Finding Archie's Park

Started a few things in the studio this morning, once my usual procrastination hour was over, during which I washed rugs, framed postcards, broke things and hoovered. Archie's Park has the feel of 'Le Chien Perdu' when I started it, so I am hoping this is a good sign. The feeling is one of familiarity before a mark has been made, as if the picture is existing in my head waiting somewhat impatiently to come to reality. I have become quite adept at tuning in to my visual memory while whiling away the hours of mundane make-money-work, and therefore had a pretty good idea of the painting already. The new trick out the box, though, is the mini pic and that was remarkably successful; not only have I figured out what goes where, I can think about what technique will work and give me the right texture, pattern etc and importantly what colours will work. In this instance I did the whole thing on instinct, with blue sky, green park and red hair - then realised that the reversing of two key colours would be far more striking, namely the sky and hair. I have wanted to do blue hair for ages, in painting at least!

I also did a totally inconsequential study of a face which I had sketched in scrafito on a tiny two inch board; this was a real revelation. Not only did it look quite cool of itself, it gave me some really useful ideas for loosening up my drawing, especially of faces, and reminded me of the two-colour faces I did for a while with a pink face colour side and a blue shadow side. Me likey this teeny tiny picture thing, its really useful!

Sitting gazing at 'Amanda's dream' just now, as I am having one of my moments with her - I'm just really pleased with it but prepared for the probable fact that in a month I will be in love with someone else and have forgotten all about her! I am so fickle with my own work. Luckily (as it is mirror plated to the living room wall) I have kept my fondness for 'Le Chien Perdu' despite it now being the ripe old age of five years old, hence my enthusiasm for Archie as it has a similar feel to me. I am so happy to be painting angels and the ideas are coming thick and fast. I have one hovering in my head that I just love, and has to do with the medieval images from Winchester, green men and Bruegel, among other things. It is called 'This is where we live.'

I think Fennel in the Fence should have his own Facebook page; maybe next year I will start early and record his growth. He is just waving away now and due to the support of the fence there could be no stopping him! Honeysuckle is out in drifts now and will continue up until December if it is like most years; amazingly hardy stuff and so rewarding with flowers and fragrance for so long. All this despite being mashed when the new fence went up and then relocated to attempt recovery. It really helps having my little patch of land, however small - I do like to mess with the soil and there is nothing better for stress than a little light weeding and some communion with your plants.

Made friends with a very interesting figurative sculptor today on Facebook, only to discover he is another Swede (should have guessed from the name) so I hope he won't be disappointed to find that I am not a native speaker. Must make that crucial trip to the Motherland soon... maybe next year - then there is a good excuse to at least learn some pidgen Swedish. Karen the Whole Swede is over there just now (she calls me Half) and I am driven wild with jealousy over tales of midsummer picnics and camping by the lake in the long summer days....