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‘Throomageddon is Nigh!

Already the subtle signs of chaos are seeping through.

Spellchecker now needs to be told twice when to add a word to the dictionary. Once or twice every now and then is fine, but when you use words like I do, many a word is created and needs adding, and thus many a second can be wasted by clicking ‘add’ twice. Technology, eh?

Mind you, I digress.

I’m signing out of Blogland for a week or so now.

The Bathroom in the Mansion is being dramatically altered from tomorrow, the old Bathroom never to be seen again, and a newer, younger version is replacing it. Long time visitors will know that the Bathroom holds many a mystical quality, which may or may not be hidden forever when the changes take effect.

Things are already upside down here, not that that isn’t the norm, but they are more upside down than normal. They are so upside down, in fact, they are almost back to being downside up when viewed through a smoky mirror whilst riding a bicycle on a cobbled road.

The past few weeks have been not very productive for me, blogwise. I’ve kept this place ticking over, but I haven’t had chance to reply to a single comment for what must be a month now… and I haven’t yet had chance to visit the blogs I follow either. I apologise for that. Upon my return, I shall reply to all comments, and then start my blog visiting afresh. That means, unfortunately, I will have missed many a post written by the marvellous bloggers that I follow.

Please bear with me during these refurbishments.

Oh, perhaps I should have said at the beginning of this post ‘please don’t read this whilst listening to any sinister sounding music in the background’, it may be too late now, but better late than never.

‘Throomageddon is Nigh!

For my last watercolour for #WorldWatercolorMonth (which is twenty-two of twenty-two, and twenty-two out of thirty-one isn’t a bad number!) I present a wet on wet oceanscape,  there’s that double-click again, which I allowed to evolve.

There does appear to be a black hole in the centre of it.

Or maybe that’s just my imagination.

I shall see you upon my return… until then – Feel Good!

(The Superhero Diaries is a scheduled post and will still appear on Thursday, unless the internet frazzles between now and then…)

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Fakebeard: The Elf that didn’t Fit

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Yes, I know it’s July, and we’re just on the other side of quite possibly the hottest heatwave since the dawn of time. And YES, I’m aware that we are entering into a hosepipe ban here in the North West of England even though we’ve had bucket loads of rain over the last couple of days. And YES, I’m aware that paintings of elves don’t normally appear around this time of the year, well, not Christmas elves anyhow… but, I refer you to the title of today’s post.

The portrait is of Fakebeard the elf.

He isn’t a normal elf.

He’s moody. Grumpy. He doesn’t like bold colours. Or smiling. He has three eyebrows rolled into one. And he lives up to his name – he wears a fake beard.

He lives in a pine forest, somewhere very cold and very snowy, in a toadstool covered cottage with black curtains up at the window. He doesn’t like the snow.

He dreams of bathing on the golden sands of a tropical beach, wearing nothing but black and white bermuda shorts and carrying his favourite fishing rod.

He wishes he was a gnome.

In reality, he dances beneath the Northern Lights with the elf-folk who encourage him to join in, but in his mind he’s working in the mines with his gnome colleagues… underground… in the dark… working hard to earn enough money to get to his beach resort.

The thought makes him smile.

The snowball brings him back to his senses.

He hates the snow.

He isn’t a normal elf.

And his beard keeps falling off.

See that last line up there? And this one, for that matter! It’s Six Word Saturday once again.

These posts may not make any sense whatsoever, but they do have a way of fitting in where they should. Mostly.

And this rather random and very rough watercolour is number twenty-one of twenty-one for #WorldWatercolorMonth. Chaos is starting to draw in here at the Mansion, these posts may begin to dwindle out, but I shall persevere. Major changes are commencing in the Bathroom on Monday and already I’ve found a wig on the Landing. Don’t ask. It’s easier that way.

A wordy Six Word Saturday post

And another random watercolour painting for

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The Creation of Reality

My reality? Yours?

It must be created somewhere. Maybe it does start like this, a swirling mass of colour and indescribable shapes… kind of familiar yet not. Like a dream, perhaps.

I have dreams like this.

Maybe they are telling me something.

I make this twenty of twenty for #WorldWatercolorMonth. I’m wondering now if numbers really matter…

This watercolour abstract even comes complete with a 3D tour. You don’t get that very often with a painting in today’s money, do you?

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The Kaleidoscope Butterfly

Just another urban moth!

Is it me, or are things starting to get just a little bit surreal around here?

This is watercolour nineteen of nineteen for #WorldWatercolorMonth. I wonder what happened? I wonder where my inspiration went?  You see, sometimes I do wonder.

I’m aware that the new Bathroom is approaching. Next week in fact. Perhaps that has something to do with the rather strange reality we seem to be going through at the minute. Or maybe that’s just affecting me. It’s very odd.

That said, there may be watercolour free days coming up. You never know.

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Will you be my Valentine?

Now that I have your attention, I shall reveal the proper name of this watercolour… ‘Gnarled Heart’. As if I’d be asking any such question. Valentine’s? Me? Pah!

With the flash…

Without the flash…

This is probably the wettest wet on wet yet, by virtue of the fact that I too was wet as I painted it. I’ll explain. I nipped to the supermarket in the midst of a torrential downpour minus a coat and brolly, and needless to say, some of those little delightful, gorgeous, refreshing raindrops managed to land on me! Of all the things!

As you can see, my heart wasn’t gnarled or dark when I painted this. It was changed to the point of no return, as I started out with the intention of painting a wet bunch of roses which just didn’t work out, so I spritzed the paper again, and then dabbed off the excess, and was then inspired, in a mild but sinister way, by what remained.

Sometimes, with watercolour, you have no idea where you are going to end up.

I think I quite like this little sinister twist. Hmmm… I wonder if more dark inspiration is on the way? Worry not, though – you know me… always focussed on the light!

This now makes eighteen of eighteen for #WorldWatercolorMonth.