And through the wire

Well I set out yesterday to paint something (and it was tough trudging through the snow to the studio, had to fend off large cats intent on making me feed them, but with wooden tennis rackets attached to  my feet, ski mask and goggles - and not much else -  I made it from the living room to the front room. Bit of a close shave but with fortitude and a strong cup of tea, anything is possible.).

Now I was fairly sure the painting was going to be of an interesting log, photographed the other weekend whilst going on a long circuitous walk in the mud - how swiftly the ground changes from muddy bogs to a frozen, snow and ice covered wasteland, the UK weather, I ask you!

However, it turns out that I didn't want to paint the log at all. I had a close look at the photo. Then looked at it again, blew it up to see its sheer graininess but somehow it just failed to catch the sheer knottiness, the contours and the depths (and meaningfulness of the log - ed) of the actual log. So threw that idea away for the moment. (Does that mean you might have another go another time? - ed). Might pick it up again, but will need to go and see and feel the log out there on the hills (what are you talking about - ed) to get to grips with its sheer logginess.....

So, then what? Had another think, a pause for thought you might imagine, whilst my imagination rampaged through all the ideas streaking through my head (didn't take long as the brain seemed to be lacking in ideas). Finally, after not a single hoo or haa, I decided  and  I was going to paint an orchid for one of my Sister-In-Laws for her Birthday (that'll be Clare, not Maria or Heather in case the other two were wondering).

So found the photos I took of the orchid, did a quick pencil sketch, put in the paint by numbers numbers, then proceeded to fill in the areas as per the instruction manual. (Some of that is not true - ed)

Well this is how it turned out, Orchid in Clare's Kitchen as it is currently named. Might end up being Orchid on Clare's Kitchen Window Sill - I mean, why use fewer words when you can use more, quite like the Welsh/German languages ideas of making the word describe the thing in full detail.

Postscript 

Obviously I have applied for and got an artistic licence from the Lord Chancellor's office as per The Artistic Interpretation Act 1965 - Section (v) - subsection (iii) - paragraph 1 sub-paragraph 2.13. Luckily for me they have not increased the price of the licence with inflation since the original act, so 1s 6d turns out to be 7 1/2 p in modern money - absolute bargain if you ask me.