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2006

Days lengthen and the daffodil farm down the road has flowers for sale again as the year turns around. Walking more and painting better for walking. Hannah did her sponsored walk with friend, Kim, from Abereiddy to Whitesands Beach. I couldn't pick my feet up by the end of the walk, but they seemed fresh and still full of energy.But they slept well!

There are tiny buds on the blackthorn and new leaves on the wild honeysuckle on the cliffs, and this is the time of the year when the ravens dance and tumble in the sky.

This weeks painting was interrupted by a sick cat, Max, who is the model for the cat in the Ted Hughes book and also appears in Can You See a Little Bear. Due to have a starring role in the next book I am to work on, Singing to the Sun, written by Vivian French, Max's illness has caused much alarm. I spent Monday driving around Pembrokeshire with sick cat in a basket and small vials of cats blood in my pocket. These were duly sent off to the lab and Max is now undergoing treatment and rallying round. I did get some painting done in between looking after sick animals. Wondering whether, in the light of his usefulness as a model the vets bill will be tax deductible.

I looked at a new gallery in Newport, Pembrokeshire, and am going to be showing some work there from 19 March. ( Details are on the exhibitions page ) Still looking for a new gallery in England.

Journeys Through Dreamtime is coming back into print with a new cover and a new title. The MBF sold 120 000 of The String of Stars card. Still waiting for an offer on a new book. Lord of the Forest has been reprinted and is back in the shops and the French publishers have ordered another 4 000 copies.

It continues to sell well and get good reviews. Sales of The Seal Children are not huge, but steady, not far off running out of its print run in hardback. The publishers have said that they will make an offer on the new text, but it won't be as big as the last one as the book will be harder to sell than the tiger book. Oh dear. Just when I thought things were beginning to go well.......and someone has expressed doubts about the cover for Little Bear which they think is "too white"...........

I sometimes wonder why I bother and what it is all about.

So, lacking in motivation to paint it's off to the hairdressers where they are looking for people to come in on a training day.....

.....and having nothing else to think about other than painting while hair is washed and coloured for some reason kingfishers come to mind....

.......Meanwhile over a windy weekend it was time to do some work on another book. I bought a bunch of flowers and went back to a drawing board that had been sitting and waiting to be worked on for a long time. The results can be seen here

The second half of February has been cold and feels like winter has set in. Snow flurries and clear blue sky, sickle winged hawks and lots of owls, from barn owls to short eared owls. Sadly I found a dead barn owl on the road, small and fragile with luminous white feathers, and barbed wing feathers that hush their flight.

I told the postman not to disturb my work by bringing too many valentines, and he was very good and threw them all away for me! And I am still waiting for that elusive contract and finding thoughts of self publishing more appealing with each day that passes.

Working on the website for a section for schools I needed a picture of a cat in the village of Maes y Mynydd. Amazingly, Maurice decided to come for a walk, much to the amusement of some walkers on the coast path. Both cats walk and run with the dogs and Maurice's visit to the village was very timely.

Have been delving into books about whales as it seems time to put one together, and amongst other things found a story about a lonely woman who's husband is cruel. Each day she walks by the sea until one day a great whale launches up on the beach beside her. The whale opens its mouth and a beautiful man steps out and woos the young woman, and soon she begins to lead a happier life. But the jealous and cruel husband notices the smile that has come to his wife's face and follows her and finding her in the arms of the beautiful man he hunts him back to the body of the whale and harpoons him. Over time she gives birth to a baby whale and at first keeps him in a bucket and then in a pool by her village, but as her son grows she realises that she must let him go, and releases him to the sea.

It seems that whales come to women who are contented, so I am going to seek contentment on a cliff top and see what happens.

I had a visit from a wonderful woman, Nicola Davies, a writer who used to work on The Really Wild Show. She can spin a yarn so well. She told me a wonderful story about one of the origins of selkie myth, and about wild women who worked with her on boats, whale watching. When she tells a tale of watching whales you can hear them spouting and singing and breaching and tail slamming.

Still struggling to come up with a good idea for the cover for the poetry book, ( must remember not to make it "too white" ) but have the go ahead to take up more space to illustrate The Highwayman. Working hard on the book about Jesus which is coming together and looking like an illuminated manuscript. Lots of symbolism, so will be a lovely book to work in schools with.

All is not doom and gloom as another publisher I am working with phoned up. After a few attempts to get hold of me when I was avoiding answering the phone, trying to get some work done, she left a tantalizing message about some trip they wanted to invite me to go on. Naturally curiosity got the better of me and I phoned back to discover the trip was a two day fact finding and eating trip to Italy to see how the books are printed and eat a lot of lovely food and wander around Venice. Being far too busy to go but fed up with many other aspects of illustrating I thought it would be churlish to refuse and will of course take the camera with me. Have had many offers from friends wanting to carry my bag. The same publisher also sent me this lovely badge, that I wear when feeling blue. Doesn't take much to make me happy.

February promises snow but doesn't deliver. And publishers promise contracts..................