Creativity - The Other Half of my birthday (01/04)

Have climbed to the roof top of Devon on Sunday morning, The Curate and I returned to an excellent Sunday lunch in a pub, with Youngest Son and his girlfriend (NQT). Inspired by our trip to the David Hockney exhibition, I had decided that the afternoon was to be spent being creative as NQT had given me four small canvasses and some acrylic paints as a Christmas present. Until now they had not been used. If you are ever stuck for a family present, - this is a brilliant idea. None of us claim to be artists but enjoyed the challenge of being creative. The concentration, the re working, despair, laughter and discussion made for an excellent afternoon's entertainment. 

We were also joined by my eldest son and his girlfriend in Australia - we put the web cam on, and they watched 'the therapy session' thanks to Skype! 

I would also recommend the paint app for an ipad that David Hockney used to create some of his work.

  It provided some light relief when inspiration failed!

None of the artists claim that their work is complete - so another afternoon has been planned. Watch this space!

Marking the Way

 I have written before about how The Curate and I like to buy art and craft work that we both feel has some connection with our lives. When we moved to this parish  we could not find anything that spoke to us about the moor so we ended up buying Shirley the Sheep for our garden. She has graced the bottom of our garden and turned many a visitor's head when they spot her there.
Yesterday The Curate and I stopped at a craft workshop in a remote part of the moor and came across the work of  Richard Glass. His work is usually brightly coloured but he has also made a range of glassware to reflect Dartmoor. We were both taken by this particular bowl and so we bought it. It will remind us of our time here in this parish and how much we have enjoyed living so close to Dartmoor.
It marks the point at which we can look back to when we moved here and begin to look forward to where we might be going. By coming here, both The Curate and I have learned a lot about ourselves and about what being an Anglican vicar can involve. I hope to write more about this in a later blog but for now, we will enjoy our new bowl and take each day as it comes.