Remembrance

Excitement

We've just got a new camera after spending months trying to decide what we wanted. Should it be an SLR, a tiny digital we can easily take everywhere or what? In the end a friend recommended a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 - it had really good reviews so we took the plunge. I'm not a person who will spend ages working out settings, I'll have it on auto almost all of the time and the 18x zoom appealed to me.

We were like children when it arrived - excited! Gray always reads the manual from cover to cover but I just get on with it and it's very much trial & error. Here's one of my first pics - the pier with coloured rope caught up on the struts. This sight always fascinates me as it's forever changing and yet has taken years to build up all the colours and textures.

Wrinkles

I love the wrinkles on the skin of garlic - the pale tissue like membrane. It's one of the main crops on my allotment & it's always exciting when the time comes to dig them up & see how big they've grown! Took me a while to think of what to do this week on IF for 'wrinkles'.

Primitive

The days I've spent in the wind and rain while Gray has searched for fossils. Somerset beaches, Devon beaches, Dorset beaches - for some reason always on days of extreme weather. I'm not as obsessed about finding them as he is but they are beautiful to see & pretty amazing when you think how they are formed and how long they've been hidden.

I drew these ones ages ago and use the drawing for the header on this blog & my website because I love the patterns. They also come under the heading of Primitive for IF, so I've re-coloured them to suit the day here which although Spring - is still pretty murky!

Fail

How quickly Friday comes around with a new subject from Illustration Friday! - this week it's 'fail'. I'm really busy at the moment with an exciting project on the go, so I've used an illustration from the past. I love it in South Devon especially sitting on the beach at East Portlemouth looking over towards Salcombe - so my submission this week is of the view across the estuary because it never FAILS to make me happy!

Springtime?

It should be Springtime but the weather is very changeable, one minute warm sunshine the next cold wind & snow. I've just been on a walk with My Jack Russell to the harbour. It is only in the last couple of years that I've really appreciated the landscape here, before I've preferred the lushness of deciduous woodland or dramatic views from clifftop walks. However lately I'm finding the harbour particularly inspiring - especially the colours. Just look at this hawthorn blossom against the rain filled sky. Truly wonderful.

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Save

It's 'save' this week on IF. So I think the above illustration is obvious. If you leave the tap on while you clean your teeth you waste 10 litres of water per minute!
© 2007 Nicky Linzey