Boat Dogs

A little while back I was commissioned to do a very special painting for a nursery and I have been given full permission to talk about it here, which is very exciting.  I never quite know whether to keep unfinished work under wraps, or whether to flap it around and shout it from the rooftops?

Anyway, I am going ahead with talking about this, even though the piece isn't finished, mainly because I have reached an impasse and am hoping you can help.

In my painting there is to be a dog; a sweet dog with an adventurous little boy sailing away in their dinghy. I've been thinking about dogs in boats (some dogs are good boat dogs and some dogs are definitely not) and wondering what this little dog would be doing?  I've done some drawings and whittled it down to three rough options but can only choose one...
1. Dog and boy talking to each other.

2. Sniffing the wind!

3. Lookout at the bows.

My question is easy.  Which one do you like best?

I'd love your help.  If you're feeling brave, click the comments link below and vote 1,2 or 3....  (it should be easy... you can even be anonymous!)  or hop on over to my new facebook page which is a perfectly perfect place to leave comments and chat. (I'm planning on adding a facebook link to the sidebar on the right here straight away, but if it's not there yet just click here).

The English Boat (again)

Phew, that took longer than I thought.
Here they are, all coloured in and singing in hats.

They're looking a lot fancier than in my pencil sketch-  I think I lost a bit of gravitas when the paint came out.

Clicking the picture below should let you read the poem.

The English Boat

'Thus sung they, in the English boat,
An holy and a chearful Note,
And all the way, to guide their Chime,
with falling Oars they kept the time.'

I've been working on an illustration for Andrew Marvell's poem The Bermudas.  Marvell's poem is a beautiful song of praise and thanksgiving by a party of 17th century emigrating puritans to the god that led them 'through the watry maze' to Bermuda, another island far kinder than England itself.

I have been endlessly drawing men rowing boats to foreign lands and, after a lot of drawings which didn't quite look right -boats that didn't look right and men that didn't look right-  came up with this sketch.  I am now working on a colour version which I'll post up soon.

(And yes, he really did spell cheerful with an 'a'.)

It's chilly, but not this chilly...

This picture belongs to the incredibly brave and stoic Gerry Clark who survived a frighteningly freezing time in the Southern Ocean on his boat Totorore in the 1980's,

...and I am worried about my washing machine;  how ridiculously petty and suburban is that?!  I think it's frozen (it lives in a shed next to the also-frozen outside loo).  At least I am not having to hack ice from my rudder so I can steer (under bare poles) and stay alive.

My washing machine doesn't look good in photos,  so here are some pictures of a mildly snowy Mersea Island instead.

If you click on the picture below (to make it bigger) you can just about make out the withies marking the oyster beds.

January

I quite like Januarys, and I had high hopes of leaping into this shiny new year full of verve and promises, but I have stumbled at the start -ugh horrid flu go away.  

All sorts of lovely people have asked to use my Sailing Into the New Year image including this lot all the way over in Australia (where is it is topping 40C - hard to imagine as I sit here with five layers on and it tries to snow outside).

As promised, my favourite Claudiaism...

This illustration belongs to Claudia Myatt, and incase you're wondering about shipping forecast protocol, imminent means in the next six hours and soon means in less than twelve hours- both of which would be a jolly long wait for supper!

RNLI Boxing Day Dip

Here I am dropping Stormy Stan ashore for the 2012 RNLI Boxing Day Dip (I think he might have got wet feet).  This is the first year I didn't swim but I had a good excuse.

...and here are some of the dippers (photo from jjdoyle.com who couldn't help dipping too);  a few people got cold, nobody drowned.

Seamagic

There are holes in the sky

Where the rain gets in,

But they're ever so small

That's why rain is thin.

(Spike Milligan) 

There are stars in the sky. 

(Leafy Dumas)

I had a lovely surprise last week when Claudia popped some kind words (and a thumbnail of my Starry Nights illustration) here.  Claudia's a clever one... and I'll show you my favourite Claudiaism later.

Happy Christmas to you all.