Third day!

Wednesday morning and the squeaky floorboard alarm woke me at 7am. Yoga, writing and then -
BREAKFAST!

It's lovely being around people during the day - especially morning, kind of changes the rest of the perspective of the rest of the day.

We seem to be eating then going straight up the hill, beautiful sunny mornings and a fresh stillness that can't be beat. A wee chat on the bench outside overlooked by the unicorn then in upstairs to focus on drawing letters. Today I decided to do the ones I want in my final piece, i.e. - 'Time Suspended' - hopefully it will be a good example of what I can do. Enjoying the drawing - hand to eye through the pathways of the brain and small, tiny adjustments until the letter morphs into a balanced and dynamic form. (What I'm aiming for anyway)

We had a tea break today! Quite short though as I wanted to get back to the letters.

- 3 days in and I can see the difference. Each letter takes longer now because I refine them more and am beginning to see where it looks wrong.

Soon enough - lunchtime - a cold buffet today but as usual, very tasty. I even managed to cake, lemon madeira - extremely moist and exceptionally flavoursome.

Bit o' banter over lunch, questions/ chatting then a slow toddle uphillwards.

Stone swop and off again with the dummy and chisel.

It's the turn of 'H' today and I'm taking more care of my serifs (as Lara piped up - 'I shot the Serif')

Pleased with the end result, mainly because the letter was hand drawn to begin with. I can now see how much better it can be - plenty practice ahead.

Robbie allowed us to use his cheat sheet - his drawn letters on tracing paper -  so I went all out and tried an 'R'.  Plenty to think about before tackling that letter - I can tell you.

Where to begin? - joins? - but maybe that lovely sweeping tail? (it was most enjoyable to cut)

Then I decided to draw in my own 'S' to cut - an easy letter, it is not.

I even went over 5pm just to finish it. Keeping the angles right was tricky (didn't quite) but I am pleased with the end result.

We also got shown how to sharpen the chisels today.

Off downhill but I stopped by the small cemetery (also known as the Pirate's Graveyard) I have never seen so many scull and crossbones carved into gravestones in one graveyard. Wow! 

Interesting looking at the lettering - I now have something else to draw my eye.

The light - as seems to be usual - was warming, a nostalgic kind of light, or maybe that's because I was in the cemetery. As it dappled through the trees it seemed timeless - (I know, a few cliches going on here).

To the stables and then I drove back up the hill - new build on top and I thought the road stopped but on hindsight I don't think it did.

Anyway - I drove back the other way which definitely did come to a dead end. Car stopped, parked, locked and off for a wee wander up the hill. - what a view - and that light again - gorgeous shadows in the grass - the head of land opposite was coloured with a redness from the sun.

Back to base with a smile on my face - wee snack and downloading photos, hadn't realised I'd taken so many.

Robbie popped in to see if I was alright on my own and Lara had asked during the day... really nice.

Blog updated - music listened to - snacks eaten, then it was off to bed with my book.