Music Festival day 8

Who to see perform next? There is such a wealth of good music to choose from - inevitably also some time clashes! In this fantasy programme, I'd find it very hard to choose between seeing Neneh Cherry and Ernest Ranglin - in fact, if the stages are close enough together, I'd be tempted to watch half of each set.  By the way, the action currently on stage is roadies moving equipment around, preparing for the next artists.

The blank time slots in the programme present ideal opportunities to get something to eat..

Music Festival day 7

Watching the first band! My friends and I generally like to sit/stand very close to the mixing desk because the sound is best from there. This means we are never at the front.  Over the weekend, I went to two music festivals: this image is an amalgamation of things I saw at both. One of the festivals was http://www.london.gov.uk/rise/.

I've been having problems working out how to make links, but may have just succeeded! So hopefully, this will take you to my website:

http://www.clare-tovey.com/. 

Music Festival day 6

The next activity is to study the programme, and work out which performers we definitely want to see - hoping for no performance time clashes! Plus which artistes we might like to see at times no "must sees" are on stage.

By the way, today I have given my blog a shiny new header : )

Music Festival day 5 + more food and money

Next step is to buy a programme and

a cup of coffee!

 A Lovely papier mache home made piggy 

money box. My sister made some one year 

using balloons as a mould.

A tricolore salad - fresh mixed tomatoes from the farmers market, with buffalo mozzarella, and avocado, all topped with bazil, and olive oil : )

Music Festival day 4

After pitching the tent, the next step is to exchange ticket for wrist band. As you can see, I am hoping this year's Womad weekend wrist band will be bright pink!

Hopefully this link will work!

www.clare-tovey.com

Shiny new website

Exciting news: my new website has just gone live: http://www.clare-tovey.com

music Festival day 3

Putting up the tents is the first task when we arrive at the festival site. It's always great to see the camping field gradually filling with a sea of multi-coloured tents! My friends and I endeavour to get there early enough to find space to pitch our tents next to each other.

Music Festival day 2

Some of the other essentials for camping at a music festival: tent (it's amazing how compact they are these days!); air bed + foot pump; bag containing change of clothes, sleeping bag, etc; The Mermaid; and, finally, wellies. Hopefully I won't actually need to wear these at Womad this year, but if I do they are at least pretty.

Music Festival day 1

I've been looking forward to doing this painting of my favourite music festival bag, known to my friends as "The Mermaid". It's practical because it is plastic, so waterproof;  a good size for containing essentials to have with me at all times - sunglasses, sunscreen, sketchbook and paints, water, money, etc -  plus it is largely transparent, so easier to find stuff in!  A delightful holiday feature of it is that the flower on the cover flap contains real sand, which shifts around reminiscent of being on a beach. Oh yes, and I am a huge fan of "The Little Mermaid" anyway : )

Music Festival

July's blog project is music festivals, which I love to go to in the summer. This illustration was made for a cd cover, so is not new, but it does convey summer well! I'm going to be painting lots of images associated with festivals over the month of July. 

 I am also very much looking forward to going to Womad, and Rise. This year my friend, photographer Lisa Rocket, will be coming along too. You can see her fab music festival photos here: http://lisarocket.co.uk/ They capture the atmosphere perfectly!

money day 6 + more fave food

 A money clip - very practical, but I think not used by many men in the UK, which is why I have painted a stylish silver money clip full of US dollars!

Xmas cake, especially made by my sister!  (I'm the family xmas pudding maker, so we do a swap.)  One year my dinky xmas cake was glamourised with purple icing and a silver star.  Especially nice eaten from a fine bone china plate.  

New avatar

I repainted the dragonclef avatar I use for forums and my logo last week: the subtle difference being that the original one was painted using coloured inks because at the time I had not discovered W&N's "opera rose" water colour, and wanted to have intense pink!   

I have another money painting, and food painting ready, too, but rather overdid the scanning, resizing, etc for my forthcoming website, so it will most likely be tomorrow before I do any more.

In the meantime, my friend Sarah Miskelly has a fab new greetings card website here: http://www.butterflysundae.co.uk/

favourite foods again

I'm still working on the next money illustration (and another favourite food ; )), so here is a favourite food I prepared earlier! This one is fish and chips, which is a regular meal at Dad's: I always insist on having peas, too, then he suggests gherkins and pickled onions.

Money day 5 + more fave food

I've been away for a few days, and noticed the use of this silver sauce boat as a temporary home for money being set aside for a particular purpose!

Here is a favourite dish for when friends come over: vegetarian lasagne, which I make without cheese sauce. Usually, I layer up mushrooms, tomato sauce, and lentils with the lasagne sheets, then sprinkle lots of oil and paprika on the final layer to make a crispy topping. All served with a large green salad.

another food fave

I had a migraine today, so no painting.

Here is a favourite food painting I had in done in advance: victoria sandwich. Home made is best, and can be made with exotic jams like blackcurrant,  instead of the customary strawberry or raspberry. Truthfully I like any of them!

money day 4 + more fave food

A very useful feature of the plastic with the magnetic strips: the ability to purchase goods internationally very easily. Given that the currency exchange rates vary on a day to day basis, too, it also adds interest (!) to receiving statements - finding out exactly how many £s the shopping in US $s translated into..

Perfect picnic food for me: french bread, a chunk of port salut cheese, and a ripe peach! Oh yes, and preferably all wrapped up in a gorgeous French napkin.

Money day 3 + more fave food

Somehow or other in the 20th century special pieces of plastic came to be treated as money. Unlike coins or paper money, the plastic cards are tricksy - you need to have a machine to read the magnetic strip on the back to how much money you have (or don't have).
One of my duties in my family is to make crumble: this particular one is blackberry and apple, made with fruits lovingly picked my my various nieces and nephews, then presented to me with a request for crumble to be made! 

Money Day 2 + another fave food

Money day 2 - basic pound coins and sign to remind me that money is a symbol.

Marmite on toast - yummy, especially when the toast is the wonderful sunflower seed bread made by Celtic Bakery!

Money Day 1

For June project I am painting money images: quite a challenge! I thought I'd do something more business related for a change. Here I am starting off gently with a painting of the beautiful dark pink velvet purse that was a delightful present, and some of the money it contains for little treats - this is not my everyday purse.

I'm also still enjoying painting favourite foods, so more of those will also be appearing here this month ; )