The Silly Season

'View Up The Beach' ~ Watercolour

As the silly season reaches its zenith we find ourselves at full stretch. We have people off sick and people away on holiday and the light at the end of our proverbial tunnel seems far distant indeed. So blogging inevitably has taken a back seat recently I'm afraid, but that doesn't in any way mean the artist and the tartist have lost their 'blogging mojo', we've simply been far too busy with our day job.

Now, speaking of the silly season, we've noticed at this time of year how the demeanor of certain sections of the café public changes to what can only be described as impatience. We've tried to understand why this might be, as it seems to us a bit of a puzzle, that people on holiday (I have to admit we sometimes refer to them as the 'bucket and spade brigade') might require their cream tea much faster than anyone else or than at another time of year. We're often asked "how quickly can you do me a cappuccino?...I'm in a bit of a hurry", surely a café is not the ideal place to be when in a hurry. I may just be over-tired and cranky at the moment but I have to confess I sometimes want to say (with my best Basil Fawlty voice) "oh, you were were first were you, sorry madam, I completely forgot the world is about to end in five minutes!" I mean, most sensible people, go to a café to relax, or 'chill' (if under 25) over a coffee and sandwich, and hopefully recharge their battery. This is central to the idea of 'café culture' and I'm pleased to say the majority of our regulars use our café for this reason. At the risk of labouring my point I've filched this beautifully succinct snippet from wikipedia..."Although fast-paced coffee service is available, such as at Starbucks, it is still questionable as to what extent such enterprises truly embody the traditional role of coffeehouses in communities as enhancing the local culture". Well I'll get off my soapbox now, and hope I haven't put you off, we'd still love to see you this silly season, but hey, slow down, it's Summer.

'Barbeque' Summer

Summer At The Strood

The tartist and I have decided to hang a piece of seaweed up outside our back door in order to more accurately ascertain what the weather has in store for us over the next few weeks. We were going to buy a multi-million pound satellite and study the available weather data and statistics that span the centuries but decided to leave nothing to chance!

A Threat To Brush & Paint?

Is this the death of painting as we know it or just another medium to explore? Discuss.

A Week In North Cornwall

I should have posted this a week ago, sorry folks a very busy Artcafé intervened.

The tartist, theartistandtartist jnr. and myself (theartist) just got back yesterday from a long overdue week away in Cornwall, Trebarwith Strand, near Tintagel to be precise.


View across Trebarwith Strand

Now, to cut a long story short the tartist and I used to live in Trebarwith Strand, in fact it is where we first met, in the Trebarwith Strand Hotel, which the tartist owned and ran with her sister from 1978 to 1991 along with the (way ahead of it's time restaurant) 'The House On The Strand'. Now to be fair the weather was very, well, 'Cornish' and we'd both forgotten how the rain can sometimes fall horizontally for days on end up the valley. For a couple of nights the wind and rain rattled the windows, and we were reminded of the terrible flooding that Boscastle, just up the road from us, received in 2004.


Artist Jnr. on the beach

Our weather related fears didn't last though as we got a couple of days of wonderful sunshine where we enjoyed the spectacular beauty of Trebarwith beach without our raincoats and umbrellas. A feature of our visits to this part of Cornwall is a meal at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant in Padstow which the tartist and I along with four of our very good friends vowed to attend once a year come rain or shine several years ago. This year I'm pleased to say we kept the tradition alive, me with an exquisite piece of Turbot, baked and served with Hollandaise and the tartist with chargrilled Dover Sole with Sea Salt and Lime preceeded by a Selection of Oysters on Ice & Ragout of Turbot and Scallop with Vouvray & Basil.

The Tartist at The Seafood Restaurant

The following day saw us take a trip just up the coast to the small but dramatic beach of Crackinton Haven in many respects similar to Trebarwith with imposing cliffs on either side, good surfing and a great little café where we enjoyed real homemade soup and pretty decent coffee. Crackington also has the most fabulous rounded smooth stones on its foreshore which kept us amused for ages, sifting sorting and admiring the veins of pink and white quartz.

Crackington Haven

Although the rain was a bit unwelcome I managed to get in a bit of sketching with judiciously timed sorties to the beach and the aid of a golfing brolly, with which I caught a gust of wind and turned inside out!







Another feature of our visit (as is often the case) was a trek across the breathtaking cliffs to Tintagel to pick up pasties for lunch from Pengenna. I was accompanied on this occasion by artist junior and we stopped frequently on route to take in the spectacular views across the bay, returning with our lunch after ice creams and a stroll around the Norman church of St. Materiana perched high on Glebe Cliff overlooking the castle.



Artist Jnr. on the seat above Penhallic Point



The view out to Gull Rock

No post about a visit to Trebarwith could be complete without a mention of our good mates 'Grip' and Kirsty who run
The Strand Café who kept our chins up when the rain came with hot chocolates, cappuccinos and some of the best chocolate & walnut brownies I've ever tasted. Sadly this will be their last season in the valley so if you're down that way do stop by and say 'hi' from the artist and tartist, and sample some of their wares, you won't be dissapointed.



Grip & Kirsty

So here we are back on flat old Mersea Island and yes, it's still raining, but I've a feeling we'll return to North Cornwall soon, hopefully before the year is out.

Problem Solved

Snoozing ~ Watercolour
...correct colours this time!

The Fourth Plinth

'Plimsole Line' ~ Watercolour

It's Antony Gormley's turn on the Fourth Plinth, starting today.

A Watercolour & Independence Day

Sunshine Over The Huts ~ Watercolour

I was trying to find something appropriately 'warm' for this current heatwave we've been having and was rummaging in my painting archives when I stumbled upon this, painted in July 2007, it has rather too much blue to feel really hot but it will have to do for now. Oh, I nearly forgot to give a little nod to our neighbors across the water (no, not Tollesbury, stupid).



Happy Independence Day.