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Botanics - A Natural Selection

Good News at last!

Well the past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind.

We were in Radicondoli for just a few days, but we managed to pack lots in. Although the locals were wrapped up in coats, hats and scarves, announcing the arrival of Autumn, we were of a different opinion and were loathe to take off the summer gear. This led to some peculiar looks and calls of “Che follia?”, “Matti!”,“Gli Irlandesi?!” and the like. Things really came to a head when we said we went to the beach and had been swimming, I thought they were about to call in the men in white coats for us. But, it was 28 degrees, and like lizards, we were determined to get the very last of the sun. The only other people on the beach were Germans - so what does that say for them or us?

Calendar Girl

The last few days have been very tricky. LSH / Marcus has been setting up the calendar and MUST NOT BE DISTURBED.

Last year I made the first one – well, truthfully – I decided on the images, and LSH did all the rest. Today was D-Day with the final selection and it’s layout for "print-ready artwork". Tomorrow I hope to see a sample page from Grants, and then it’s like pushing the nuclear button…there’s no going back! Scary or what?

Dominate!

I don’t know what it is about me, cars and driving at this time of year – see last year’s blog about driving with neanderthals in Italy – but I seem to get into incredible pickles in the summer months. And Sunday was no exception: yet another one for the ever-growing collection…!

London Calling!

I meant to say, I was in London on Monday last week for the day. I do this now and again, a dart into London (Marcus thinks I’m bonkers), but I actually get a lot done in the day. First, I went to see the George Bellows show at the Royal Academy. It was fabulous, and dare I say it, much better then the Manet. It is hard to believe Bellows accomplished so much in so short a working life – he was 42 when he died. I felt I was such a slacker after seeing it all! I was really impressed by his lithographs and drawings of boxers… absolutely beautiful! There is a painting of boxers that could easily be a Francis Bacon, it is almost abstract in it’s energy.