A Family Day Out

Jane and I had a day out planned with Jennifer and lilly-Rose today at Cromer we had a rather lazy start to the day luckily as Victoria my youngest daughter made a suprise home visit and decided to come to with us for the day out.



It was lazy wind today ,One that doesnt bother going around you but goes straight through,

well that is how the winter winds are often refered to around here, as you can see it was a little fresh/bracing on the sea wall at the top of the cliffs.I think Victoria looks a little cold well iot is warmer down in Bath!



We had lunch at the cafe above the pier, fish and chips looking out to sea has to be one of my favorite meals considering the company today, with all my girls together, it allways amazes me just how much they enjoy being together !?



After lunch we wandered around the town keeping out of the wind Lilly-Rose found a friend to chat with in her own special language and even kissed him goodbye.



We had a great day out together and it was nice to see Victoria back from Bath if only for a few days as lectures have been cancelled.



Work And The Winter Ahead.

"WE HAD SNOW THIS TIME LAST YEAR" but not this time!

Its Monday tommorrow and back to work, the book is in its final stages demos are finished for the year I had great fun meeting loads of people at Harrogate woodworking show last weekend sales for the new DVD Ying and Yang are going well if you havent got your copy yet go to KTMP's website and place an order,or give me a call.



I am currently trying to decide how to add a small shopping area to my website, hopefully this will get done over the next few weeks, but I need tyo write two new articles for GMC Woodturning Magazine before Christmas hopefully not too much will get in the way and I will get everything done before Christmas.

I am also starting to work on some new pieces over the winter much of the reasearch is done its onto the cartooons next before committing to turned piece, I think this will include much more carving and colouring than colouring.

I have a question for my Blog readers:Should I take part in The Norfolk Open Studio's scheme next year if you would like to see my work and where I work then let me know.

A long and busy Summer.....

This has been the busiest year for me, with no time to think of having any spare, it all started back in March as we began writing the book, as the year gained momentum and progressively more intense I had to concentrate upon key deadlines, both for the book and my magazine articles, I also managed find time along the way to edit of my second DVD Ying and Yang, I have just received the final cut and will be releasing Ying and Yang in a few weeks at The Harrogate show, in Novemeber. If you enjoyed my first DVD platter magic give Karl at KTMP or myself a call to get your copy,
The DVD is 5 hours long, and packed with great information and tips, it has been broken down into easy to follow chapters. At £19:99 its great value for money.


I did manage a brief scheduled rest-bite in June, when I travelled to Dublin to judge the annual RDS craft competition for the third time, this is always great to do as you get to see all the other crafts entered as well as your own.


I demonstrated as one of the lead demonstrators at The AWGB Bi-annual symposium at the beginning of August, 10 days later I found myself doing it all over in Waco Texas I am told this is the second largest symposium in America.
No sooner than Jane and I arrived home, it was straight back to the book editss and magazine articles again.

I have travelled across the UK this year to give several all day and evening demonstrations at clubs, it really has been a very busy year.
I also managed to teach quite a few students here in my workshop, its all become a bit of a blur I'm afraid.
The year is not yet over and there is much ahead in my diary. Over the next few weeks I have 15 days of tuition, another article to write before I arrive at Harrogate in November 17th I feel sure the book will also feature in here at some point.
I have an evening Demonstration planned at Bury St Edmunds Nov 14th.
The woodturning club meet at D.J Evans. If you are in the area come along.

Spare time has been a rare commodity this year and something to be relished by doing something special as it is my 50th.
Well last weekend I attended a Three day Painting and Drawing Life course at West Norfolk Arts Centre, with artist Tony Paul from Dorset. This was great as it gave me time to get away and relax, although this was only a brief break. Monday morning it was straight back to work as the first layouts for the book arrived as I was about to leave.
Below is one of my Charcoal drawings that I produced over the three days. This is something I have always wanted to do and this year I feel I managed to achieve my ambition but it is something I would like to do more regularly as it is such fun to create the image you are looking at on paper to capture that moment in time , It was a great escape form the pressure I am currently under for a few days.

I cant wait to do some more iti s such great fun!!!

I will update again soon dealines permitting.

Summer Update and deadlines.

Well its been a while, I have just returned from Dublin where I judged the Woodturning section for RDS anual craft competition,I am still very busy writting articles doing production spindle turning for clients, demonstratiing at woodturning clubs, then there is the two symposiums to get ready for in August which is getting ever closer, and then there is the main event that is occuping allmost all of my time right now.
In March I started to write a book about woodturning and I am getting towards the end of this project now, only a few more sections to do then I can concentrate on some new work for the symposiums in August.
There are many new ideas in my sketch book/head and I cant wait to start work on them, so its more of the same for the next couple of months. but Hey Ho!
Write a book in three months I must be insane but it does create a controlled routine to meet the tight deadlines!!
When I start work I will try to post some images of the new work in a few weeks.

Deadlines.

Its Sunday evening and I am currently relaxing, but I am also very busy and will be for the foreseeable future I am working towards one of my busiest years and have agreed to some pretty tight deadlines. The first was last last Tuesday then Friday and the next is on Monday night after that it is at the end of the month and I still have to produce another article check pdf files, as well as prep for two demos in the middle of the month so time for posts is going to be very short for quite a while. I will try to post when I get time but it may not be regular.

Two Halves

There has of late been a number of discussions occuring within the Woodturning Forums that are beginning to distract me a bit to much. I have spent the entire Sunday afternoon writing and as I no longer am willing to let this distraction continue; at this point I feel I have said enough and am off to my workshop to see what can be learnt from turning some real wood on my real lathe in my real workshop I have a busy year ahead and really cannot be distracted by irrelevant virtual woodturning related discussions.

As a work collegue always said " Dont talk about it DO IT!"

Have fun and turn and decorate some wood.

Footnote to oneself.
DO NOT CONTINUE TO VIEW INTERNET WOODTURNING FORUMS.

A Long Way For Lunch.

Monday was My 50th birthday. I wanted to do something special my wish was simple to eat some good fish in a restaurant overlooking a harbour somewhere along the coast with jane my wife.
Well my wish came true and I couldn't have asked for more I got the opportunity to travel to Cornwall arriving there Monday morning.
We began our journey Sunday morning we we had an easy journey and arrived at our accommodation with plenty of time before dark which is always a bonus when traveling a long way rested then went to find a meal before retiring to bed.

Next day I awoke to my birthday and Jane promised to treat me like A KING so I began to drive towards our destination. When we arrived in Padstow it was starting to rain but that's what the forecast was, so we were prepared and set off for a wander around the town its a very pretty harbour with all the usual tourist shops along the quay, but this town was made famous by a TV Chef Rick Stein he now runs several businesses there one of which is A Fish Restaurant over looking the harbour!!! Well this was why we had travelled to Padstow for lunch considering it is still February there were plenty of tourists about it was half term after all.

We had made no reservations at the Restaurant so felt sure we wouldn't be able to get in but luckily Rick has a Fish and Chip Shop this also has a Restaurant overlooking the Harbour so I was very happy indeed.

I Ordered Grilled Scallop and Sea Bream now how many chippies offer choices like that and I have to say it was very, very nice indeed Jane was quite conservative and had Scampi which she said was also very good.

As we left the chip shop the heavens opened and cut our visit a little short.

We headed for Bath to spend some time with Victoria our youngest daughter she is there studying music and we had another enjoyable meal said our farewells and headed for home and arrived back somewhere after 1 am, and I was no longer KING it had been a long day and I have been tired since but I have just about recovered today.

810 miles for Fish and Chips but it was well worth the road trip.

More News.

This time of year I often find myself taking bookings for demos later in the year and this year has been no different, This year is certainly going to be busy.
I have been invited to demonstrate at two trade shows one at Springfield's and the second at Harrogate, a local group (Norwich Wood turning Club) has also invited me along these should all be great fun I am also off to Dublin to judge the (RDS) Royal Dublin Society's annual craft competition (wood turning section) I have enjoyed this a great deal in the past and look forward to doing it again,the interaction with all those involved is both interesting and stimulating as all the judges get to network and view all the other sections which is so much fun I cant begin to explain the buzz I get.

Another Year !!!

Well its 2011. Another year gone.

This is going to be a big year for me next month I am fifty this is a year that means a great deal to me, its also the year I will be demontrating woodturning at the AWGB International seminar in Loughbourough and a few weeks later I will be doing it all over again at SWAT in Waco Texas so this year is going to be very busy, I am desperatly trying to develope some new work and ideas whilst currently trying to get ahead with the Articles we (Jane and myself) write for the work Woodturning magazine.

I havent had any new images for you lately but that may well change in a while keep checking in and see what I am up to who knows there may be a new regiem to report about if I have the energy I will definatly take some pictures.

We have had some pretty rough weather before New Year so here is an image for you to remind you of what we endured at the end of last year.