Were-rabbits and Whitstable Oyster festival

How was your weekend? I had another productive weekend. I made two giant rabbits, were-rabbits. You can see how large they are in comparison with my ordinary large rabbit in the third photo! When I added eyes to the taller one last night, I burst into laughing because he looks so goofy! They will be going to Cecilia Colman Gallery, London.  If you are interested in a giant one, please let me know. I can make any size as far as it fits into my kiln. :D These two should be about 15.5-16.5 cm tall after firing.

Hello!

We are goofy giants. 

Hello my giant cousin! 

Sunday morning, Mike and I popped into the next town, Whitstable to see my friend, Angela Malone's exhibition. She is showing her work with three artists. Her drawings are beautiful and sensitive. We enjoyed the visit.

It was also in the middle of the Oyster festival in Whitstable. We had a good stroll.

A full of cuties

A doggie dress with a canary belt, anyone? 

Talking of doggies, there are always lots of dogs in Whitstable. 

This greyhound was sad because his mistress was trying on lots of hats. He wanted to go home and sleep! 

This border terrier was looking up his mistress eating crepe, later on.

This shop had a queue for oysters. Whitsatble is famous for oysters!

Oyster bar!

At seafront, I saw this lovely neat bonsai rock garden.

Are you tempted now? Whitstable is about 15 minutes by car from Canterbury. The sea is usually grey due to mud, but there are lots of people enjoying wind surfing, boating and yachting. There are lots of independent shops catering for Londoners who come to stay in their second homes. If you go to Seasalter, which is just along the coast, there is a gastro pub, the Sportsman with a Michelin star. It is casual, friendly and lovely!  

You can't believe it is Whitstable!

Hello everyone. I finally returned to my day work today! I had neglected it for a long time; the longest in record! I am in a lucky situation as I work for myself. I also went through about 200 business emails. I feel better now that it's all sorted.

This evening, I went to hear a talk by Naiza Khan at the Sidney Cooper. She has flown from Pakistan for the show. I happened to sit behind her parents. They looked proud and delighted to see her. How nice! My mother doesn't know that I showed my work in MA show let alone that my new show is going to start. I have been too busy to send her detailed email for a long time. But I will tell her this week.

Sunday, we went to Whitstable to see Invisible Cities exhibition organised by a friend, Sandra. Mike was still struggling with virus, but weather was nice and it was quite warm, so we took our dogs to the beach before visiting it. We were glad we did.

Look at this! You can't believe this is Whitstable in October!

 

Whitstable beach

We noticed that it has our dog's name on it! 

Topaz

Sky is blue and water is blue! 

Whitstable

We couldn't believe that it was so blue everywhere! But don't be fooled. This is rare. We have seen blue water only twice in our 20 years! Usually it's grey, both sky and water!

Everything looks prettier against blue sky!

The exhibition was interesting. In the room there were about 20 painted muslin sheets hung from the ceiling. They were made by people with mental disability. Sandra organises the show every year.

Invisible cities

This morning, we found dinosaurs foot prints on the doorstep.

 

Dino!

The owner of the feet is this lady.

Pumpkin lost her tail.

She is moulting; she has lost her perky self. She is out of sorts. She is also a bit clingy. She follows us everywhere. I am also a bit out of sorts. My head is puffy from allergy. I have drunk lots of water to detox. Still puffy.  Now I want to make another sculpture based on my puffy head.

Beach walk and Ice baby guardian for Perin's baby

Hello everyone. We are having summer in England. It is so lovely! We took our dogs to the nearest beach, 10 minute's drive, this morning. Even though we got there before ten, it was already quite hot, well, just 23 C in fact, but sunny and no wind. Dogs didn't like it. They panted and didn't want to walk. It was too hot for them!

Whitstable beach

Just behind the beach, there is this house. This house has name, 'Fishermans arms'. I wonder how it got the name.

On the beach there are several flowers. Today I chose yellow ones. 

Probably Brassica family. 

This looks like poppy

Dogs didn't like walking. Topaz kept drinking water.

My black coat soaks up heat!

 Pearl kept sniffing around.

It smells of something here, here and here!

Once back home, they slept until late afternoon. 

Let a sleeping dog lie.

While dogs were asleep, I made this. Perin commissioned me to make Ice baby guardian for his baby. I am going to put some personalized motifs on the body, like plants and animals which have special meaning to him and his wife, Kath. I am thrilled to make this guardian for the new baby. I am putting lots of good wishes while I made him. I felt like I were a fairy godmother!  

Ice baby for Perin's baby, due in January

New mask, beach walk and Willow's advice

Hello everyone. How was your weekend? I had productive time in the studio yesterday. I have prepared several pieces for re-firing. It happened to be Open Day. I also played a roll as an exhibit in the glazing room when prospective students and their parents were guided through.

Last night I made another mask. I still don't know why making something in clay helps me go to sleep. But I had a good night sleep!

New mask

This morning, we went to the beach with our girls, Pearl and Topaz. They became very excited. We had walked about one hour, and met a handsome male whippet, a large lurcher and their wonderful lady owner. Both Topaz and Pearl get along with whippets and greyhounds. They probably know!

Grey sky and grey sea.

They were really happy, sniffing everywhere and leaving their visiting cards! We also had a relaxing walk. 

Pearl camouflaged so well. 

There were lots of wild flowers; pink, yellow and white. They looked nice!

There were some funky beach huts.  

One beach hut stood out!

This boat looked in need of TLC. It reminds me of a whale although I have never seen a real one! 

In the afternoon, I started the mother of all spring cleaning, Yes, it's a bit late, nonetheless spring cleaning! Today I did kitchen and windows. I will attack a room a day.

Willow said that I should take time to smell roses! I did! They are heavenly scented. I pushed my little nose into several of them!  I felt much better! Thank you, Willow!

Willow's blog is here.

New Year's beach walk

A Happy New Year, everyone. We went to a lovely party thrown by Liz yesterday evening. She is a superb host. Today we have celebrated the day with a bottle of champagne, a box of chocolate and Italian snacks at lunch time, and then Japanese special meal at dinner time.    

In Japan, the New year's day is the day we spend quiet serene time with our family. We have a special meal.  I have tried to cook something similar over the years. But because I can't get hold of rice cake, which is the most important food for the New Year's day, I had only felt slightly disappointed and frustrated. But this year, I have focused on things I can do with what we have got here, rather than what we can't have. I made stock from Kombu (kelp) and shi-i-take (mushroom) to make this special poultry soup. Mike liked it. That matters most to me. 

Crocus are open in the garden

We took our dogs, Topaz and Pearl to the beach at Whitstable today. Oh, it was a lovely bright day.

Pearl sits on my lap for a longer journey.

 Pearl used to be very sensitive to motion, and hated drives. We have trained her with short drives over the years. But when we take her a longer drive, well, 15 minutes, she still sits on my lap so that she could have fresh air, and when she feels sick, I can put a plastic bag over her head.

Favourite alley

 We parked the car and walked to the beach. Today we went through the Favourite alley to get the beach. There are lots of small alleys to the beach in Whitstable. The ship called Favourite used to harvest oysters here, and the remains are still here, as you can see.

A family photo ( keeping their attention with cookies!)

A kite which scared Pearl. 

 Beach was windy and cold, but we braved ourselves. It's New Year's Day. We must set the tone for the year; healthy and active. Pearl found a beautiful male whippet. They exchanged nose kisses.

Pearl (red coat) and her new friend

 The tide was high, and water was murky. We could see Sheppy over the water.

Waves break at the shore.

 After about a half an hour of walk on the beach, they were put back to on leads, and we walked back to the car on the High street where wind was noticeably milder. We have met about a dozen dogs. They, including our girls, behave very well there.

It's time to go back. 

  

   

Our Easter holiday

Hello everyone! How was your Easter holiday? Mike says that we have rainy Easter almost every year. He was right again!

My Good Friday started with... organic almond croissant from Le Pain Quotidien!

Breakfast

 We took our dogs to Whitstable late morning, as I mentioned in previous post. We walked beach and peeked the harbour. It was sunny, but cold wind was blowing.  Walking beach was relaxing. There were lots of people and dogs but the pace was slow and atmosphere was peaceful.

We are going to beach!

Unusual smell on the beach.

Mike with two sniffing dogs!

A view from a fishing boat

Seagulls sunbathing

Fisherman's huts for sale

On rainy Saturday and Easter Sunday, I did a big tidy up. We also moved my office to a 'Finch room'. Moving furniture exhausted me so much so that I didn't want to have a glass of wine afterwards. That's unheard of in our house. I am 100% wine-person, and Mike is chocolate-person. I usually love to have a glass of wine at both lunch and dinner.I would love to reduce the frequency of drinking without pain! I realised that I wouldn't like to drink wine when I am physically tired but not mentally tired. Here is the opportunity to solve my problem! I will take dogs for long walks separately so that I get tired before lunch. I have to make sure that I will not be exhausted. I still need to work afternoon.

My Easter Chocolate! We opened the third bottle before Easter! Tut tut

Speaking of wine, we bought a half case of Black cottage, sauvignon blanc, Marlborough 2011. It is New Zealand wine. We got some bottles as a a mixed case before Christmas, and loved them. It is fruity, rich and delicious. According to a young man at Majestic Wine, where we buy, ordinary people don't spend more than £10 for a bottle, but those who tried it would come back fore more. Yes, we did. It is worth every pound we spend.

On Monday bank holiday I have sorted my books and files. I already returned to work in part yesterday. I am workaholic and I usually start feeling bored on the fourth day of holiday. Mike tells me that it is a withdrawal syndrome. I am lucky because I truly love my work.

Mike took Tuesday off to make it a longer break. He also believes Tuesdays after Easter holiday are often sunny! We visited Turner Contemporary at Margate. He had to prise me off my screens.