Not Only Microsoft Repair Windows!

You may recall I painted this stained glass window (painting #12)

Well it might look nice but, being 110 years old, it's showing its age. The outside had gone rotten. This last week I decided it was time to fix it

I removed the window and chopped out the rotten window sill

I then made and fitted a new sill. Its in 3 parts but fits together to make a complete sill. Meanwhile, in the workshop, I had to remove the bottom of the window without damaging the fragile leaded glass ...easier said than done.

Then make a bottom part from new timber, which took the longest time, having to be jointed and grooved etc

Then I refitted it, and should be OK for the next 110 years.

But it hasn't just been the house maintenance that's kept me busy. 

Having got myself fit again, I took on the garden, and after weeks I've got it back from the wilderness ... there wasn't much time for blogging!

The Wanderer Returns

After 6 weeks absence  I'm back. Life has been chaotically busy, as ever in this house! 

I've just got back from Portland, in the county of Dorset, which is on the South Coast of England. Here I met with a group of my friends who all have writing in common. We all met at university and have kept in contact. We meet about twice a year, at a different venue each time. They, like my granddaughter are putting pressure on me to finish my novel (adventure/thriller), consequently I will be out of contact with the world for the first 3 weeks of September whilst I finish/edit it!

I have had an unexpected request to exhibit 20 of my Pen & Ink drawings in a museum during the whole of March 2014. Which boosted my ego, as you can imagine.

During my enforced absence I have still managed to paint. For those that don't know me: I began to paint for the very first time in March 2013, encouraged by my great blogging buddies hereabouts! As you will see, I am not going for highbrow art at this stage. All I'm trying to do is get paint on canvas until such time as I feel totally at home with using brushes and paint. At this stage I have stuck with acrylic and stretched canvas and with subjects largely dictated by the females of the family (3 generations of 'em).

Here is what I have been up to.

# 23

Cherry Pie - The Heliotrope Fairy
8 inches x 6 inches
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas

# 24

Gipsy - The Rose Hip Fairy
8 inches x 6 inches
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas

# 25

The Gorse Fairies
8 inches x 6 inches
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas

# 26 (A second Version - the first one sold - this one has slightly different colours.

    Geisha (1800)    John Simlett
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
32 inches x 12 inches
(81 cms x 30 cms)

# 27 From a stained glass window

    Knight Tepmlar     John Simlett
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
32 inches x 12 inches
(81 cms x 30 cms)

#28 Scary Dragon for my daughter

                    "Green Dragon"          John Simlett
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
14 inches x 10 inches

#29 Manga for Granddaughter (I lowered the hemline and raised the neckline!! - prude!)

                    "Manga"          John Simlett
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
14 inches x 10 inches

#30 WIP (reworking)

#31

                    "The Rose Fairy"          John Simlett
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
6 inches x 6 inches

#32 A different version of The Heliotrope Fairy

#33 My 5 year old granddaughter shares her birthday with me and as a birthday surprise I have painted her favourites, "Dora The Explorer  and Boots" I have also painted her in with them. It is the first time I have tried painting a likeness of an actual person, and everyone says it's a good likeness - even if she is slightly 'cartoonish'

                    "Dora, Cadey and Boots"          John Simlett
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
14 inches x 10 inches

I will try to catch up with your blogs as soon as I can!