Music Festival day 15, and another money image

At festivals, I mostly drink water and fruit juice so that I don't become de-hydrated and headachey, but it is nice to have a hot drink from time to time. Freshly ground black coffee is my favourite of what is on offer. One of the first things I do at a festie is scout out the stall which makes the best coffee! The cakes look delicious too, for later on.

"The king is in his counting house,

Counting out his money" from the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence": this particular image has always sounded very lonely and sad to me, so that is what I have tried to show here.

favourite foods encore

I've never been able to decide between peaches and raspberries for my ultimate favourite fruit! I love to eat both, so this would be my ideal summer dessert: beautiful, sun-ripened peach from the south of France with juicy, sweet deep red raspberries from Kent : )

Music Festival day 14, and another money image

This is singer Aayjemaal painted from a sketch I made of her at Womad 2004.  Aayjemaal and her band were performing traditional music from Turkmenistan. It is the opportunity to see performers like Aayjemaal which makes Womad such a special music festival. : )

Another "money" image: my Dad is treasurer for a local organisation.  One of Dad's colleagues regularly presents him with an old (clean) sock full of loose change as a donation to the charitable fund!

Music Festival day 13, more food and money

One of the nice things about music festivals is the children: this little girl was dancing in  front of the band, then bowing at the end of each song!

Lemon sorbet is my favourite ice cream: I had some last week when out with my cartoonist friend, Chichi

  

Another money idea! There is something more real about holding cash, than looking at bank statements.

Music Festival day 12

Portaloos are an essential and unavoidable part of the music festival experience! Usually not pleasant, but thanks to Tracey's Hygiene Crew, toilets at Womad  Charlton Park this year were kept very clean and user-friendly : )

Music Festival day 11 + more food

A mobile phone has proved to be a very helpful addition to regular music festival kit: strictly not for making/receiving phone calls (you can't hear each other anyway), but having the means to text to make arrangements about where to meet is very helpful eg main stage, between disable viewing ramp and the mixing desk : )

Borscz aka beetroot soup. Hardly seasonal, but a huge winter favourite! I love eating beetroot anyway, and soup with sunflower seed bread and butter is wonderful : )

Music Festival day 10

I always carry sketchbook and pen with me, and there are times at music festivals when I want to sketch what is going on. Generally this will be in time between bands, although in the case here, the man on the right was watching Paprika Balkanicus. 

Music Festival day 9

There is a wide variety of food to choose from! 

Often in the evening I get a mediterranean stir fry from the wonderful Manic Organic. Their food is great, and I love the way they pretty up the guy lines, etc of their marquee with silk flowers : )

 I'm off to Womad now, so it will be a few days before the next images.

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 : )