A New Decade and New Century…….

There was such a hoo ha about our moving into the new century. Along with conspiracy theories and a million ways people planned to celebrate. The world was obsessed.

Meanwhile, I was surrounded by the magnificent Welsh landscape..…where time seems to stand still. I continued to work on the Christeve project, paint and write.

My way of bringing in the new year was to paint three self portraits (all dated 3rd January 2000) ….this one an alla prima oil on canvas.

I don’t enjoy crowds and so avoided large new years celebrations, however, I did attend a lovely evening with friends in a private home between Abergavenny and Crickhowell Strangely it was weirdly warm – a sign of what was to come……..!

2nd New Years self portrait. spontaneous watercolour/gouache – full sheet

3rd self portrait – spontaneous watercolour – wearing my favourite walking hat.… full sheet

I was working on the Christeve project because I saw it as a way to make income through licensing images (royalties) Many signs seemed to point me in that direction..

The project was taken on by WRC Media in New York, one of the largest educational publishers worldwide….and so I thought I was on my way to achieving this.

I had also connected with an American woman who wanted to oversee the business end of the project in the States….. It’s important to bear in mind that this was all prior to the explosion of social media. which in hindsight, would have made things a lot easier for me to get the message across.

Sadly it didn’t happen. Another disappointment. It’s a far too long a story to tell here.

Portrait of Christeve the cat with a hummingbird. This was when I first started to paint hummingbirds.

I have been told recently by fellow blogger Brad that my life is very organic....which I take as a compliment.

This brings me to one of the reasons I believe that the Christeve project failed. Instead of allowing things to flow organically which is my normal way of doing things, I tried to take control and for me that simply doesn’t work.

The following words from Graham Greene express this way of being beautifully…

‘The best way to protect yourself is to be fluid and formless as water: Never bet on stability or lasting order – everything changes….’

When I have lived by this ethos, things work out in their own way which is usually so much better than any controlled thinking of mine. Yes, I have to do the work and make necessary plans, but in recognising this I allow the unseen energy that I so deeply believe in to flow…..usually with results that I could most often never have predicted or achieved. .

Theodore the Tiger teaching Christeve the Cat about his home and habitat… watercolour poster

Some of the many children who learned about our environment through Christeve the Cat..

From my book The Apple Exercise….

‘What the Apple exercise will demonstrate is that the apple, along with everything else in life, can be seen in a myriad of different ways.

If we could time travel back to our earliest formative years, from 1 – 3 when the world was a kaleidoscope of colour and shapes,, and our young minds were full of wonder we could regain our natural curiosity and love for colour and form.’

Next time…..My Mother becomes unwell….more changes afoot.