Dbee Robinson Artist - The Fat Struggling Menopausal Artist

Black and White Cat with Bamboo I was once asked why my paintings were so expensive? It was for a Chinese painting titled 'Black and white cat with bamboo.' Its a large 46cm x 64cm framed watercolour and ink painting on rice paper that had taken many hours to paint in layers as well as traditional style backing with more rice paper and then framed. Now if I paid myself the minimum wage for the 25+ hours I had spent painting it would be far to expensive and no one would buy it, so I thought £65 was a good price. When I explained it was an original painting that wasn't mass produced but created with love and attention to detail in the traditional Chinese way they began to understand.  I then explained it didn't include all the years learning Chinese art techniques or the many hours and experiments that went wrong preparing and trialing this artwork, it was just for the materials, frame and approximate time spent on this artwork alone. They were then astound...

Tom's Commissioning at Sandhurst Yes I still hate shopping, but recently I was ahead of the game! Woo! Hoo! Our Son Tom recently got married and after my Husbands comment on what I planned to wear on his special day I went into a total head spin.  Click here to view Wedding Shopping Traumas and Triumphs.   Anyway back to this story....  In summary I ended up buying 3 dresses for the wedding. After googling and chatting with friends the etiquette and appropriate dress for Sandhurst Commissioning ceremony, Sovereigns parade and formal celebratory lunch, it is similar to wedding attire. And guess what.... One of the dresses (a floaty purple and navy dress with a mandarin collar) I had purchased for his wedding fitted the bill perfectly! It was below the knee, shoulders covered, sleeves to the elbow and definitely no splits. Oh Frabjous day Caloo Calay she chortled in her joy!  Yes, I felt like I had slain my Shopping Jabberwocky!  The ex...

My Nanna and me The Big Day Today is the big reveal and I'm nervous and yet excited too.  Nothing cosmetic here, just a bit of surgery to help me breathe, however with it comes at a price. Without full major surgery on my nose and all the risks that could happen, the price is a probable odd shaped unsymmetrical nose. Well I've had an odd shaped nose all my life and I got quite used to it. It made people remember me easily which could be a good thing. OK it could be a bad thing too but I'm grasping at positives here! My Cleft Palate now fully repaired after a serious infection recently and my breathing now hopefully sorted that should be it for me. One can only hope! I had a little today chuckle as I used to tell a joke about a man with the indestructible face. It was a pretty rubbish drawn out joke with a stupid punch line but it's actually how I feel and every now and again I say the punch line in my head which makes me laugh, which inevitably hurts m...

The Shrubbery Sunrise. I know we all have bad days, but recently I had a particularly 'Blue' day. Even though the sunrise was truly beautiful that morning, and I feel blessed to see such a lovely view from my garden, the memories of this day just made me feel sad as February the 5th was the day my Farther was informed he had Terminal Cancer. Two weeks later he was gone and the hole in my heart has never really healed. So I painted what was in my heart that day, and with the aid of this beautiful sunrise, my Oil on Canvas 'Sunset on a Blue Day' was created.  Sunset on a Blue Day. Later in the week my cousin, who is a Minister, informed us of a special evening coming to the Cowplain Evangelical Church where he recently gave a presentation. The Watoto Children's Choir  was visiting and was an event not to be missed. The children's choir have sung across six continents over the past few years raising awareness for their vision and much needed funds...

Watts Chapel We recently went to Guilford and decided to take the scenic route home via Comptom when we came upon a beautiful little place  Watts Chapel and Cemetery ,  (if you can call a cemetery beautiful that is.) The pictures above and below do not do the the chapel justice, it's truly breathtaking inside and out!  Even the Gravestones are artistic in one way or another with beautiful carvings or poems and some even have funny quotes.  Watts Chapel Interior The detail and passion in the artwork and carvings were inspiring and made me question my own belief which is simple, I believe in Human Beings. You don't need to go to church or temple etc to be a true Believer, Christian, Budist, Muslim etc. Just be a Human Being, my Church is in my heart.  So what is a Human Being? To me is is some one who thinks of others, forgiving, helpful, honest, kind, generous, etc, and puts themselves in others shoes, generally someone who does their very best at be...

Nanna and Me Now I can really see my birth defect was NOT all about me. I was not the only one suffering! This is the earliest photo of me I can find. It is of me and my Nanna who, I was told, had a special spot in her heart for me, as I was 'special'. This photo must have been taken just a few months after my skin graft when my lip was stitched up. (The bone would be grafted to close the hole in the roof of my mouth when I was older) I was a baby born in the 1960's with a Cleft Palate and recently watched 'Call the Midwife.' (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0c1x6qn/call-the-midwife-series-8-episode-3) The program had a huge effect on me from start to finish. The sense of admiration and sadness for my parents, especially my Mother flowed over me like a Tsunami. I have only really considered how I coped and was affected by my cleft. I was always appreciative to my parents for their love and support with all my issues eating, the operations, dent...

Everyone who really knows me, know that I hate shopping. Not just a dislike, a loathe!! I not only find the whole experience uncomfortable but I have been known to panic and run out a shop. I wouldn't say it was a phobia or anything that serious. But sometimes it is a definite problem for me. A recent wedding had me almost screaming as I just couldn't work out what to wear to please everyone, including myself. Eventually all was sorted, but I was having nightmares over something that should have been exciting and a pleasure. I was ok deciding what to wear to the wedding and had chosen an outfit, then the bride informed me she wanted the bridal party to coordinate colours and I thought that was a lovely idea. So I purchased dress number 2 and Hubby stated it was not formal enough, well this put me in a tailspin. I purchased a third dress, had it checked by Hubby and the Bride to ensure for their approval, but still panicked right up until the day of the wedding. So ...

Today I am wearing my Harry Potter 'Dobby has no master' socks.  WHY? I hear you ask! Is it because I do not have a lord and master, and I am free? .....NOPE! Is it because I have done something wrong? .....NOPE! ....Well not that I know of anyway. Is it because I can materialise in different places or make Elf magic? .....NOPE!  (Although my Grand Daughter called me a 'Dream Maker' recently.) Is it because I am small and wrinkly and seem to spend my day serving and clearing up after other people? .....Possibly Ha ha!!  No! It's simple!  ....I am ironing wth a bag of ice strapped to my fingers as I am so tired, I just ironed my hand. Just like poor Dobby. ( click here to see the Dobby scene in Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets.)  Dobby the house elf Sadly though, the bag of ice keeps splitting and melting all over my ironing so it's taking ages just to iron a t-shirt as I have to iron it more to dry it out!! ...

Sleep over sunrise It's the little things in life that please me. I think after you have watched a love one (or two) fight an illness, sadly breathe their last breath and slip away whilst holding your hand, you realise what is important. That is not meant to sound morbid, but help you understand why just a simple sunrise with the right people can be all you need for a perfect life. Missed buses, stupid arguments and other daily issues we all get stressed or worried over are merely noise in the overall scheme of things.  Our Granddaughter stayed over as a treat this weekend for her birthday and was a joy just to spend some quality 1-2-1 time with her. She is easily pleased and has good conversation skills now, so watching the sun come up while chatting and drinking hot chocolate is just a perfect start to the day.  Birthday cake Pancake Pancakes for breakfast are a given on a sleep over and this time we added an arty twist to them. The Birthday cake pancake I...

 Purple Wedding Bells, The Finale. A cement goose and 2 cats. Well the wedding came and went. The Bride was beautiful and the Groom handsome, but I'm informed it wasn't a true wedding, and I will explain later. Purple is the new Black The day before the wedding I treated myself to getting my nails done and did a little artiness on them to match my dress which I absolutely love, especially as I had to take it in a bit as my strategy for dieting worked and I have lost 6 kilos over the past year. Woo Hoo! (Don't worry, I will share my strategy in another blog)  My £5 hat I purchased from a 'buy and sell forum' was just perfect and my hairdresser managed to put my hair up inside the top of it so when I took it off I didn't get a flat hair do. My little gold bag from Oxfam was a find at £3. The hat pins (which turned into Hair sticks when I took my hat off) and jewellery I made were matching my nails, and also, as it happens matched the cake topper wh...

David, my Husband seems to have a problem taking time off and using his holiday. He's not a workaholic, but he does care about his work and his team, so taking time off is always a worry to him. But today after some persuasion he took a day off to go to Windsor Castle. I put the place in the sat nav and off we went, after a few minutes we realised the sat nav was having a fit. All the way there it was trying to send us in a different direction. It wasn't until we got there David realised I had spelt Windsor without a D in it. I had a dyslexic sat nav. Who knew there was a place called Winsor near Brighton.! Was great seeing some shire horses and the fantastic building and paintings and all the beautiful items in the castle. I particularly loved the Rembrandt selfie portrait. Talking of selfies, there we were trying to get a selfie and we got photo bombed by the Queen herself and her Hubby. Obviously both also taking a well earned rest today too, but it was a little n...

My lovely Hubby David looked at me tonight as if I was mad. I only asked him to retire.... OK and to sell all our stuff, rent out our house, buy a motor home or big bus and travel to world. He then told me I was too old to be a Hippy. TOO OLD!! Ohhh.... he was lucky I didn't have anything pointy in my hand, lol.  He also said he didn't want to live in something that didn't have a decent toilet. Ha ha ha. He said it's ok for a holiday, but not to live in one permanently. I then happily mentioned he said it was OK for a holiday. HURRAH! My ploy to get David in a camper van for a little travelling holiday was working. Ask for the moon and stars, and although you may not get it, you may get a little star dust. Sadly my plan then failed. Realising what he had said, David promptly retracted his statement that a camper van was ok for a holiday, and there it was gone. Ho Hum! my devious plan nearly worked. Do you think buying a big bus was a ste...

 I am 'Living the Dream'. I have always said i'm not sure who's dream it is, as it's not quite what I envisaged, but here I am doing my best to keep everyone happy and when i'm lucky, do something I want to do too.  So how strange it felt to be asked to return to work in my Quality capacity. I often offer David advice at work when he has an audit, or quality issue etc.  (..only when asked of course) He decided he needed some extra professional advice. So after a quick interview at temporary staffing agency I have returned to work as a Quality consultant. Mainly performing internal audits and offering help and advice. My first day was rather nerve-wracking but I soon got into the swing of things and my first audit was under my belt. My second audit was easier and after some adjustments to the audit form and audit process, as well as some homework looking into KPI's for the department, I feel my presence is value added.  It's interestin...