Today Helen Dent(http://helenandapen.blogspot.com/) came out and we sat in the sun and drank tea and talked about illustration and drawing.So good. The sun on the harbour bounced to reflect on our faces on the veranda.

Gary was home sick with a very sore back..an oddness there that so far isn't explainable. Tonight we are going to see Duncan Graham who is a spiritual healer within the church. He is a light filled and so humble a person.

I took my friend Dianne to see him two years ago. When I took her up the front he was so gentle, she glowed bright with his touch and the space around them was lit. The whole church hushed.

No more work on my picture today but I did paint the shadows in quickly yesterday and was reminded how harsh they first look when you put them down on a painting. They stood out and hurt my eye.I toned them down after I stood back and gave them a bit more shape and pushed them back. Last year I forgot to put the dark in and the painting just didn't work.A good reminder of the importance of shadows.

They define us.

PAINTINGS

'Detail' from seven spanish angels and Cows of course

Flock and glitter

a place on earth

fabricated pears

Macker and the girls Dunedin railway station 2005

As cold as forty Bastards

I have sketched out a painting/Drawing to do today. It is of my daughter as a Star Bellied Sneetch amongst Bird of Paradise Plants.I had a visit from an Ex Tutor(Clive Humphrey's) of mine from Art School and he said something that has stuck like Glue in my brain 'if you get the pragmatics down first everything else will follow".At times I get caught up in big concept stuff and it trips me up to start making at all.If I break it down into small bites and just start making, it all starts working.So at the moment I am making pictures and doing some writing.A great deal of perseverance and discipline is required for me to even get to this stage. I have to discipline my brain not to go to an end result or expectation at the beginning of each process or I fail. Once I have enough work in front of me then it is good to Edit and consider,but for the moment it is good to just colour in and have fun making and creating.

I have been inspired to start recording on line by a young friend of mine Tess Ritchie who has started writing about how she is experiencing Prague. http://tessandprague.blogspot.com/

It is a wonderful thing to read something that is well crafted and carries inspiration within its frame.

The ADL'S in my by-line do refer to activities of daily living.I am at home and are attempting to be more intentional with my time and day . This is a way for me to see visually how I am doing and to record what I am learning.

So mine is a personal diary and a way I can hopefully organize my creativity.I have tried many many things.I find when I am explaining things to others or engaged in having to teach something I learn it better. This is me teaching myself.It is likely to be sporadic.