List of a few things that need to be done

1. Wash up
2. Tidy up
3. Paint  some, but not enough.
4. Edit manuscript
5. Pot up tomato plants
6. Weed beds
7. Walk dogs some, but not far enough. Instead of walking I took a book and sat on the hill and read a chapter of A Clash of Kings
8. Stop doing things and listen to birdsong
9. Sit in the sun and think
10. Make coffee for Claire.

nb. Try and avoid picking up George RR Martin's A Clash of Kings until much later in the day.( Failed!) But I did paint a small dragon for friend's van.

And I did hear from Jane Johnson that there are two new Robin Hobb books that she has manuscripts for that will be needing new covers. City of Dragons and Blood of Dragons.

Cats

On the cliffs the thrift is beginning to blossom. Sea campion and squill also. 
Back home the Amur leopard is almost finished.

 

A short leopard story

 Travel can be unsettling. A few days in Paris, a weekend in Derbyshire. All well and good but each time I seem to get into the swing of walking and working I flit off again and then have to settle. Add to this the fact that I am almost 50 and increasingly menopausal and some days painting doesn't go as it should! 
Take one leopard. So far through this painting and frustration with how it went was crippling my fingers and judgement to screaming point! Not quite bad enough to 'know' for sure it wasn't right and not good enough to go on with.
Sometimes when this happens I take a photo and look at the piece of a screen, or sneak off and then sneak up to it when it isn't looking. Is it me, or is it really not working? When does self doubt kick in and when am I just being to self critical, given that I would if time allowed rip everything up and paint it 20 times?
This time I put my rubbish painting on facebook and got back the very best and most precise crit that I have ever had for a piece of work, that was just so incisively 'right on the button' that I want to quote it here. Made me laugh so much! Many thanks Debra Morse, you star. Here is what she said:

'You know I think this piece is perfect as it is. It's obvious the leopard and swallow have had a bitchy fight. 'Eff you' is all over each of their faces. The piece is unfinished. The irritation is palpable. Even the tree is heaving a sigh.... the other swallow fled so abruptly as to leave a hole in the sky. You have captured the frustrated menopausal fatigue brilliantly. I say label it accordingly, and start a collection of raw bits of emotion captured in colors.'

So, having skirted around the piece all afternoon and tried and tried to redraw I returned to the original text and the original leopard, not an African leopard but an Amur leopard, rarest of all. Only 40 now are known to man in the wild. It could be that there are a few more, but only a handful. Wild leopard of heat and snow the Amur's coat changes in length from 2-7cms from summer to winter. By the time this book is published there may be none left in the wild forests where Russia borders China. Logging, farming, hunting, all have taken their toll.

Painting all day, having begun in the evening yesterday and she is a much more noble creature. 

What my daughter is doing

I was a little shocked earlier this year when Hannah announced that she wanted to go to Peru for four weeks this summer with a company called World Challenge. First reaction? No way. Sadly ( or should I say, happily?) daughter has far too much of a mind of her own. She researched the trip and has been applying here and there for funding, has been saving all her money from her part time job, is plundering her savings and this weekend we went to Derbeyshire where she had a chance to meet some of the team she will be going with.
Amazing. Her team leader is an amazing and impressive woman as is the World Challenge organisation. Many of my fears were allayed by the talk, by meeting some of the other parents and by Hannah's whole approach to the trip.

As part of her fund raising she is doing a beach clean. It seemed a good way to benefit all round, and also something different. Walking on Whitesands Beach gives a small idea of some of the rubbish that washes up. The tideline is always dotted with tiny pearls of coloured plastic. On other beaches the detritus of man can be more overwhelming. The photos below were taken in 3 minutes on the beach at Ninewells. I have said that she can talk about her project on my blog, facebook etc. So, over to Hannah:

Hey Bloggers!

 As you may know, my mother is one Jackie Morris  and I am an AS student at Ysgol Dewi Sant, studying Art, English, History and religious Studies. This summer I am embarking on a World Challenge Expedition to Peru- Andes and Amazon.

    This expedition will not only be culturally enriching but will also develop skills in team work, co-operation and money management, and will be an invaluable educational experience as it will not only provide 70 UCAS points as it is ASDAN recognised, but will be the primary stimulus and inspiration for my A level art project.

    This project will entail trekking through the Andes and Amazon but more importantly beneficial community work in the community of Lima.

    As I fundraising activity, I am going to be doing a beach clean on the less accessible coastal beaches that you will have seen on mum’s blog, as every year much debris is washed up on them and never really gets cleared away. As most of them can only be accessed by boat. This will not only benefit the wildlife and local community, but I will also be donating half of the funds raised to Save The Children, who carry out projects globally, and of particular interest to me in Peru. Any support would be gratefully received.

  Thanks

Hannah

 In order to gain access to the beaches, which are inaccessible from the land Voyages of Discovery are loaning Hannah a skipper and a boat. Ffion, the skipper, is loaning her a dry suit and she will have to jump overboard and swim ashore then bag up as much rubbish as she can and swim it back to the boat. With luck she will be able to clear much of the plastic, and most importantly the bits of netting and wires that tangle the seal pups that will be born on the beaches later in the year.

If you would like to sponsor Hannah please send cheques, made out to Hannah Stowe, to c/o Chris and Julie at The Moshulu Shoe Shop, New Street, Paris House, St Davids, SA62 6SN.

Thanks. 

The Seal Children: Part 1.

Remastered film of The Seal Children intro. This story grew out of many small springs of ideas, possibly the first being hearing a story on Radio 4, by Kevin Crossley Holland, a retelling of a traditional story of Selkies. I became fascinated by these tranformative seal faery folk of legend.

The next film will be of the original manuscript and sketchbooks and then I hope to do a reading of the stroy with pictures.

In the autumn I will take the camera to the seal beaches and get film of the pups and mothers and their eerie songs.

Progress

Yesterday I learnt how to blow a sheepdog whistle.
Today I painted a small cheetah and a small snowleopard for the 'I am Cat' book.
Small progress, but better than none.

Signing Books at Solva Woollen Mill, Pembrokeshire, Early Spring.

Inside out 3

Outside clouds kissing hills, pearl gray light, white blackthorn blossom, jackdaw caw and magpie chatter and raven cronk, the wind building. Chiff chaffing in the bushes.

Inside, hot plains, ostriches, cheetahs.

Almost finished, not quite. Just letting it settle with the cat and the moon.

Red food

In the garden there are still beetroots that have survived the winter, in the ground. And in my cookbook from Druidstone Hotel, a wonderful vibrant recipe.

4 beetroots, roasted and grated

300gms of Greek Yoghurt, thick, creamy

3 tablespoons of fresh squeezed sharp lemon juice
a handful of tasted, chopped walnuts

a couple of tablespoons of olive oil

one clove of finely chopped garlic

salt

and always

black pepper.

I roast the beets in olive oil with some black pepper because I love the smell of the dark ruby roots and the cracked black peppercorns. There is something wonderful and jewel like about the grated beets. All you have to do is stir all the things together and then I find if you make it the day before and keep in fridge the taste is more wonderful and the colour is a feast for the eyes. 

Seedlings are sprouting up in the raised beds and I am wondering if I will have enough of everything, do I need more raised beds, should I just dig up the whole garden and plant food?

In Wales vegetables can be dangerous creatures so we keep them caged, or maybe this is just to keep the cats off the raised beds!

Do you like moles?

Back home after a trip to Paris and I have spent most of the day trying to learn how to use a shephard's whistle. And Paris was a long way away, beautiful, tiring. The hotel was good and the view and the church lovely though I wish I had woken more to hear the church bells chiming away the time. The square was a selection of shops that sold wonderful food, including a small chocolatier with the most lovely sweets.

The British school was warm, welcoming, bright with a beautiful library and wonderful children. On the Thursday evening we were wisked away to Janne's house where there were small puppies full of tiredness and delight. Great evening of relaxing book talk with Marilyn ( from Norfolk Children's Book Centre) in a lovely bistro where half way through the meal some people just wandered in and settled down to play music.

I took my healing bowl with me all the way to the school and I think this was one of the things the children liked best. It is amazing how it can bring a hush to a whole room of children as they listen to its building singing. 

I painted ( four paintings, 3/4 hour or less for each) and the children were full of questions as to how and where and when and what. Favorite question still is,  "Do you like moles?". Infact I think that so far in my career that is my all time favorite question.

Home now and time to settle to painting again, though I am hoping to go searching for hares at the weekend. And hoping for good weather and a peaceful mind.

And while I was away the shortlist was announced for the Kate Greenaway awards and I was a little sad not to find Tell Me a Dragon on it, but very very pleased that Meg Rosoff's 'Bride's Farewell' was on the Carnegie shortlist. Meg's 'Bride' is a wonderful tale with and I fell head over heals in love with The Dog Man and Jack. Great to hear Meg reading from her book in the clip from The Guardian.