A poem
The creative writing group worked together to create this emotive poem
A View
and there I was a child
digging the deepest hole ever
fighting the tide
and building barricades
to hold back the sea
and music played from
transistor radios
and there she was my mum
anchoring down the big blanket
between flapping deckchairs
and brushing sand from
shrimp paste sandwiches
and there too were the aunts
knotted headscarves under their chins
peeling hardboiled eggs
toes peeping out from peep-toe sandals
summer coats held close
and greensleeves chimed from
ice-cream vans
then the sea raced in
and as we moved back
we became condensed
into a smaller patch of beach
like fish in a sardine can
“what a lark!” “Oh Lor!!”
and I don’t know where that came from . . .
for here I am a man
pushing the heavy shutters
the morning sun pours in
the milky sea has become a glassy patchwork
a million mirrors moving
they are a contemporary dance
bobbin like cotton reels in an industrial mill
like the shrill of gulls
following shoals of fish
look over there
a faraway fisherman
anchors down hard
and pulls in his twisted net
and over here
a boy bike thrown to the sand
a black shape against
all that light all those lights
I can barely see
It’s as if the world has stopped.
From the last couple of weeks
It was lovely to see Gill’s grandchildren, Millie and Madie, today. they were sketching and making Christmas decorations – yes I know !!!
Patricia did these beautiful birds
I love this from Colin – a very busy Vietnamese street vendor
Jackie was experimenting with tissue paper and water colour – beautiful
Gill had made this gorgeous bag
… and Brigitte was making patchwork table mats
A couple of water colours from me. I totalling spoilt the bottom one by adding a background so that’s been put in the cupboard !!
A few highlights from this week
Frances was reluctant to spread her wings and try something experimental with wet tissue paper and splurges of colour as usually she is veery precise in her water colours. But she is loving it and has finished another fantastic painting
Colin finished this painting at home
Steve was only using a palette knife for this one
Patricia finds images online and then produces them as a painting but it’s all from memory
I loved doing these with watery acrylic and water colour on a canvas
lots of sunflowers
Sunflowers seemed to be the theme today. Sue is making large strides with her painting
Another couple from Patricia
Frances was so impressed (as were we all) with her tissue paper contemporary mixed media painting that she started another one
Anne finished her stag
… and Colin has nearly finished this stunning acrylic
This week’s work
Three pots of flowers
I was struggling to keep the lightness in this picture
Anne was experimenting with paint mixed with glue and WD40. Amazing results
A very graphic painting from Jan
Patricia’s latest acrylic
lots of different things
We were doing a morning of experimenting with different mediums and Anne did these atmospheric paintings with acrylic paint
A beautiful watercolour from Dawn (F)
Sue isa really improving with her watercolours
Margaret was doing a bit of decoupage
Gill was painting some cards
Frances always does beautiful watercolours
We decided to paint flowers in mixed media
The cockerel is finished
Jackie was continuing with her sepia painting from a photograph
another beautiful horse from Christine
Eric has been struggling with this portrait of Jan – he is nearly there
I was also struggling this week with watercolour – it must be the moon or something as Dawn wasn’t happy with this painting of wisteria
and I don’t think Cate was entirely happy with her pastels this week
It was lovely to see Stuart and Michele back. The cockerel came back for some fattening up and Michele was showing us how she covers lampshades
Francis was not affected by the moon and was doing a beautiful watercolour
On Tuesday morning Cate was using gold leave to cover her box – and the floor
Pauline is really improving
another acrylic from Patricia
Daniel was painting this for his ‘soon to be’ grandson
Helen was making this stunning crocheted blanket
Colin was using some watercolour based pens
Sue brought in some cornflowers (we think) and we all did a little workshop
Steve was continuing with his chateau
Anne was teaching herself to crochet
… and I did another tile
from tulips to mittens
Sue was learning to water colour again this week and I think she is doing fantastically well
… this was mine
Both Jackie and Dawn were painting in water colour too on Thursday morning
I found this old one of mine that I had put under the tap because I wasn’t happy with it
These are Patricia’s acrylic paintings this week
Colin was working in pencil and pen
I love this from Pauline, I think she is improving immensely but she was not happy painting on canvas
Gil was doing this wonderful paper cut
Sue was knitting mittens
… and I did another couple of tiles
Tony, the poet and window cleaner man
What a treat, Tony stayed behind after the writing group this morning and cleaned our windows