It’s Good Friday, and the day started goodly indeed, as I made myself a festively appropriate breakfast of a toasted hot cross bun and a lovely cup of coffee, then hopped (#seewhatididthere) back into bed and enjoyed my first fix of the podcast Stuff You Should Know. 

Pleasingly, I now know more about Carl Sagan, and Grimm’s fairy tales and how continents got their names. 

Do you like podcasts? They’re certainly super popular at the moment. I like Serial (though season 2 isn’t as captivating as season 1), Short & Curly, Let It Be and now I definitely rate SYSK. 

Podcasts satisfy and fuel my curious nature. I think it’s super awesome that we have access to so much information  just with a press of a button. My SYSK playlist (so far) has episodes on mass hysteria, passports, colour, Tupperware, ocean currents, pyramids and the Enlightenment. Bring. It. On. I’ll have to go back to the library soon, so I can download more eps. 

I had another lovely creative time with my niece Matilda this week. Here’s our latest collaboration. I am loving my role as “the creative auntie”. 

This week Matilda chose acrylics, and I encouraged her to mix some colours. 

I think this pink house with Matilda mixed blue-y green window frames looks sensational. 

At my house, there are no mistakes when you create. Art critics be gone! 

We sat side by side at my small desk, collaborating on where the stripes should stop and the spots begin — so much fun. Hopefully not just for me! 

And you can’t create on an empty stomach, so we made a batch of pikelets and gobbled them happily. 

Autumn seems to be kicking in properly, at last. The temperatures are dropping, and the sky has been super blue. I often stand at my back door and snap pics of the sky. Blue skies and gutters – which captures your attention? 

I choose the sky, though the lines in this shot make me smile. 

I’m still sketching/painting/drawing every day, dipping in and out of online challenges and my obsession with all things autumnal. I’ve got 84 consecutive days under my belt. 

There is endless inspiration in nature, as well as in every day domestic things. In fact, wherever I look I see beautiful lines and shapes and colours. I want to have eyes to see beauty in the ordinary. 

I see it in buttons, in a fallen leaf, in a collection of house plants.  

I hope you’re cosy and close to a hot cross bun and a cuppa. And I hope you always have the ability see beauty in ordinary things. 

 

Annette x 

 

PS If you love autumn too, tag me in your fave autumnal pic on Instagram @igiveyoutheverbs, or jump on to my seasonal hashtag #crushingonautumn.