Travel – Woohoo!!

Outdoor space under a vine-covered pergola (in my mother’s garden, Erice, Sicily

The little shady spot, in the photo above, is going to be where I shall sit painting, drawing and writing under the shade of the grape vine for a short time in the six-weeks that I shall be travelling.

This is the first time since the start of the pandemic that I have been able to travel and I shall, in effect, be re-tracing my steps to where I was before corvid began.

I used to be able to travel frequently (for many years I was aboard an aircraft at a rate, on average, of one flight per week) but my logistics planning skills hadn’t been forgotten. In truth they slowed a bit but part of that slowness was due to a degree of anxiety and depression: the anxiety caused by a tight budget and the depression (albeit slight, as I have regular ebbs and flows) as a result of the financial situation and the realisation that I need to sell more just to be able to visit by family in Europe. Boo hoo.Poor me. Life goes on so stay strong.

Apart from visiting my mother and most (hopefully all) of my many beautiful daughters, and my grand-children, I shall be writing reviews of my travels, as I usually did in the past. This includes quite a bit of photography, so there should be some food reviews and images to publish. I have, for budgetary reasons, had to limit the number of hotels and meals I can include in my trip. I expect to lose weight!

I will be taking my paints and watercolour journal with me so expect to have material to produce some paintings on my return to Brazil. One important thing to do on this trip is to buy watercolour paints and paper. My stocks have been in short supply for most of this year, hence I have not been particularly productive.

My ceramic tile designs have been quite successful so, while in Sicily, I shall be looking for inspiration and hope to release a new range or two when I get back.

The travel arrangements include:

• 10 flights
• 7 buses
• 5 trains
• 2 boats (ferry)
• metro and taxi
• 3 hotels

Although much of the accommodation will be with family I would, in the past, have added 5 hotel stays to ensure I stay well-rested and healthy! I doubt I will cut back in future so shall plan and ensure I have adequate funding for the entire trip. Being frugal is one thing but health, especially at my age, is just as important.

Thanks for following.

I hope my next few travel-related posts will be entertaining!

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April / May Update

Sea hare (Aplysia punctata)

In my Easter update I mentioned that April had, up to then, been a slow month. Indeed it had as I managed just a dozen paintings.

In contrast, however, May has been a much busier month as I worked on a few bird paintings, a rockpooling project, and product designs for my Zazzle store.

Watercolours

In the past two months I painted 25 birds, twelve completed in April and 13 in May. In the April group are a set of three that were requested. The subject, specifically, was left to me so I chose a set that I felt would look together – Hornbills:

Great Hornbill

Rufous-necked Hornbill

Wreathed Hornbill

The birds painted in May were, mostly, repeat subjects to replace ones painted in the past.

Goldfinch

Black-goggled Tanager

Bay-headed Tanager

Bananaquit

And a sample of news bird paintings:

Hawfinch

Green Woodpecker

Common Iora

House Crow

Rockpooling project

The paintings made for this project, in support of Scilly Rockpool Safaris, are illustrations of the species found in the rockpools on the Scilly Isles. My daughter, her husband and, principally, my grandchildren (especially Orkney who can be seen doing his stuff on their website homepage), operate the safaris which is aimed at educating visitors to the islands about wildlife. I have visited once (for their beach wedding) and was amazed at how much wildlife exists on the small isles.

So far I have painted over 40 illustrations and have another 10 or so to do this month.

The Sea Hare (at the head of this post) is one of the sea slug species that have been completed. The examples are shown below.

Broad-clawed porcelain crab, Blue-rayed limpet, Brittle star, Beadlet anemone

Scorpionfish, Spiny starfish,Stalked jellyfish, Strawberry anemone

In addition to these illustrations, a few of which were made a year ago, I have prepared some colouring pages for the visitors to take home.

Product design

I now have 325 products on sale via my Zazzle store, Alan Skyrme Design Studio, with about 20 new products added per week. I had mentally set a target but wasn’t sure if it was achievable. Practical experience helped so I now do 3 per day rather than more, or fewer, to instil some discipline.

There is always a temptation to do more but I need the discipline to ensure I can plan ahead without disrupting my workflow.

The Zazzle Store is divided into Collections. I have 11 collections at this time, though will expand to a maximum of 15 over time. The collections are:

• Ceramic Tiles
• Paper plates, napkins and party stuff
• Ceramic coffee/tea/soup mugs
• Wall art
• T-shirts
• Home Products (throw pillows etc)
• Practical Products (tote bags etc)
• Home and Office (mouse-pads, stationery etc)
• Vegan/vegetarian inspired products
• Seasonal gifts, calendars and cards
• Bird, animal and nature inspired products

The products can be regarded as a bit expensive in comparison to other outlets BUT, they are all customisable so buyers can use my designs to create other products, or add narrative to personalise products, AND Zazzle often provides store-wide discounts – some of which are very good, so well worth visiting regularly to check for bargains.

Thanks for following. Feel free to buy my products!!!