The latest drawing in my new series of work. It was impossible to take an evenly lit photograph today in spite of excellent iPhone, the drawing is more delicate than it looks in the above photo. I tried scanning but I couldn't get the scanner to work in a typical day of technology versus me. After spending the morning investigating drivers and repeated attempts to make a scan, B fixed the scanner just by looking at it, urgh! so annoying. However, the scanned details shown below are much closer to the original.
It's plain to see I would much rather be drawing than photographing and publishing them. On that subject, there has been quite a commotion in the artists' quarter of Instagram recently ...

... to all our American friends!

I took this photo 4 years ago at the Edinburgh Christmas market and something about it makes me think of fireworks and celebrations, so very appropriate for today. Only 4 years ago, though. So many unbelievable events have happened since then, it feels more like 10 years ago.

Oh yes, the indescribable joy of warmer weather and spring suddenly arriving meant being able to get back into my studio. During the winter it was just too cold to work in the north-facing room, hence the digital sketchbook of late. Above is a photo of a little actual, real, paper sketchbook I started for Binky's monsters and ikebana. The freedom, the mess, the fragrance of real materials again! 
On Friday B was working in the garden when he spotted a strange occurrence in the sky - a perfect lasso (or lightbulb?) made by a passing aircraft. Always curious about what the aeroplanes are up to I had Flightradar to hand - look at that flight path! Joyriding perhaps?

I am really into yellow and black at the moment, and layering semi-opaque papers over the drawings. I had a lovely busy weekend, my godson Theo (B's son) and his friend Dan drove up from MK in their drift cars. On Saturday B and the boys went out west to the mountains and made a very impressive convoy, B in the Lotus and the boys in their crazy cars - lots of colour, stickers, low-down chassis and throaty growly engines. They turned a few heads as they pulled away. I stayed at home with the dog, did some drawing and housework, watched Gavin and Stacey on iPlayer, and cleaned the windows - glamour and grit indeed. It was so nice to have the distraction from the world news for a couple of days.

I took a trip to Edinburgh to deliver 4 Confused Flags for the Open Eye Gallery Christmas exhibition On a Small Scale, during which the walls of one gallery are banked with A5 works. The new flags are a lot larger than the miniatures I made for the Artobotic vending machines, although still small at A5. The beauty of delivering small works is that I can carry them on the train, and the train journey to Edinburgh has been one of my favourite things to do since I was a little girl, so here are 7 great Edinburgh-themed things I saw this week:
1. I never get tired of the views from the Forth Rail Bridge. On one side there is the expanse of the river with twin drilling rigs in the distance towards the estuary and the North Sea, and on the other the two road bridges and views to Grangemouth, the Ochil Hills and Ben Ledi towards the west.
2. The new Queensferry Crossing is splendid. There are great views from the rail bridge, and the sight of all three bridges is stirring. I was at the opening of the Forth Road Bridge in 1964, aged 5, and remember the days of the old ferry when there was only the rail bridge - what a time to be alive this is! Visit Scotland has some great images of the three bridges here.
3. Edinburgh has begun to celebrate Christmas vibrantly, with the market and plenty of other events and attractions. See what’s on at Edinburgh’s Christmas.
4. The massive St James project is going to be so exciting and impressive when it is done. It has a brilliant website here.
5. Edinburgh Trams. Their presence graces the city with a most international atmosphere; they even have their own Wikipedia page.

An exciting creative time! I have always found autumn to be a time of high mental energy and fresh starts, possibly because of the association with the new academic term. It’s a time of year I loved all through years of school and as a student, and still each year as it approaches I get the thrill. It brings double excitement for me right now: firstly, the Brexit Art Machines being installed in London for the month - and my Confused Flags are in the stacks to vend! I really am so excited! I am making more at the moment. Wobbly borders, misfit motifs, double-sided issues, foggy substrates and crossed meaning are my favourite themes, along with very some confused stars and stripes. Here is one of a star nudging boundaries:

<<<<<<<ARTOBOTIC!>>>>>>>>

I am delighted to have been invited to contribute to Artobotic's Brexit Art Machine!
Artobotic place repurposed vending machines filled with small brown boxes containing original art at selected venues.

Bernard M and his DIY modular synthesiser

Cupar Arts Eden started last Saturday and finished today, showcasing a hotbed of talent throughout Fife with a relaxed and friendly vibe.

Flashback to 2015: working on wood veneers.
Reading left to right from the top:
Africa. Heat, stillness, earth colours and textiles.
France. Parisian elegance and music,
America. A sense of distance between east and west seaboards.
Canada. The bright pale northern territories.
Brazil. Coffee beans
England. The architecture of bridges and the age of engineering.

Too many questions? Is the great Oracle Google leading us astray?
Photo: Book Cover of the novel One None and a Hundred Thousand (aka One, No-one and a Hundred Thousand),  Luigi Pirandello, 1926:
“Vitangelo Moscarda discovers by way of a completely irrelevant question that his wife poses to him that everyone he knows, everyone he has ever met, has constructed a 'Vitangelo' persona ...” Wikipedia

A tourist in my own town, I took a different route and came across these vintage playground creatures. They seemed frozen in their innocence. I stopped and took photos.

I would love to know how many times I have made this trip: as a child with Dad driving, Mum in the front, little bro beside me and the pockets of the Triumph Herald filled with sweeties; or nowadays, either driving myself or with B doing the driving. At the moment we are making the 90-minute trip frequently, between two homes, the car stacked with odds and ends of the house move. This week we were blessed with spectacular weather for the drive. I love taking random photos with my phone on car trips. I can't see what I'm shooting at the time and get some exciting results when I transfer the photos over from my phone.