Red letter days.

There has been so much doom and gloom in the world recently, so much suffering, heartache and unimaginable tragedy everywhere. My own problems appear very trifling when compared to the major catastrophes all around us. Nevertheless, I still would like to say a huge than you for the support and kindness that you have given me over the last few months. I may not have thanked you all individually but have been very appreciative non the less.

So now I would like to share with you some of the things that have made my heart sing. We celebrated Red Nose Day here in Britain recently. Comic Relief is a huge undertaking to raise money for charity. If you read Karen Davis’s blog “Moonlight and Hares” you will know that she offered an exquisite miniature original painting in her Etsy shop. All the proceeds went to Comic Relief and I decided to snap up the treasure whilst the going was good! It came a few days ago, beautifully wrapped and with extra surprise goodies. You can see the gorgeous little ACEO in the photograph; the detail in the fox is stunning.

I also entered a blog giveaway some time ago over on “Sweet Tidings” Christy has a fabulous blog and a huge and compassionate heart. I left the fiftieth comment which turned out to be the winner! She sent me this wonderful parcel all the way from The Philippines. It arrived on the same day as Karen’s so I had a joyous day when the postman knocked.



We have also been experiencing the most wonderful weather, blue skies and sunshine, daffodils and blossom everywhere; I hope your days are joyous too. The lovely Ravilious ceramics also came in the post. These were made by Wedgwood several years ago, sadly no more.

Time to say Goodbye.

Over the last few months our lives have been dominated by boxes, all around us people are on the move. One son moved house, the other moved office and my mum is moving from the former family home into a smaller retirement property within walking distance of our house. Amidst the chaos it has been difficult to keep up with work, blogs, housework and all the other myriad of things that demand my attention.

There have been some tough decisions to make, what to keep, what to give and what to recycle and everywhere memories. Memories, which stop you in your tracks and cause you to ponder on your own mortality. We come into this world with nothing and we go out with nothing but we don’t half accumulate some stuff along the way!

So yesterday I said a tearful goodbye to the garden my father tended for the last fifty-five years, the primroses, the quince, and the flowering aubrietia all looked lovely in the spring sunshine. I now carry his spirit, along with my late brother and sister, here in my heart. Home is, after all, where the heart is.

Books and Bargains.

click on the images for a closer look.


The photographs show Knutsford, a Cheshire market town close by where we go to for the odd treat. There are good places to eat, cobbled streets packed with galleries and best of all the charity shops. “Posh” people it seems, throw away the best stuff! Of course I had to buy something when we visited last week, I found a lovely old wooden blotter for £3.50 and a vintage toast rack for 50 pence which I just had to have.

We ate lunch inside a quirky little museum which houses a collection of Penny Farthing bicycles and later explored some of the buildings associated with Elizabeth Gaskell. The novelist lived here and immortalized the town in her novel Cranford. Some of the buildings have an Italianate feel to them especially the Gaskell Memorial tower, which would not be out of place in San Gimignano!




We had World Book week a few days ago so I thought it would be fitting to share with you some of my recent acquisitions. I love a bargain, don’t you? I found this gorgeous re-print of Walter Crane’s “Here we go round the Mulberry Bush” for 99p and a very tatty copy of “Mrs Molesworth’s Four Winds Farm” for less than a fiver. I shan’t tell you what I paid for the “Baby’s Opera” but I am going to attend a book restoration workshop so I have told myself that this will be an investment. All of these titles were illustrated by my hero Walter Crane; my heart still skips a beat when I come across his work.

The other two books I bought in London, “Engraved Gardens” published by Primrose Hill Press Ltd is a beautiful book about wood engraving’s inspired by gardens. I came across “Twelve Poems about Birds” by Candlestick Press in The British Library bookshop; I bought it to give a friend on her birthday so I am hoping she won’t be reading this!

Wood Engraving Workshop

Last weekend I went to a wood engraving workshop here at Northern Print.
I have been a long time admirer of wood engraving and have been promising myself that one day I would try to learn from an expert, there is only so much you can do from books and videos, there is nothing to compare to watching a craftsman’s hands at work.

The class was held by Chris Daunt whose work I had admired at The Bankside Gallery earlier this year. He is a member of The Society of Wood Engravers and has a website here, where you can buy wooden blocks and learn more about the craft. The class was well attended and everyone came away with a series of prints. Although I did not manage to finish my block on the day I carried on at home and got it completed, although I don’t have a press, instead I used a hand burnisher. I now feel more confident to do more engraving and have a better understanding of how to hold the tools and how much pressure to use.



We stopped off at Durham and explored the lovely old cobbled streets around the cathedral. Both Newcastle and Durham have magnificent and dramatic locations, steeped in history and art, they are also very friendly, warm places and we hope to go back again before too long.

Somewhere over the rainbow.

Hello again, I hope all is well with you in this New Chinese Year, The Year of the Rabbit.

I won’t say much about my absence, you have troubles of your own I am sure. Let us just say that these past few months have been full of heartache and personal loss and at times I have felt like I was drowning in grief. I am happy and grateful to report that I did not drown, my family and friends pulled me through.

When I started this blog I wanted to share with you my inspirations; apart from the usual meaning inspiration can simply mean to breathe in and to draw oxygen into the lungs. That it is how I feel at the moment, inspiration is a vital part of life and has helped me overcome that terrible feeling of drowning. So I would like to thank all of you for sharing your creativity and inspirations with me.

Sometimes grief becomes too heavy a burden to carry around, we decided to visit our son in London for a little respite, it did us the world of good and have come back with hope in our hearts. We recently visited The Bankside Gallery in London and saw an exhibition of Wood Engravings, passing through the nearby Borough market, filled with spring flowers and wonderful food aromas. We saw St Paul’s Cathedral and climbed to the top of the dome, enough to make anyone breathe deeply! You can enjoy a virtual tour here. On our final day we went to the new British Library, if you get a chance this is well worth a visit. It looks a little austere on the outside but inside it is beautiful, very light and airy. It reminded me of Japanese architecture with its simplicity and elegance, I will definitely try to visit again before too long as there was too much to take in one day.





The rabbit painting is one I did years ago for Camden Graphics Ltd. I used gouache and coloured pencils, hence the grainy effect on the rainbow.

More time out.

It seems like this year has started the same way as last and I need to take more time out, so please bear with me a while longer.


To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

"A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance."

Best wishes and good health!

“Happy New Year everyone and Good Health”. I have had hardly any time to catch up with your news so please forgive my tardiness. Our Christmas has been dominated by worry, over the health of family members and concern caused by the cold and all its complications. We did manage to enjoy ourselves despite these difficulties and had lots of our younger family members to stay, including our lovely grandson and great niece, both of who are walking, talking and generally charming all and sundry. Now I have to catch up on getting the house back to normal, catching up on laundry, larder replenishing and work whilst continuing to visit my frail and elderly parents.

I choose this new illustration to start off the year, I have brought the lemons, you will find hot water in the pot, now you need to add some honey, stir well with the spoon provided and help yourself to a piece of cake! I hope to catch up soon.