DAY 25 Project 365

Carole and I went to the Morfi Gallery this morning to see the Giorgos Koumouros exhibition. It looked like a non-starter to begin with, as the gallery was firmly locked when we arrived, despite opening hours info to the contrary on their website. Not to be put off, we rang the gallery owner, who apologised, directed us to the old tailor next door and miraculously a key was found. This could only happen in Cyprus! What a brilliant experience .... we had the whole of the gallery to ourselves and looked, discussed and wandered to our hearts content.

Initially we were disappointed that the colours were more low key than we been led to expect from the vivid images we had seen on the website. However, we ignored our preconceptions and ultimately decided we still liked the paintings very much.

Another highlight of today, was realising that not only does Carole have similar interests to myself, but she's also just as slightly crazy and into 'found' objects! Along the street from the gallery, we spied a skip brimming with throwaways, including this old Revlon advertising board, now being admired by Sally. It could be just the image to include as part of a large painted canvas I'm planning . Carole hauled away an even more magnificent Lancaster cosmetics board, still in it's original plastic wrapper, which will look amazing on the high walls of her eclectically furnished apartment in the old town. We then met up with the rest of the girls, who just didn't get it and were distinctly underwhelmed with our 'exciting' acquisitions. Carole and I just couldn't keep our faces straight LOL!

DAY 22 Project 365

H is building shelves in the downstairs garage and borrowed Roger's ancient cutting bench. To say it's 'well used' doesn't begin to describe it. Just look at that fabulous piece of wood! Enough inspiration for a whole series of abstract paintings. Don't get me started.! Just noticed, coincidentally Martha Marshall's camera is working on a similar theme.

DAY 20 Project 365

Tonight H presented, on behalf of HIFX Foreign Currency specialists, a donation together with two fabulous kiddie cars to DJ Maurice at Rock FM in Paphos.

Friday 19th & Saturday 20th of January
The 24 hour show with Maurice at Rock FM 98.5 & 106.7 will support the Paediatric Department of Pafos General hospital.
Donations and Aucton bids: Call 26822073 or 99952552
You can also make donations at the Bank of Cyprus, Account No 0660-00-068774.

Live radio Auction will take place from 8am until 7pm. Many tempting items to bid on for this very worthwhile cause. Among them is an original portrait, subject of the winners choice, painted by myself using acrylic paints on canvas. Normal asking price 150 Cyprus pounds.

DAY 18 Project 365

We love rice...eat it by the sack. H's favourite tonight. A chicken stir-fry with Jalfrezi spices, done the cheats way.

First pour yourself a large glass of red and slurp throughout. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a wok or frying pan. Sizzle up some breast of chicken and oodles of chopped vegetables for 5 minutes, then add a couple of large spoonfuls of Jalfrezi paste ... or, if you're a purist, grind and roast some spices. Bring rice to the boil, add a little hot water to the stir-fry. Simmer rice for 10 minutes. Pile together and serve.

DAY 17 Project 365

Eeny, Meeny, Miny & Mo. Aka from left to right Daisy, Sally, Teddie & ChouChou.

No sign of rain for nearly a fortnight. We should be well into the rainy season by now. Water pressure very low today and sometimes cut off completely. Looks like we're heading for a serious drought this summer, unless we get spectacular rains PDQ!

Les Girls ain't bovvered .... more sunbathing and staring into the wide blue yonder for them. Great life!

DAY 14 Project 365

Last October, Andros (he who must be obeyed at the village garden centre) gave me instructions to leave the banana fruit on the tree for a couple of months. Then take them off and keep in the dark to ripen. Two and a bit months on, I suppose these are now ready for the chop. Just to hedge my bets, and just in case they can be persuaded to grow a little bigger, I'll just remove one hand for ripening and leave the rest for a few days.

This is Sophie's rose, which was buried with our darling Chocolate Labrador. Faithfull like her, it blooms all year round.

DAY 13 Project 365

H hates shopping, so I was pretty surprised when he suggested we go into town for the new bedlinen I've been whittering on about. Lots of overdone designs and deep colours were on show, but as I'm a bit obsessive about WHITE bedlinen, was relieved and pleased to find some with a simple minimal border motif that suits the room very well.

A while back we had a man in Limassol make us two iron bedside tables and a dressing table, in such a way that I could make mosaic for the tops. The painting is one I did of local artist Katie Sabry. She occasionally modeled for life classes at the Cyprus College of Art

DAY 12 Project 365

Alexandros with his assistant fitting the new solar panels on the house roof today. The old ones blew off during the Christmas storms while we were in UK. H safely watches from below. All we need now is some sun, but not a chance of that... cloudy and chilly today. A half decent sunset over Limassol tonight though.

DAY 11 Project 365

It was Carole's birthday today, so our usual Thursday girl's day in town turned into a lunchtime celebration at the Meze Taverna. Happy Birthday Carole!

DAY 9 Project 365

Just snapped this bright rockery clump on the back terrace, while the flowers were still wide open. The sunshine there will be shaded by the house in a few minutes, and already through the studio window, I can see the petals beginning to close.

These showy daisies (not a clue what they're called here) are the result of a single sprig I snaffled from John and Jenny's garden on Christmas Day 2005. There are lots of rocks on the back hillside that would benefit from a little embellishment .... so I think tomorrow morning I'll spread a few more sprigs around.

DAY 7 Project 365

Daisy sunbathing.

Today for some strange reason, it's warmer outside than in. I had to switch on the heating in the studio... my fingers were too chilly to function.

THAT'S MA BOY!

Paintings using acrylic on canvas by Ian Skelton, December 2006 & January 2007.

Ian drew the most amazing colourful work as a youngster, and it was so sad that for one reason or another he didn't go on to develop his art. Now he has begun painting and it is just so exciting.... can't wait to see what he produces next!

PROJECT 365 Day 4

The intrepid Jan has begun to blog an image a day, inspired by Project 365. Looks like a great way to make sense and keep account of life as it passes.

I'm not the greatest at keeping New Year resolutions, so will hold back on making this one of my many failed ones ... however, will begin my intention to follow Jan's fine example with this pic, in the hope that what is everyday and mundane to self is fascinating and inspiring to a few others.

Day 4 a collection of images are on my workbench provided by Jim, the loving husband of my next portrait subject. A portrait is always daunting to begin, but this is scarier than most as for the first time, looks like I'm going to be working from an aged monochrome image.

ART & CRAFT CHRISTMAS GIFTS

What a thoughtful group our family and friends are! They came up with a fab group of art and craft gifts, which I love and all goes to show how well they know me. Here are some of them.

Jan and I met up pre-Christmas for coffee, chat, lunch and a brilliantly looooong and expensive visit to the Bead Shop at Covent Garden, just as we had promised ourselves. More of those particular goodies in later posts me thinks. Suffice to say, since my return to the island, I'm constantly disappearing into the studio to stroke and fondle some of the gorgeous shiney treasure acquired that day.

Jan gave me a lush collection of knitterly goodies, including fabulous hand-dyed purpley Silkwood yarn and pattern for a lacey shoulder shawl, needles, row counter, beaded stitch/row markers and Jan's own book 200 Stitch Patterns for Baby Blankets. Tonight I'm looking forward to giving the bamboo circular needles a tryout on the shawl. They look as if they might be really comfy to use. I'll let you know.

Before we moved to Cyprus, the Tate had been planning an Holbein exhition for ages and Beryl and I had it flagged as a must do on one of our London visits. We didn't actually get to see it together, but it was lovely to receive the Holbein book from her, which is just amazing and puts my humble efforts at portraiture well and truly in their place. With a possible visit to Venice in our sites for this year Francesco's Italy was a spot on gift from Nick and Beba, as was the Jewellery two-in-one manual from Ian and Julie.

BEN'S VISIT TO SANTA'S GROTTO

We are now back from our Christmas visit to the family in England. It was the best of times and the worst of times. H spent most of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at High Wycombe General Hospital and after our return to Cyprus, also a day being closely monitored in the Poly Clinic. Thank goodness I can now report that there is nothing seriously wrong.

Inbetween the worry and drama, we had a wonderful time, beginning with a fabulous party and overnight stay at a London hotel near Marble Arch with Nick, Beba and business colleagues, then lots of family fun at Ian's party and with Nick, Beba and Ben at home.

Nick and I just had to take Ben to meet Santa Claus. None of our boys when small seemed to take to the idea of meeting such a legend, and Ben was no exception. To prove it, there are now photos of all three wearing "please get me outta here" expressions. Pity really, coz this Santa, being the 'genuine' one, had a real beard and cracking advice on how to keep little boys happy all Christmas and apparently most of the New Year. It involved acquiring a large cardboard box, into which you cut windows and a doorway and filled with lots of balloons! You just know it would work :-))

CHRISTMAS TEDDY

Finished stitching a Christmas Teddy in time to fly to England with us tomorrow! Hope Ben likes him!

Goodness knows how, but managed to get all art/craft projects finished, so can start the New Year with a brand new set of ideas. At the moment the plan is to start painting BIG!

Jolly pre-Christmas get-togethers with friends all accomplished, house cleaned within an inch of it's life and everything packed for the trip. H still trying to work out how my stuff fills the whole of a huge suitcase and part of his little one...bless him. Instruction lists compiled for our dog/housesitters who arrive at noon tomorrow, then off we go.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS to all my Blog friends. See you in 2007.

1.12th SCALE DOLLS HOUSE PAINTINGS

Whilst Grantie was here earlier this month, we spent a crafty afternoon at the annual Christmas Craft Fair held to raise funds for Friends for Life, our local hospice charity. As always it was a great event, made all the more special for me because almost every stall holder was a friend and it was great catching up with everyone.

I chatted with Sandra, who specialises in making the most fabulous dolls houses. She also supplies the tiny scaled down items of furniture and household equipment to go into them. Some little girls are going to be oh so lucky this Christmas.... so tempting even for a big girl like me. Like I need another obsession like a hole in the head! However, it got me thinking, that it might be fun to paint a 1.12th scale portrait to go in the cute little frame that Sandra supplied to me. Maybe some little girls, who are the proud owners of dolls houses, would also like a portrait of themselves to display too.

Stephie designed and constructed a dolls house for a GCSE project at school, so she was my chosen subject to give the idea a try. At the risk of embarrassng them both, I picked out a photo of herself and sister Zoe and taped up an area of heavy watercolour paper, to reveal an area approx 3 x 4.5 cm. I then made a portrait sketch of Stephie and painted it using watercolours and a touch of acrylic for highlights.

MOGGS' PORTRAIT

After I finished this painting of Moggs today, I left it propped against a wall downstairs. Daisy was the first of the furry girls to spot it, and began growling softly and when it didn't jump on her eventually plucked up courage to take a close look. Chou Chou saw it next and became mesmerised; she paced around it, wagged tail, stared ... hid behind a sofa and stared some more ... finally went for a sniff and then plonked herself down infront of it and grumbled at it. Sally, bless her, took absolutely no notice at all, but then those of you who know her won't be a bit surprised to hear that ... and Teddy ran across the room at it and started 'talking' and introducing herself to it. The 'original' Moggs, meanwhile, stalked off in high dudgeon boycotting all contact with the imposter.

BEN'S PORTRAIT

Today I painted this portrait of Ben, our little 'Sunshine'. Faces are one of my favourite subjects, and it was an especial joy to do this one.

I am working a little larger for a change. Watercolour and acrylic on 8 1/4 x 11 1/4 inch 300gr Fabriano Acquarello cold pressed cotton watercolour paper, with a white border to allow for mounting and framing.

SAFE HAVEN FOR DONKEYS

Yesterday I took Julie, Abby and Corinne up to the donkey sanctuary at Vouni. There are way over 100 animals that have been rescued or left as unwanted. A team of dedicated volunteers care for them magnificently ... heroically actually in the heat of Cyprus summer. The girls adopted Melios and Gringo, and hope to visit them again when they return next year

We had lunch at Omodhos village. Thank goodness I remembered my camera. Lots of inspiration for future doodles!