My Dad's Diary : Sun 30th November 1947

"Took Harry in pram to garden.

Everything frozen - bad walking.

Went to mother's at night."

My Dad's Diary : Sat 29th November 1947

"Freezing.

Sorting Post in 97A"

My Dad's Diary : Fri 28th November 1947

"Freezing.

Drew back pay to 10th Nov. -- £15.6.1."

Memory Lane

Memory Lane

(acrylic on canvas, 8 x 8 in)

Another painting completed recently for the Path Through the Woods series. The title is somewhat ironic because I can't remember where this lane is. 

My Dad's Diary : Thur 27th November 1947

"Freezing."

My Dad's Diary : Wed 26th November 1947

"Freezing.

Change in method of CRO."

Tower in the Woods

Tower in the Woods

(acrylic on board, 12 x 12 in)

I finished this painting fairly recently and took it along to a meeting of the Newcastle Painters' Group last weekend where it was warmly complimented. Silly, I know, but I needed that confirmation that my work, slightly changed by methods and medium, is going well.

Photographing artwork is difficult at this time of year, with the light quality being seriously reduced, so this is the best I could manage under the circumstances. I'll try for a better quality photograph in due course.

My Dad's Diary : Tues 25th November 1947

"Windy. Greased all Fire Extinguishers."

My Dad's Diary : Mon 24th November 1947

"Fine morning. Took B.C. to S/E. told to keep it until needed.

Quiet evening at home."

My Dad's Diary : Sun 23rd November 1947

"Wet morning. Went up to Five Wand Mill before dinner.

Usual night. Billy and Winnie at Mother's."

Winnie was Dad's sister, Billy her husband.

Oil Pastel Progress

Across the River WIP

(Oil pastels on grey mount board, 11 x 11 in)

Looking at this oil pastel I see that some progress was made on it last week before I was taken away by other duties. Not a lot, I admit, but there's some added subtlety in the water and a few more silver birch have grown up across the river. 

One of the problems I found was in dealing with the wood itself. I simply don't have enough dark pastels to get the interior of the wood as dark as I'd like. Dark green, dark blue and black aren't sufficient. I may have to buy a few more if I want to get this picture to where it should be.

My Dad's Diary : Sat 22nd November 1947

"Raining - Had quiet afternoon.

All chrysanths nipped with frost."

My Dad's Diary : Fri 21st November 1947

"Very mild.

'Campaign in Burma' taken from 114A"

The Campaign in Burma appears to have been the book by Frank Owen written in 1946. This is the 1957 edition:

My Dad's Diary : Thurs 20th November 1947

"Milder today.

Saw Griffiths re. shuttles.

Rec'd 25/5. Overtime money."

My Dad's Diary : Wed 19th November 1947

"Still frosty. Pipes frozen."

Opening Sale

Whitby Fudge Bar

(Acrylic on board, 8 x 8 in.)

SOLD

Yesterday at Gateshead Art Society I started to work on the recent oil pastel picture but was gently nudged back upstairs by a reminder that as a committee member I should be helping with the setting up of the Xmas Exhibition.

I suppose I should be grateful for that because it allowed me to make sure my four paintings were displayed well. (This has not always been the case.) And it's possible, therefore, that it was so perfectly placed that today at the Opening of the Exhibition it caught the attention of the nice young couple who bought it.

Whatever, it's always gratifying to find that someone is prepared to part with real money for one of your pictures and I hope they get many years of pleasure from the Whitby Fudge Bar.

My Dad's Diary : Tues 18th November 1947

"Everything going along fine.

Very frosty weather."

My Dad's Diary : Mon 17th November 1947

"FIRE DRILL. ENTRANCE BLK 14.
1.30.

Shuttle system time check today and Tuesday."

Still Life Doodling

Still Life Doodle (WIP)

(Acrylic on board, 10 x 10 in.)

I still haven't decided on a method for preserving squeezed-out acrylic paint at the end of the day, so rather than simply scraping it off the palette and throwing it away, I've been painting it randomly onto small boards. 

Last night, I was taken with the idea of trying out a painting idea on one of these prepared boards, using one of a couple of still life doodles I did recently. I think it has potential.

Still Life Doodles

(Marker on paper, each image 3 x 3 in. approx)

My Dad's Diary : Sun 16th November 1947

"Ronnie's baby born this morning."

To Ronnie and Gladys, a baby boy. Happy birthday to my cousin Alan.

My Dad's Diary : Sat 15th November 1947

"Gladys taken to hospital."

Aunt Gladys was married to Uncle Ronnie.

My Dad's Diary : Fri 14th November 1947

"Saw McGee re. Moody.

Warned check on shuttle system Mon & Tues."

Make of that what you will.

Gateshead Art Society Xmas Exhibition

I'll be showing these four small paintings (all acrylic, 8x8 ins.):

My Dad's Diary : Thurs 13th November 1947

"Everything going well.

Cold weather started."

My Dad's Diary : Wed 12th November 1947

"Took up duties as senior messenger, No.11 Block, C.R.O."

C.R.O. was Central Records Office, part of the Ministry of National Insurance.

End of Circle

These should be my last entries in my Partner Norma's sketchbook in this year's Sketchbook Circle. A little rushed, some not really complete, others simply minor additions to Norma's own pages.

My Dad's Diary : Tues 11th November 1947

"132F. See Mr. Brown at 9.20 Wed.

Back in own room.

Raining."

My Dad's Diary : Mon 10th November 1947

"Still up in 12D. Rather sick of doing someone else's work.

APPT'D SENIOR MESSENGER."

Hurrah!

My Dad's Diary : Sun 9th November 1947

"Very windy.

Garden in morning.

Had straight talk with Ronnie at night."

I don't know what that was about.

Greetings Cards

Time to announce that you can now buy Greetings Cards based on my paintings and cartoons from LoveFromTheArtist.com . 

Go on, you know you want to!

My Dad's Diary : Sat 8th November 1947

"Fine but windy.

Spent early afternoon at garden.

Went walk with Doris at night."

My Dad's Diary : Fri 7th November 1947

"Dull.

Still working in 12D."

My Dad's Diary : Thur 6th November 1947

"Still short of rain.

Sold book of raffle tickets (R.A.S.C.).

Had night at home after overtime."

My Dad's Diary : Wed 5th November 1947

"12D again today.

Marvelous fine weather just now.

Overtime tonight."

Ivy

Ivy

(Markers in A5 sketchbook)

The Friends of Jesmond Old Cemetery asked if, in addition to drawings of specified gravestones and memorials, the Urban Sketchers might also provide them with some drawings of incidental flora and fauna found in the Cemetery.

This is my contribution - ivy, though drawn from an online source rather than actual Cemetery ivy.

My Dad's Diary : Tues 4th November 1947

"Henderson & Reynolds off - had to work in 12D today.

Overtime.

Inking the Gravestones

Jesmond Old Cemetery

(Marker ink over printed pencil drawing.)

Because of our holiday break in Spain, I wasn't able to get my designated gravestones drawn for inclusion in an Urban Sketchers/Friends of Jesmond Old Cemetery project. In the hope that some of my less specific drawings from our first visit to the Old Cemetery can be used, I spent some time today inking in a copy of my pencil drawing from that Sketch Crawl.

Jesmond Old Cemetery 22 April 2017
(2B pencil in A4 sketchbook)

My Dad's Diary : Mon 3rd November 1947

"Start overtime tonight sorting correspondence."

My Dad's Diary : Sun 2nd November 1947

"Got a lot of digging done today and most of liming.

Five Wand Mill at night."

My Dad's Diary : Sat 1st November 1947

"Dull.

Went to see Gateshead play Bradford. 0-0"