Perhaps I should go for a cold shower? I can now, of course, because the builders did eventually finish the shower room. I'm sure you've been waiting the unveiling...and I was going to take a picture of myself in the shower to give you the full effect, but we've already had enough nudity for one day, so instead here's the new shower room all by itself:
A way back in the early summer, The Cat's Mother and I came across some paintings in a local gallery on the seafront in Brighton. The artist is called Jon Everitt, and you can see a selection of his wonderful works here. It was the humour of the pieces that caught us...and that unlike so many pieces these days, the titles all mean something, rather than the somewhat ubiquitous 'untitled'. Although there was a biggish picture, we were struck by some little 3" square ones which were well priced. But it became quite a challenge to actually buy them as the gallery didn't really seem geared up to sell them. The four of us just about managed to rustle up the cash between us as that was all they would accept and we were a mile from the nearest cash machine. They then fished some bags out of the rubbish bin for us to take our trophies away. Having bought three, we decided we wanted some more, and it was fortunate that he was exhibiting across in Chichester. One of the ones we wanted was no longer available, but that just meant he painted it again for us! It was at that point I secretly asked him if he would create a family portrait for us, which he agreed to. This was to be The Cat's Mother's Christmas present, so there followed clandestine meetings and many communications. My brief was simply a list of things that are important to us in some way...and the rest was down to his talent. I did begin to worry when we hit December and it was still a long way from being completed, but lo and behold it was finished and I collected it on December 22nd. I can tell you that when I saw it, it was a truly emotional moment...as indeed it was when The Cat's Mother took it out of the wrapping on Christmas Day.
And here it is...complete with hares, yellow ducks, Roa painting street art, The Cat playing the flute, The Boy playing rugby, Brighton Pavilion and a German inscription...you may even spot a couple of star constellations
