Happy Tuesday Friends!
First things first – the wee stray cat has been collected by the SSPCA (Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). They will get him seen by a vet, and hold him for a week or so to see if anyone claims him (he’s not chipped) and after that he goes up for rehoming. My neighbour had called them last week. I hope he finds good people who will look after him.
Today’s Art . . .
Today’s art is a page for AJJ’s May theme of flowers. I came across this page during my current clean up and decided that I really should finish it once and for all! I can’t remember what class it was from last year but I remember Carola doing a much better job of it, so maybe she can remember? Was it Sketchbook Revival last year or maybe the Kaleidoscope or Life Book Taster Sessions? If I have time I will hunt down the class schedules and find out for sure. Anyway, this was an acrylic exercise using only black and white, and mine was not going well, and I didn’t like it, so I stopped and then forgot to start again.
Tonight though (Monday) I found it again, and sat down at the table and pulled out some different mediums to work with – some Pitt Artist pens first, but I wasn’t happy with the results, and then on top, some pastels.
I was much happier working with the pastels so there is almost a complete layer of pastel on top of the original acrylic. I used Distress Ink for her hair and then some Posca pens for the flowers. I thought she needed some flowers for her hair so I kept to the black and white theme, and added some white flowers.
I used up more of the little squares I cut for my patchwork page a few weeks ago and I ended up with a finished page that I was finally quite happy with and was glad it was no longer lying around looking accusingly at me. There’s a lot of texture now with the pastel over the acrylic on the watercolour paper. She could probably do with more work but there’s a limit to how much pastel I can add over what was already there on this kind of paper.
Currently Reading . . .
I’m currently reading this book, another from Charlie Huston that I had in my collection but had forgotten about and so it had remained unread – until now.
It’s not at all what I expected and I quite like that in a book!
Webster Filmore Goodhue has found temporary work as one of the mop-up crew for the L.A. county crime division. In other words, he cleans up grisly crime scenes for the cops. But when the daughter of a recent Malibu suicide asks for his help to clean up after her brother got in a little trouble, every cell in Webs brain is telling him to turn it down.
TOTAL for 2023
79 books
May Books so far – 11
69. Lev Grossman – The Magician’s Land – Magicians #3 
70. Jodi Taylor – White Silence – Elizabeth Cage #1 
71. Margareta Magnusson – Dostadning: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning (2020)
72. JP Smythe – Way Down Dark – Australia Trilogy #1
73. Simon Clark – Night of the Triffids
74. Charlie Huston – Already Dead – Joe Pitt #1
75. Charlie Huston – No Dominion – Joe Pitt #2
76. Charlie Huston – Half the Blood in Brooklyn – Joe Pitt #3
77. Charlie Huston – Every Last Drop – Joe Pitt #4
78. Donna Tartt – Secret History
79. Karen Joy Fowler – The Jane Austen Book Club
(re-reads in bold)
Currently Growing . . .
This is how my veggie beds look right now – no veggies! I’ve prepped the beds, and I bought some irrigation pipe from the DIY shop and cut it up to make canopy supports for the nets that will have to go down soon. The pipe is bright blue but it was very cheap compared to buying real canopy supports from a garden centre so I can live with the blue. All my seedlings are still in the greenhouse and not in the garden because…
I bought some cans of beer last week and put beer traps down. I feel bad about this but when I went out at night to check them, the garden was full of snails – armies of snails and slugs all heading towards my plants – every single plant in the garden had snails on it, so I felt less bad about the beer. I also saw three frogs and a newt who had left the pond and were out hunting for food but I think they are outnumbered by all the snails. I have snail overload! Very unbalanced in the garden at the moment. Hopefully I can balance it out a bit better.
Not so many flowers in the garden right now, but this pink rhododendron has started flowering.
And this white azalea has suddenly burst into flower too.
I had to go to five different places before I found some cat mint plants in stock (Nepeta Cataria) to replace the ones that the -8C weather killed off last winter. Miss P was very excited to see it and started munching on it immediately.
As did my neighbour’s cat, this is him after eating the cat mint hahaha.
Kitties . . .
Miss Lily says hi. She’s not been 100% this week but she’s still been enjoying sunbathing and getting maximum exposure.
My neighbour’s cat and I were sitting on a bench enjoying the sun when he suddenly heard a strange noise and sat bolt upright lol. He looked like he was standing to attention.
T Stands For . . .
This was a gift from my friend, some new tea for me to try and some plant chocolate from Cadbury. I ate the chocolate already, it was quite a good flavour but sometimes with vegan chocolate there can be a funny mouth feel and this had that. Do you like the name of the tea? Say it out loud and you’ll get it. I have not yet tried the tea as I am only on decaf at the moment and this is not decaf, but I will get around to it at some point.
Let me know what you think in the comments. As always, thanks for reading and Happy T Day!
Your artwork looks amazing! You’re very talented with your details! Love looking at all of your photos of your garden, the kitty friend and the snails! What a lovely visit today! Thanks for sharing!
Oh Elle I just love this post. You garden looks amazing. I love the art too. That is a wonderful face. Have a lovely day today
Lovely art. I wish the deer would leave my flower alone.
Coffee is on, and stay safe,
What a great post. I love the page you have for Aimeslee’s AJJ theme. It’s lovely to see your garden and the cats enjoying the sun! Belated Happy T Day,Chrisx
a wonderful art page! Nice to see your garden and your cute cats. With the snails there you have a lot!
Have a happy week, hug Elke
Your garden is an inspiration! Those snails will just have to find a more congeniel-to-them location. Happy T Tuesday
Great drawing , it something I always wished I could do ! Lovely flowers and although I’m not a cat lover I enjoyed seeing the photos of them enjoying the garden. The Spanish people collect snails and cook them, we see them on the field near our villa collecting them, I couldn’t bear to eat them but the Spanish love them
Well i have picked up the ‘Legacy ‘ book again… Its a tough read for me for some reason… But i have his series.. David L Golemon… and if memory serves me right his books are difficult to get into.. but 1/3 of the way through they smooth out and seem not quite as disjointed as they seem at first… Hope the kitty finds a home…What a lovely face you ended up with… perseverance.. served you well! Loving your flower beds too! Happy T day! Hugs! deb
I love the page with the face and hows you altered it to fit to Aimeslee’s flowers challenge at AJJ, thanks for joining us. Lovely to see the kitties, and cat mint is always popular. Your garden looks good, but those snails are not my faves, hope you cn get them under control. I live on the 2nd floor and still haved snails on my balcony, I don’t know how they get up here! Hope the stray kitty finds a good home! Happy T Day, hugs, Valerie
Your garden is So lovely and manicured. It is discouraging when all your efforts and money are ruined by pests. I hope the beer can works to get rid of the snails. But your plants still look like they are flourishing.
Your mixed media piece is beautiful and I love that you didn’t give up on it. And I think that it is great that you are always taking classes and learning. I have almost completed 1 Domestika class. I just bought one more yesterday and I thought of you and how you said you bought more before completing any of the previously purchased classes. They do have some great deals.
Etiquette, right?
Happy Tea Day,
Kate