Every Time We Say Goodbye

Been a bit of a blogging gap I'm afraid.  It's the old story - either you are doing loads of stuff and have no time to blog about it, or you've got plenty of time on your hands and nothing to talk about.
The week before last I did a two day workshop at Art Van Go with Lynda Monk which I've written about on the Art Van Go blog, so if you'd like to see what we did, you can read about it here

Last weekend I went to Yorkshire with my sister's family, to say our final farewell to her at a beautiful spot in the Yorkshire Dales.  Linda went on holiday to Kettlewell last May, before she knew she was ill, and it was while she was out for a walk with her family and the dogs, that they just happened upon this place.  Linda said it was her perfect location, and that if she could build a cottage anywhere in the world, it would be on the bank overlooking this river.

I could see exactly why it would appeal to her, she always did love a stepping stone

It was an occasion with a few tears, but also a few laughs, because one of the other things that would have made it her perfect spot, was that it had a makeshift swing, and she was always partial to those, so she would have definitely have approved of this

and I must say Jess didn't take too much encouragement - although she was the only one tiny enough to have risked the insubstantial rope!  And, it was the perfect day for Linda too - sunny, but not too hot

And surrounded by lots of little lambs

Altogether, I just know she would have approved of her final resting place.

I also know without a doubt, that Linda would have told us not to mope around for the rest of the week, but to enjoy our holiday. So bearing that in mind, later on in the week I went to Salts Mill, in Saltaire, near Bradford.  I didn't even know the place existed until I went to the David Hockney exhibition and saw this painting...

Apparently the mill opened in 1853, having been built for Titus Salt who had made a fortune in textiles.  In 1987 it was empty, and was bought by young entrepreneur Jonathan Silver, who created the 1853 gallery to exhibit the work of his friend, David Hockney. 

It was definitely worth the drive from the Dales

I spent hours in there, with coffee and scone in the cafe, (there's a restaurant too) a browse (and a little bit of shopping) in the fantastic bookshop, and a good look around the gallery - especially the projection of ipad paintings - I must have sat there for 20 minutes and although the paintings changed about every ten seconds, I didn't see the same one twice.

These are some of my favourites

and, as the man himself says, 

all made on the iphone or ipad - not a brush in sight.

Very inspirational, which is why I went home and did this

Well, it's a start.

Every Time We Say Goodbye - Ella Fitzgerald