The 2 sisters, June and Joyce, on their elephant at the Amer Fort Palace.  Having met the group at Heathrow we flew to Mumbai airport then onto Jaipur.  Mumbai is a beautiful modern airport, the roof is just FANTASTIC. Seeing it was a great start to our design based course.  The Jaipur Journey Colouricious Holiday was planned by Jamie and myself to be quite different to any previous Colouricious holiday. Jamie and I had handpicked each venue that we visited. All were chosen for their particular design and or colour inspiration, as you will see. This was not the usual block printing holiday, though we did have one or two sessions that were great fun. I wanted time for the group to absorb and just be . . .  in these beautiful places. Have time to draw what they see and take photos.  Our first day had two quite contrasting venues. The Amer Fort Palace which is very ornate and highly decorative. Contrasted with a visit to Jantar Mantar which is full of very simple massive sha

Look at these lovely faces.  Little did we we know when we all met at the airport what an amazing time we would all have together. The Jaipur Journey, 8th - 18th January in Jaipur with Colouricious Holidays. I am going to have to write several posts in order to cover the range of activities and just great fun we had on this trip. The group got on so well together and firm friendships were made - almost from the start. These are just a small - very small selection of images to give you a flavour of what is to come over the next week or so. I have been working with Jayne on my new look website all day so will have more time over the coming days to write some serious blog posts about my trip to Jaipur.  The most remarkable yellow. Stacks of embroidered shoes. One of the gardens we visited for inspiration. Just fabulous. This is one of my favourite images from the trip. 3 of the group having a rest out of the sun. We visited the monkey temple

    This is 'Robbie the Skelly'. I have just finished a 12 week course - Reading You Local Landscape. What a fabulous time we all had. The joint initiative of Clare County Council, Clare Museum and the Limerick and Clare Education & Training Board (LCETB) Heritage Consultant, Zena Hoctor delivered the practical course which enabled our group to identify, examine and record the heritage features of our own local area through a combination of fi­eldwork and desk research.    Our group (on my birthday), at Kilbridget Burial Ground  We had great fun studying the local geology, architecture, archeology, seaweed, history . . and so much more. It was a great luxury to be a student again. Our group are hoping for a follow up course and we feel we have only just begun our research. Fingers crossed.  I shall miss the group and it would be good to be able to work together again.    My project - A Grave Situation! I became fascinated by the carving on gra

My field this July - with orchids, ragged robin and buttercups, later I have swathes of montbretia and purple loosestrife. It is time for me to be looking ahead, dot the i's and cross the t's on various bookings that will take me away from home. Yes - I am venturing out into the world again in 2019. It has been a wonderful year here in Ireland, a lot less traveling and a chance to settle. I had time to notice which flowers bloomed when, find more fascinating local places to visit . . and make plans . . . I moved here 2 years ago today - on my 60th birthday. What an amazing 2 years it has been, I have made friends and settled down. Ireland feels like home now, it has taken this long. There is so much more to learn to learn about this beautiful place, I will be learning about it for the rest of my life. The teaching here has gone well and bookings have started for next year. I love inviting students into my home for the Look, Draw, Print, Stitch weekend workshop

 Playing with Bondaweb and stitch. I do l ove seaweed.   It's been a while. I have been settling in and enjoying not traveling about too much. I have been exploring my local area, and enjoying all the colours, textures and patterns.  It is almost 2 years since I moved to my little slice of paradise on the Loop Head peninsula. It is continuing to be a challenge to support myself out here, but plans are in place to help with that. It takes time to discover what works out here. . and what doesn't!!  Seaweed in one of the rock pools in Ross Bay.  Seaweed and crab shell on Glasheen beach. I am thoroughly enjoying drawing and stitching seaweed and am now seriously into my dry stone wall series of work.  Getting out and about in this area I keep finding new places to excite - there is an alpaca farm not far from me that spins and dyes the fleece. They are all very well looked after and are fast becoming a great attraction.  Gorgeous alpacas