Delicious Devon

I have just come back from my friend's wedding in Devon. Check out the gorgeous church at Southleigh, and here is the beautiful Branscombe. We stayed at The Mason's Arms Branscombe. Lovely accommodation, friendly staff and fantastic food in the restaurant (and the wine's good too, well worth a visit if you are down that way.)

Didn't want to leave my friends or Devon but sadly the floods wreaked havoc in Somerset the evening of the day we left so we made it away just in time.

Cromer Beach

Went for a walk at Cromer today and got inspired by the beautiful scenery and stones on the beach. Hope you like my pictures.

Cromer is a lovely town on the North Norfolk Coast full of alleyways and interesting little shops, it has a pier where every year they have the famous 'End of the Pier Show' which is a variety performance including dancers, singers, comedians etc.

If ever you are in Norfolk be sure to go to Cromer for a stunning coastal walk, museums, a beautiful large church, see the famous Cromer Lifeboat, read stories of these brave men who have saved so many lives down through the ages.

Make sure you try some Cromer Crab too, mmm delicious!

Just down the road from Cromer is Sheringham, check out www.sheringhammarket.blogspot.com

Art - In the Eye of the Beholder

Is it all in the genes? I wonder. My Grandad was a very talented artist. I never knew him as he died before I was born. He died when my Mother was in hospital giving birth to my brother. I can't even begin to imagine how she felt, she was just beginning to get to know him.

I've seen some of his paintings. My Mum has two. One is the interior of a church and the other is a portrait of my Grandad's mother - my Great Grandmother. I have spent a great deal of time looking at these paintings. They are the closest I have ever got to a man who I would have given my right arm to meet because we have shared interests.

He was a physical education teacher at Winchester College up until he died from a heart attack in the gym. Before that he was in the Navy on great ships such as HMS Formidable travelling the world during the 2nd World War.

Apart from spending many hours producing beautiful paintings he also loved photography and reading.

While I share his interests I can't pretend to have his talent. My art is as you can see more abstract and I wonder what he would have said about it. He thought Picasso was taking the mickey with his paintings so I might have had a similar response from him. I'll never know.

What I do know is that art like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One man's meat is another man's murder. Cliche's but very true. I am fascinated by all forms of art mainly because it tells me about people and people fascinate me. Sometimes I can't explain how my art takes the form it does when the paint hits the canvas. Something else takes over. It sounds a bit airy fairy but art is very much tied into the psychology of the individual whether they understand it or not.

When Grandad decided to paint a picture, he studied his subject carefully, spent time preparing and deciding how and what to do. I know that from what I've been told and it is obvious from the careful arrangement of his paintings.

When I decide to paint a picture my decisions are made through colour, texture and forms that capture my imagination. We are very different but in the end we are doing the same thing a generation apart.

Snowtastic

Yesterday it snowed in Norfolk, then we woke up to snow again today. It's lovely but oh so cold.

When you work outside it isn't a good thing to have snow in March but never mind.

Visit Myriad Life for beautiful jewellery - in the warm!

It will be summer soon enough - I hope!

I would love to Parachute -but I don't dare jump out the plane!

Here is something to remind us that spring is just around the corner.

Bet you feel better already!

Photographs

AbArt hope you like photographs, these pictures are all taken on a Canon digital camera.

My interests are wide and varied as you will see. Feel free to let me know what you think.