Welcome to 2019
Well hello to you all for the first time in almost ten months. My apologies for going quiet but life events kind of took over and I have struggled to keep my head above water. I needed some time to rest, heal and rediscover what …
Recent Posts
A few more drawings…
This time some drawings from the studio. I seem to be very into drawing what’s in front of me at the moment. It takes no thought and is quite relaxing. I’ve taken to drawing peoples houses as I travel around leaving little drawings as I …
A few drawings from Paris
I am a big fan of Paris and used to take students there each year. Now I have kind of made myself a promise that I will treat myself to a weekend there at least once a year and draw stuff. These are from my most recent trip.
Comfort food inspired by Asia
Last week was a bit of a week for various reasons so this weekend I decided to play around in the kitchen and make something comforting with notes of my asian trip. I am a big fan of pancakes any day of the week or …
A little snowy interlude
I’m sure most of you know that the UK has experienced the most snow fall for years its been labelled ‘the beast from the east’! We had one lot and as we were all getting back to normal a second lot hit us. In all …
Out and about in Mandalay
Mandalay is much like any other big city for the most but there are a few gems to search out. One of those is Mandalay hill and the temples and pagoda which are situated on the way up. It also gives the best view around. We wandered off in search of the hill and found a few things along the way. To get to Mandalay hill we needed to walk round the Royal Palace complex that is surrounded by a huge moat. The walls are enormous over eight meters high and three meters which and stretch in a square for two kilometres each side. To be fair we didn’t quite appreciate what a trek this would be but the sun was out and the sky was blue so it was very pleasant to wander around the moat even if it did go on forever!
The path around the moat is lined with beautiful old twisted trees that make delightful patterns with their branches. At one point I looked up and realised one of the trees was full of hundreds of crows or ravens….never have been sure how to tell them apart.
Some interesting coloured and shaped properties. I’m intrigued to know what the open space at the top of these three houses is for any ideas? And bright pink is a bold life choice for your home!
And some people…I might have said this before but the Myanmar people are by far the most well dressed in Asia. Men in sarongs are a definite must they look so smart…Can you imagine British men in sarongs, it would be hilarious!
Finally it wouldn’t be a major city in Myanmar without a temple or pagoda every now and again.
We were also quite excited to find a range of excersize contraptions along the way which entertained us and what a lovely view to work out to!
A really long and really old bridge to explore.
The longest teakwood bridge in the world is the U Bein Bridge about half an hours drive away from Mandalay and is also thought to be the oldest to. It spans around three quarters of a mile across lake Taungthaman and has so far lasted …
Delicious orange and black sesame cake
Yesterday my housemate went off on an adventure to Iran (not at all jealous, much!) She cleared out the fridge of stuff that wouldn’t last which included an orange puree and some almond milk, these two things screamed ‘bake a cake’ to me so I …
A little something from my other life.
If you’ve been following me for a while you will know that I am a big fan of cyanotype prints to record objects from journeys or loved ones. This has kind of mushroomed over the years where other people get involved and give me things or ask for their loved ones possessions to be documented in this way. Last year a lovely lady I follow on instagram asked me if I might be interested in finding a home for some items that used to belong to her grandmother. These included lace, collars, gloves and handkerchiefs.
Of course I was delighted and made some prints straight away from the objects. But it has taken me until now to find the time to make them into something for her to keep as a memory of her gran. I try to also make something similar to keep so I remember the story too. I love collecting stories! Below are some of the initial prints.
And finally these are the two little books…
The shortest flight ever and the best dinner ever all in one day.
Our next destination was to be Mandalay. We had investigated over night buses and worked out it would take us about sixteen hours to get there. So instead we looked at flying. There was an airport about an hour away from where we were staying …