KITE FESTIVAL CORRALEJO SAND DUNES

Known as the Windy Island, what better place to stage a Kite Festival than our very own sand dunes at Corralejo?

Today we walked along the  Dunes (and its a fairly long walk) to see some of the wonderful kites on this, the second day of the four day festival.   Its the 27th Annual Festival and attracts flyers from all over the world.

Here's David doing his Lawrence of Arabia thing .....

Should have hopped on a camel ... would have been quicker

Today was 'free fly' day and tomorrow is a bigger event when professionals with stunt kites show their skills.  Sunday is family day when over 150 kites are handed out to kids to have a go while running around trying to catch sweets dropped from the air by little parachuting teddy bears ... bless    Followed by a Firework display in the evening as the Spaniards do like a noisy finale to most events!

These are some of the fabulous kites on display whilst we were there but others were coming and going all the time:  Lovely blue skies this morning although its clouded over this afternoon - not bad for November eh?

NOT SUCH A BRIGHT IDEA

Why did I decide to work on a pastel portrait (a black labrador at that) on the day before we leave for a trip?   

The weather is appalling here - torrential rain which at times has thrashed down like hailstones and so very cold .... Its very difficult working on black fur in artificial light so I've given up but of course I now need to have a big clean up (me and the working area)!      

I do tend to get sidetracked and wander round opening cupboards, making coffee etc and just generally leaving a trail of pasteldust behind.    A friend is staying at the house whilst we are away so I need to make sure its all clean and tidy.

At least I've made a decent start on it.   The dog portrait is to be a Christmas Gift so doesn't have to be posted till early December.    I seem to be stockpiling them at the moment.   She's a very shiny black dog and I've been using lots of blues, mauves and reds to lift the colour a bit - using black pastel alone would simply look very flat and dull.    The photo is the best I can get at the moment

NOVEMBER ALREADY?

Don't the months/years just rush by when you get older?    Less than 8 weeks to the Big C ... bah humbug.

OK, well I finished the cp drawing and must admit I'm pleased she escaped the bin as I've grown to quite like her now

Now I've posted this I can see some areas I still need to tweak but I've packed the Coloured Pencils away for now in readiness for starting the pastel commission which I've outlined this afternoon.   Its a black dog so I didn't actually make a start on it as I lost the light ... I do have daylight bulb lamps but still prefer to work in good natural light when dealing with black fur.

Tomorrow is our Grand-daughter's 'family birthday tea'.  She's a Halloween baby (4 years old yesterday) so had a playschool party on Friday, a 'soft-play' party for friends today and tomorrow is the family day so she's going to be quite partied-out by the end of the weekend!  I probably won't get any artwork done tomorrow.

Yesterday was the warmest Halloween Day on record in the UK apparently, and it was mild enough to sit outside at our friend's house in short sleeves!        Here's a few photos I 'filched' from her Facebook page

Our hostess, Di, taking a 'Selfie' in front of the mirror.   She isn't normally green, by the way!

Well, we were warned!!!

This was Alan, enjoying a pint and a ciggie in the garden

Love these 'filmy' door hangings/screens .... very creepy, don't you think?

and a coven of witches - note David's pink hair LOL