Jessie Lilac Blog

I've never been before but after seeing it on Youtube I was inspired to have a few days away in Hastings. We stayed in a beautiful airbnb flat with stunning views. Shall I show you inside the beautiful flat where we stayed? This felt like home from home to me, I love coloured glass and colourful paintings and victorian style fireplaces so I was absolutely in my element. I'm in love with this turquoise glass decanter that was in the bathroom! ♥ ♥ ♥    Oh that colour! Anyone who knows me and sees this would think this is my actual room because I have a sofa like that and several crocheted blankets very similar too. This corner became my nest each evening! I was very happy to discover that our flat was within a couple of minutes walk from the Old Town . We spent our days wandering around the old streets.   This house was shaped like a piece of cheese. It must be very small inside the house at the wedge end! ...

This painting was a long time in the making. Not so much the painting of it but the journey it had over a long period of time before it became my colourful little painting of Frida. Many years ago we had a shop at St Nicholas Market in Bristol. We sold all sorts of handmade objects and one of the things we had for sale were little carved notice boards that held a little notepad.  I liked them a lot so I took one home and for many years I used it for the family shopping list. If you look at the shape of my Frida painting, you'll see the original shape of one of these boards. A few years ago we moved house to Devon and I saw how battered my little shopping list board had become but I still loved the shape of it so I held on to it with the plan of filling all the broken parts and repainting it one day. So one day I decided to prepare the board with filler and gesso and I began the portrait. You might know that my painting style these days is usually very simple a...

I often find my art influenced by the sea which might not be surprising as I live near the coast in Devon but since I can remember I've always loved stories about mermaids and selkies. I saw the film Miranda  starring Glynis Johns when I was very tiny and the memory of it has always remained with me. When I'm near a rocky coastline I always imagine what it must be like to live nestled in a rock pool and to escape into the secret underwater world just like Glynis Johns! Does anyone remember Aqua Marina from the children's TV series  Stingray ? I have a very faded memory of her but I do remember that for me it was the best part of the show. I've just looked it up on Youtube and it's nothing like how I remember but something about it must have stayed with me even at that very young age. Anyway, years later I watched film 1984 film  Splash with Daryl Hannah as the mermaid. I loved how she had to learn about living in the human world and learnt how to...

Hello there, It feels like ages since I've made a blogpost! The Easter holidays were very busy for me with family visits and lots of errands to catch up with. There was a garden to tidy... It's a fantastic view from this garden in more ways than one because I can see both Youngest son's flat and Middle daughter's flat from here PLUS the pretty harbour of course!. The apartment that this garden belongs to is let out to guests most of the time but it's nice to come here and enjoy the view when jobs need doing. A working visit to Exeter just had to include a visit to my favourite cafe there, The Glorious Arthouse  caf é Their food is delicious and it's so beautiful in every room, even the garden is lovely and colourful as you can see from my photo above. The main attraction for me is their art exhibitions that they have in the upstairs room.  Back at home again and Eldest daughter and her babies came to stay and we had a day out at a lo...

How did 2 weeks fly by since my last blogpost?! Things are still pretty busy around here and lots has been happening so let me tell you what I've been doing. Over the half term we had a few days away in Cornwall. We drove over to the Lizard Peninsula to Kynance Cove (pics above) and then along the coast to another beautiful cove that I haven't been to before called Poldhu Cove. I loved the caves there, I imagined I'd see a mermaid living inside one of them but alas I didn't this time. The same day that we arrived back home, we had a family celebration for Youngest Son as he's just passed his driving test and had his birthday too! I'm always inspired to paint when I've been to Cornwall and once the house was quiet again, I finished this painting.  It's called ' Looking Back '.  I love the combination of bright turquoise together with the the earthy tones of browns and I've had in mind to do a paintin...

Happy new year to you! The Christmas holidays have whizzed but so quickly in the frenzied way they always do but each day filling with the future's happy memories.  Brixham looked particularly beautiful in the days between Christmas and new year, soft afternoon sunshine lighting up the harbour. Then came my birthday on new year's eve! A day out in Cornwall was the plan and the first stop was the river Fowey on Bodmin Moor. The riverside trees wore their magical coat of glowing moss, so beautiful. Just along the road from there is the place called Jamaica Inn . It's just as I imagined it would look from reading the novel of the same name by Daphne Du Maurier. After a hearty meal the coast was calling me so we headed out towards Padstow. I hadn't been there for years so the Rick Stein 'takeover' came as a surprise! I'm sure he only had one restaurant when I was last there. :) I love that blue woodwork on the...