Golf on Hold!

Disaster ! My second foray onto a golf course has left me blistered and infected! I can barely walk!

We had gone prepared – firstly I had purchased padded heel grips and plasters as well as allowing my heels to heal! Furthermore, Peter had selected an easier 9 holes- flatter and less rough plus it had shorter fairways, or whatever you call them.

‘Not really a golf course at all.’ He’d scoffed. ‘More a pitch and put course.’

I did manage to finish the nine holes and had felt that the heels were only slightly bruised by the end of it. But, within two hours one of them had swollen to the size, dare I say it, of a golf ball.

It was yellow, soft and spongy.

It was also throbbing and painful.

This morning, I can’t walk! I have administered T Tree and Lavender oil and can do nothing more other than allow it to heal.
If anyone out there has experience of blisters and can offer a foolproof deterrent I would be most happy to hear from them, otherwise, I fear my golfing days may be over and ebay the richer for offering my Big Bertha for sale!

On the technical side, I did enjoy the game and learnt not to give up when things begin to go wrong- which they did. Anger, I have discovered, is a great aid to getting the ball down the fairway. All the time I tried to be intelligent my strokes failed, or merely dribbled the ball into the rough, behind a tree or into the ditch! When I gave up thinking and just whacked it we achieved some distance, although not always in the right direction. Peter shouted ‘four’ for me and instructed me that it was my duty to follow where the ball went and warn any unsuspecting golfers on the next green!

I only lost one ball and was pleasantly surprised to discover one on the 8th green which had been discarded, so, all in all, I came away with the same number of balls with which I started.

I have realised how expensive balls are and will be marking mine with indelible ink to reduce losses.

I think Peter is beginning to tire of being my nursemaid, so if any ladies out there fancy joining me I have a spare set of steels.

As my feet prohibit any more rounds for a couple of weeks I shall ring Dave and see about another lesson to perfect my swing on the range.

Sorry there are no photos today but I didn’t think you would relish a picture of infected skin!

Palimpsest- The Painting

I called this picture Palimpsest which is the name given to a manuscript in which old writing has been rubbed out to make room for new.

I chose this name because I feel Rome is a City of multiple layers in which the marks of previous generations are still visible alongside the new.

I have recently signed up for a course of mixed media classes with Piers Ottey at the Mill Studio near Arundel and this painting was the product of the assignment for the summer term.

Although I have been going to Piers’ life drawing sessions for sixteen years, these were ,and still are, untutored. I had always worked in charcoal, pastel or oils for the life work but wanted to explore watercolour and collage in greater depth and decided that I would benefit from joining Piers’ group for a term or two. Many of his students are professional or serious amateurs who regularly exhibit and sell their work (some have had work accepted for the prestigious Chichester Open Art Exhibition). The wide range of activities and classes on offer are well worth attending. For further info go to http://www.themillstudio.com/

Enough about Piers.
Back to my Palimpsest.

This word probably sums up a lot of the influences in my work. I am fascinated by how the past influences the present and the future. I have already written a poem with the same title which explored the concept of a manuscript being the body of an artist’s model on whom the marks of her relationship with the artist have been indelibly written. In the painting I am again exploring different stories indelibly inscribed over time on the fabric of the city. It evolved, as I said, from the assignment given at the beginning of Pier’s summer term in which he suggested we created a painting of a city we love. And I love Rome!

It would have been too easy to paint a typical ‘tourist’ image of Rome but for me a city or landscape is never separate from the people who inhabit it. Rome is a cauldron of characters and it was a selection of these characters that I wanted to capture.

In the painting we see the old alongside the new and the transitory; the ceremony, pomp and illusion of the Vatican standing apart from the ordinary citizens such as the chef and the children on the right and, between these two, the fugitive status of the Senegalese traders plying their wares from cotton sheets on the bridge of angels – ever ready to flee from the attentions of the Carabinieri.

The bridge, originally constructed in Roman times by the Emperor Hadrian, was renamed Ponte Sant’Angelo in the seventh century. It has the statues of ten angels flanking it and I have drawn the Angel with the Cross in my painting. For me the bridge is representative of the division between the religious and the secular.

The relationship between the sacred and the temporal is another theme I like to explore and is addressed in the series of paintings I am developing called City Angels. More on this in later blogs.

The painting utilises pencil, ink, pastel, watercolour and collage with each medium used to support the story the image is relating eg: I have used pages from the Bible ( sections from The Epistle of Paul The Apostle to the Romans) in the columns on the left. This links, not only with the Christianity upon which the Vatican is founded but also with the drawing of St. Paul in my painting taken from the statue of the apostle in St. Peter’s square.


Detail of collage on columns.



Pastel has been combined with gesso to create the texture of a fresco for the background where an ink drawing of the forum has been applied and masked among the other ruins.


The figures in the foreground have been painted in watercolours to contrast the fluid nature of human life against the more permanent structures of the city.

Detail of chef and children .





I created a variety of images whilst exploring this theme, some realistic, others abstract in which I explored colours and emotions.

It took several weeks to complete and is waiting to be mounted and framed – the framer having had an unfortunate accident and slipped a disc - so I will not be able to submit it for the exhibition I had had in mind.

Either way, it will be mounted and framed before being offered for sale as it requires particular attention to enable it to be presented at its best at which time I will be able to specify a price.

As a guide I will be asking £250 for the painting plus mounting and framing. This offers a huge saving on the exhibition price as it excludes gallery commission (which can be up to 50% of the sale price).

The image is in mixed media on Aquarelle Arches 640g heavy weight paper measuring 56 cm x 76 cm.

If you would like to express an interest in purchasing this painting please contact me by clicking here.

Pictures, Paint and Patience!

It was July 27th – the start of the school holidays and the first of two days when Hebe and Aylan were coming to spend the day with us.
Hebe is no longer a child but a young adult and Aylan is also verging on his teen years. At 14 and 12 respectively I am never sure how to keep them from being bored so we decided to ‘organise’ an activity based around their mutual interest in photography and art.

Being a professional photographer and web designer Peter oversaw the first day of the project. We provided them with surplus digital cameras: Hebe having charge of the old Nikon D200 and Aylan using the one I prefer which is the Nikon D70. The first hour was spent in discussing composition and showing them how to use the cameras. The ‘imaginary’ project was based around an assignment to design a stained glass window for a local church. Day one would be spent at the church – Blendworth, near Horndean – and day two, which would be in August - would be to explore ideas and to draw/paint their designs in oils on canvas.

Yes, it’s brave of me to think of letting them loose with oil paint but I’ve warned their mother to send them dressed in old clothes and I shall make sure everything is covered up in the studio!

But first, back to Blendworth and Holy Trinity Church.

The photos at the top of the page were taken by Hebe (on the left) and Aylan (on the right)- pretty good, heh? But it got even better as you can see from the selection of photos spattered throughout the text.

We were blessed with an almost dry day and the church and churchyard open to visitors. It is a delightful Victorian church erected in 1850-51 with what I considered to be a strong pagan influence. Perhaps it was just the pair of exquisitely pruned holly trees stationed close to the porch with the most amazing trunks of intertwining branches which created that atmosphere but , as well as the holly trees, there were a number of interesting headstones in the form of ‘log’ crosses carved with trailing ivy.

We set the kids loose with their cameras, helping them to think about unusual angles, themes, colours, emotional responses etc. Peter guided the technical photography and I encouraged them to view with an artistic eye and to think about the ‘brief’.

Aylan's experimental cross.



Hundreds of images later, having exhausted all possibilities both inside and outside of the church we decided fish and chips were in order and departed for the nearest cafe. Lunch over, the afternoon was spent with Peter in his studio learning more about digital processing of their images. Both Peter and I were hugely impressed with the results of their efforts.



Hebe was very interested in the angel headstones and the colours of the flowers. She chose this theme for her painting.




August 9th dawned cloudy but dry and as the sun warmed so did my spirits. I had said that we would work in oils but as the moment of truth drew near I had begun to recall how messy the combination of Aylan and oil paints might be. Not to be put off, I decided to set up the easels in the garden.







We began the day reviewing the photos and discussing ideas. Then they set to work drawing freely on a large sheet of paper in charcoal. Aylan worked quickly, spurred on by the promise of a KFC for lunch and the preference for TV over canvas!

However, speed produced some very promising work as you can see from the photos.






Hebe, progressed at a more measured pace and in a totally different style. Her picture is to be finished at a later date as she wanted to combine ink inscriptions over the paint once it had dried.






All in all, the day was a success and I think we all enjoyed it- although Aylan’s face was the real picture of the day when I debated whether or not he would need a shower to scrub the paint from his flesh!


I had discussed the concept of abstraction with them and I have to admit that my own interest in this form of art was re-awakened and I’m itching to get to paint and canvas and the freedom of expression which Aylan and Hebe exhibited. So you see we all learnt something from the session.

Golf Lessons Nos 2,3 and 4: Bunkers and Blisters!


I apologise for the pun but I have clubbed three lessons into one!

Lesson 2 was merely another session at the range with partner Peter in which I hit most of the balls and was rewarded with the statement that I was ‘pretty good’ and in order not to introduce errors into my budding genius I was to have a few lessons with a Pro!
Three days later I was demonstrating my technique to my new tutor.

Lesson 3. Perfecting My Swing
Enter David!
David was equally impressed but warned me against continuing with my bargain steel clubs. I had secretly flexed a coveted graphite shafted iron in my sweaty palms in the Pro shop before meeting David on the range and was prepared to begin my collection there and then by purchasing my first ‘diablo’. However, both Peter and David insisted this was a bad idea. Evidently I couldn’t buy one iron at a time – it was necessary to buy a set in order to maintain consistency. I disputed their logic, but came away resigned to search ebay for another set of clubs as I couldn’t and wouldn’t afford a new set.

David approved of Peter’s initial guidance but adjusted my grip and helped me to relax the shoulders. We painted a red spot on my glove, emulating the winner of the British Open, Louis Oosthuizen, which not only helps me to align my thumb but signals the mind to begin my pre-strike programming!
Being an advocate of mind over matter, I was very happy to initiate this regime into my play.

Lesson 3 ended with advice to head out on the greens immediately, ignore any crowding from more experienced players by ‘waving them through’ (which David suggested they would not like as it would subject their own play to scrutiny) and to practice, practice, practice before my next lesson which we agreed would be the following month.

Within five days of lesson 2, and two days from lesson 3, we travelled to Fareham to pick up another ebay bargain – my set of graphite irons and – wait for it –Big Bertha (illustrated left).


Already I understand the reverence for the name Callaway. You may recall that I purchased a Callaway glove in lesson 1. Big Bertha is made by this hallowed company! Now I felt like a proper golfer! I had graphites and a Calloway.

The purchase completed everything I needed to head out on the fairway as the previous owner was retiring from the sport and had included her ball retriever (for when I lose my ball in water!), tees, used balls (marked with her initials to avoid disputes), scorecard, raincover, bag, trolley, spare gloves and pencils etc. Now all I lacked were spiky shoes!

We remedied the shoes on the way home from acquiring Big Bertha and her lesser compatriots.
Now, let it be known that I have a HUGE problem. No matter how much I pay, or how long I take over the fitting, I always seem to get blisters when wearing ‘proper’ shoes. This is because I have very narrow heels. It is the reason I tenaciously hang on to my old boots which I have worn for nearly fifteen winters – they do not hurt!

Both Peter and the man in the golf shop assured me that the most comfortable shoes were Footjoy. They certainly sounded comfortable but I was not to be easily fooled, so I tried on various types and makes. Eventually we agreed on the Footjoy Softjoy shoe and booked a tee time for Saturday afternoon.

Lesson 4 Teeing Off.
Proof as per illustration – my shoes on the turf!
Peter was stunned, I beamed. My first hole was a double bogey!

Big Bertha struck with deadly accuracy and sent my first ball straight down the fairway. Next I used a pitcher. Not being used to this iron (and probably a little over-confident with my initial success), I missed the next stroke. I pulled my head together, focused and reclaimed my genius. The next stroke put me on the green where I easily putted my ball in two! I insisted we keep score. Peter instructed me in the etiquette of clearing the green before marking my card.
As we galloped towards the second tee (it is NOT a stroll, he told me!) I glanced at the advancing black clouds. Before I reached the tee the first drops of rain were falling. Undeterred, Peter insisted we play on.

I blame the rain. Big Bertha failed me. The ball disappeared at a right angle into the undergrowth. Blinded by the drizzle on my glasses, I decided to take a new ball and forfeit the stroke. This time I connected and hooked it to the left into another group of trees. The only good thing about the second tee was the fact that I avoided the bunkers! I decided not to keep score!

As we trudged through the wet grass and increasing rain storm towards the third tee I felt my shoes slipping against my achille’s heel. I knew ‘the dreaded blisters were blossoming - one on each heel. Distracted by the long grass, the blisters, the ‘four-ball’ crowding me from behind and the drips on my glasses, my technique failed and I landed in the sand!

I was annoyed and frustrated. Determined not to be beaten I drew my sand wedge from my bag and addressed my errant ball. By this time I had lost several! I pulled myself together and reclaimed my reputation, taking only two strokes to clear the bunker and arrive on the green where my putting quickly despatched the ball into the hole!

Eventually the rain stopped, the sun came out, I began to enjoy the game, but not the pain in my heels so on the eighth fairway we decided to call a halt and return to the clubhouse, discretion being the better part of valour!

I spent a long time in the bath, easing my aching muscles and nursing my wounds while Peter washed the grass from my shoes and trolley (‘do your own next time,’ he said, ‘you’ll be fitter by then’) Today we went shopping for heel grips and blister packs! But I am undeterred and will be back on the green next week so watch this space for my progress.