On Thursday night I attended my Kiaikido martial arts club were I have been practising for a number of years and found it surprisingly full,   almost all the members were there and the Senseis were both wearing there white ceremonial Hakomas…….something was a foot.

We did an hour of aikido …..then our teacher Sensei Shakeshaft knelt in the middle of the mat called us all to order and  presented Jim Attew and myself  with  5th Dan Black Belts.  This was a complete shock!  A very pleasant one…but a shock never-the -less…

I had started judo training at The Budokwai in London and had attained 3rd Dan Black Belt after a few years My wife Jill and our two boys moved out back into Hampshire and started a judo club where I met Jim.

JIm and I spent years running a successful teaching and grading programme together in Haslemere Surrey. I moved a way and had to leave the club in Jim’s good hands.

Later I had a triple heart by-pass and had to stop doing judo…..and met Jim again at an aikido club he had just joined….it was what I had been looking for …not as strenuous as judo but interesting in a different way.

Jim and I spent the next few years practicing and going up the grades and getting more and more interested in the deeper meaning of Kiaikido. We had both reached the grade of 4^th Dan when we decided that we were getting to old to travel to the headquarters for the courses and semi retired….we still kept up one day a week…I was 75 and Jim was 85 so we had had a good run.

Then out of the blue came our new grades…both 5^th Dans…..I was telling some of the members that I had been doing martial arts for 61 years….one wag said  “61 years…wow……and you’re still no good at it!”

and so it goes……..

I thought,  at this point,  that my painting of his cat  THE MEOW should be brought forward and offered to the market place

at a slightly reduced price……..any offers?

This painting, if not sold before, will be appearing in the Society of Feline Artists show in August 2012 at The Llewellyn Alexander Gallery   The Cut  Waterloo  London SE1  8LN……………..remember the Edvard’s painting sold for £106,000,000……..

I will take less……….

MOTHER AND FOAL : These horses are in a field at the end of our road and are a grand site as we pass, but now the foals have started to appear I have to stop and sketch them.

JUST GRAZING: Another horse from this group …wonderfully marked.

GRAZING WITH MUM: A few fields away from the horses are these sheep….also with new lambs….a wonderful site.

THE GRAZING LINE: Learning to graze….it won’t be long before they are up and out with their friends playing “king of the Castle” and going their own way…

MY TURN NEXT: This one didn’t seem to understand about feeding….there are no “turns” you just go for it!

ON GUARD WHILST FEEDING:  I think I got t00 near this mother and child…..it didn’t trust me….and kept an eye on me all the time it fed it’s lamb………I don’t blame it….

The details of size and price etc…are in my Bargain Basement section.  Go have a look…..

RAINBOW SHEEP:  Low sun in the afternoon hitting the sheep and the buildings behind a wonderful light…you have to paint fast as that particular light doesn’t last….so had to finish this one in the studio…

SUNLIT COW :  Same with this one …same field….cows this time….again just a minute to notice the light hitting this cow in this way…remembered and painted back in the studio….it’s always when you are driving past and there is nowhere to stop or a line of cars behind you hurrying home after a hard day at the office….that you see the ideal light on the idea subject but can’t get to the paints….ho hummm.

Couldn’t download this one…..?????

FEATHERED BREAKFAST? : noticed this passing a window on the way to my nightly visit to the loo…..the sun was just coming up behind the trees at the bottom of my garden…it looked great! I opened the window and spend a few minutes taking in the view and the bird song….loverly…but then had to leave rather quickly to finish what I had begung and that I was freezing as well….

THE CONVERSATION :  A new area for me…still life……This one was the result of a internet course I did last Winter and found it was strangely satisfying…you have to be prepared to take a long time with these paintings studying every little detail and putting the paint on very carefully..worth a try when it gets too cold to paint outside…..

The weekend after that it was the Oscars in USA. Sue’s film had been nominated so Tim, Sue, Ellie and Jodie all went over to take part and had a great time! They didn’t win an Oscar but taking part was fun enough I hear…Congratulations! to all at AKA!……it would have been nice to have won though wouldn’t it?

This is Sue Goffe Producer and Grant Orchard Director of Studio AKA with their BAFTA award. Well done! An Oscar next time!

First is the one that is on the invitation…it’s called FIELD BREAKFAST (28 x 68 cms ) and was part of a walk I did one misty morning with my camera. As the mist started to clear the sheep appeared on the other side of the river I was walking beside. It gave me the “stare” the sort animals  give you when you first encounter them,  checking you out to see if you are friendly or not. The other sheep stopped and waited for their leader to give them the all-clear or the sign to run for it. The moment passed and we all carried on with what we were doing before. No panic.

MISTY STARE  (40 x 30 cms) happened on the same walk as FIELD BREAKFAST this time with cows in the next field. Again the “stare” but no panic, in fact, no reaction at all. The cow noticed me, gave me a glance rather than a stare and went on with her breakfast….and no reaction from the others cows at all.  Cows are like that.  But worth noting down and painted later. Recording that peacefull morning.

MORNING GREETING  ( 50 x 50 cms) was photographed on a frosty morning as we were walking our dogs, as were,  two other people. Although we were some distance apart we all exchanged a morning greeting. Again recorded as a painting. I hope I have captured how cold it was…..with the sun coming up and hopefully warming things up a bit.

HER TABBYNESS  (50 x 40 cms) is a rather stylised painting of a cats head as is it’s partner

HIS GINGERNESS. I painted them as a pair to hanging together on a wall near you. I hope the eyes follow you around the room as I was once told by a client was the sign of a good painting.

if you would like to visit it….. The exhibition is on from 9th January – 7th February 2012 …..you can find the gallery easily as it is next to Waterloo Railway Station   124 – 126  The Cut   Waterloo  London  SE1 8LN   Tel: 020 7620 1322/1324      Hope you can get along there sometime….

They quote that ” Toni Goffe has a poetic and literary idea in every painting….” well that’s nice…I do have a story for each painting, I’ll show them to you if you like…

FAMILY OUTING – A mother sheep has taken her two lambs away from the others and found a peaceful place on a hillside for some rest and relaxation. Not a chance with these two. They are hungry and want milk!  One stands on her back to encourage her to stand up so they can get at her milk filled breasts. Who’d be a mother?

WINTER WARMER – Buttercup is a cow that dosen’t like to stay in the barn during the winter months. The farmer’..s daughter feels sorry for their cow and knits her a hat and scarf. Buttercup wears it to keep the peace.

THERE’S ALWAYS ONE – In cow circles there are rules of grazing, they should stay together, but not too close and all face to same way…But as with all social groups there is always one who won’t comply……

THE RETURN OF ICARUS –  Icarus, the son of master craftsman Daedalus were escaping from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. He ignored instructions from his father not to fly too close to the sun, and the melting wax caused him to fall to his death.

This cow is having a midnight feast next to the lake in which Icarus is about to fall. It takes a lot to disturb a cow but this one is at least looking as if has heard something.

MOONFACE - From the nursary rhyme “ Hey Diddle, Diddle” this is the cow who jumped over the Moon. She did it so often they became friends.

THE RED COW –  Here she is just standing in a blue background as if in a portrait. What is she thinking about? If only one knew…

this one keeps looking up at the moon. What does she have in mind?

THE DANCING COW – This peddler had had a long and tiring day, he climbed over the gate of this field and lay down for a rest ….as soon as he had rested he opened his sack and took out his fiddle. He was soon playing a jig that would get your feet tapping.That, in fact,  was what he heard next. He turned around and there was a cow dancing to his music…pleased at having an audience  he, to, danced away the afternoon.

This one is called HOMEWARD BOUND a little seascape of a yacht coming home after a day’s sailing. The evening sky was the main reason for painting this one and the adding of the red really made this into a very satisfying project.

ACROSS THE RIVER was painted at Rye on a trip with my sons Tobin and Tim. Sadly the last trip for Tobin who died later that year from cancer. So this painting has a special meaning for me.

RYE HARBOUR EVENING was the last painting of the trip after this we all went to the pub to celebrate and I remember Tobin buying a dresser before seeing if it could fit into his car. It fitted with a bit of pushing with about  1/16 inch to spare…extraordinary!