NINE YEARS OF SERVICE FOR THE CHURCH!

Nine years ago this week, the Heralds of the Gospel were raised to the category of an International Association of the Faithful of Pontifical Right. Congratulations to Heralds and Companions worldwide on this happy occasion!

If you are interested in finding out more about this very interesting young Order in the Catholic Church, visit their UK blog at : http://heraldsgospelsinengland.blogspot.com/

Art Challenges

With each new drawing, I now like to set myself a challenge. This time it is to try and get the shading to look more realistic- and that is quite a challenge. It is tempting to rush and shade the whole drawing at once but if that was to happen, then ones picture would be a complete mess (it happened to me before)!

This picture is for a friend on the fantastic Devient Art website. This is my account. I am drawing a picture of both Morgana and Merlin from the BBC's TV series Merlin.

Let the tournament begin...

Finally, I have finished it! I am pleased with this picture but there was a stage where I thought that I had ruined it and I nearly threw it away. The armour was a challenge as it was hard to get the shading without it looking smudged... but there we go.

Uther Pendragon

Here is the picture that I previously mentioned. Although this was quite challenging, I managed to finish it a few moments ago. I have to admit that I am rather proud of this picture of Uther Pendragon (Anthony Head).

The only problem now is that I have no idea what I want to draw next.....hmm.....well I shall have to think about that.

My lastest drawing- Prince Arthur (again)....

This picture took me about 2 days (I finished it last night). I really wanted to use the same picture as my watercolour, in order to see which I preferred. Thinking about it, I love being able to brighten things up but (at the moment) I am unable to achieve any detail. Therefore I think that I really like drawing in pencil.

The hardest part would have to the chain mail but with practice, I'm sure that I could fix that.

I have to admit that I am incredibly pleased with this compared to my previous drawings as it looks a bit more realistic.

My next picture is coming along and should be finished over the weekend. Once again it is on the same type of watercolour paper as this one but a lot smaller (and a lot more challenging)!

“Open your eyes, then open them again”- Terry Pratchett

I love this quote from Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series becuase it is just so true. It has now become my favourite game to play on the bus on the way to college. Surprisingingly, the best place to play it, is in a place that you think you know so well.

How to play it:

Difficulty- Easy
How many players: 1-5 (perfect for in the car.)

1. Say to yourself "Open your eyes, then open them again".


2. Blink and then look around you what do you see?


3. Fields, roads, a wall ? Boring things?... Look again....


4. Now really look at it. What colours can you see? Did you see that buzzard in the top of that tree? The deer hiding in the hedge?
   

It is about looking at everyday objects and really looking at them. Eventually after you have played it for a while, you automatically notice details you would never imagine to be there. It is really amazing and need not be limited to a sunny day, you might be surprised (as I was) to find out how beautiful a pavement can be in wet weather!

Merlin portrait

I know everyone says that they feel older and that time flies but I want to look back on this year and feel that I have achieved something. So, I am trying to get into the habit of doing something creative on a weekend. This was from 2 weeks ago. I'm a little behind with my third painting, so I have to finish it by Thursday in order to keep up!

Erudition and Resistance- Standing up for life.

Living counter culturally in small and apparently boring ways is an extremely powerful way of life.

If in every town, once a month for one hour, every Catholic Lay person, Religious, Priests, Bishops and everyone in the area, stood outside a local abortion clinic and prayed the Rosary- what a radical change would come about! No one could overlook the issue and seeing a thousand people praying outside a place of death would force everyone who saw them or heard about them, to get off the fence and make a choice on what they believed on this profound moral issue.

But a handful of ordinary individuals doing the same thing are much more easily mocked and ignored and so change doesn't take place or until God, perhaps getting fed up with inaction decides to intervene. I can't help thinking that I'd rather be one of a big group being obedient to God, than waiting for God to intervene- which would be a lot more frightening and asking why we didn't act ourselves.

Making Butter- A simple way

I think that this little article was from the Daily Mail (a few years ago).

I love the Merlin series on the BBC!

I just love this fan trailer on You Tube. It is so lovely and I think it sums up the first series of Merlin (BBC) really well.

Memories of the snow

Seeing the snow drifting down from the heavens and failing to settle on the ground, brought back memories of earlier this month.

Sprouting - Cress

Last year I bought a packet of Cress in a local garden centre. I had this idea that somehow I would overnight love gardening... it didn't happen and I never got around to sowing them.

Anyway, I managed to dig them out of the seed tin and with a firm resolution, decided that I would sow them this week. I was absolutely amazed how quickly they grow! I would water them before college when they were just seeds and when I returned home, they had already sprouted.

Having said that, I just checked on them.... and they look flattened. The paper had just completely dried up. Dad said that wasn't like that when he woke up this morning. Perhaps it was the heat from the oven.

As it has lots of health benefits, there is a good side to growing them. Not that I do it for that- just that it tastes lovely in an egg mayonnaise sandwich!

Become your destiny

Home Made Yoghurt- from a friend

I'm making it regularly at the moment: the first batch was runny, as we agreed often happens with the home made variety.

I made a second batch, in the same one, one-and-a-half-times-as-high-as-it-is-wide, 1 pint jar. I used the previous batch for the next starter, just to test the theory that yogurt thickens the more batches you re-make from the 'same' starter. That batch was even runnier than the milk I used to make it! "Oh," thought I. "That's no good."

Having bought a load of milk in the Eurostar at 10p a pint I decided to see what would happen if I tried to make yogurt from that starter. Just how runny can cured milk get? As I had quite a big quantity to use up (2 pints), I made it in the scrupulously clean, stainless steel saucepan where i boiled the milk and where I had made yogurt before. The saucepan is one and half time as wide as it is high and I pretty much filled it. That watery milky supposed 'yogurt' starter made a perfect batch of set yogurt.

Incredible. Thought I ought I ought to share that little gem with you...

(Used with permission.)

I can't believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary

(The picture and the quote belong to their rightful owners. Thanks!)

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

(The picture and the quote belong to their rightful owners. Thanks!)

Do not be overcome by evil

(The picture and the quote belong to their rightful owners. Thanks!)

God gives us dreams a size to big

(The picture and the quote belong to their rightful owners. Thanks!)

Crying over onions- a few remedies?

I was flicking through 'Carla Emery's Old Fashioned Recipe Book- An Encyclopedia of Country Living' that my Mum had picked up from the Book Barn a few years ago and I stumbled across an interesting entry.

Carla Emery had been told by some of her readers about a cure for the onion tears. I have never tried it before, so I would love to know if this is true. Next time someone is chopping onions I'll try to remember to ask them to test it.

• Keep a supply of onions in the fridge so that they are ready when you need them

Alternatively you could try:

• Putting them in the freezer 5-10 minutes before you need them. Apparently this doesn't effect their flavour or texture.

Or:

• Put a bread crust between your teeth, as it makes you breathe through your noes.

Prince Arthur- portrait

I spent the whole weekend working on this one but I think that is about time I move on from portraits. Having said that, I am very pleased with this.