I am just back from our Christmas Pike competition. I failed to catch again...LOL!
Another years fishing over. We do have another comp on the 27th, but as it is DH's birthday, I tend not to fish that one.....
Merry Xmas all!

He's Back!

Hello everyone again......I got my blog back...
Nothing to do with Blogger though, I accidently deleted the whole blog while trying to delete a spam comment..and thankyou blogger for sorting it out for me.
I have started a new Art-Painting blog here so I will probably just post my fishing exploits on this blog now....mind you it seems that it's mainly fishing on this blog anyway!

Well, I am back from my marathon fishing sessions.... 5 days solid, not quite dawn...but into dusk, and I'm shattered. I did manage a few fish though. I am on my way to the studio now though. Time to get back to work.....hopefully it will go well. I have 3 weeks to get 'in the groove' before I head off to Tunisia again.

I have been a bad boy.....no posts for weeks. I have a good excuse, I've been very busy. Between renovating our bathroom and planning a talk. I have a friend coming over tomorrow for a weeks fishing. Noel and I were out last week. We had a good day on lough Owel. 9 fish between us and I lost another six, 3 threw the hook, 3 broke a 6lb leader. The weather is starting to improve at last, we have had a couple of days sunshine but the grey skies are back today. I am hoping the warmth will arrive so the sedges start hatching for the weekend. I am looking forward to the next few days fishing. I have to get stuck in and tile the bathroom walls after that though....no it's not finished yet!

I have been organised to give a talk on local government and the Arts from an Artist's viewpoint, to a group of local Government representitives later in the month. I have my talk outline composed and emailed off. All I need to do now is flesh the main points out, organise my powerpoint presentation and practise my lecture. Sadly it's not a case of turning up and talking, the preparation has to be done first. It is surprising how much preparation a lecture/talk can take....even more than a practicle class. The expected audience will be quite critical of a poor presentation so my homework is important.

I will scribble again next week...I promise, and let you know how the fishing went.

I am back from the wedding, Yorkshire is a lovely area. We toured around north yorkshire (where the wedding was) and up into the lake district in Cumbria. I have a few jobs to catch up on now, including my blog, but I can't spend long on it today. The weather in Yorkshire was just like at home wet&windy.......and it's quite cool. What happened to global warming? we are freezing two weeks past midsummer. I want to be able to go out and paint, but for the last month I can't even get a break in the weather to mow the lawn...never mind work.

Where has time gone?
It is two weeks since I posted....shock! horror!
I have been busy with meetings, work, (and a little fishing too) and trying to organise myself for a trip to a wedding this weekend. There are 3 concerts on in Marlay this week, Aerosmith were on last friday...I didn't get into the studio Friday or saturday though, someone else is on Wednesday....it might be the Kaiser chiefs, and the Who are playing saturday....I would have liked to see the Who, but I'll be at the wedding.

I managed a half days work today. I came home for lunch fully intending to go go back out and finish a plien-air painting I had been working on this afternoon. Alas I ended up shopping and gardening instead. Tomorrow is another day....I did get a fair bit done on my commission piece in the studio earlier though and I did start quite early this morning. I will probably make large inroads into it tomorrow too, it is going well for me and I'm happy with the progress.

Well in the last week I had two trips on Lough Owel, with no decent fish to show for it. Both days were bright sunshine and little wind. In fact on Saturday I nearly had a dose of sunstroke!
I managed 10 fish on saturday but not one measured over the 13 inch limit. I thought that by the laws of average I should have at least had one...but thats the way it goes. Obviously I didn't qualify for the National team... I am not going to be able to in the inter-pro either, it is due to be fished on September 1st. and I'll be on my way to Tunisia for the a.b.a.m. art festival, and I won't be able to fish it. The first reserve for the Leinster team is a friend of mine though, so at least he will benfit from my absence. I am looking forward to doing some painting this coming week after my lay-off due to the 'flu last week. Roll on tomorrow...

Another week gone. I spent most of last week on my sick-bed, dying with the 'flu. I am just about over it, Christine has it now though. We put some fish into the garden pond, a case of needing to, it is full of mosquito larvae.....at least the fish will be well fed. I must get into the studio a couple of days this week, I have to do some work on a commission. I need to get a days practice in on lough Owel too, the Nationals are on Saturday. I haven't been out in ages, and I have only fished Owel once this season so I really could do with some. Conditions on Saturday are not going to be good either, hot, sunny and little or no wind. Whatever else it might prove interesting..

I have to get back to business.... I need to focus on work....and the upcoming national qualifiers on June 9th. I may be lucky enough to qualify, I seem to be reaching top form again in the fishing even though I don't really try that hard. The fact that I don't put myself under so much pressure probably will help too. I will be going out to enjoy myself and qualify if I can, but I will not be working 100% to get the result. I will try to get one days practice, but I am not going to spend days flying around the lake looking for fish....if my boat partner has done that on the day....all well and good...but I'm not going to worry about it. I know the venue, and can usually find fish. If someone else finds more so be it.
I am in the middle of a couple of paintings, I will try to finish them this week.

I didn't quite make the headlines yesterday...but thanks for a great photograph Mick! I'm a handsome devil by times...
I was out on Lough Lene with Noel and Eoin (Long Jnr.) yesterday. We caught plenty of fish but sadly we didn't get any big ones- they were all in the 3/4 to 1- 3/4 mark. I felt sure we would pick up a couple of bigger fish in the conditions, alas we didn't. Ah well back down to earth with a bump...I'm off to create some art now, my studio awaits. My public alas have departed, I'm yesterdays news...lol.

I am just back from two days on lough Corrib. The conditions were hard with a flat calm on Tuesday and blustery wind and rain on Wednesday. The mayfly hatches were poor to non-existent. The poor weather during the hatches previous years seem to have affected the numbers of fly hatching. I did manage a few fish but none of any great size, I am glad I didn't go for the full week in a way, I am tired enough as it is. I'm off to work for a holiday!

I am just back from Lough Ennell. I was right, there were only eight fish weighed in by 115 anglers. I just happened to have TWO of them :). Obviously I won, I also had the heaviest fish as well as the heaviest bag. My two fish were fractionally over 3lbs and 2 lbs each. It's nice to be provincial champion again, it's a few years since I have had the honour, and now I have won both the TAFI and ITFFA championships. I am feeling a little bit smug at the moment. I'm just off to glow....

Hello again...

I have been conspicuous by my absence.....I have just been occupied on other things.
It can be hard to make time to post on the blog. I am barely able to keep check of my emails at the moment. It takes time to wade through all the spam....I considered getting a spam filter, but I think it discourages casual enquiries, and the last time I had one on I was missing emails that were being sent, so I was having to wade through the spam anyway!
I am due to fish the Leinsters on Sunday, but I haven't had a chance to get out and practice, but the competition is on Lough Ennell so I think it's going to be a bit of a lottery anyway, there won't be too many fish weighed in. It will be a case of if you get a chance and take it you will have a good chance of qualifying. One fish is likely to do it, the last time they had to draw a couple of places. I like Ennell for the competitions though, I invariably pick up a fish when needed, but saying that I also fail to catch on a fairly regular basis as do most anglers on Ennell.
Wish me luck...

Time is flying by...
I have little to report, I have been doing some plien air painting, in fact I will shortly be going out again to work on one I had started last week. The sunshine is keeping me outside.

I have been out fishing twice this week. On Tuesday I drove down to Lough Lene to meet someone delivering a new club boat for the lough. Obviously I had to road test it after delivery...Noel and I had a pleasant days fishing, I managed to get ten trout to 2.5lb (2kg+).
I was back to lough Lene yesterday fishing a team competition. Sadly I didn't catch as many, I did manage to catch 3 'keepers'(the competition was catch and release) and a couple of small fish that didn't make the measure. The rod average was about 2.5 fish so it wasn't too bad a result. The team (6 anglers) ended up with 20 fish, which was the third highest total, but our size average was lower and we ended up in 7th place. The days fishing was hard work, but my boat partner was a pleasant companion and we had an enjoyable day on the lake. I can't give you the successful flies because if you include the undersized fish we caught ten in the boat we both had three to measure and two undersized, all fish were on different flies! Yes, it was one of those days when you really had to work for your fish. To be honest though you feel good after the day when you manage to get a few in hard conditions. The team competitions mean you work that little bit harder too so you don't let your team members down. With the team competition you need to catch at least the average so that if one member does well you don't pull his score down, and try to catch above the average yourself to pull other members up. Therefor even one fish is important, every point counts.

I was out fishing yesterday. We fished a competition on Lough Owel. Noel managed to come third, I didn't! I had a good day though, my problem was all bar one of the fish I landed were just under the size, 5 between 12 and 12.75 inches with a 13 inch limit......aaaaaaaarrrrrggghhhh!
c'est la vie! I lost a good fish early on too...I am off to lough Lene on Tuesday, I have to meet a delivery man with a new boat coming from Galway in the midlands and direct him to the berthing point....I may even have to fish a little when trying the boat out..:)
I will be back on lough Lene again on Saturday fishing the Lexus team competition..we might do well there are 5 very good anglers fishing on the six man team....just recently I'm not sure about me...lol., but the competition will be stiff.
My garden pond is coming along nicely, I need edging bricks for the top of the raised wall now. I won't be doing much today though as I am off to the studio to do some painting today.

Here I am, Two weeks after my last post......Time has flown by! I have been busy with the Easter weekend and rebuilding my garden pond. I even played with a mini digger...lol....
The pond is not finished yet but it is almost there. I need to do some finishing and some planting. I will probably put fish in next week. Talking of fishing I have been, last week I took a trip locally and then up to the upper liffey. I have not done much painting, but I have been taking gallons of water out of my studio with two de-humidifiers, about 2 gallons every 30 hours.....I didn't realise my studio was so damp!, I am still getting the same amount two weeks later. The weather for the last two weeks has been glorious, sunny and warm. It is forecast that this will continue for another week too. I am enjoying it while it lasts, although the garden renewal is stopping me sunbathing......
I will try to post a little more often again, hopefully I will get back to normal soon.

I am in dire need of a DAYS FISHING! I managed to get the flyfishing kits for the kids prizes but have done little else since my last post. I pulled a muscle and haven't been able to do much.
I hope to get to the studio tomorrow, and probably will try to organise a days fishing during the week. Lots to do, and no time to do it. I need to learn to manage my time better...I seem to be totally dis-organised, I suppose that is one of the problems of working in isolation, you try to cover everything and manage nothing.
In any event I need to try and organise a few exhibitions in the near future.

I was up in the studio today, working away doing some small studies. After the day I am tired. I have an early start in the morning, a local shop has some fly rod & reel combos for sale at 39 euro, complete with line etc. I want to buy a few of them as prizes for the kids angling competitions. Most of the Kids fish bait or spinners in the competitions it will be nice to start them off flyfishing and at under 40 euro the club can afford to give the flyfishing kits away as prizes. The downside is if I don't get up early the rods could be sold out before I get them...oh well, no lay-in in the morning. I still did not get out fishing yet...
I want to work in the studio again tomorrow. I may get an hour or two's fishing in on Friday, but I have meetings on saturday so I will get nothing done.

Spring is back....for a while a least.

Yesterday was a lovely spring day, warm, sunny, almost balmy. Today is overcast again but the temperature is still up from last week. I am having a lazy day today, I was partying last night and as a result I don't feel very energetic.
I will probably look after my plants in the conservatory later though, they are looking a bit neglected. I am still getting new strelitzia plants germinating, and I have only lost two of those transplanted which is very good considering I am having to transplant the seedlings before they get true leaves ( I planted the seeds in shallow starter trays). Next time I will sow the seeds in paper or peat based plugs that can be put into larger pots without disturbing the seedlings. I have one strelitzia in bloom, and 6 flower stems still forming on the plant so I should have some seeds for next year too.
I have been busy painting some small studies this week. They went quite well. I should be fishing today, but I was not really fit to travel this morning, between the late night and the clocks going forward last night. I would probably have failed a breathalyzer test if I had driven so I erred on the side of caution.

It has got a bit milder today, but that is the only upside. It is grey and damp now.
I haven't been able to get the studio yet today, and as it is 4.40pm I will not get there now. It has been one of those days, little errands cropping up, go to do one and end up with another......I have to get some art supplies too, but I will leave that until the morning now also. I think I will have a lazy evening, I am tired now. I will finish posting here, check my emails and then settle down in front of the TV to while away the evening. I will have to go out with the dog later but apart from that I don't intend to be very energetic. I'm off to make a cup of tea....

Winter bites back.

So much for the spring warmth....we have had snow for the last two days.
The St.Patricks day festival fireworks had to be cancelled due to the high winds, as were ferry sailings. It is freezing cold.
Bah! Humbug....

Spring time is here...

Another week gone by, time is flying.
Tuesday's fishing was a bit disapointing....very disapointing in fact, we fished Blessington/Poulaphouca reservoir. There was not a sign of a trout. We did a bit of trolling for Pike too, but with no success.
I have not really done much painting in my studio, It really needed tidying up so I got stuck in to that. I was watching the rugby yesterday, the Irish team threw away the championship, that after throwing away the French match for the grand-slam earlier, it is a pity as the team were probably the best of the championships. Ireland beat Pakistan in the Cricket yesterday!!!
miracles do happen! but the team played well to get the win, not bad for the minnows of the competition.

I am feeling guilty for not doing any work, so I will probably be in the studio today. I need to keep working to keep the momentum up. Hopefully it will be a productive day.

I am looking out of the window at trees in blossom,Forsythia, cherry, acacia and magnolias. while in my ear the birds are singing away...spring is definitely here...I hope the warmth comes with it soon.

I have been busy enough in my studio, I have packed my painting ready to ship to the exhibition in Museu da Chapelaria, S. Joao De Madiera, Portugal. I will be shipping it off later. I have discovered that one inch thick aeroboard sheeting they pack around appliances such as washing machines and fridges is excellent for packing up canvases....and free to collect from electrical shops...

The weather has improved slightly, I hope it warms up soon though, I am really looking forward to travelling and painting around the country. Perversely this also makes painting other art difficult because your mindset is looking in other areas.. I have met with the local authorities arts officer, with a view to organising an international artist exchange programme based around Marlay Park, it may take quite a while, some things move slowly....

I am about to head off to the studio to do some more work now, I have sent some paintings off this morning, hopefully they will sell well and the gallery will be looking for more. I need to keep things ticking over as I am not looking for a Solo show until next year, and earning an income tends to help when trying to pay bills... I need a rich Patron or a few sales, I think the sales are the more likely to happen. I want to finish off a piece this afternoon as I intend going fishing tomorrow.....it's been a while since I have been.....

I still cant read blogspot blogs but here's hoping everyone else can

Blogspot still has issues with access for some areas.........hopefully not for much longer and I know my posts are loading.

I have been busy working in my studio, I have a painting almost finished and another progressing nicely. I am finding it easier to work at the moment, my creative juices are flowing and the work is going well. The switch back to oil paints has helped too. I love the feel of them although the drying time is a drag sometimes. I have photos taken but I have not uploaded them into my computor and I'm using a notebook at the moment with no programme to take the photo from my phone. I will show them later. I will be in the studio again tomorrow....I can't wait to get back to the painting I am working on at the moment, hopefully it will continue to go well. I may start another in the afternoon, if the other two are unworkable, but I have to organise myself for a meeting on wednesday morning, so I may not get the time.
It is great to find the works progressing easily (relatively) again. I have been struggling for such a long while...I am due a few easy ones I think..I am hoping it continues for a while, and, I am still happy with them next week...:lol:

I hope this is uploading..

I have problems viewing any blogs on Blogger/blogspot.com so I am just hoping that this and my last post are visible to others. I have been up in the studio painting away yesterday but I have had a lazy day today....nothing but TV and couch. The weather is atrocious again today, there was a fishing competition but that was cancelled due to weather conditions.....and that was from a bank not a boat!! I think this must be the wettest windiest year yet..

I need to go out to look at a commission, but getting weather conditions for it is proving difficult...hopefully it will improve soon and with a little luck it will be a good spring and summer. I really want to get some plien air studies done around the country this year.

The Trout season is open again

I fished the Upper reaches of the river Liffey today....the season opened yesterday, but I was busy and did not get out. I did manage today though, and the weather decided to make life cold and wet. Heavy rain, cold winds, not condusive to an enjoyable day. I did enjoy it though managing to catch nine fish to 14 inches. I missed others, but I think they were small fish. I caught them on spider patterns, fished quite deep using a small bead-headed nymph on the point to pull the flies down.
It was nice to catch a few fish.
I am ready to go back to work now though, and wait for more clement weather.
I have a painting done of the pond in marlay again, I captured the wet grey day quite well. I painted it in oils, it was nice to get back to them again after using the acrylics..

Here a photos of the two 'Burren' paintings. I have left them aside, and I will consider them for a while. The blue is causing me concern although I like the luminescence of the paintings. The upper work is 30 by 20 inches, the lower 24 by 18.

I'm off up to my studio now, and I am looking forward to working away for the day.......Hopefully on something productive.

I am not going into the studio today. I am suffering from backache. It is not condusive to creating art.
I did quite a lot yesterday..I have taken photo's but I haven't downloaded them yet, and I am on the wrong computor to do it. I may get it done later. However I am happy enough with the progress so far. The works are very blue, which I am unsure of....mainly because they are not my usual palette. The colours are suitable to the landscape though, the cold limestone flags of the Burren in Co. Clare. Beautiful in summer with the abundant flowers, but very cold in winter with the exposed rock. I have made the sky a deep cobalt blue at the moment but it will change. I over-painted the existing sky because it did not work. I am as yet unsure of what I want to do with it so I have just given myself a blank area to work with, but one that sits in with the landscape.
I really wanted to get stuck in again today, but I had a bit of back-ache yesterday and it's worse today so I really need to rest it a bit. I also have the AGM of the angling club tonight...I hope my seat is comfortable enough....

I didn't get fishing, but I got quite a lot of work done in the studio last week. I was away for the weekend and I travelled up to Northern Ireland to have dental work done today so I have been busy all this week/weekend. I am hoping to get to the studio tomorrow again, I have a painting on the easel I want to get back to. Our angling club AGM. is this week and I am in charge of running this months club competition on Sunday so I am going to be busy this week too. The competition is our start of season Pike competition, the first of the year, just prior to the start of the trout season and our trout competitions. I hope the weather will be pleasant for it. The weather was quite good up until today, but it has been grey, wet and windy today, the trip up North and back was dreary and unpleasant, spray everywhere and poor driving conditions so I am tired. I was tired before I started though...a lot of driving and long hours over the weekend in conjunction with little sleep, plus an early start today...

Opening day blues...

I checked the weather forecast for Thursday, it is to be wet and windy, strong winds from the west.....That has put an end to any ideas about travelling over to Lough Corrib for the opening day. I have gone every year for years, but after last year (conditions similar) I realise it is too much of a trip just for the sake of going out when conditions are bad. It works out quite expensive too by the time deisel, boat hire, incidentals (meals etc.) are all taken into account, so to spend the money and 7 or 8 hours return journey driving just to get onto the lough and hide in shelter for the day is just not feasible anymore.....Old age catching up on us! realistically though it will be better if we go later in the year when fishing is more comfortable and more productive.
I am busy on friday with meetings too, and down in Wexford all weekend so the long drive and back would have been felt by Monday.. ...it is probably for the best.
.....I might pop out for a few hours on Thursday anyway, to one of the Rainbow fisheries close to home.

here is the promised picture of my self portrait. The photograph is not a bad representation of the finished painting.

I went fishing yesterday, well I went visiting a few venues......everywhere we looked was frozen over, we ended up fishing the liffey above Leixlip for an hour, but with no success...and the cold caused us to give up quickly.

We had little faith in fishing the area we were, it was the last place to try for open water as it was running. We probably should have gone straight to a river after the first case of frozen venue, that way we could have fished either the Barrow or the Suck...we travelled far enough going from area to area to do the trips anyway.

I was in the studio today, but it is too cold and miserable so I did not stay. I was also aware of the fact that the snow we have falling at the moment might make driving home difficult later. Ergo I am about to do some work on the computor.

I have been busy painting

I have been working away, painting a few studies.
They have been quite loose and I have enjoyed painting them.
I have been away here and there as well during the week, added to the fact that I potted up the 40 odd strelitzia (bird of paradise) seedlings that have started growing it has been a fruitful week.

I will endeavor to put photo's on the blog during the week, I need to download from my phone and upload the pics from the PC....I am using the laptop at the moment and it does not connect to my cameraphone. I also need to take quality photos of the portrait to send to Portugal.

Roscommon Pike

I had a good day out yesterday. Apart from the fact I took the wrong key with me and couldn't get into the cottage.........which is still in one piece. We fished Lough Skean for a couple of hours with no luck. After that we visited the cottage, looked at lough Mealagh but didn't fish it due to awkward access, tried the Boyle river, again with no success. By then it was almost 1pm, so we moved down the road to a small lake and recast our baits before boiling the Kettle for our tea.
By the time the kettle boiled I'd had two pike on the deadbaits...it's worth being mobile when fishing. I got another fish over 10lb in the next hour but then struggled, eventually getting a jack on a spoon. I lost a fish earlier on a plug too. Noel got one fish on a spoon. Four fish was a nice result for 3 and a half hours though, and it shows the value of the van, allowing fast movement from venue to venue with rods set up and ready to go.

Today I finished off my portrait, so I am tired but happy. I am too tired to sort out a photo of it though, maybe tomorrow.....

My portrait as of today...

I need to work on my clothing, but the base needs to dry....and it is slow. Hopefully it will be dry by wednesday, I'm off up to sligo tomorrow to visit our cottage. I will do some pike fishing too while I am up there, Noel is coming with me. Two birds with one stone and all that.....I was going to go fishing anyway and since the pike fishing close to home has been so poor I decided to travel further afield and since I haven't seen the cottage since before all our storms I needed to do that anyway.
I spent time today doing a couple of small acrylics, these are below.



1 Donegal, near Malin, eight by ten inches
2. Benbulbin, across Sligo Bay eight by eight inches. I like them.

I have repainted my portrait twice since I last posted. I was not happy with it. I am still not totally happy with it. I have not done any work behind the portrait yet either.
I find the fact that I need to finish this painting in the next week or so is creating pressure as such. If it is not just right I need to rethink my approach. I was intending to look at a hat shop window as a subject, but when I went to the shop I found it has closed down.

I must get a few materials this week too, I'm short of paint, I need some unstretched canvas to build a large one. I may invest in some brushes too since the ones I have are getting the worse for wear again. My spare ones were used for acrylics, and surprisingly the acrylics seem to damage the bristles more than the oils, consequently I need new ones now. I hate using worn down brushes, and I tend to use long filberts for much of my work. I have no sables left either, I use these for fine details in oil paint, and that destroys them, leaving me with none for watercolours....I must get a few artist WC tubes too, the box of pans don't really give a strong colour. ..........I must make a few bob to pay for all this!
Until then I will probably just buy the necessities..

I went down to Cork for a few days. I took a wander around the lough, but saw nop carp, just two large eels and a LOT of ducks etc..A nice relaxing time was had, followed by a few hours Cod fishing on the way home, in the rain....It hasn't stopped all week!, the cod fishing was fun. I caught a few including a couple of four or five pounds which I kept for the table. (I put the others back). When the tide slackened off I was in-undated with crabs, stripping the bait in minutes so I quit and set off home early.
Yesterday I went into the studio and had another look at my portrait. It wasn't good. I have had to repaint the nose and mouth, alter the face line and do other remedial work. I don't know how I missed it earlier...I won't post a pic yet...I haven't taken one.
The weather is now improving, the high winds have dropped, the sun is out and the temperature is falling. We have had so much wind and rain since autumn it must be a record.
There hasn't been much chance of plien air painting anyway!

A work in progress...Narcisus at work again..

I have started my piece for the Portugeese exhibition, The subject is to be hats or shoes. I decided to paint my own Hat....in situ! Not that I am a Narcisus or anything. I just like painting portraits occaissionally....and I'm a very cheap model!!

The painting is 30 inches by 24 Oil on Canvas. It is coming along quite nicely. The photo is quite poor though as it was taken under artificial light without a flash, but it gives the general idea.

I purposely did not do any work on the background or my clothing, this is because I am not sure wether I want to put my studio in or just frame my hat with a suitable colour. Added to the fact that until I decide this I do not want to paint my clothing and then have to repaint it due to the colours I was wearing. I may try to get more work done tomorrow, but I have quite a bit of running around to do before I go away thursday morning (at 3.00 am). This includes getting some bait for a bit of Codling fishing....I hope to do some Friday night before coming back to Dublin.

I did some shopping today. I dropped into Kennedy's on Harcourt st and bought a few canvases and some paint to keep me going. Sadly my painting was still on the wall of the exhibition, with no red stickers in sight. It looked like the exhibition had been poor sales wise all round though. This evening I booked my flights to Tunisia for the festival in September. I now have to get busy on work for the exhibition in Portugal. I will be working in the studio tomorrow...
I was busy today though. I disposed of the tree that had blown down in the garden....3 trips in the van did the job. JOBS.... It never ends, there are always things needing to be done ... interfering with work and keeping me busy.
I wouldn't mind but I'm not even fishing!

Mind you I'm off to Cork for a couple of days next week...weather permitting I might do a nights Cod fishing for a change.

time is flying by.

I can't believe it's the 9th already!
I have nothing done as such yet this year. I have an appointment for a medical checkup tomorrow but apart from that I have nothing organised yet. Although I was in the studio a couple of times I havent started painting anything yet....I havent even finished tidying the studio yet.

The strelitzia/birdofparadise seeds I planted just before Christmas have started sprouting up..I have over twenty seedlings so far. Not bad for my own seed, artificially fertilised in the conservatory last summer.
I will try to post later in the week when I have a bit more news, or at least maybe a painting or two to show you.

Happy New Year...

it's 2007 already! Another year is over. It was an interesting, and somewhat successful year for me. My art did quite well, bringing more international recognition.
As someone I'd consider just an ordinary 'joe', I have done well. I have represented my country at international level both artistically (work) and as an angler (competitively). Yet I don't believe I am truly deserving, I have a tendency to self doubt artistically.....like most artists.
For the coming year I am going to have to try to use my success to increase my earnings a little more, the business end is sadly lagging behind the recognition of my work....
....buy now! while you can afford me!....