On day one we had nine visitors plus the postman. The first visitor bought a painintng so that made a great start to the day.

The severe weather wrning for day two was not encouraging and no-one came till after four o'clock (we were open till five). Six brave souls made it through the horrible weaather.

Day three was bright and sunny (this is Scotland!) and sixteen people came, the first customer buying three paintings.

On day four no-one came until mid afternoon when two lovely people came and saved the day, buying three paintings.

A total of 32 people,and 14 paintings sold. Amazing. And quite wonderful!

The smell of quince fills the room in the mornings .I do love it.

Figs with a drizzle of honey and balsamic vinegar and a scattering of chopped nuts. Delicious.

and a vintage moment at breakfast.

I am taking a short blog break and wishing you simple joys for all your senses and a lovely weekend.

to Paris. As I was sorting and hanging the paintings I gott a call asking if Soft Light Coriander was for sale..

I grew the coriander and picked a huge vaseful to display in The Boathouse at the Scottish Sculpture Paek where I was artist in residence.  The arrangement was about five feet high and I was so excited by it and the way the light fell on it that I just had to paint it! I am thrilled that it is going to a good home.

See the post of 29.7.2012 - I am sorry I am having trouble linking to it.

I took a break from grass cutting (all the meadow areas are now cut) and enjoyed the warm sun on my back as I made a wreath from the agapanthus seedheads. It's prejaps a little sombre, but nice.

If little triangles on a string make us feel cheerful, I think circles can make us feel calm and content somehow. Isn't that curious?

I picked 67 mushrooms from the meadow area in the front garden! There are usually two or three.

This little beauty popped up by the door of the greenhouse.

Don' t they knpw it is three months away?

..with the season. I change lots of small things as the mood takes me. I have mainly plain white bedlinen but I do have a patterned pillowcase for each season..restful.

I often listen to the podcast by Lia Leendertz As The Season Turns at bedtime, and am particularly enjoying this month's Found Sound feature about a man who is passionate about wild honey bees and has some interesting things to say about the world.

Sleep well tonight.

Harvesting a few things from the garden for some simple indoor decorations.

These atre agapanthus seedheads. Do you have anything that will make some natural decorations? Even a few leaves pressed under a rug?

I am sure I have said before that it amuses me that little triangles of cloth or paper on a string can make us feel cheerful, happy even. I took down the bunting round the porch which I put up most summers just for fun, and have put up the Open Studios bunting as a bit of early publicity.

I was dismayed to discover that I am the only artist showing in the village this year. In the past there have been as many as six - a potter, a wood carver, a jeweller and several painters - which of course encourages people to come out this far.  I have to accept there may be very few visitors..

Meanwhave I have a cold - the first in years. I spent a whole eveing ironing and found it quite comforting.

Do you have a household task you find soothing?

..to my sitting room/gallery! I'm not sure I can live with so many paintings on the walls till the 26th..

..butterflies!

Sone of you may remember I planned to create a butterfly walk. I have decided instead to make a butterfly patch in pllace of my cutting patch and am filling it with  buddleias, eupatorium, sedums etc. So far, a couple of red admirals and one tortoishell hace found it, though a friend tells me there are lots in a village a few miles away.
However it was a deight to spend aa peaceful half hour following them round the garden trying to get photographs..A simole joy.

Over my twenty odd years as a full time painter I have tended to work in series and each time I had a new theme or tried a new medium I kept some favourite pueces  back - this is the work I am now selling.

So it's a bit like a retrospective.  Quite emotional. It is stirring up a lot of memories of successful exhibitions n beautiful places with wonderful people.

It also feels like the end of something.

Here is a link to my page on Cowal Open Studios website. I am adding a little to it each week.

Sorting sorting...Cowal Open Studios. The pressure is on..

What is sparking joy in your day?

Table still life.

The summer bedding isstill looking prretty.

Tiny cuttings taken in early summer have made a pretty potful.

I had taken the hammock down but put it up again one recent sunny afternoon! Bliss.

A gift from the birdfeeder.

..is a wonderful area in which to just wander and browse. It's a strangee mix of high end and downright tacky with everything n between.A few doors down from the hat shop is a huge vintage shop

More kilts! 

We chatted to an American student who was putting together a great outfit for  very little cost. It made me a little nostalgic for my student days!

A completely different experience In Mr Woods.

Wondrously beautiful things 110 million years old! We spent quite a while in there annd I boght a tiny piece of lapiz lazuli from Afghanistan for £4.50 and thought about how valuable it once was when used for blue pigment.

Many cake shops and great views of the castle.Many of the pubs have boards outside telling of the  famous visitors and the lurid public hangings which took plce here.

I absolutely adore this hat! Very Downton Abbey said my friend. If I only had a Downton Abbey lifestyle...

We had a great time trying on lots of hats in Fabhatrix just off the Grassmarket.

My friend bought a soft stylish blue-green beret which she worre with great panache for the rest of the day.

Another jaunt to Edinburgh and we were there in time for breakfast.

We resisted the above and after climbing the many many steps to the old Town opted for the Frecnch Institute - elegant and uncrowded I can highly recommend it.

Much harder to resist than the fried Mars Bar ( do they really exist?) was the Hat Shop...

I was lucky enough to get an invitation to the Cowal Gathering Highland Games in Dunon.

In early afteroon the grounds were filling up, though rain threatened.

Marching pipe bands and the world Highlland Dancing Chapionships.

Love the kilts.