Finn update

What a wonderful dog Finn is becoming. He's really settled in to our life now and seems to be very happy in his new routine. He's very loving and obviously up for all the walking that is expected of him.

It was Gra's birthday last week so we spent the day out walking, beachcombing, collecting and photographing. Plus a bit of eating and drinking too - the perfect day. Below are pictures of paint on the bottom of boats.

East Head at Wittering was very stormy but beautiful. I did a #2minutebeachclean and in the picture of the sand you can see the tiny pieces of plastic littering the beach - all the black and white bits are plastic too. They can be found all along the sand dunes now and this shocks me every time I see it. I also collected some shells and seaweed to draw.

Finn's first trip

We've been away to the West Country - walking the coastal paths - which is my favourite thing to do. This time we've had Finn with us - his first holiday (that we know of). I was unsure how he would behave as he's a very impetuous dog and can be hard to handle at times. I needn't have worried - he was a good boy. He became bored easily while Gra was searching for fossils and I was drawing but only disgraced himself once when he did a runner from our hotel room and was eventually stopped by a German guest with a very large suitcase! I think we wore him out in the end.

Beaches

While walking Finn I cannot stop beach cleaning. Martin Dorey - the founder of 2minutebeachclean was on BBC2's Springwatch last week - he's doing an amazing job. I've discovered that each beach I clean has a different type of rubbish: Wittering was littered with lots of dog poo in bags - I can only think that after bagging it the dog's owners didn't want to carry it around with them so discarded it - even though there are many bins around. Pagham has lots of matted fabric caught up in the dried seaweed. I didn't realise what this was until I'd been clearing it for a few weeks - WET WIPES - disgusting. Apparently they are becoming a real problem as people are using them more and more. Then there's Bognor - clogged up with beer cans and takeaway rubbish - just left behind regardless of all the bins along the promenade.

I also cannot stop photographing boat bottoms! I love the layers of coloured peeling paint and the textures. I think they look like abstract paintings.

Shoreham

We visited Shoreham last week to see the houseboats, which are weird and wonderful and constructed from all sorts of paraphernalia - coaches - planes - even a robin reliant. I did not want to spoil it (if you are going to visit) by photographing them all, so this is just a taster. Park in beach green car park and they are right in front of you. I'm still doing my 2minutebeachclean as you can see.

April

Oh dear I missed April completely. Finn has been taking up my time and a myriad of family problems unfortunately, but that's life I suppose. Here's a photographic montage of the missed month - it's my favourite time of year - so beautiful to see the Spring colours with leaves and plants unfurling in the woods and the blue sea sparkling in the first warm sunshine. 
Finn is settling in well, he's a little wayward and has eaten all the wild garlic in the garden and scared off the birds which is a shame. It's a year since Bill died and Finn has made me feel better about everything, as well as being a great walking companion.

2 minute beach clean

A couple of weeks ago I saw pictures on instagram of #2minutebeachclean and Martin Dorey's brilliant idea of doing a 2 minute clean every time you visit a beach and now I've become mildly obsessed. On our last 3 visits to Pagham harbour, Chichester harbour and Pagham beach, Gra, Finn and I have collected up a tiny bit of the enormous amount of rubbish we saw. It is amazing how much is out there, we've found some interesting things too as you can see below. So does this inspire you to do one?

faces

Last night we walked along the coast at Langstone where the sea defences have been made from old railway sleepers and we saw quite a few faces peeking out.

Still hanging on to Summer

Although there has been some rain, the lovely weather is still here amongst the odd shower. We've been on some beautiful walks along the coast, seen fields of sunflowers and wild flowers, spent time with a friend's new dog and visited the burial mounds at Kingley Vale on a beautiful evening - there was a scary atmosphere in the woods though!

Flaming June? - Occasionally!

June so far: Alf merging with the carpet, he is such a sweet dog and has been a real comfort, new leaves unfurling on a plant I thought I had killed, beautiful scented honeysuckle, a coastal walk when the weather turned murky and the South Downs on a hot sunny evening.

Sign

The penultimate day of the August Break - day 30 - the word is sign. This picture is not really a sign but the poster caught my eye and promotes the work of the RNLI who do amazing work saving lives at sea.

Sacred

Day 23 and the word for the August Break is sacred.  There are many places that feel sacred to me - they are always outside when I'm surrounded by nature and the elements. Even better if I'm with my JRT - Bill. The first pic is Pagham Harbour, the second is Start Point in Devon. 

something old

Well, what a coincidence, the subject 'something old' was on the day of my birthday - so I had to photograph myself!

Something old ... something new ...

storm

Storm is the theme for Illustration Friday this week. I've seen these trees on the coast in South Devon and also near Seven Sisters in East Sussex, the wind has totally distorted them.

Beautiful. I love trees .. as you know.

© nicky linzey 2013

sea defences

How beautiful are these? They didn't work though and are being replaced further up the coast by a lot of concrete for £1.8m. Mind you I would be glad it was happening if I lived yards from the water, the sea is changing the landscape and will soon be taking the houses with it.
PS You can click on pics to see them more clearly.

more freedom and another white horse

It seems impossible to get away on holiday at the moment so we are having a few mini breaks. This time to the Cuckmere Valley, which is stunning and we were lucky with the weather again. The White Horse was cut in 1836 and yes .. we did climb up that hill!

Stop & stare 10

Couldn't resist a picture of this!

At last . . .

At last some sunshine after months of greyness. It's still cold but for the last few days the sun has been shining and the sky is blue. This winter will certainly make me appreciate Spring (my favourite season) even more than usual.

Fleeting

A few years ago I caught a fleeting glimpse of a basking shark in Salcombe estuary - a magical moment.

As an afterthought - it was a fleeting glimpse of the world for the plankton too!

© 2009 nicky linzey for Illustration Friday

TV blues

More out of focus shots. This time of a television programme - Coast - about the South coast of Wales.

Another map!

I drew this a while ago and it was my inspiration for Illustration Friday's subject of Island last week. We had a wonderful family holiday here last month and it's a place that is really close to my heart. I've started drawing these maps now when we go away - I enjoy doing them and they remind me of good times. Maybe I need to get out more!!

© 2008 nicky linzey