15th August 2026
The universe is not done testing me yet ! I had everything framed and packed ready for Tynemouth Weekend Market tomorrow and i continually called them for 22 minutes on the required Tuesday before and when they answered all stalls were taken. Mathematically what the person told me was impossible but i am just taking it as a sign that this isn’t the path rather than get mad and over think. The person who runs the northumberland art fairs has not replied back for over 10 days which i feel for myself is not a credible consistent path, but maybe an odd event if it ever materialises. I sat in the garden with Stella and a cup of tea to reflect and feel the disappointment without getting upset and making up dialogue in my mind.
I have struggled to get any traction online with my online art shop website and had deleted it but i have 10 framed paintings and they look amazing alongside 10 mounted so that a purchaser can decide on their own frame. At the moment it is only the UK as the EU is too difficult and USA is too expensive to deliver to. So i am sorry to my American friends who may wish for a small watercolour abstract.
Personally without some form of catalyst my expectation for even getting potential sales online is very low but you have to start somewhere. The online way for my core is my preference so i need to find a turning point somehow rather than keeping on deleting the shop because nothing is seemingly happening rather than trying to get included into something i know will never happen.
The movement is being in your own power and not giving it away to people who do not care.
Whatever route i have taken there has been a dead end and i wonder where is this taking me. I do feel despite this there is a path and all will be right in the end and i should focus on the work. There is other work on learning to let it be , to let the energy of the disappointment dissipate and bring myself back to silence. Trusting that the dead ends and not very reliable people is moving me in the right direction by just being ok with that. Alan Watts described once , i am paraphrasing a sentiment of following the flow of water and moving around the obstacles without giving them a thought.
In some way i was quite relieved by not getting a stall as it would of been a 11 hour day and as things are with the predator cat and my little Stella i would be worried about her. We tried a microchip cat flap but bless little Stella coming from a rescue she has an incompatible microchip and having collars is just a no. My super hero little girl has been guarding the door all night ! We are still fathoming a strategy and like the paintings it is back to the drawing board.
This week coming i am off to another magical woodland to find some trees for my “Meet a Tree” and deciding on my second woodland for 2027. I am also getting quite excited about oncoming Autumn as this time i will be going out capturing all those wonderful autumn leaves for a photography gallery. This time around i will be posting on Bluesky and Instagram my findings.
Bakethin Nature Reserve
There is a definite feel of September with the transitions rather than August this year. I expect being on the fifth heat wave has altered the seasons. I remember year back just hoping for a warm sunny day and now a sixth heatwave has arrived. Luckily being the nearing the furthest you can get in England we do not get crazy 30/40 degree plus temperature and we have had some rain. But never the less for a northerner , 28 degrees is hot enough.
The Rowan berries are fully ripened and if you cannot recognise a Rowan tree or did not think you had any near you , now is the time to find them. I love their orangery red colour and once again the trees are filled to the brim with berries. The promise of a cold winter from abundant crops of berries would be a blessing. My wish for the birds and creatures is to enjoy its abundance. I am thinking about using them in my paintings but i have not made a full decision so i guess i need to get a wriggle on before they harden.
I like transition of nature , i actually love the once vibrant flowers slowly changing and stripping back it has a charm to it , a feeling that we should’nt grasp too tightly and slowly let go when you need to follow grace ! A word which came up this month from my Angel cards.
I like to contemplate a word each month and have a Angel Tarot pack of cards which i pick one card each month. With whats going on in my life and the words i probably need at the moment i expect there is a synchronicity magic behind the card you pick as that was the first word which came to mind after i spoke to the Market manager.
Within my Compassion training we studied “Equanimity” and had an exercise of noticing , dissolving , equalising. Bringing equanimity to our lives is quite radical for our ancient parts of the brain.
To notice you have been triggered by something we can dissolve the reaction within ourselves of why are we so angry at something probably mundane and equalising it that we too probably have infuriated somebody by simply doing our job.
It is a wee bit early but as usual it is the Birch tree first to turn from their summer colour into autumn. Isn’t awesome that a single leaf contains so much magic of colours within it. Nature is such a wonderful colourist and abstract expressionist.
In the same field of vision there is sparkling purple flowers , beautiful delicate white flowers forming berries and diminishing greens of leaves that have so many variations the mind boggles. How can this not flutter your heart ?
I have got a confession of wondering about plants chatting with each other about the wonderful view that they have been gifted along the verges of the reservoir. I just want to sit with them and have a chat or be in silence admiring the view. It feels like recently sat along the river near to my home early morning with a coffee and some sketching material and chatting to a local or a tourist walking by.
That feeling that you too are the plant in which other plants can converse with you as well and not being separate from nature but part of is beautiful.
In the Field , Sketches
I had been pondering about my mark making especially whilst painting outside in nature. As someone who believes in everything has spirit i am thinking a lot about how to make my mark pulsate the spirit of life rather than capture boundaries of its forms. I absolutely love sat outside painting and i was struggling to find summer ideas due to the forests are full of midges. There is such a beautiful walk close to my village along the North Tyne River full of wild plants and i decided that the beginning of a quest to work on finding that spirit i went with a flask of coffee and my art bag for a couple of hours without any judgement of its outcome.
River North Tyne and Meadows in Foreground and my home in the distance.
A Gift comes from love not conditions.
christopher evans
Watercolour , Crayon & Pencil on A4 Paper
Bull Crag Peninsular
Even at 7am the sun was making the grass shimmer and the summer flowers have receded already which is a month early . I like the texture and depth of colour resonates with me. You do not need the bold , the most colourful or instagram ready to find beauty or to tell a story. Everything is fractal , it is the small , the undefined and the unseen which tells a story even when everything looks empty. It is what people call boring which i call delight that harmonises and holds everything together and supports everything else.
I am so much in love with how the summer plants are simultaneously arranged with intent and chaotic at the same time whilst seamlessly being with harmony of life that you can feel it singing out. That intention has so many layers of attraction and purpose but it is fluttering its eyes and smiling for us to notice and fall in love as it needs us to flourish , it seeks us to protect it and hopes you will join it.
The Raspberries are at the most juicy and the conkers are slowly growing up and it is so interesting to be part of this. To witness it and even though i cannot recall the image in my mind it remains in my being.
My thoughts is that we do not need to see nature to know what it look , feels , smells and sounds like as those senses are innate within us but the home coming is remembering who you truly are when you go into natural places. There is a sense of knowing which is revealed when you are silent.
August is the new and the old , the potential , the mysterious and the known . The Butterflies are in abundance with the flourishing knapweed. They look like flying flowers flitting between stationary flowers and one wonders where it begins and where it ends. This meets my thoughts on painting , that when you look past what you perceive as definable boundaries creating forms that it is not really like that , every thing shifts with the light, colours and life is more amorphous.
Hareshaw Linn
It is so lush now with infinite colours of green as you wander towards the final waterfall sometimes i a get a feeling of detachment and maybe something unfamiliar or a strangeness. That the other worlds share the same space and a momentary glance transports you into a different realm. Sometimes it feels like it is looking back at me maybe apprehensive or curious to how i have emerged in their realm or maybe it wants me to see it. Not an entity but the place itself. The feeling is fleeting and i return back to seeking wonder and awe.
It is that nuance of seeking which separates us , realising there are more levels of awareness that i have not attained as my identity is still doing rather than being. It is that moment , when i just let go, i think , when all is stripped away a veil is openied to these magical places.
In my ancestry there are other-worlds , spiritual realms and dimensions. Annwn is the Welsh name , a place of magic and immortal beauty, abundance and endless joy. Other cultures have different places like Shambhala but Annwn is a shared place , an unseen place , the journey is not geographical.
The Cow Parsley heads are amazing to find , each one , even right next to each other , has its own personality and i love to capture them. I love the markings they have close up , they are like ancient symbols and so fascinating.
Also , the flower heads to the thistles have once again shifted colour as the hot weather turns the green , to crimson and now browns. I love the shapes on them too elongating from the stem and a little turn out tip of a darker colour.
A beautifuuly coloured snail keep the shade in the darkets parts of the woodland hoping for moisture and you can wonder why our ancients were so fascinated by circles.
Amongst the greenery tiny little purple flowers exist , a reminder of spring when the place was a mosaic of colours all beckoning in creatures. Now some of the flowers have transformed and others just disappear into the background allowing the green plants to have their moments.
