So here is the final result of my play canvas. It has a lot of texture and found objects.The colours are really rich and earthy, and I so enjoyed working with these colours that I think I shall start another canvas with them in mind. But with a different theme.

I've been working on a canvas now for a few weeks, it has not been going well. In fact it has been really frustrating, I've been glazing and glazing and still am not seeing what I want to see

So today I was looking around and I noticed my play canvas beckoning and after an hour or so there it was, finally, I could see a painting. So here is progress so far, there is a lot to be done still but I'm excited about it and can see the final piece

We went to visit Sam who is a carver yesterday. He lives in an unremarkable street, in a terraced house which from the outside looks ordinary. But inside the house is another story as every room has a different pattern of Maltese tiles laid. Here are a couple of photos of the tiles. I really love them, many of the older houses have these tiles, they have so much more personality than their modern counterparts.

We went up onto to the roof, it was like climbing to a different world. Here he spends much of his days carving from blocks of limestone and making things out of gypsum, he has created intricate and delicate cities of stone. We left him sitting in the sun, smiling and carving out his own special world.

The People have won.:   www.telegraph.co.uk What absolutely brilliant news.

That people can change things without resorting to pulling out the big guns and doing the whole mine is bigger than yours thing. That it took only 18  days. That  they remained a civilised nation throughout.. The people of Egypt rock They have given me hope for the world.

This book was so enjoyable the first time around that I'm  re-reading it.

Sarah Thornton approaches the contemporary art scene as an objective observer, taking the reader from the rarefied rooms of the auction house through the quirky and sometimes cut-throat world of the Biennale and onto the often nonsensical Critics, artists and art magazines; which all provides insight and information.

She moves through this world with humour and insight and paints great little vignettes of the sometimes larger than life and often crazy characters.

I visited Doranne Alden's exhibition Jewelled Colours, in the Club lounge on the 15^th floor at the Intercontinental Hotel, St. Julians, Malta last week. She paints everyday objects with dash and flair. She works in watercolour using the Ecoline Liquid Watercolours brand which at first glance could can be mistaken for acrylics as they are so rich and vibrant. In fact I may have to try them myself.

The exhibition runs until February 18^th. Pop along and have a look for yourselves.

Here is today's offering. The first one this year.It's a small 40 cm by 30 cm, predominantly red with a little gold and turquoise for good measure, hope it brightens your day a little, it brightened mine when painting it.

I thought you all deserved a real treat so here is piece of music that Andrew created when we were living in La Linea, Spain, a town just across from Gibraltar. It never fails to get me dancing around the room whenever he plays it, so have a listen it'll brighten your day too.

 Hope everyone has recovered from the holiday festivities.

I've added 2 new pieces to the digi gallery. You can view larger versions of the images there.

 I've really been enjoying playing with the graphic tablet at the moment and will hopefully improve in leaps and bounds the more I do

Well, the winter has finally hit the usually sunny island of Malta. The temp has dropped like a stone. The flip flops are off and the boots are back. The fires are on and I'm snuggled up in a blanket writing this. Because this is the Med and therefore mostly hot, all the paintings in our sitting room tend toward the cool end of the colour spectrum with the odd splash of red, now winter his arrived we've changed them all for paintings with warm colours and rich dark hues, amazing how much difference it makes.

I've been doing some more with the graphic tablet, this is one that I really enjoyed making this

Just when we thought winter had us in it's icy grip, the skies took on summer blue. We sat on the roof playing backgammon and drinking wine so the batteries are re-charged and we're ready for the next onslaught. Even better I won the backgammon ha ha