Jigsaw - 78

Slow going...slow going...I've been on this since May and my life seems to revolve around it...I'm not complaining, it's just a convenient way of avoiding all the other stuff.

Jigsaw - 77

Jigsaw - 76

This is probably the best representation of the colours of this picture I've show you so far..Sometimes I think (and I'm not a technical photographer) the camera picks up the large areas of white, and this affects the way the other colours are detected. Well, as you can see, the amount of white is decreasing quite rapidly now, so that's perhaps why.

I decided to proceed up the left hand side of the picture after some indecision as to how big I'd make the nebula...I think it will all fall into place when I get to it!

Jigsaw - 75

Jigsaw - 74

It's been an odd week for me.Jan and the kids have been away camping.I hate camping as you know and I know some of you find this hard to believe, but here in the UK, camping is a bit of a gamble, well a s far as I'm concerned, it's a dead cert that it will rain and it will be cold. And I'm happy to confirm that reports from the camp back up my theory, and so much so that the tail end of Hurricane 'Bill' wondered across the Atlantic to dump it's rain and blow it's storm onto our tent rendering it damaged beyond repair. Jan rang me to say they were not going to pack the tent , but they were just going to put it in the rubbish skip on the way out!They're due back soon (I'm writing this at around 9:50 pm) They are due home around 11pm. their descriptions of the location are achingly wonderful and I'm so so frustrated that I couldn't be there...as being by the sea is one of the only sounds that masks my tinnitus...aarrgh!

My photo presented here is a little better than yesterdays offering.It was still taken with the flash because it's dark here.you'll just have to imagine that the lighter blue is actually much darker and blends in better.Meanwhile I continue to darken the sky and reduce the size of the stars...I'm much happier with it now.

Jigsaw - 73

I really thought that this would be a fairly quick procedure, but I've been slowly been refining the stars and making many of them smaller and covering many of them up....the colour representation here is not good, as in other light the differentiation between the various shades of blue and purple crates a rather more misty effect.I'll try again tomorrow to get a better photo.

Jigsaw - 72

Had a bit of a slower day today. But the stars are continuing to grow...I enjoy seeing how it's going to develop because I have no hard and fast plans...I'll just let nature take it's course.

Jigsaw - 71

Here you can see the formation of a new area in the sky...something I envisaged long before I began this picture. I sat having lunch with Jan in a nice pub out in the countryside...the conversation drifted to how long we had been married. (It was just before our 25th Anniversary) and I had mused on the fact that it would be nice to go back to when we first met. The memory of those days is still clear and I'd observed that it was a little like looking at the light from distant stars. We can see how things were so long ago, but because the light from some distant objects has taken millions of years to reach us, so things would now be very different. Do you get what I mean?

So the Nebula in this context is like a beautiful memory which dominates the sky, but is a representation of things that once were. I think it fits in nicely with the symbols in the rest of the composition....

Jigsaw - 70

Here you can clearly see the red I've started to introduce into the uppermost branches...I'm really just feeling my way with this one, i know I've seen trees that have caught the setting sun on their top branches before. I still intend to darken the reds more and deepen the shade of the trunk.In fact there's still quite a lot to cover on my actual head...currently there's a white outline

which would be appropriate if the moon were behind me....but it's not..so at some point I'm going to have to soften that effect and probably add more colour.

You might also notice I decided to lose a few stars...I might lose a few more before long!

Jigsaw - 69

This week I am having to cope with my annual 'Home alone' session as Jan and the children have gone off to camp with friends in Wales. As you probably know by now, I hate camping and so do not go with them . Instead , I remain home and usually this means lots of time to spend on my work with a little Bourbon abuse and megathermo curry consumption included.

Sunday 23d August...The greatest day in English cricket .

Ok...so no 'Jigsaw' today...I spent the day ( as did most England Cricket fans) listening to the Fifth and final Test Match between England and Australia...whilst I cannot publish yet any video of the the match, here is a promotional video which should give you an idea of the importance of this event.

in the end, England won! and 'The Ashes' are regained!...and all England celebrates tonight!

Jigsaw - 68

Here's a wonky view of the whole picture giving you an idea of the amount of work four days impacts on the amount of sky completed.At this rate it could be another three weeks or so before I reach the finishing stages!

Jigsaw - 67

Working was easy today..for the one reason. Cricket !..or to be more precise,' The Ashes' which involves England laying Australia in a five match series. This happens every two years alternating between England as venue and Australia and is the pinnacle of cricket in England.For those of you who don't know what I'm on about....the history goes right back to 1882 when Australia beat England ta cricket and burnt the bails or a stump to signify the death of English cricket...a mock funeral was held. England then played to regain the ashes which are kept in a tiny terracotta urn.

Currently, we are in the middle of the last of the five match series...with two matches drawn, and one win each , Australia currently are the owners of the Ashes and so only have to draw to prevent England regaining them...but England have today put themselves in with a huge opportunity of winning them back....and I listen to the match on my radio whilst I work...bliss!

I continue to develop the sky which is very time consuming, but I'm really enjoying it...

Jigsaw - 66

Looking at the way the sky is developing reminds me of (when I look at it in context of the whole picture) of a science fiction paperback cover from some 1960's novel. I grew up watching and reading fantasy stories and watching sci fi on TV...Thunderbirds...Doctor Who...are some of the earliest memories. Of course, we continue to enjoy a rejuvenated Doctor Who once again, and the show is bigger and better than ever.But mention the words 'Science fiction' and many people (especially women!) Will recoil in horror....immediately an image of a thick bespectacled pullover wearing 30 year old who lives at home with their Mum and Dad still and collects Star Trek DVDs, Star Wars figures kept in their boxes,piles of X-Men comics,and every episode of The Prisoner's script learnt off by heart immediately spring to mind. But last night I sat in a packed cinema of 'normal people' all unaware that they were watching and enjoying a science fiction movie......the movie?...It was 'The Time Travellers Wife'.



I'm not going to spoil it for you if you haven't seen it, but I'd be surprised if you haven't at least of heard of if not read the book. I read it back in 2006 and it blew me away to coin a phrase....and I've held it dear to my heart ever since.If you're going to see the movie and you're worried that the story has been chopped about and spoiled...then don't...it's great and I sat trying to hold back the tears on several occasions. It was beautiful and I urge you to go and see it...

Jigsaw - 65

I've progressed the sky up the the furthest point now mainly to get an idea of the way I'm going to develop the stars. Another interesting effect has been the uppermost reaches of the tree...I'd only put basic dark blue guides in for the twigs, but it somehow makes sense to instead of having them silhouetted against the sky, to have them highlighted by some off scene light. I don't know if it'll work, but it's easy to rectify if it doesn't!

I'm off to the cinema tonight to see 'The Time Travellers Wife'...the book is one of my favourite stories...it's hard to imagine how it has been adapted....I'll let you know tomorrow what I thought of it!

Jigsaw - 64 - holiday snaps

It's very slow progress and bound to get slower with the density of the dots increasing with the darkness of the sky. However, I'm still maintaining my interest ! Most of you know that I've been on holiday, so I thought I'd show you a couple of photos taken around where we stayed.

We stayed in Porthmadog which is in Wales. It's a harbour town which originally was used as a port to ship locally mined Welsh slate all over the world. trains from the mines in the mountains would bring the slate down to the harbour to be loaded onto ships. The railway remains as a working steam railway with a comprehensive passenger schedule...the Ffestiniog railway is a major tourist attraction. Above, our apartment is seen in the buildings edging the harbour...you'll have to guess which one as it's too hard to point out, but below is a view from one of our windows which I took at about 6;15 am as the sun was rising .

Finally, here's a picture which my son Sam suggested I record. The board on the path proclaims "Weight Watchers Meet Here".

Looking for The Rainbow.

Here is a selection of photos showing my work today. The artwork has yet to have text added to it,(it will say 'Looking For ' above the word 'Rainbow' at the bottom of the finished artwork.) I'll post a photo of the finished article when it's done. I'm looking forward to getting back to my work on jigsaw tomorrow.

Jigsaw - 63

Subtle difference today..I wonder if you can tell that I've added purple into the sky and along the branches?..in daylight it's quite apparent ..I intend to deepen the darkness of the sky quite quickly from here on up.

*I will be away for a holiday from tomorrow (Saturday 8th - 15th ) so I will not be updating these pages. I hope you'll join me when I get back?

Jigsaw - 62

..and then it reached my ears!

Jigsaw - 61

It's almost as if icy waters are creeping up to submerge me! I have to establish a good block of sky before I add darker colours into it...thus it will look quite garish until then. I also have to introduce stars (which I've already begun to do)

Below is a clipping from today's local newspaper (The Derby Evening Telegraph)..A photographer came out to see us at the exhibition in Cromford the week before last.