take time to just be.....

sometimes in our busy lives we need to stop and take time. 

time to unwind, time to reflect, time to be with those we love, time to just take a step away from what is difficult. last night I did that. 

my son started his university degree this year. in visual arts. just like his Mum did many years ago. who would have thought?! I'm so proud of him and am thrilled to watch him developing as an artist. thrilled to offer suggestions when I can. thrilled to visit galleries together, discuss art and talk about this common interest. thrilled to help along the way when I can. and inspired to create.

but last night I was thrilled to be his helper (and official photographer!). it was just what I needed to do at this time. below you can see photos of his 3D work which he is ready to present for marking this week. I may be a bit biased....but....I think this work is just gorgeous. and last night was so peaceful as we lit the candles and put this work together to photograph.

just what I needed in so many ways

discovery

two little smooth rocks. discovered in the pocket of my jacket when I put it on for the first time this year

thanks to Kim Klassen for the textures

happy mother's day

happy mother's day to all the mums out there....enjoy your day

just me and the river

more doors

following on from my last post...some more doors. these are faded and weathered and.....beautiful

doors

some time back I read this lovely post on the blog Art Propelled  which is written by Robyn Gordon. Robyn is an artist living in South Africa and her blog is always full of wonderful images of her own work and that of other artists. I often lose hours exploring artists websites and blogs which Robyn has featured and linked to her blog post. 

anyway this particular post was about doors and I was so pleased to find another person who likes doors as much as I do....whenever I travel I come home with many, many photos of doors, latches, keys, weathered timber, peeling paint, locks.....you get the picture!

I particularly love the quote from William Blake which Robyn has in her post. so here it is just for you again

"In the Universe there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between there are doors." William Blake

so here are a few doors from my travels.....I might feature some more this week

 in Kathmandu, Nepal

 Taj Mahal, India

 China

 China again...poor cats do not look happy!

 Cornwall, UK

Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Turkey

the essentials

it's been back to work this past week for me. that means less time to be creative and more time focussed on bringing home the bacon. but this past week I have started Photoshop - The Essentials course with Kim Klassen. the blog button is over there on the side bar ----> see?!

I was so impressed with Kim's easy way of explaining things in the skinny mini free course I did with her, that I decided that I'd take the plunge and do the essentials course as well. and I can say already I'm so glad I did. what would have taken me ages to find in manuals and books, I can watch and hear Kim explain in her short and concise videos which you can follow along with and go back to as often as needed. brilliant! I have only completed the first day's work and I would already highly recommend this course if you want to get into Photoshop.

stay tuned for updates.....I'm hoping to open a few new doors.

light fantastic

we have been away tripping the light fantastic....last weekend we spent three days dancing away at Bluesfest. so. much. fun. yet again we discovered some musicians we haven't heard of before and they were amazing. we also got to see some of our favourites from previous years and they were just as fabulous again. 

let me give you a little tip....if you haven't heard of Trombone Shorty you should look him up. he is a young New Orleans musician who has a big future ahead of him. we saw him last year and were blown away by his music. you can imagine we were very excited when we heard he was coming back this year. his performances are energetic and full of great music {....and he's a little bit cute to look at too!}

whilst at Bluesfest we saw lots of kids and adults playing with balls at night that changed colour. very pretty. so I had to buy some and a couple of nights ago we had a little play with them and the 7D. still have some tweaking to do with exposures, apertures etc but it was lots of fun.

what do you think?

autumn in the UK

autumn leaves on the grass near Buckingham Palace. can you see the squirrels hanging on the fence after the food?!

 autumn coloured lichen growing on the rocks at Land's End. it was actually more like winter down here....freezing winds off the Atlantic Ocean

 and to celebrate my last post welcoming autumn, some fireworks from Guy Fawkes night in Penzance....which also celebrated our final night in Cornwall...one of my most favourite parts of the world

I hope you've enjoyed my week of autumn celebrations....I'd love to hear what's your favourite time of year...

autumn in Budapest

Budapest is such a pretty city with some amazing architecture, the beautiful Danube river, history everywhere, and flowers on every corner and building. beautiful at any time of year but when we were there it was celebrating autumn....