And here's the plot . . .

A couple of years back I illustrated a series of GCSE History students' books for Folens Publishers; one was about Crime and Punishment, my brief - to draw all the grimy scenes of wicked deeds and gruesome retribution in a historically correct but "light-hearted" fashion. I kid you not! sometimes being an illustrator gets quite bizarre.

Here are three of the scenes from a crime relevant to this evening, as England skips with glee as the fireworks light up the sky and we re-enact burning a 17th century terrorist.

Here are some disgruntled gents hatching a plot over a pint . . .



and here are the plotters . . .



and here's the guy (sorry!) who drew the short straw . . .



"Hold it right there matey! you're nicked!"


Enjoy your sparkly whizzy bangy evening!

Celia
x

Remembering and celebrating

This morning Cliff and I remembered Charlie. Charlie the cat lived with Cliff (and later, also with me) for over sixteen years, in five different houses and after a very happy life he passed away four years ago today.

As you can see, Charlie had bags of personality . . .


He was an out-doorsy, boysy, rough and tumble sort of cat, but in his retirement he sometimes spent a few hours with me in my studio sitting on my drawing board in the sunshine and that's when I painted his portrait - a Renaissance cat sitting next to his favourite plant - catmint.



Charlie could never really be described as a 'studio assistant', I think he saw himself as senior management! But my studio was so quiet and empty without Charlie checking up on me and we knew that there were cats and kittens out there needing new homes so in May the following year we adopted 'the ginger one' and his 'tabby sister' - the studio assistants.

As regualr readers of PPPs know, the studio assistants spend all day sleeping in baskets next to my desk, but when the light fades they stretch their furry catsuits and make it known that it's time for tea :-)



I know that many of you, like me, have a studio assistant or two (or many!) – mainly cats, (many ginger), some dogs. Today, in memory of Charlie, lets celebrate our studio assistants for their support, companionship and inspiration.

Autumn glory

We have explored miles and miles of local footpaths, it's amazing that we're still discovering new routes. This afternoon, in mild - almost muggy- weather, we set off following the map to explore paths new to us . . .

We found ourselves in this beautiful wood - moments before I took this photo a herd of fallow deer ran through the woods from right to left right in front of us.

And after the woods there was this panoramic view - Suffolk doesn't get much higher than this (120m). It's so difficult to capture the subtlety of fading light and distant fields (click on the picture to enlarge it) there's so much in that strip of landscape between ploughed earth and sky.


The hedgerows are full of autumn fruits . . .

The unlikely combination of the vivid pink casings and the orange seeds of the Spindle bush - a spangly explosion of colour!

Plump clusters of inky blue sloes tucked among the leaves turning buttery yellow on the Blackthorn bushes.

And blood-red haws on the prickly tangle of the Hawthorn - a feast waiting for the arrival of the winter thrushes from the far north. My mind is stuffed full of images to keep me happy through dark evenings and cold nights which will arrive very soon.

One year on . . .

I'm twixt projects this week ('twixt' the local estate agents love that word . . . "situated twixt Newmarket and Haverhill" it always makes us smile.) More time to do some extended lunch time gardening and enjoy being outdoors.

We're having amazing mild weather at the moment, so I decided to check what I was posting about a year ago and see what the weather was like in late October 2008 (frosty actually). But :-O ooops! I had completely forgotten! Exactly a year ago last Monday the Spice Girls moved in to live in our garden and started work as trainee under-gardeners.

I think that's what Ginger has been trying to tell me every time I go to the out-house to get my gardening gear.



OK Ginge' what would you and the girls like as an anniversary treat?


"To do whatever we want in the vegetable garden, please!"

There was certainly no hesitation when I opened the green door in the garden wall . . . LOL!



And they soon found lots to do . . .




I suppose I ought to give the Spice Girls a one year appraisal, have they been working hard?


Nutmeg is fast and nimble, she can even steal a crust of bread from head girl Ruby, this is admirable given that she is bottom of the pecking order! She also lays the most beautiful pale turquoise blue eggs. However she tends to go broody quite frequently and when she does her behaviour disrupts the whole flock - so much that they stop laying in the nest boxes and hide their eggs under the hedge to avoid a confrontation. Nutmeg needs to address this issue before next summer.




Saffron is a quiet and unassuming hen, but her character has developed over the months and she has an independent streak - laying her pale teal-blue eggs in 'the other nestbox' and standing up for herself against bullying from Phoebe. She has been broody and stubbornly refuses to leave the nest but her behaviour is tollerated by the other hens. She has also been through the moult and is now laying again. Safffon is still quite nervous, although recently she has been learning from Ginger to be more sociable, this is something she can build on in the future.




And last, but in no way least, Ginger - an extremely confident and quick witted hen, a born leader (but with Ruby still very much in charge her chances of promotion are slim). Ginger hasn't been broody or been through a major moult, she consistently lays large sage green eggs of very high quality. She enjoys learning new skills and has great potential beyond her current job as an under-gardener.



Well done Spices! We've enjoyed the past year, hope you enjoyed your anniversary treat :-)