This time last week...

This time last week... Ahhhh, to feel the sun-warmed sand between your toes and the tickle of the waves.

I am returned from a week in Corfu with a sack-full of memories and creative inspiration (and a fair bit of sand in my suitcase).

Can you hear the waves?

Tzatziki for tea

What's a girl to do while the football is on? Well, she could skillfully get the channel changed so she can watch Greece (my new adopted country) beat Russia, rather than the Poles and the Czechs (first choice of man about the house), and cheer them on during the exciting bits. However, 90 minutes is a long time to watch men running around some grass kicking a ball about, so she had to play with her pencils and pens too.

I doodled on some scraps of paper left over from another project. I think the bottom girl is calling out for a proper portrait. She has a touch of the Greek about her anyway.

My heart is still in Greece. A trip to the supermarket saw me bringing home the ingredients for a Corfu salad, Greek yoghurt in assorted flavours and a vat of Tzatziki. I am pretending that the sound of the wind ruffling through the trees outside is actually waves lapping upon a sandy shore.

These are my Sunday Sketches. I was all set to play last week from my holiday shores. But, despite producing the requisite pieces and having the required technology at my disposal to make it happen, somehow lying by the pool, leaping through the waves with my son and gazing into the blue won out. Sorry folks!

My watch stopped working

It was a sign. Time to switch off, remove oneself from the hamster wheel of 'normal' life and allow a different rhythm to pump through your veins. The Holiday. The golden Corfu beaches. A slower pace.

It was also an opportunity to leave behind the grey skies and persistent rain-soaked (drought-ridden!) England and experience the colour blue in all its glory and shades. Frankly, I'd almost forgotten it existed.

Back again now though to washing, grocery shopping, cooking and the unpacking that seems to take an eternity (though it's always nice to find a little pile of sand at the bottom of the suitcase to remind my toes of what it felt like to scrunch in (or, during the heat of the day, run very fast across...)

I like holidays. I love Corfu. I want to go back there.... right now.... and watch the sun set just like this...



Holiday snaps

A totally random selection of holiday snaps

We begin with... probably the best beach bar in the world...

And this beach wasn't bad either - yes it really was that quiet at around 11am!

 As we sailed past the 'Mamma Mia' church, the boat crew kindly played 'winner takes it all' and we sang along... Well, as they say, when in Skopelos...

Local legend has it that some fishermen came across an icon of St John the Baptist while fishing off this rock. They left the icon on the beach and returned next morning with the necessary kit to move it to safety, but it had gone. They searched everywhere until they found it right at the top of the rock. Believing it was a message from the Saint himself, they founded the church of St John the Baptist on Skopelos.

A little Greek nature

A little Greek insect. (Check out the English girl's pink skin!)

A little Green texture - shower head on beach

Kind of cool eh?

Water creature from the Aegean

Some holiday art - not that I did much. I don't think I've ever done so little on holiday. One day it was all I could do to move from sunbed by the pool to its sister by the beach. Even an annoying bug tickling my knee was too much trouble to flick off.

Luckily for the indolent creature I had become, my son had found himself a friend in the form of a pretty Danish girl. They spent almost the whole week together, playing in the pool, fishing in the sea, running, laughing, drawing, chasing.... and all done without a common language. Just goes to show the power of unspoken communication.

So, back to the sea creature. She came from a splodge of paint that my sketchbook acquired from an overladen palette. Some inspiration from the surrounding seas, pencil sketching and a few bubbles from Photoshop and she is perfect for Inspiration Avenue's 'purple & green' challenge.

Sunday Sketches Greek style

What on earth do you sketch when you are sat poolside and surrounded by incomparable beauty? No, I'm not talking Greek Adonis - I'm thinking outlines of distant mountains, golden beaches, pine trees, flowers. In the end I went for the floral abundance.

As fast as I tried to sketch this Amarylis I was distracted by the shape shifting as the petals began to open as well as the lure of the sunbed and sun-dappled pool.

It was quickly done. The pool won and now I am off to the beach!

Back later for an adventure around the other Sunday Sketchers. I think this is the first piece of art I've managed since I got back from my retreat. I'm missing the sensation of pencil on paper and watching the colour ooze. I am certainly inspired by all that's around me... it's just finding the time!

Bloomin tropical!

As far as I understand, to be officially classed as 'tropical' one should be talking about a location on certain latitudes - those with tropic in the title presumably! However, for the purposed of this creative challenge - and more especially as I'm surrounded by palm trees, turquoise seas and nibbling mosquitoes, I would like to pretend that Skiathos, Greece falls under this category! Certainly if you compare it to where I woke up yesterday morning with its cloudy skies and rubbish-strewn canal, it is definitely tropical!

A beautiful bloom growing on the beach - where I've just returned from covered in sand and salt water and feeling rather fab-u-lous!

Probably the best coffee in the world...

And the view wasn't bad either!

What was it that made an iced coffee go down as one of life's greatest? Was it the perfect mixture of bean, froth and frozen water? Perhaps the soundtrack of Michael Buble and waves lapping on an Aegean shore? Was it the proximity of soft white sand glinting as if sprinkled with grated diamonds? The balmy temperature? This view or just the desperate need for caffeine after being awake since 3.30am in order to fly to this paradise?

Who cares the reason, it was so good I had two. Maybe that's why I'm awake at 2am and using insomnia as the perfect excuse to blog.

Apologies to my blogging friends - both for no doubt making you jealous and not being around much to visit your blogs in the past week or so. What with art retreats, work and 'real life', there has been little time for my  usual global blog-trotting. However, as you may have guessed, I am 'online' and on holiday, so while the little one sleeps at night I shall be visiting you (though hopefully not at 2am every night).

καληνύχτα (if that looks Greek to you - it says Goodnight!)

Another postcard from Skiathos

With a subject as far-reaching as 'memory' as the prompt for Mixed Media Monday it was certainly difficult to know where to begin - especially when I've got 40 years of the things to sift through!

At first I drifted around conjuring up the world of my Grandmothers', then moved to a maelstrom of memory spiralling out of control from a poor girl's mind but then something just clicked and I simply reached back just a month or two and returned to the sunshine island of Skiathos with my son.

I collaged some ephemera from my holiday as well as a few travel-related bits and bobs I had lying around. Added the colour of the sea and sky using my water-soluble oil pastels (which added further memory since they came on holiday with me!). Then I was going to draw a dreamy girl (me) on top but felt that the piece was missing the real essence of my holiday - the real happy memories - the photos. So we moved indoors and went digital to finish it off.

Nice memories to take me through a Monday :)

Flying... but slightly out of control

I'm having a strange week. I'm full of nerves, on edge and not entirely sure why. Perhaps it is a touch of culture shock after my week away in the sun. Day 1 back in the country saw me fighting round a supermarket that seemed to contain more people than the whole of Skiathos (and it was raining outside... and cold). Day 2 was driving for hours to deliver my son to his Dad for a week and consquently driving for hours home without him and then missing him like crazy all week. Then I was back at work - more driving - and filling my head with tasks, ideas, actions, things to do now, things to do next week...

On top of that I started another e-course (because you just know I can't get enough) - more on that later - and naturally had to watch the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent most nights (my money is on Tina and Chandi the dancing dog).

By Thursday any beneficial effects of a week spent at a slower pace of life soaking up the healing rays of the Greek sun were but a distant memory. I felt like every drop of energy had been leaking out of me all week (probably though all those holes in my skin left by pesky mosquitos) and there was but a stagnant pool left somewhere in my left big toe.

The saving grace was the weather. A beautiful sunny evening yesterday prompted the boyfriend to pick me up, sling me over his shoulder and take me out for a restoring Pimm's in a canalside pub. I was still in bed by 10pm mind!

Well, this was going to be a post about me starting the Kelly Rae course - Flying Lessons - but it sort of got out of control. Rather indicative of how I feel this week. A fledgling chick just out of the nest on the cliff top - spiralling out of control with (hopefully) enough moments of control to keep me safely on the wing!

Might as well publish this then try the Kelly Rae post again later!!

Postcards from Greece (2): Stress the Greek way

I was so pleased to be writing this by day 2 of my holiday (by which time the sun had well and truly come out to play!)

***

I'm learning to relax. I'm getting rather good at it. In fact, it's rather easy when you have a few Greek ingredients mixing a magical spell: Nowhere special to be; no reason to rush; no driving; no traffic; no deadlines; no phone ringing... Err, hang on, these aren't ingredients! They're the things missing. Is this perhaps instead a very large Greek takeaway?

OK, let's try again: One large dose of sunshine, trees weighed down with unfathomably large lemons (later destined to dress my dinner); turquoise waters with curious fish swimming around my toes; diamond sparkling softest sand; beer on the balcony; boy bouncing a ball; stretching out on a sun-lounger.... Ahh.... bliss....

We sleep for at least 10 hours a night (without the need for warming socks). We lose the ability and desire to rush and, and, and... think that if we miss the bus, we'll just sit and wait for the next one...

I think we've clearly been infected by 'Skiathos'. As diseases go it's certainly one I could recommend. It shows its symptoms differently by age. Children forgo expensive toys and plastic in return for shiny stones and big rocks that go PLOP when you throw them in the sea and Mums sleep for 10 hours a night and alternate their days between doing a spot of nothing by the pool to the same on the beach...

***

I'm back at work now... stressful traffic jams, plenty of work. When is my next holiday?

Postcards from Greece (1) - Meeting the Greek Gods

I rather missed blogging last week. Well, perhaps not when I was swimming in an azure sea, or twinkling my toes in the sparkling sand, or exploring winding alleys, or tucking into local delicacies... But I did miss it sufficiently that when the small boy was asleep I was lured to pick up my notebook and prepare a few words to share on my return...

A close encounter with Zeus

When on holiday I like to immerse myself in a spot of culture, soak up the atmosphere and imbibe a few local flavours and delicacies. Indeed, on arriving in Skiathos (on a somewhat disappointingly cloudy early evening), I managed immediately to take in a bit of local geography (courtesy of holiday rep on transfer bus), pick up a bit of the lingo (old lady in shop) and fill my belly with clefitiko (Marcos the chef).

What I wasn't expecting however was a close encounter with the ancient Greek Gods - notably those of flood and thunder, Posiedon and Zeus respectively. Who, after all, needs a thunderclap for a wake up call on their first morning in a supposedly sunny holiday destination (especially when the weather back in the UK was apparently glorious)?

Apparently the charming isle of Skiathos (part of the Sporades Group) enjoys a storm like this only once every five years or so. It was natural therefore that the arrival of a Lisa would prompt the long-awaited event. What a spectacle nature, Zeus and Poseidon put on for us on our first morning. Thunderbolt and lightening were very very frightening for about 5 hours. Rain fell not in drips or drops, it flowed like a mighty river from the heavens. Streets became torrents of mud and swathes of the beach were swept out to a churning brown sea that was far in colour from the promised turquoise.
And then... it stopped... and the sun came out! Tourists and locals paddled through the mud to survey the damage and begin the clear up. Diggers put the beach back to its former glory and re-opened the road. We hit the beach.. The Holiday began!

The post-holiday blues

(To be sung on a porch on with a guitar with a missing string and a glass of something alcoholic by your side)

Oooh I took me on holiday to the land of sun

I had such fun just me and my son

Skiathos was the name of the Greek Isle

It was so hot we couldn't walk a mile

Da na da na...

But now I'm back with no sand under my feet

It's raining here on my grey old street

I tried to smile but I said to my Muse

It's no dang good I got the post-holiday blues....

***

Enough of that nonsense!! Well, I came home from my Greek hols yesterday and found the theme I'd missed at Inspiration Ave was 'the blues'. First thought was the azure waters of the Aegean - or were they turquoise? Or perhaps a bit of both? Are you jealous yet? Well, I'm certainly jealous of the folks still there under that blue sky

I didn't drive or touch a computer all week. I slept loads. I discovered a beach that appeared to have been sprinkled in diamond dust. I have so much inspiration and many stories to share of my travels, but will leave you for now with this blue sea to dream upon... a blue door on a blue balcony topped by a blue railing and sky and some blue shoes (not suede, but plastic).

Now I have to catch up on what I missed in Blogland, before decide on which creative idea I brought back with me to act upon first... Hmm... decisions decisions....

A schmakerel more mackerel

Well, I started getting all lyrical and decided to rewrite my descriptive prose to go with my Cornish postcard below, but then left it too late to publish before nice folk started commenting. So, might as well make another post. Why not eh? Three in one day is a bit of a first (or, should that be a third? Just get on with it girl...)

It may be September and the mornings already heralding Autumn's chill fingers, but I still feel summer in my heart and bear her honey tones on my skin.

So, I'm sending myself this postcard as a reminder of racing across sandy beaches and tasting the salty tang of sea in nature's fishy harvest.

As the leggy supermodels cry out to be photographed in the season's latest hues, so do the shiny scales of mackerel dare you to attempt to get a grip on their shine in paint. Twice captured - by line and then cast onto canvas and immortalised. A taste of holiday, a feast for the senses.

What lies behind this door?

I think there's something very special hidden there... Is it perhaps the new hidey-hole of the fairies from my previous posting - did they flutter up here and sneak through the keyhole? The mossy steps would cushion the most heavy of footfall as you climbed up to its heavenly frame, so perhaps it hides a giant, folded into the eaves with his arms wrapped around him and his toes tucked behind his ears. Odours of damp flora waft up as you brush past to take a closer peek as the tinkle of the stream finding its way to the sea serenades your steps.

What lies behind this door?

I'll tell you... an artist's studio! How could anyone fail but to be inspired when their creation gives birth in such a setting. See the green-eyed monster lurking among the fern fronds!!

Another little sharing from my holiday as I try to blank out the dreadful day at work with dreams and memories. This is where I stayed dear readers - well, underneath the studio, in the converted barn. Ahhhh......

And what passion behind those clouds... Feeling most dreamy and fanciful tonight. Inspired to post my holiday snaps by Anahata Katkin's dreamy photographic meanderings.

Post-holiday blues

The washing machine is flinging itself into a crazy spin, the hoover readies itself to suck up half a beach worth of sand from the car, my son woke up early and I didn't sleep well.

It's that awful feeling as you contemplate another 12 months of hard slog before you next feel the waves tickling your toes and take in great lungfuls of tangy fresh sea air.

I've already written two posts on this subject but neither were worthy of publication. One was just far too self-pitying and the other just not very interesting. It struck me suddenly though that the secret was not to look forward - to the dreaded return to work tomorrow - but to look back and celebrate the holiday that was, to share in some memories and images and relive the experience a little. I also have kisses and hugs to look forward to later today when I catch up with my sweetheart after a week's absence.

So, readers, expect to see some Cornish-inspired posts coming up this week, no doubt carefully disguising my feelings of workplace melancholy. You'll have to wait until later though as washing line calls...

Mousehole Harbour

Me, myself and I

It's that time of the week again - Wishcasting Wednesday - when all around the world bloggers are casting their dearest wishes to the wind and hoping it blows in their favour. This week Jamie Ridler asks us "Who is the 'you' you want to be?"

I watched a DVD a while back that a friend leant me called The Secret. Its message was simple. Ask the Universe for what you want and, just a pizza, it will be delivered. Just like that? Surely not? Or maybe... I've also read books suggesting that writing down your goals means you are 80% more likely to achieve them. So, when I started this blog I wrote down that I wanted to be a writer.

Since then I would also like to add the words 'and artist'. OK, so I'm not trained and the old inner critic frequently has a fine old time laughing its socks off at my ambitions, but that's just what they are. Ambitions. Artist and Writer. No particular order and let's face it I also allow for a little definition stretching.

I would qualify myself as an artist once I had sold a couple of pieces. We're not talking breaking the bank - just creating something that another human wanted to own and part with a few coins for the pleasure of.

Blogland has already satisfied one ambition. For is blogging not writing? I have had several lovely comments from people telling me I am a writer. At first you just smile but secretly think "well, not really...." But am I not published? At work they employ me because I can write, so I am a professional writer. Wow. It feels great typing that! What the ambition really is though is to follow up from those childhood stories I loved writing about - cute little squirrels and fluffy rabbits living in woodland; girls having high japes at boarding schools and sequels to Star Wars where maybe I just cast myself in the Princess Leia role (naturally I spent my early teenage years with a huge crush on Harrison Ford!). I've frequently blogged on and on about THE NOVEL that is sitting up there in my imagination getting fat and indolent through lack of exercise and so pale and pasty as it pines for sunlight. It really needs to get an airing and sooner rather than later. This week I painted a character that will play a key role. And I mean that literally painted... with paint... rather than figuratively. I would share the picture but I am holiday and was not quite desperate enough to pack my scanner as well as laptop!

The character 'painting' is, so my inner critic reminds me, avoidance technique. As long as I'm creating something then that's OK. It's just not the novel. Is it laziness or do I just really enjoy blogging and painting? Is it simply that there aren't enough hours in the day to cram it all in? My life frequently feels like an over-stuffed suitcase with a loose lock. Any second now the whole lot threatens to fly - watch out for socks and smalls over your heads!


What a ramble. Shall I finish up now? OK, so the answer to the question is:

The 'me' I want to 'be' is a writer, artist and good mother. There. I could have said that six paragraphs ago, but where would have been the fun in that!

Now I need to select a picture. Shall we just have a holiday snap? Yeah, why not... We have an appropriately magical-looking staircase in Mousehole - where we may have just caught a glimpse of Mowzer's tail disappearing around the corner at the top. And, just check out that beach (Porthcurno). Believe me it looks even better when you are standing on it wriggling your toes in the sand and catching a sharp intake of breath when the icy water splashes on them! Oh to be in England in the summertime...

(by coincidence, the Mowzer link takes you to BBCiplayer where you can listen to the story of the famous Mousehole cat - but only for three more days - what serendipity! It's a lovely story and the illustrations are beautiful)

Artistic inspiration - Cornish style

What is about Cornwall that encourages so many writers and artists? Could it be the purple heather ablaze on the clifftops? The sea that shimmers with a myriad of shades of blue and green? Verdant hedgerows bursting with the chirpings of wildlife? Or simply the presence of so many other artistic souls? Does their creativity spread on the scented breeze like a pleasant contagion infecting all with the desire to write, paint, doodle and just generally 'create'?

Today I visited one such artist - Sujati Art in Trevaunance Cove. I've bought a few cards and bits and bobs from her in the past and follow her blog. We're friends on Facebook too. How could I therefore miss the opportunity to meet her in person when I was but a paint splash away from her shop? I knew I wouldn't be able to resist coming away empty handed but did not anticipate that I would fall in love with a gorgeous painting. I feel very grown up now with my first proper artwork purchase ready to hang proudly on my wall at home.

This is a short post because I have an urge to go paint!

(The little cutie in the picture is Otto. I met him today during feeding time at Paradise Park. He put on quite a show, but I discovered, that just like my son, he is happy to wrap you round his little finger if food is likely reward. Once he'd munched his way through a spot of brunch, he and his pals disappeared back in their burrows - presumably to watch OtterEnders on their TV.)

Sodden with history (but fortunately not rain!)

Cornish holiday - day 2:

You just can't escape it here. Myth and Legend seeps from every crack in the rock and the ghosts of pirates, sailors, wreckers and King Arthur himself whisper their stories to you across the wind.

Of course, we weave our own yarns too. Today was a high energy experience leaving me somewhat worn and ragged round the edges... I was all for a spot of exercise on this holiday so a morning spent sprinting up and down a beach, clambering over rocks, climbing (at speed) sand dunes and playing a fairly spirited game of football was just what the doctor ordered. In fact, I'm not sure why I bothered taking something to sit on because that was clearly not on the agenda.

Despite the fact that the English weather was apparently glorious in the rest of the country; the far South West kept its blanket of grey cloud for most of the day. But we British are nothing if not hardy and resilient. We still packed the beach and lit it up with a rainbow of windbreaks, bucket & spades and beach balls. Some brave souls even ventured in the sea further than their ankles. However, they were wearing wetsuits. Is my memory playing tricks or when I was a child did we just wear our cossies and put up with the chill?

Aside from the lack of sunshine and waitered-service pina coladas, the beach was perfect. Miles of soft golden sand, rock pools presenting interesting exploration opportunities, rolling dunes, granite cliffs and caves that surely were the home of dragons. Regrettably the rapidly approaching high tide forced us to beat a swift retreat to the cliff top just as the sun was threatening to make an appearance; but rest assured we'll be back again. This time we might just get around to making that sandcastle or perhaps a sand mermaid may take shapely form leaning casually against a rock.

Then, in true Lisa holiday style (aka pack as much into one day as you possibly can), we continued our adventures. Managed to trick my son into an art exhibition where the canvases of this artist particularly caught my eye. Her works seems to have a particularly magical quality about it. Interestingly, although small boy sulked around most of the exhibits, he really liked these ones too.

In keeping with the ne'er do well traditions of ye olde Cornish folk who loved a bit of smugglin' and piracy (allegedly!); I was suitably fleeced a number of times today by car park attendants. £4 to park at Land's End... and that's on top of the £3 earlier at the beach and it should have been £5 yesterday in St Ives but I was donated a ticket by a nice lady who was just leaving. Outrageous. Still, one simply cannot travel to within a stone's throw of the very end of mainland England and not stand on those windswept cliffs and take it all in. And the sun came out so I guess it was worth it after all!

I painted last night which was very satisfying and the acrylics were pleased to get out of the box. Well, I am rather tired now so will retreat to my cosy nest and dream of mermaids, Knights of the Roundtable and dodgy pirates.

Until tomorrow landlubbers...

PS: I love the fact that I can not only post my holiday journal online for all to read but my snaps too (yes, those are my feet on the post below and that above is a bit of Land's End after an encounter with photoshop - note the forbidding grey cloud) - ah the wonders of modern technology.

A toe in the water

Today I dipped my toes in the ocean – specifically the Atlantic, as its wave crashed onto the golden sands of a Cornish beach. My ‘proper holiday’ began in earnest today and the boy and I packed up our buckets, spades and flip flops and headed south.

After an 8 hour drive we were actually less tired than I thought – but perhaps it was just the anticipation of feeling the sand between our toes and tasting the salt on our lips. Undaunted by the slight drizzle, we headed straight for the beach and ran right in. Small boy managed to soak himself quite thoroughly despite only going ankle deep. After I admonished him, I then got hit by a similar ‘freak wave’ and got a little damp around the edges myself!

It’s such a joy being on holiday with one so excited by every nook and cranny of a new place. So much to explore and we will be out there all week doing just that – armed with our trusty beach tools and fortified with ice cream and scones we will adventure together.

Once he is in bed, exhausted by the day’s activity, I will get out my paints and try and capture some of the colour of the day onto paper. I brought a whole crate load of art supplies so I must make their long journey worthwhile or they’ll only sulk – even if they did get to sit in the front all the way!