Unexpected Outing.

I thought I'd renewed my library books online. I was wrong. When I checked when they were due back, I discovered they were overdue. So, I went into Norwich yesterday afternoon on the spur of the moment to return them, and met up with Barbara Knowles, who makes wonderful handmade boxes, not to mention a good cup of tea... we went to collect her cat, who had been at the vet that morning, dropped off the library books, drifted through Borders (where I did, finally, spend my book token) and took the cat back home.

I had met Barbara's grandson a couple of times, a two year old whose real name has to be Charm On Legs. Yesterday, though, I met his father, who is a boatbuilder to trade, and a fund of completely useful information, as carpenters can be. He described to me the way that a boat is built, and I was fascinated. There is as much art in boatbuilding as there is in any other art form; it's a question of balance, of precision, of understanding one's media and environment, and working accordingly. I might not have been so intruigued, but the call to artists for next year's Salthouse exhibition came out that morning, and I had been musing about a site specific piece. The art process of boatbuilding seems altogether right for a venue by the sea. Now to do some research...

If you combine this with an unexpected invitation earlier in the day to show some paintings at the Hobart Gallery at Blickling Hall, then you can be sure that I had a very happy time yesterday! The image is the third of the Sunworshippers paintings. I'd intended to do some dyeing today, but the phone has been ringing, and coffee has been drunk... and now the people are here to dismantle and remove the greenhouse. I'm intending to have a shed to work in in the summer, with a print table for textiles. That way, I could keep the dyes and such outside, less mess...that's the theory, anyway...