Watercolour Painting in the People's Park

 During the good weather my studio was like a sweat shop, it was impossible to work in, but leading up to the RDS show I didn't really have much choice but to literally sweat it out. Since the pressure to make a million bags has slackened off since the show I've been able to take my time making work. Last week I packed up my brushes, pencils, and paints and headed to the People's Park with my picnic blanket. It was obviously still sweltering, but at least it was nice to be out in the sunshine. I was really surprised with how much work I got done, and how pleasant it was. I'm definitely going to turn it into a regular habit, but sadly it's reliant on good weather.

I attracted a few people's attention, with one or two people coming over to look at what I was working on, one couple even took my details for a commission, but I think most were a little disappointed that I wasn't painting the park itself.

J.R.R.Tolkien

Germaine Greer

I went home that evening and finished off the pieces when it started to get dark. I'm waiting to order some transfer paper so I won't have that in my Etsy shop and at my stall for another couple of weeks, but I'll list the original paintings later in the week in my shop.

I have to say that I'm really loving doing my portrait work, if I could make all my money from it I would be pretty happy to work on them alone and take a break from sewing. I think I would need to make quite a few more online sales though before I make that step!

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Bargain Audiobooks

I just found this great shop Dazawoo that sells MP3 audiobooks, I got a little trigger happy with that dangerous mouse that is attached to my paypal account and I bought, all the Harry Potter books, all of The Lord of the Rings, and ....wait for it....all of Terry Pratchett, and The Talisman by Stephen King. Now I know that seems insanely extravagant but it cost me less that 30 euro! I've ordered stuff off the guy before and the recordings are great. You just get a cd in the post, slap it onto your computer and listen away, and you can transfer it to any MP3 player that you want. Johns arguement was why don't I download them myself, but to be honest I tried this and I got hopelessy lost, and ended up after two days of effort with an awful abridged version of Jane Eyre that cut out all the time. I figure at times like these, delegate, I'm more than happy to spend 30 quid and somebody else does all the donkey work.

I'm bursting with excitement I can wait until the postman comes knocking with my lovely parcel.

In other news my big sister Karen called over today to help me with the button management task, we delved into the pretty tricky metal ones and got a fair bit of work done. We also did a good bit of chatting and catching up too, which is always great!

Am I a Complete Old Lady?

I have discovered a new joy...audiobooks!! I know that sounds a little batty but they are really great to listen to when I'm doing hours of hand sewing. I found myself watching lots of films when I had sewing to do, but I mostly ended up missing most of it because I wasn't looking at the screen. I came up with the idea of getting audiobooks ages ago, but me being the eternal procrastinator I didn't do anything about it. Yesterday I tried to download some but I was very confused and frustrated by odd things like bit torrent and seeding (does anyone know what they mean cos I don't!). So instead I tottered down to the Library signed up to a new membership, and strolled over t the audiobook section. I was a bit appallled at the old ladyness of their selection, lots of Patricia Scanlan, and Daniel Steele, but there were a few gems in the rough. Also after a bashful enquiry I found where they had the Harry Potters were hidden(doh, in the kids section). So for free I scooted home with the first 3 Harry Potter books, a Terry Pratchett, E.M.Foster's A Room With A View (one of my favorite books), and Bridget Jone's Diary (which I've never bothered reading but I'll quite happily listen to it). What a wonderful idea, the library, I'm in love all over again, it brought me back to my preteen days when I couldn't afford books and I was always in the there with my mother.

Yesterday I got through The Philosophers Stone, I had a huge amount of sewing to do and plenty more still yet to do today so I'm sure I'll hear all of the second book today....oh the excitement. As you may have guessed I'm a bit of a Harry Potter fan, I've read all the books, watched the movies multiple times, but listening to Stephen Fry narrating them is really wonderful.

So am I a complete old lady by listening to audiobooks or does anyone else do it?