Hi Pat would you believe i'm Margaret Patricia two saints names typical Irish...always known as Patsy when, as a child I found out my other name was Margaret I thought why couldn't you have called me Elizabeth after the Queen instead of a princess I didn't know how to spell either...i'm not painting at all at the moment it's too hot and everything dries so quickly in this weather...I have been trying some Chinese Brushwork but success is far away I got some really good advice form Neil who does some beautiful calligraphy so I will take his advice and wait until i have the right paper and the paint he has recomended...I think i'm suffering a bit of fear factor some of my first paintings were well received and now a bit scared I can't keep it up...can't find a good group around here and what there are I think would be a bit hard to break into and that would put me off so i'll relearn at home...I find with all I have to do around the house and running around after people that I have a full time job so if I don't get sat down early enough painting is out...once it cools down a bit I think a bit of energy will return...your weather has been on our news total whiteout country wide I think so keep warm and safe...just had to get the fly spray some thing just shot across the floor it will be dead soon i'm a good shot with that spray

Hi Patsy I'm doing okay thanks. We are in the depths of winter here. I know this because there's five inches of snow outside and more to come tonight. England has come to a standstill..........which is normal! I'm trying to get some new work done in my painting...........I'm doing three oil paintings at once because I'm a true Yorkshire woman and won't waste any paint!. The paintings are of workers in the fields. I've also drawn out a silk painting, that I want to finish for an exhibition my group called ART BUDDIES are putting on at a local gallery in the middle of February. There are eight of us and we all paint different subjects, so we should have a varied exhibition. Have you done any art work? My daughter is on Myspace and spends most of her time connecting with virtual friends........What happened to asking a neighbour in for a cup of tea! I'm blogging now and it's nearly midnight,,,,,,,,,,,, I really need more than 24 hours in a day........must get to bed. PS I did reply but it was on my gallery page! Still haven't got to grips with this site yet. Cheers Pat (please call me Pat, Patricia is for Sundays and signing paintings!)

Hi Patricia how are you and what are you up to now

Hi Patricia I live just 10 mins drive out of the city believe it or not...a nice spot but when they develop golf courses here the wildlife gets fenced in so to speak...water barriers are dug to make the game harder for the golfers good breeding grounds for mozzies and snakes...I react badly to mozzies big swellings so I sit with my no odour spray beside me just in case one gets in the roaches are a way of life and again the trusty and feet up...the snakes live on the golf course but because our house was the last to be built it seems they have a memory or where to go to lay there eggs...I have a strange facination for snakes but know when to stay out of the way I got bailed up by a baby Tiger snake in the front garden hubby got it with the spade...now that is a dangerous snake...the spiders i've also got used to after once splatting a Grey Wolf with a fly swatter only to find they carry their babies on their backs never again...because they are to us harmless though big I now grit my teeth and get the pint pot...this all happens over a period of 3 months then they all go on holidays thank goodness...daughter just walked in and wants to look at her facebook must go "she who must be obeyed"

Hi Patsy. Yes it was me! Reading your above is like Arrghh, Crocodile Dundee!. How do you cope withall those bugs. I don't sleep well at night but I would NEVER sleep out there were you live! I suppose you have gotten used to it but the sound of a mosquito fills me with terror! I have such a bad reaction to them. Bugs and snakes aside, have you finished your housewarming gift? I still have a blank piece of silk and no idea what to put on it. I need a sunny day and be able to set up in the conservatory for the light. Cheers Pat

Hi Patricia was it you who asked about the creepy crawlies...well in Dec the flies were mustard but I think the heat has killed them off or the dung beetles are doing their job at last..I did have one very large North West roach fly and I mean fly into the bedroom nearly died if the're crawlng they can be sprayed but I didn't know what to do with this one so I ran..got it later when it settled down..I live very close to a golf course and all the wild life that goes with it and at the moment we have a numbat living in the garden and eating the fruit that is until a snake gets it...from the golf course we also have a resident snake a dugite yes poisonous but shy but she will insist in comming into our garden to lay her eggs..so in Nov we watch out. we don't stand on the babies on their way back to the course..I don't like to kill them if we did we would be overrun with vermin in fact I quite like them...last year one tried to come into the house Mum-in-Law nearly had a heart attack but just put a cover over it and off it went to the course...so far apart from the flies we have been luckier than most years...I had one Huntsman spider in the house very big but harmless another thing I don't like killing so I took her outside in a pint pot covered with a card and she hasn't come back...so that's it for creepy crawlies at the moment but our hot hot weather has just started a bit late and as yet we havn't seen the snakes so must keep an eye out...you must think i'm mad in fact I think I am

Hi Patricia thanks for your message i've only just managed to post on the gallery and it will be a while before I post my next one because with it being so hot here i'm not prepared to ruin the piece i'm working ...it's a housewarming gift for a young friend so i'm sending all you cold people flowers and blogging instead..relief is in sight with a sharp drop in temp next week into the 20's thank goodness looking forward to hearing from you again

Hi Patricia and a Happy New Year to you and yours...yes it's been very hot here we got away with xmas day and then it shot up to 40 and no sea breeze until today so it was lovely to open all the doors and let it blow through...the flies have been really bad and I hate spraying so i'm splattering flies with my slipper hate them in the house...the dept of agg depends on dung beetles and they do work but because we had a cool start to summer they are just getting going so hopefully in a couple of weeks i'll be able to stop yelling"shut the fly wire"...I was in Skipton in 1992 for my Father-in Law's funeral and I must say I loved the Yorkshire scenery...my husbands family are from Kendal another beautiful place I think we will retire there because i'v ecome to the conclusion that the heat and flies are on the same level as the snow and cold...as for me i'm from Belfast ringed by mountains so I really love a craggy landscape...I remember walking up to the mountain every Sunday with my Aunt and collecting the beautiful mountain water and would you believe I can't remember how to spell it's name so i'll call it the Diviss that is how we pronounced it with our accent

Hello Patsy and Stan. Happy New Year! I've been so caught up in Christmas I haven't had time to blog and reply to you! I think this is a very friendly site and makes you feel more confident to paint because of the nice comments. I hear its very hot in Oz at the moment so a nice snowy scene will be refreshing. I've just painted one my daughter photographed in Skipton in the Yorkshire dales at Easter. She has a really good eye for composition and I keep encouraging her to paint but she hasn't much time because of the two children. I expect she may start as I did, when I retired early from the day job and started to do things I always dreamed of doing. I hope you get stuck in after the New Year and I can visit your galleries Cheers Pat.

Hello Patricia it's amazing what turns up on blogs what with "when i'm 64" sorry just had to and then a 69 got a good laugh hope you did to...I am quite new to this site and I live in Perth Western Australia...I just love it on here and try now to log in a couple of times a week ...not game to paint at the moment with all the prep for the silly season...merry xmas and a happy new year

I started a couple of years ago by attending art class. I'm 69 - not the sexual connertation I can assure you - and started painting after a lifetime of engineering. People started to say that they liked what I did but I thought oh yea! Then i added a few paintings to my blog (elsewhere) and got some interest expressed including comments like I would like to buy one!!!!!! So I sold a few and found it particularly gratifying to find that people were prepared to put their money where their mouthes were. Will hubby go make a frame for your painting and hang it on the wall? If so - you are doing OK.

Ok what are you up to now?

hi......sometimes its hard to find the time.............i work full time.........and try to fit in a bit of sketching before or just after...........am glad i found this website.......its nice to get comments........kind of fills you with confidence........i've given up on the blog.........don't have time........

The pleasure is all mine. Just like all those beautiful (IMHO) galleries here that have been available for a year without a single comment recorded, there are blogs started here, without a single posting. It makes contact impossible. I see the blogs as an interesting, more personal extension to the forum...4 x 4? oh about the size I can see when painting...