Out of my comfort zone

...starting with the bus ride to Hailsham to attend a workshop here.  The first 500 yards went well - and then we turned left where I thought we would go straight on.  Thereafter, at every junction, I thought "as long as we turn right here, I'm on the right bus".  And so of course we turned left.  Or went straight over.  And we followed the hilly line of the Sussex Weald for miles and miles, meandering around the Sussex villages and little towns.  I knew we were heading in more-or-less the right direction, and as long as we turned off the Weald at some point and headed for the Pevensey Levels all would work out in the end.  And so it did.  We just went a slightly more devious route than I would ever have imagined!

But enough of bus journeys.  The other week, no sooner had I said to myself "I need someone to show me how to use acrylics" I saw an acrylic workshop advertised, and only £12 for 3 hours.  Rude not to.  I rang straight away to book, asked what to take, and was told only brushes as everything else was provided.

Which is where I had been slightly mislead.  Everyone else, claiming to be "complete beginners and absolutely hopeless" brought neat little sets of paint tubes in all sorts of colours, and mysterious baking trays of parchment and rubber bands, and jam jars for water, and kitchen towel....and I had to make do with some dried up tubes of paint in a plant saucer, in a very limited colour range. 

But considering the limited materials, the state of my brushes, and that my only previous experience with acrylic painting involved a paint roller and a can of Dulux, I'm more than pleased with the result!

The photo it's taken from was just chosen from a great stack the tutor had  brought.  I mucked up the skyline on the first "pass" but ended up very pleased with the clouds top right - in fact the sky is my favourite bit.  Then I had to be daring and paint in the trees.  And finally, that huge expanse of grass!  Grass is HARD to paint.  It was all a bit khaki for ages and I was worried, then I was rescued with a blob of emerald and a dab of someone else's brilliant blue, and it all came together.  I didn't have time for my teasels because people started packing up.  But overall I'm fairly amazed with myself.  Nothing like being chucked in at the deep end! (doh! Missed that off the list from my last post)

And tomorrow I'm out of my comfort zone again, with a project that unfortunately (a) is becoming a bit too quilt-like for me, and (b) involves more maths than I thought - button sudoko anyone?

(Sorry for the blurry pic).

It also involves sewing lots of these...

onto a mystery item.  Suffice to say there are 24 of those little squares and I need to get it done by 1 December. 

And finally, the Boy has definitely been out of his comfort zone.  We downloaded a Thunderstorm CD for him to listen to at his leisure.  We had a few wobbles to start with, but if we play it loud when we're getting ready for a W.A.L.K or if he's eating stinky lamb dinner* he doesn't notice the thunder at all.  All we need now is a CD of "rain on canvas tent" and we're good to go to Brittany on holiday again....

*I cooked up some lamb breast (and carrot and parsley and thyme...ahem...not spoilt at all) in the pressure cooker and nearly gagged it was so foul.  Luckily he thinks it's delicious.