Good, bad...Disaster and disappointment.

Now that Muse-ic is finally finished I can, or at least I was considering the next exciting step in my work. Namely the move back to full colour work. The photo below shows the work of the past three years or so ( the work remains frameless because frankly I can't afford to have them framed yet!)...many of the pieces you'll recognise...over 1000 hours of work is represented here, not to mention the many many hours of preparation/ sketching deliberation and false starts! But it's all in black and white! So today I set about seeing if my colour pens were still serviceable. Of the original eight that I've used in the past, only one of them appeared to be working properly.(one also sustained damage during it's stripping down and was only fit for the dustbin!) So I mentioned this on Face Book and got some advice, which I might have misinterpreted. This was to soak the nibs ( once stripped down ) in boiling water.

The results of which can be seen below...all the pens warped. I was so disappointed I could have cried. They are now unusable!....and my intention to return to full colour will have to wait. I will lick my wounds...I'll drink Gin...I'll listen to loud music and think about nice things...then I'll refill my black pen and see what happens!

Trees - 1

The sun is out, and it's time to move on. I've a show to work towards and I need to produce a few things that I don't mind selling. Willington is a small village south of Derby, they've not had a festival there before, so I don't know what to expect. Yesterday I set off with my sketch pad and camera to have a look around Willington and surrounding area for some inspiration. The Trent and Mersey canal runs straight through the village and is to be the site of a multi million pound Marina development in the near future.

Canals were the freight transport backbone of this country before the motorways took their place.Much of the canal system fell into disrepair over time.But recent years have seen a boom in their use.With the growing awareness of environmental issues and concern for our resources, canals are once again seeing freight traffic. Then of course, there is the huge tourism and holiday market. The waterways of Britain are home to some of the most highly decorated canal barges which for some are permanent homes.

I took a walk up one of the stretches of Canal from a lock called Stenson Bubble (see below).the drawing is of some trees I saw on my walk. Join me each day to see it grow...and I can assure you..it won't take 9 weeks this time!