Here’s another drawing I did into my little Khadi sketchbook last week on the coast of Portugal. The colours were incredible, bright blue sky and sea and hot red and orange earths veined with dark greys. Extraordinary geology. There were also a lot of rock balancing sculptures in a little cove just to the east of Praia de Oura. It only just occurred to me that I should have tried drawing with the coloured earths! I’ll just have to go back.
I took a small Khadi sketchbook with me on my recent trip to Portugal and drew en plein air with Daler Rowney soft pastels. The landscape is very dramatic and I spotted these gigantic wintry Aloe Veras spearing the land and sky. The colours are so intense in the bright winter sunshine, so different to the soft greys and greens of home.
Most of our walks along the beach ended up in the old town of Albufeira where we chanced upon a lovely tiny cafe and patisserie, the Pastelaria Barhon, that served heavenly Pasteis de Nata (Portugese custard tarts) that we had to eat to revive us because it was so tiring walking in the hot sun. Honest!
It’s lovely to see where artwork can get to when it leaves me and it’s released out in the wild. I did this mixed media piece, “Annwyl Käthe” – stamping, chine collé, stitching and hand written text – in an edition of 15 for the annual Leftovers print exchange organised by Wingtip Press in Idaho, USA. Part of Leftovers is an annual international touring exhibition and this has just featured in a show at the Wharepuke Gallery in New Zealand.
It looks gorgeous. Maybe someday I’ll get across the world for a visit. If you are a printmaker and want to get involved in Leftovers VIII, please click here.
Husb and I have just got back from a few days in the sun. We bagged ourselves a package holiday to southern Portugal, Albufeira, to get some winter warmth. We had to leave the cats in the hands of a kitty sitter and they look fatter than ever. And I suspect that Sparta Puss might have got her paws on the computer when we were away! It’s a gorgeous place with fantastic geology and flora so I got down to some scribbling, using Daler Rowney artist soft pastels into my small square Khadi hand-made paper sketchbook. The heat and sunshine created such completely different colours to those I’m used to back home in Wales. And arriving back was a shock to the system. It’s been snowing heavily here and we landed to temperatures below freezing bbbrrrrrrrr …..
I think today’s my last chance to get my paws on the pooter box for a while. I’m Sparta Puss and my simian servants have been away for a few days, getting some sunshine. Idiots, all they have to do is lie on a cushion in the window if they want sun! I’ve been allowing you to see pictures of my and my roomie, Ming The Merciless while the monkeys are away. Here’s Ming, taking it easy on one of our beds. The apes think the beds are theirs. What do they know? Hah!
It’s been nice chatting, but I have far more important things to do now. Like convincing the kitty sitter to give me the rest of that packet of treats before my pet monkeys come home. Ciao Miao!
Sparta Puss here. The hairless monkeys are away for a few days and Ming The Merciless and I have a kitty sitter, a pleasant enough she-ape who can be persuaded to give me bigger portions than my simian servants do. My usual she-ape calls herself an artist which means that she stares at me while rubbing a tube with dirt in the middle of it onto a piece of paper. Then she shows it to me and says, “Look Sparta, that’s you”. What an idiot. No wonder I look so cross 😡
The bald monkeys are still away and I’m getting bored. The kitty-sitter is nice enough but I can’t wind her up too much in case she withholds my treats. I like winding up the hairless apes. It’s fun. I like the noise the she-monkey makes when I throw rats at her. A high pitched screaming. And she jumps on chairs. It’s sooooo funny! She’s an idiot. This is a watercolour she did of someone else’s cat. I don’t like it. It’s not me.
The hairless apes are still away so I’ve been trawling through the photos on the pooter box to find some of me. And my homie, Ming The Merciless. Here I am catching up with some sleep and the she-monkey has drawn me. She says that I’m a poser. She’s an idiot.
The kitty-sitter is a nice she-ape who can be prevailed upon to give me treats. I just act like that kitty on the Shrek film. He’s got it sussed. She can’t resist me.
I Am Sparta Puss! And my simians are away for a few days and they’ve left us with a kitty-sitter, a hairless she-ape who gives me treats on demand. She’s well trained. She’s lived with cats before, I can tell, she knows her place. Here’s one of my places, lying flat out on a pair of monkey legs in front of a fire. The monkey complains that her legs hurt. She implies that I’m a bit on the heavy side! She’s an idiot.
Sparta Puss here again, monkeys-who-can-read. You’re quite clever really, for simians. I’m clever too. Here I am helping the hairless she-ape to cut something called lino. She makes stuff called art from it. She’s an idiot.
I’m off to exploit the kitty-sitter now. Toodles!
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