well it has been a while since I last fell off my bike. Did it spectacularly yesterday morning, went out before sunrise not so difficult this time of the year but fell foul of a frozen stream on a particularly steep bank and went properly over the handlebars landing on my finger, it hurt a lot. Fortunately not my drawing hand.

it snowed. nice. Newcastle quayside by night; nice too.

Jupiter Venus and a crescent moon. Jupiter is above Venus and very dim- not having ever gone to school.

read up about the comon cold this weekend having had one it seems the virus cannot live outside the body unless coated in mucus so if you get a cold you have most likely injested someone else's mucus coated virus; nice! not.

n

a few pics: the moon, I was pleased with this one. a seagull from this frosty morning

and a spider web with remains of breakfast

a bit of a pastel of a scene on the way to hexham. a bird in a speedboat.

and last; but by no means least, the moon.

and a very short story.

he occasionally had that feeling that he was hiding from someone, it made him think a little of the story at the start of the bible, when Adam hid from God, in some bushes, But what or who was he hiding from?, was someone in pursuit, or was it worse; that no one was even looking?

now I am here I can't remember what I was going to say~! so I shall upload a few recent photos one from Hexham where I went to put some paintigns into an exhibition to start saturday Haslem's of Hallgate it is called with some very good artists so I feel humble and unexpectedly privileged.

one from this morning at Tynemouth just caught the sunrising and I think a kestrel from Tyenmouth this morning too.

Im sure I used to be wittier than this......................then again I haven't fallen over for at least a week

d

war in heaven?

as I left the lakes the weather changes where I had been some of my favourite effects bright sun strong clouds, giving the effect of sunbeams searching the valleys and turning the mountains into shapes of light. this is a great cloud squatting over a mountain like some great creature

I really like the extra effects of light on the lens in this one. stops it being too cliched-the solitary tree with looming cloud and light .

I went up a mountain and then fell over

two people who did not at least in my sight fall over.

a very rubbish painting, now dead.

YESTERDAY i WENT TO THE lakes and up a mountain, when I reached the top I fell over, fortunately not over the mountain just over, stepped on a stone which tipped quite effectively and I fell over did a kind of clumsy roll into very wet turf so a soft wet landing.

It reminded me a little of a painting by Michael Andrews called the man who suddenly fell over in fact that painting didn't mean as much to me til I fell over then suddenly it had more resonance as artists are prone to say.http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=514&searchid=8910 this should give you a look

here is a painting at an early stage which I have since painted over as it was rubbish.

nothing as depressing as painting a rubbish painting, actually there are thousand more depressing things but where would we be without a little hyperbole (whatever that is)?

a few photos , well two isn't a few; its two, but the Dome at Whitley BAy is having a face lift and at present it is crowned with scaffolding and looks interesting. this one is actually a reflection but you probably knew that already.
while this is a rare sketch rare because for every sketch these days I probably take about 200-300 photographs. It is Hexham and I am attempting to paint it but am fairly dissatisfied so far.

here is another one of the Dome. Nice thing about this time of year: good skies.