our garden.

Here's one of John Constable's, he seemed quite fascinated by them. Curiously I really think I prefer his oil sketches to most of his larger work, I have a book of them tucked away on a shelf somewhere in the afore mentioned studio.

SFTW ~ Mixed Marriage!

The Return Of The Milkshake

Some may argue that the milkshake never went away, but for a time recently it has been somewhat eclipsed by those smoothie type drinks and we've seen more than a handful of smoothie/juice bar businesses come and go in the time we've been at the Artcafé. For what it's worth we flirted a bit with the smoothie idea a while ago and quite enjoyed drinking/eating(?) them. After a time I (theartist) began to experience quite a bit of indigestion and heartburn after consuming them, this raises the eating, drinking question. Of course I'm not a dietician, if I were this blog would be the 'dieticianandthetartist', but to me the ingredients in most smoothies, unlike milk, were never meant to be drunk at all. Bananas, strawberries, blueberries, mangoes, all these basic smoothie ingredients are surely supposed to be chewed first in order for the natural breakdown of nutrients that occurs in the mouth to happen, and only then does mother nature intend us to swallow. Surely to drink these straight to the stomach is simply asking for trouble? Which is why I no longer have them and the accompanying discomfort.

Now this brings me on to the good old fashioned milkshake. Some may reasonably question the idea of drinking the milk of other mammals, especially for our entire adult life but at the very least, milk, unlike straberries etc. is designed to be a drink. We were approached by Shaken Udder, a local producer recently to sell their milkshakes, so we've been giving them them a go and I for one really think they're delicious. They currently make four flavours, Strawberry, Banana, Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake which believe it or not really tastes like a Strawberry cheesecake, genius. As well as having a good product the Shaken Udder people are on our doorstep in Tolleshunt Major so they haven't clocked up hundreds of 'food miles' to bring us their shakes, so next time you drop in and don't really fancy a tea or a coffee, consider a yummy milkshake!

Shells

Driftwood and Ceramics

One of the treats of doing what we do (artism & tartism) is receiving work from a new artist to exhibit in our place. Today I did just that and the basket of goodies in bubblewrap sits beside me as I type waiting to be installed later this afternoon. Jane James is an artist who studied at the school of art here in Colchester and lived in the area until moving with her family to the island of Jersey in 2007. Jane's work like the majority of our other artists' is inspired by living on the coast and I think it is guaranteed to brighten your day! She works in driftwood and ceramic and makes a range of hand painted pieces with speciality glazes that produce a magical lustre to capture the colours of the sea.

TBTA

I left the Artcafé a bit early this afternoon after work and took a slightly longer route home to wander down by the monkey Beach and along towards the houseboats. I'm glad I did as the sky was doing it's big colourful thing that it does when the air is clear over the River Blackwater.



A squall on the horizon.




...it did get a bit gusty last night!


In the distance Boadicea CK213 200 years old last year.

How To Cook 'Cockney'

We hope yours comes out looking just as good as Jamie's!