Beauty and art

Here is my latest piece of art I have produce ...
The subject, my youngest granddaughter in her little bear dressingown
It is a monochrome piece, watercolour - blue and white only
A great subject and a beautiful model... I enjoyed painting this one 😍

Art sale

Art sale
GIBRALTAR Rock Ape
Original watercolour painting signed by the artist.
Checkout eBay

Encephalitis and me...

Apologies for not posting much over the last 6 months.
The reason being, a stay in intensive care, unconsciousness, in an induced comma, waking up confused, dazed and scared, festooned with tubes everywhere and no recollection as to why.
Its been a  sereal journey. The time since has been hard.

One day I am Ram, the next moment, a shell of who I was... Gloomy yes but that's what it felt like.
From being free and able bodied to being dependent on many people, predominantly my wife Julie.
One day, I had influenza, next I'm waking up two weeks later in intensive care????
I'm slowly getting back to myself but there is still a way to go...

Life's been very busy with recovery and physio, memory issues and lots of tests, investigations and  reviews by all sorts of specialists. Then there has been all the exercise, 'strengthening my core' due to the vertebral fractures I have...

No idea when or how I got these but, they are there.

I don't think there's any orifice that's not been scoped or organ that has been radiologically checked out by xray or scan.... The barrage of blood tests I've had is also remarkable that I've not needed a unit or two of blood to replace the 'arm fulls' of claret extracted from my thrombosed veins!!

I've become a patient and it is truly eye opening to be in this position.
I'm in the process of chronicling it and maybe making an attempt at writing a true story about this all. The Encephalitis Society have been very helpful to Julie, my family and myself giving us support and direction. I am indebted to them all, especially Julie who has given me the love and support I have not always returned as well as the strength to carry on. Thank you xxx.
My boys and their wives as well as my sister in law Val and brother in law Tony, as well as my mother and father in law Claire and Henry, who have been there for me. Becks and Mo for their help as well as Ambe, for his help and guidance during the acute phase... My mum, dad, brother and sister who came over when I was ill and all my friends Alan and Helen, Douglas and Irene, Jim, Linda, Jill, Catriona..... The list goes on, Cheers!!
To all my fellow Dr's and nurses who got me over this rather unplanned and dark hump, I thank you all.

I know this may read like an acceptance speech at an award ceremony but in a way it is. It is in deed an award of thanks from me to you all.

As a family, all the help, encouragement and direction we have received from everyone has been humbling and fantastic. The hard work from community services, Louise and Magda as well as the GP services, Nuffield House and Debbs has been amazing to Julie and I. The NHS is a great institution and I have given so much for so many years to it but it has paid me back when I needed it. Thank you 😌 (I'm not very good at choosing the appropriate EMOGI).
Anyway, having this perspective of healthcare professional to patient may be worthwhile to undertake, especially for me!
I'm in a space I hope no one gets to experience... I appreciate the alternative is RIP but this is not a bed of roses either.
Despair, pain and anger need to be managed and I am not always good at it.
Society imposes on us to be strong as men and as professionals... This is not always easy but hayho, life goes on.

It's not been all bad: I got to see the world cup 2018 on TV even though the team I was backing came third... Though most important of all, I got to meet our fourth grandchild, the beautiful little lady Eliza, who joins Heath, Cass and Daisy as the new leaves in our ever expanding family tree.

I have been writing a little, reading even less but painting and drawing a lot... One of my friends helped me conjure up the word 'Encephalartist'... I don't think it's been used before and I'm going to take the bizzare honour of claiming it... 😁

In the meantime, I leave you with some of my art... And a promise to get some more posts in sooner than they have appeared lately.
In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the summer, reading and creating life.... I hope you consider reading one of the books available on Amazon
If you do, please leave a review and make sure you tell others that these books exist and are in the public domain to be read and enjoyed by everyone.

Peace and love 😘

Art to unwind

After a stressful day, quickly sketching Jim, one of our families dogs to unwind... Great therapy
Still stressed though!!!

Book covers collection and a little ingenuity

Book covers collection a different the RPG Books logo... I think it works!!!

Promotional Art

A picture Sells thousands of words...

Art Attack

Yes, I write and yes I paint...  They help reduce the stress of the day job.
Here's my latest Art Attack
This depicts one of my grandson's in the middle of my wife and I.
If I were to give this a name,  well none more appropriate than 'grandparenthood'.
It's acrylic on paper and was painted this afternoon in around an hour.

I'm pleased with it....

Music to write to...

I find writing with music on the background a very useful way to generate ideas and block out the world.
I use an eclectic mix of tracks and sounds and vary them depending on my project and mood.

What music do you write best to?

Is a classical background music or operatic backdrop your preferred medium or a heavy rock track to get the words flowing onto paper?
With that statement, paper or PC??

Do you prefer silence?
Indoors or in the great outdoors?

It would be interesting to see what makes us tick.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Art for art's sake

The creative juices are high and it's not all about writing either.
After a hard days work,  I thought why not paint a bit... 
Below is a canvas painting I conjured up this evening.
It's silver Acrylic mainly and depicts a row of trees in a stormy sky.
One hours work..  A pleasure.

I think it works well... Do you?

Sculptured heads

Art:
Julie and I attended a sculpture class a few weeks ago.

Our efforts are now complete, bronzed and mounted.
Quite cool considering...

Were collecting them tomorrow

Should consider putting them on the next book cover...  Lol

Street cockroaches

Cockroach Art.... the big, black bugs are made from garbage bags containing who-knows-what.

They were placed in Stavanger, Norway, by Milan-based street artist Fra.Biancoshock, who calls the intervention "Street Coachroaches."

Appropriate considering these bugs can be found in trash,  garbage a lot of the time!

I should have used this idea to promote Phobic Wars!!

Link

Work Life Balance ... Help!

21st century life can be stressful
The work / life balance has its good points. Finding time to live other than work is tight sometimes. The day job tends to "Zap" the life out of us and all we want to do is colapse and vegetate after that...

However there are many things we can do, I prefer to remain creative and write, paint and play guitar (a good alternative to the long list of DIY chores!).
However, lately it is becoming significantly harder to achieve this.
There are a now a number of unfinished and some yet to be started projects... so if anyone has any ideas on how to motivate and schedule hobbies in, please share them.


I would love to be systematic and dedicate allotted times for the number of things in my head, so many that they get left by the way side.
HELP!!

Creative art

Julie and I attended a sculpture class today.
It was brilliant fun,  creative and we learnt a lot...  Especially the fact that most of us need to keep the day jobs...

Here are some of the pics...

If you want to have a bash...  Click

Psycho

Watching Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece Psycho... 

Bates Motel. 

Uneasy Norman entangles his victims in rresponse to his dead mothers demands...  Excelen. 

Brilliant cinematography,  story line and delivery...
It's hard to believe it is 54 years old!!
Amazing art.

Word Art - Phantasms in the Infirmary

Word Art 

These are the phrases this book conjures up for Phantasms in the Infirmary

The cover for my new book

I'm nearly finished writing the new book and have been working on the cover..
What are your thoughts on this?

Please let me know comments and suggestions on the lay out,  title etc.

This is my third draft and feel pretty pleased with it. 
It's my own concept and artwork but I'm open to suggestions. 

I will publish one of the chapters on this blog when it's finished..  So couple of weeks more is my estimation.

Fresh off the easel

My painting of our dog,  Rosie.
Excellent pet and friend,  retired athlete and a beautiful dog...
Acrylic on canvas.
Painted in a couple of hours,  just for fun.
For more examples,  have a look at my author Website
Comments are appreciated

Author website now with some of my art on it too

Anya,  my cousin Jesseie's daughter asked why I didn't include some of my art on my website?  A gallery.

Why not,  do I have added this on.  Have a look and let me know your thoughts on this?
Should I include my art work?
If not,  why not?
Should it be a separate entity altogether?
Does it work?

Please contact me and let me know...
In the meantime,  enjoy

Art, my other love

I always maintain I should have been a happy.
I love writing, playing guitar and painting.
Here is my latest and first for this year. 
This is of Smudge and Jim, Acrylic on canvas, depicts my son's two collies.
Comment and thoughts welcome.

Brilliant Cuban Art

This is a great piece of art we picked up in Havant, Cuba.
The picture is hauntingly brilliant and both my wife and I just had to buy it.
Have you got any must share art?