I'm b-b-back!
Renovations, workshops and a retired troll...? Never!
I said brrr!
It’s cold in here. Freezing cold. After moving from house to house due to our ongoing renovation, we are currently residing at the family cabin down in the Scottish Borders for a couple of weeks.
As always, when I reference this cabin, I like to make sure that people know I do not use the word ‘cabin’ lightly. It is quite literally a wooden bungalow with no insulation and no heating except for one log fire and an electric heater so ancient that I anticipate an explosion every time Juan turns it on. To use my dad’s description we are “indoor camping”.
But you know what, I adore it here! It's surrounded by nature and it's so beautiful and peaceful. Sure you get showered with dead spiders every time you open up the curtains but I wouldn't have it any other way… (you can remind me I said that next week when the temp drops down to 8 degrees!)
But let’s look on the bright side, I have this newsletter to write and that’s an opportunity to keep my fingers warm! So off we go, let’s dive into a rather large catch-up since it’s been a grand old six weeks since we last spoke… there are exciting updates below including renovation pics and workshop tickets so chop chop! Let’s get reading…
Renovation Update
Oh my god does it feel like this is going on forever and ever? I am so ready to move back into our house, unpack all our things and not live in a suitcase!!
But for now, I will just get excited about the fact that we have windows! That’s the bathroom in the photo above. There’s going to be a freestanding bath tub on that back wall. For those who need a reminder of how it looked before, here’s a couple of reminder pics…
The picture on the left is half way through the renovation, showing the window we had before. The second photo shows how the hallway looked before we extended the bathroom into it.
Below you can see how our living room looked before…
The above photo is right when we moved in (I hated that ceiling fan!) and then the one below is showing a different angle (can you see the orange wallpaper in the hallway!!!)
And then in the next photo you can see how we’ve knocked the living room wall and gone into the kitchen:
And then below we have the same shot again but this time showing the kitchen area with the new walls going up… this is really exciting as it’s starting to look like a real house as opposed to a building site!
And below as a final photo we have the new hallway which is now a long corridor without that strange open space it had before (as that’s now been absorbed by the bathroom).
The last two pics are the latest updates. We have plumbing work starting next week and more plasterwork. Starting to feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Stay tuned for the next update…
A big thank you to RRR (Repair Renew Replace) in Fife for the windows! It’s a small business owned by my brother-in-law’s sister and brother-in-law… (that’s complicated to read!) So if you’re looking for new windows check them out! They are reliable and trustworthy.
Now for something slightly different….
One dog’s trash is another woman’s headdress…
So, if you missed it on my instagram, I went to Shambala Festival. The purpose was to help one of my best friends out on her stall selling her jewellery but Shambala is a festival renowned for fancy dress so I had to get involved. If there’s one thing I love it’s an excuse to get my glue gun out… So, deciding I wanted to dress up as a Shaggy Ink Cap mushroom as one of my costumes, I was looking around the house for something cone-shaped to use as the base when my eyes fell upon Spud who at the time was strutting around the house in a plastic cone from the vets to stop him licking an injury he had. Very kindly, his wound healed up just in time for me to yoik the thing off his head and cover it with various trimmings until it resembled the mushroom I always knew it could be. (Special thanks to my mum for posting up the pleated fabric for the underside at the Nth hour when I realised I couldn’t do it without a machine!)
Anyway, without further ado… here she is! And yes, it lit up at night!
The Flying Circus
My brand new artwork ‘The Flying Circus’ is now available as both a print and a greeting card! This is such a dynamic piece of artwork that will add energy and colour to any room.
As mentioned in the last newsletter, the original sold at Pittenweem Arts Festival which was its first unveiling as I’d painted it specifically for that event. Always feels so rewarding when a new artwork gets snapped up so quick!
Tiny & Smol Prints (and frame info!)
The latest collection is up on my website. There’s 8 prints to choose from and they’re small enough to post to a friend or to squeeze onto that wall that has no space left! These miniature prints can look great as a set, either 3 in a row or 4 in a square.
For anyone interested in a ready-made frame for their prints, I’ve sourced a high-quality one with a glass front (not plastic) that’s an affordable price! If you purchase one make sure you get it WITHOUT a mount as you will want to order your mount from me because my mounts are cut to fit the tiny/smol artworks. For Tiny prints order this frame here and for Smol prints order this frame here.
Have a look at the tiny and smol print collection below…
Pet Portraits
This is Sam! Very, very sadly poor Sam passed away so this painting was a surprise birthday present. I actually get very emotional when I paint pets that have passed as I know from my own experience how special animals are and what they mean to their owners.
If you’d like to get booked in for a portrait all you need is a good photo so please don’t hesitate to get in touch. <3
Beginner Watercolour Workshops
They’re back…. but I haven’t managed to get the tickets up yet! That’s right, despite my promises on instagram that they’d all be dropping this morning it turns out my schedule over the next few months is incredibly complicated. Given that we are living out of town my art stuff is all down here in the borders and on top of that I’ve got way more Christmas fairs this year than I normally do which are filling up my weekends!!
So, I will drop a mini email later today with all the dates in! Look out for it! (There’s a Christmas robin workshop dropping too!)
That’s rock and troll baby!
He did it! He turned 4! The magic spell of maturity has finally fallen upon our youngest dog Ollie… I feel like a parent who’s shipped their child off to university, dusting my hands off with a sigh of contentment knowing my work here is done.
If you’re not familiar with dogs, they apparently calm and settle down at the age of 4. If you’re not familiar with Ollie you can probably guess that with the nickname of ‘The troll’ it’s been quite an adventure getting him to this stage.
I can confirm that Ollie has indeed been noticeably more chill in recent months. Great news for my nerves and general mental wellbeing… bad news for this newsletter, given that Ollie is my chief content producer. The ‘personality hire’ if you will.
Unfortunately, I’ve got a readership to please so Ollie you better pull your finger out. Whatever it takes I need you back in the game, I can’t risk you being mature and sensible… you think I can fill a newsletter segment on how long you’ve napped? Or how you behaved nicely when we took you out to a cafe? No! We want the rockstar back! The one who stole food, who ran off chasing seagulls! We want the Robbie Williams of the canine world - entertain us!
To try get Ollie inspired to create more content, let’s look back at some of his most weird, wonderful and trolliest moments…
Yep, we can start with the quite literal trolling of poor Spud who’s tail has been sleeping with one eye open ever since Ollie moved into the house. Not a day has gone by where Spud’s tail hasn’t been fighting for its life and I don’t think Ollie will rest until it's severed and he's either pinned it up on his wall like some kind of trophy or fashioned it into a hat.
That time I looked up from my pub dinner and saw a random dog wandering around the other tables and tutted at the irresponsible owner for letting them off when people were eating… only to look down and discover that Ollie had chewed through his lead and that was him across the other side of the room hoovering up chips off the floor. The shame in frogmarching over to fetch him…
Ollie’s first climate protest. Much excitement.
Telling Spud JUST HOW MUCH HE LOVES HIM. Making sure to tell him LOUDLY and RIGHT INSIDE the eardrum so that the message lands.
That time I tried to have a photo in a boat with both dogs and Ollie got so over-excited he kept humping my leg and I couldn’t get him to stop and we nearly all capsized… ahh memories.
And how could we forget the time Ollie ate some kind of space cake out of a rubbish bag on a dog walk up in Stirling and got so high he couldn’t even walk. You know it’s been a good night when you wake up in a kennel at the vets with a bill for £1000… then, literally a few days later, I lost him in my studio building and I kid you not I found him in a gallery room with an art exhibition on and he was running around the room going up on two paws to sniff the artwork! I mean what a cliche, he tries weed once and now he’s an art connoisseur.
Okay fine, maybe it’s not so bad that Ollie’s growing up! Could certainly have done without that obscenely large vet bill…
Well that’s it folks, another another newsletter draws to a close… time for me to get back to work planning my upcoming Christmas cards, calendars and uploading those festive painting workshop dates. Stay safe, stay hydrated and we’ll catch up again soon…
Oh, and before you go, a ‘nap pawsition of the week’ can be found below, provided by Spud! See, he’s 8 and he’s still providing the good content. What a pro!
Tata for now xxx
Since we have been living out of suitcases over the last month, Spud’s finally decided they’re not suitcases but beds. I have found him in here on quite a few mornings!