My medical problems and their investigation and treatment
2025 - END OF YEAR REVIEW It's been a relatively quiet year, all told. Not a great deal to report on our normal activities. Most of my activity this year has been art-related. Studio changes I got some great new shelving units for the studio and reorganised things to make life a lot…
KINTSUGI AND THE ART OF COFFEE MUG MAINTENANCE Cracked mug I was devastated recently to discover that my favourite mug had developed a crack, and was leaking. I was given this mug many years ago by a friend who knows I love cats, and I love all the fun kitty pictures on it.…
HEALTH UPDATE - PRE-ASSESSMENT APPOINTMENT Today I attended the hospital in Exeter again, for the pre-assessment appointment with the anaesthetist, prior to my parastomal hernia repair and proctectomy. I saw the new consultant colorectal surgeon (No. 3 since being referred to Exeter from Torbay back in 2018) in August of last year and…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - THE ART OF MANDALA DRAWING - BEGINNER PRACTICE SHEETS The second part of the preparation unit continues with drawing practice. Having done the shading exercises, we could now move on to do some actual mandala drawing. Sheet 1 - mandala elements Lizzie, our teacher, had prepared some sheets for us…
2024 GENERAL REVIEW As stated in the previous two posts, I have had to separate my annual end-of-year review into separate posts or the whole thing would be impossibly long! As it is, both the Art Course review and the general art review are pretty long. I'm hoping this post won't be so…
HEALTH UPDATE - THE BALL IS ROLLING AGAIN Warning - medical details. If you are squeamish, please don't read. After everything that has happened (or rather, not happened) over the past 5 1/2 years, it really does now look as if I am going to get my operation sooner rather than later. It's…
NEGATIVE WATERCOLOUR - KOI CARP, OUR FIRST PLUM CROP, AND A HEALTH UPDATE Negative Koi Carp This is a negative watercolour I have been wanting to do for some time. I used several unrelated images of koi carp from the internet as inspiration, and made my own composition and colouring. Every picture goes…
ONLINE ART COURSE - BOSTON TERRIER IN GRAPHITE, AND A HEALTH UPDATE I am not really a dog person, but I had to admit that I found this picture adorable! Nice to be back with graphite again, as well. I enjoy this medium. It is a lot less messy than charcoal, although it…
Today is my 71st birthday (eek... I haven't even managed to get my head around being 70 yet!). The day started badly with my waking up at 7.00 a.m. so I thought I'd get up, but I'd only started to get ready when I felt so tired and in need of more sleep…
NEW ART MATERIALS, MORE TEABAG STAINS, AND CATARACT NEWS Coloured pencils A couple of years ago I got a set of Derwent Coloursoft pencils. These wax-based coloured pencils are very soft and creamy, and blend very well, but it is impossible to retain a sharp point on them and they are not good…
