Advent Calendar 2016

3rd December

Today's window reveals a rather androgynous looking fellow, wearing  an elf's jacket carrying a basket full of rather gender specific Christmas gifts.

Advent Calendar

2nd December

So today's window on our advent calendar reveals a nice sprig of holly, ancient celts among you will recognise this as a symbol of good luck, or if you swing the other way it can be symbolic of Christ's crown of thorns.

We're Back!

Yes we are back on this first day of December 2016 with an advent calendar and a recipe from the Tartist. 

This year we have bought ourselves a traditional advent calendar, not being big fans of the dodgy branded chocolate ones.

1st December 

Today's window reveals a couple of young bell ringers, presumably ringing in the season. Nothing says christmas more than a couple of roister-doisters ringing bells, sporting hats at jaunty angles. Except perhaps the birth of the messiah.

Now I'm no Delia Smith but...

I do know a thing or two about food.
Yesterday when I was having my haircut Nicky kept stopping the blow drying process to ask me what she could take to a friends for dinner party pudding. She wanted something she could make on Friday and take on Saturday night, straight after work with no hassle.
So we came up with Baileys Cheesecake and I promised to send her a recipe this morning. It's 5 am and I can't sleep so Nicky here it is:-


• You need about a 10" spring sided deep tin. I'm not sure what these are properly called but they are deep and have a hinge that opens to loosen the sides.
• Crush 8 oz digestive biscuits (or ginger, any biscuit really but I think chocolate might be a bit yuk with the butter ) Melt 3 oz butter and stir in the crushed biscuit. Use this to make a flat layer in the bottom of the tin. Stick this in the fridge until firm. 
• For the filling you need 400g cream cheese, 6 tablespoons of icing sugar, 2 cartons of double cream 
(I think they are about 300ml each) and about three tablespoons of Baileys. Stir the icing sugar into the cream cheese, pour in the cream and whisk until it thickens. It wants to be fairly thick so that it will set with the alcohol in it. Stir the Baileys in gently. Plop onto the biscuit base, smooth the top cover and pop back in the fridge.
• To make it look Christmassy you could make a stencil, with something like a margarine lid, and use edible glitter to write something or to do a Christmas Tree and holly.

Approaching Rain ~ Daily Sketch 06/01/2015

Approaching Rain - Watercolour

I decided to leave the boats out of this view as they seemed to interfere with the simple composition of sky/marsh/water. 

Three Shells ~ Daily Sketch 05/01/2015

Three Shells - Watercolor + Pencil

Marshes in the Fog ~ Daily Sketch 04/01/2015

Marshes in the Fog - Watercolour + Pencil

Today's effort in the freezing fog, I could see almost nothing and lasted a wimpy 10 minutes but at least made some marks on paper.

01/01/2015 New Year's Day. 'View Towards the Packing Shed' ~ DailySketch

First day of the new year brings damp, windy, grey conditions to our island, however I start as I mean to go on with a watercolour sketch. From the window of my studio I can see the choppy, cold creek emptying but there is an almost complete absence of colour.

Mersea Beach ~ Daily Sketch 12/01/2014

Ten minutes sketch with gloved hands

As you can see from my hasty, wobbly pencil offering today I went to the beach. It is the first time i've walked along the beach for some time and although the sky was beautifully clear and the sun was bright the wind was nipping at my fingers. However I resolved to make a sketch but kept it brief with a few notes, simply in pencil, my gloves stayed on for the ten minutes it took.

This particular stretch of the shore is mostly shingle and shells at the water line giving way to finer sand higher up by the beach huts. As is often the case I picked up one or two shells for further reference and to accompany the many others that grace the window sill of my studio.

The few shells that made it home

As it has been quite a while since the last one, I'm now pondering another bigger studio painting of the huts and the beach/foreshore which will be an amalgamation of various sketches, photo's and found bits. 

Gigas Oyster ~ Daily Sketch 08/01/2014

The Gigas oyster or Crassostrea gigas to give it it's latin name is now so abundant on the beach here on Mersea Island that it is pretty much the dominant species along the shoreline. You can't walk along the beach without treading on great clumps of them in the sand and mud and it makes me wonder what will be the fate of the more precious native Ostrea edulis with it's more sought after zinky flavour.

Houseboats at Spring Tide ~ Daily Sketch 05/01/2014

The spring tides are still pretty big at the moment, leaving debris on the roads and verges along the seafront. Today the salt marsh around the house boats was well flooded and the sky threatened rain but did not deliver until the evening. I took a walk along past the boats and up through the village with Mabel my four legged black furry friend.

Yellow Skiff on the Hard ~ Daily Sketch 03/01/2014

Daily Sketch 24/03/2013 Studio in the Snow

Well, snow has returned this weekend and here is the view from down our garden towards the studio. It's obviously difficult to tell if this very late cold spell is directly connected to climate change, but the forecast is continuing cold up till next weekend which is Easter. Now Easter is falling early this year and It's obviously not unheard of to be getting snow in England at this time, but I just can't help feeling that we may be witnessing the very early stages of a more dramatic and permanent shift in our long term weather patterns. But hey what do I know?

Daily Sketch 16/01/2013 - Across 'Buzzen' Towards the Packing Shed

Snow & Frost Return To Mersea

Yesterday afternoon about 3.30pm we got a flurry of large cotton snowflakes which was much less than we had expected but enough to dust everywhere with white. Just up the road in Norwich where artistandtartist junior now resides the story was very different with the city being brought to a standstill by about eight inches of snow. It is however very cold during the daylight hours here by normal standards and colder at night.

This was the view from the house this morning so prompted by fine clear blue skies and sunshine I decided to head outside once more for my daily sketch.

A favourite spot of mine at the end of the beach looking across Besom fleet (or 'Buzzen' as it's more familiarly know by locals) towards Tollesbury. With cold fingers and watering eyes I made my sketch.

Daily Sketch 09/01/2013 - View Towards Wigborough

Because there was no sketch yesterday I'm giving you a double dose today! In fact this was the first fine day for quite some time here on Mersea Island so I was afforded the luxury of a bit of sketching in the fresh air. I took myself off in the direction of the seawall in what became apparent were totally inappropriate shoes. The footpaths have been reduced to a quagmire with the recent rains and the tartist had driven off with my walking boots in the car, so I squished my way through the mud towards the Strood where a large flock of Brent Geese were gathered on the field just behind the seawall. Their constant cackling was a welcome bit of background accompaniment to my drawing.

Almost Mid-Winter on the Island

 'Strood Channel' ~ Pastel on Paper

Having just returned from a bracing walk along the Coast Road and with the feeling beginning to return to my fingertips I thought I'd put pen to paper again (or curser to pixel) on what has become a somewhat sporadic blog. The days are almost at their shortest now and although unlike yesterday the temparature has not been minus, the easterly wind coming up the river Blackwater had an eyewatering bite to it. By 4pm it was almost dark, but minutes earlier the setting sun had peeked through the cloud over Tollesbury and set the sky alight for a few fleeting minutes. With the light fading as I turned into the High Street I saw a cloud of Starlings doing that spectacular swirling around they like to do before going off to roost. The Brent Geese are well and truly encamped around the saltmarshes now and I'm pleased to say we can hear their familiar honking sounds down on the Strood from our bedroom at night. And so it's almost mid winter and the island is as cold as it should be, dark about 4.30 and thoughts inevitably are turning towards Christmas, my thoughts have also turned towards producing some winter paintings after my chilly afternoon walk along the waterfront.

Snow Comes To Mersea Island

So the snow arrived just as the forecasters had predicted, it must have been snowing most of the night because we had a covering of about six inches when we awoke this morning. After a cup of tea from the warm confines of our duvet the tartist and I decided the best course of action was to get outside in it (not innit!).



So we decided to go for a bracing walk down to the Artcafé, where else? for a coffee and a bacon sandwich.


The snow was quite deep and powdery







When we arrived at the Artcafé there was already an improvised sled park as quite a lot of people had obviously had the same idea as us and were warming themselves inside.



As we left the café to continue our walk someone came skidding along in a plastic fish box being towed along on a rope by a Landrover. Please believe me when I tell you this is not at all unusual when it snows here on our island, and is often indulged in after the pub when the bruising effects of such a ride can be dulled by one or two 'tinctures'.


The houseboats on Coast Road



We continued our walk along the coast past the sailing barge 'Dawn' who has become something of a fixture these days on our waterfront as she over-winters beside the oyster pits.



Just beyond in the distance can be seen packing marsh island with the iconic Packing Shed standing on its' stilts amidst the ice.



And the sea really has been freezing this past week when temperatures have barely clawed their way over freezing point during the day, and during the night have been well below.



On past the Company Shed just opening up for business as we continued past and on up The Lane.





When we arrived home tingling from the cold the stove was still well alight to dry us and our boots out, we love our stove, especially in weather like this.



And the tartist cooked us a 'cockle' warming chilli con carne, very seventies, but was just what we needed to complete the day.

In The Bleak Midwinter

Well, we've reached that midwinter point again, the Winter Solstice, the shortest day, the longest night.



Somehow this song from Sting just resonates with me both musically and lyrically on this our longest night...

"Ghost Story"

I watch the Western sky
The sun is sinking
The geese are flying South
It sets me thinking

I did not miss you much
I did not suffer
What did not kill me
Just made me tougher

I feel the winter come
His icy sinews
Now in the fire light
The case continues

Another night in court
The same old trial
The same old questions asked
The same denial

The shadows closely run
Like jury members
I look for answers in
The fire's embers

Why was I missing then
That whole December
I give my usual line:
I don't remember

Another winter comes
His icy fingers creep
Into these bones of mine
These memories never sleep

And all these differences
A cloak I borrow
We kept our distances
Why should it follow I must have loved you

What is the force that binds the stars
I wore this mask to hide my scars
What is the power that pulls the tide
I never could find a place to hide

What moves the Earth around the sun
What could I do but run and run and run
Afraid to love, afraid to fail
A mast without a sail

The moon's a fingernail and slowly sinking
Another day begins and now I'm thinking
That this indifference was my invention
When everything I did sought your attention

You were my compass star
You were my measure
You were a pirate's map
A buried treasure

If this was all correct
The last thing I'd expect
The prosecution rests
It's time that I confess: I must have loved you

A Winter Trip To Orford

The tartist and I have just returned from yet another rather splendid few days away in Orford, a favourite nearby spot up in Suffolk. It's strange really as it is relatively close to home and very similar in it's landscape etc. but to us it seems quite far from our every day hustle & bustle. We stayed at the Crown & Castle which overlooks the old castle in Orford built by Henry 2nd in 1170'ish (the castle, not the hotel!). It is a great place for a few days unwinding with tastefully designed rooms plus an excellent 'unfussy' restaurant with a lovely menu on which there is always locally landed fish which suits us both really well.



Orford Castle through the bathroom window of our room.


Reed Beds at Snape

The bitterly cold weather, snow & ice was a feature of this particular visit and on a couple of days out I tentatively drove us on the icy road a few miles through Tunstall forest to Snape.
At Snape the old maltings have been converted into a concert hall and visitor centre with an art gallery, cafés and shops but one of the real beauties of Snape for me is the vast area of reed beds that surround the maltings. Despite the cold I went out walking with my camera (it really was too bitter for sketching this time) under very leaden skies between blizzards, meeting up later with the tartist for hot chocolate & cake. I'm pleased to say I have returned with some very interesting reference material of the snowy, muddy, windswept reeds.

On our way home we once again stopped off in Woodbridge and spent rather more than we ought to have on books in Browsers bookshop & café, where the coffee is pretty decent and the cakes are all homemade from recipes taken from books available for sale in the shop (a simple and brilliant marketing rouse on their part). As I've mentioned before in a previous post this part of Suffolk is really well worth a trip out even if it's just for the day. I can guarantee we'll be returning soon.

The Coldest Night, The Energy Gap, Then We Zoomed To Norwich!

TBTE 08/01/10 or more accurately 'the road to the beach this evening'!

We took advantage during this current icy blast, of a break in the snow this afternoon to get artistandtartist jnr. back to university, so the three of us got in the car and zoomed up to Norwich. I was very apprehensive and almost didn't go as driving conditions have been lately described as 'treacherous' on the news, fortunately the snow didn't start again until we were almost home. We talked for the whole journey about loads of interesting stuff...not just the driving conditions, although the current weather did seem to be the dominant theme.
Now this raised the thorny issue of the current fragility of our energy supply, it seems that we really are down to the wire when it comes to our supply of energy, and this situation has simply been waiting in the wings until we experience a prolonged 'cold snap'. Now if we add to the equation all the new build housing thats been springing up were really heaping on the pressure to an energy supply that's already frankly at full stretch. The really big dilemma for us in the U.K. at the moment seems to me to be how to bridge the gap that will inevitably widen between getting our renewable sources of energy on stream and when our own fossil fuel resources run out (about 15 years I think is a reasonable estimate). And thus reduce our reliance on buying in large amounts of our energy from other nations who may whimsically jack the price up...or worse still, turn off the tap completely. At this point in time (several people on Mersea will hate me for saying this) nuclear generators seem to be looking a more attractive solution than they did twenty years back. I'd much prefer that there were a more user friendly alternative, but I'm not at this point persuaded that renewables will come close to filling our energy gap.
Now all of this kind of dovetails into another thread of our conversation we had today about Transition Culture and its pro's & cons, and I intend to get on my soapbox about this subject soon too, when time will allow.