All Ready Now

I've set recordings on TV for all my favourite programmes. I've got my case packed and made sure my Ipad is set up for keeping me in touch with everything.

I go into hospital for surgery tomorrow. I'm feeling OK but no doubt the nerves will kick in in the morning. I will have to set the alarm so I can have breakfast before 8a.m.

That's all for now!!

The time has come

Well things have escalated this past month and I'm scheduled for surgery on Tuesday. It seems such a ridiculous thing to say but I'm actually looking forward to it even though convalescence takes six weeks. But it'll be wonderful not to have the daily grind of pain.

I'll have time to learn to use my Mac and of course the Ipad will be with me in hospital so I can keep up with the world and my blog!!

Way to go!

I've had a wonderful few days with my friend - we went round the art galleries, and saw a beautiful exhibition by textile artists www.edge-textileartists-scotland.com - very inspiring.

And I went mad and bought an Apple Mac - the difference compared to a PC is really amazing. It's so easy to use - and my friend Kim set it up for me and installed all the programmes.

But the cherry on the cake is my Ipad - oh boy, I'm so excited, I can take it everywhere with me and have all my bookmarks at the touch of a finger, email, internet, even Amazon's Kindle with lots of free books, and on and on!!

I'm so excited I think I need to go and lie down!!

Ship-shape and Bristol Fashion

I put all painting paraphernalia away to tidy the dining room up for my friend's visit. And now that it's back to normal, I think that I must find an alternative space for painting.

But my house isn't very big and I've already used the guest room for everything else - maybe I'll just have to juggle things and take my canvases in there too.

Here are a couple of photos of my reclaimed dining room!

What a Find!

I found OpenOffice.org Draw on my computer and it's probably always been there but I've never looked at it. Sometimes the obvious is staring me in the face!

So today I fiddled around and it's a Eureka moment - I made a card template so easily and it prints out perfectly. I could have saved myself so much time and frustration but anyway now I know what to use for card making.

My friend is coming to visit

I haven't seen Kim since we went to Paris in February and I'm really looking forward to her visit. We're going to the gallery where we'll be exhibiting in March so as Kim gets an idea of the space. It's a lovely bright gallery with large windows and up-do-date hanging system.

Then the day after we're off to the Apple Mac shop to get my new laptop. I'm so lucky to have Kim's expert advice as she's had a Mac for many years and -- drum roll -- she's giving me a copy of the professional edition of Photoshop with all the bells and whistles - very exciting!!

Finally a Card is Born

I've been so frustrated with trying to print greeting cards. I used a template but it always printed in the wrong position. You know when something is bugging you, it's like an itch and you can't leave it alone.

Last night I had one of those light bulb moments and perseverance won the day and it's worked perfectly. I am really really pleased!

Here's the card on Folksy - Grubby Little Angels -

Frustrating Start

It was all systems go this morning and I started to paint that big canvas. Unbelievably the paint (I use professional acrylics) separated like I was using waxed paper. So I tried undiluted paint and it happened again. So phoned the supplier and it seems I got a faulty batch of Winsor & Newton's canvases.

I was just desperate to start and didn't want to send them back if I could help it. So I gessoed it and hooray the paint went on beautifully. So now it's dry and I'm going to give it a go.

A Bit Terrified

I'm finding excuses such as 'I need a coffee' - 'do I have enough paint' - 'should I be tweeting' etc. because I'm scared of starting to paint on that huge canvas. I can imagine I'm not the first to feel like that but once I take that first step, I'll be fine. See, I'm delaying just by writing this!

It's a good day to be indoors as the rain is lashing and very windy. OK, I'm ready and will let you know how it goes.