27/10: STORMY WEATHER

Well, we're braced for the severe storm which has been named St. Jude (patron saint of depression apparently) which is set to hit us in the early hours.   Weather warnings have been coming thick and fast over the last few days so we've had time to tidy away everything in the garden which could get broken but we're keeping fingers crossed that the reality won't be as bad as forecast and we won't get structural damage to the fences/sheds/roof/trees etc.

BBC weather forecaster Michael Fish was left red-faced when, on the eve of the Great Storm of 1987, he assured the British public there would be no "hurricane" which was technically correct.  However the storm that replaced 'the hurricane' did severe damage and an estimated 15 million trees were lost as they were in full leaf, the soil was wet, and they couldn't withstand the gales.     Michael Fish has stuck his neck out again and said tonight's storm won't be on the same scale as that of 1987 ...... lets hope he gets it right this time!

The wind has been building up all day here on the Kent coast and its really unpleasant outside so we won't be going anywhere over the next 24 hours.

OK ... In my last post I mentioned my first 'human' portrait which was a graphite sketch of hubby David in silly Beret.    It isn't on my current website so I said I'd post it here.     Couldn't actually find it in the archives (I lost lots of files when my computer died a year or so ago) .. but I've now found a small copy on the old gallery site so here he is:

I also found some photos of pictures I entered into coloured pencil challenges several years ago.

When Derwent launched the Coloursoft range of pencils they set a challenge to artists to draw pictures using just two colours from the range - magenta and yellow.      It was great fun and I came up with two possibles ...  I entered the dog and was awarded Highly Commended (3rd place) and the picture was displayed at the Derwent stand at Birmingham NEC in November 2006.  The picture went to Derwent's museum but I don't know how long these things are kept so it may have been binned by now.

My magenta/yellow dog:

I did visit the NEC to view my picture (and the others) but can only find this black/white photo of me with the picture

the entry I didn't submit was a cat ..... another 4 legged furry subject, I couldn't bring myself to draw flowers or fruit despite the limiting colours

I came across another old coloured pencil sketch.   This was entered into a challenge set by Bob Ebdon called 'Food for Thought'.   I guess most entries would have been fruit or vegetable still life studies ... but I fancied something a bit more quirky.   Not the best drawing and the cat looks a little strange .. but it won the competition!     and my Mum has the original as she's always liked it ... It's not one of my favourites but each to their own I guess

OK going to put the computer to bed now and have a 'chill out' evening - waiting to see what Mother Nature intends to thrown at us tonight.    For all my Blogger friends in the South/South West of England I hope the storm isn't too violent and doesn't cause you any problems.  Stay warm and dry!!