• I set out eearly yesterday to get to the Wirral in time to visit the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight. Half an hour into my journey, on the M50, there was a bang and the steering wheel went funny. I managed to slide over to the hard shoulder and found that my front tyre was shredded.

    I don’t carry a spare! The garage told us that it’s the modern way. I carry a bottle of sealant and an electric pump. fine for a puncture, but not for a ripped open tyre!

    two and a half hours later I got taken toCheltenham where a brilliant crew sorted me out with new tyres and tracking. It took me seven and a half hours – I was so pleased to get to my hotel!

    I had a great day today at Seacombe, Wallasey and Bromborough Libraries. In Wallasey I was assisted by a young lady called Freya, the name of Viking Vik’s step sister. She was wonderfully helpful in providing all Freya’s actions. As her Dad is Norwegian, we had the odd bit od Norsk conversation, which confused everyone else!

    soap

    I got to the Lady Lever Art Gallery after my sessions today as the Library was only five minutes away. What a lot of stuff. Lots of pre raphaelites – proper paintings! a wonderful collection of watercolours and drawings by Turner and an original Kate Greenaway, never seen her work before – lovely. Well worth a visit if you are in the Wirral/Liverpool area.

    I’m now in Ruthin in North Wales in a lovely, comfy hotel for two nights before going on to Burton on Trent for two days – Shoo Rayner on tour! I should sell tshirts!

  • I visited Garden Fields School in St Albans yesterday and had a lovely time there. It allowed me to spend a glorious, sunny afternoon on Sunday, visiting the Museum and the Roman remains, researching for an idea of mine.

    As I wandered around the deserted amphitheatre, I remembered visiting it some forty years ago. My big sister would take me off on the bus to do “Projects” to fill up the time on long summer holidays. One day we did St Albans.

    I hadn’t realised how leafy the place was. I went there a couple of times in my teens, but on Sunday it seemed really spacious. Most of the town were out enjoying themselves in the vast Verulam Park.

    And now it’s raining, so back to the drawing board!

  • videocamrostrum

    I was watching a friend of mine drawing recently, and I realised that there’s a lot to be learned by seeing how other people draw.

    So, I’ve decided to ad a new section to my website – Drawing School. I’m hoping it will grow in the direction that my visitors want. I’m hoping that people will email me with suggestions for things to draw and talk about.

    My video set up is very cranky at the moment, but it works so far – barring an accident with the lights at the end of lesson two! I can hardly see what I’m drawing as I have to peer over the top of the tripod while squeezing my hands underneath it. Can’t find much help online for recording this sort of video.

    I’ve learned a lot about white balance and manual focus already. If it becomes popular, I may see about upgrading the camera.

    It’s good fun doing it and I hope it proves to be useful. Enjoy! Click here to go to the page.