Winter time, and all you can do is find jobs to do inside, for me its the time for planning new artwork, sorting out old artwork with a view to selling it, and finding things to do that inspire me…
Last week it rained, a lot. This week was a lot brighter and yesterday, my husband and I had the opportunity to go out for the day. It was mild (16 degrees), it was sunny, there was only a bit of a breeze (rare in Kent, usually its blowing a gale!) so where to go.. Mmm… Whitstable seemed the best option, and even better than that, now that we live in Kent, its only a 40 minutes drive away…
We arrived about 1pm, and a big smile on my face as this was the first time I’ve seen the sea this year… I know I’m one of those people who feel happy just being by the sea.
So we had a walk along the promenade, and then went to our favourite restaurant on the jetty, ‘The lobster shack’ and although the place is famous for its oysters (well we are in Whitstable where their oysters are famous), and its also famous for its lobster, we actually adore their fish and chips and mushy peas so thats what we had, looking out to sea whilst we ate them.
Then afterwards we had a wander around the harbour area.
Then beyond that back up the wide estuary as the sun started to sink in the sky.
And since we were enjoying ourselves so much decided to stay for a few more hours than we had originally expected, and that gave me more opportunities to take more photos, and the two below are a beautiful example of why artists get inspired – they are the same image, taken in the same place but at different times of the day, the top one has high sunshine hitting the white buildings from the right hand side, whereas the lower photo is softer as the sun is setting and everywhere is more luminous…gorgeous!
I was also amused to see people swimming in the sea, as the sun was setting, it was a bit chilly for my liking, for swimming, but I was pleased for the people who obviously enjoy the sea as much as me..
We had five glorious hours in Whitstable, and I came away with a big smile on my face, it had been a glorious day in warm sunshine, no breeze, delicious fish and chips in one of my favourite restaurants, a long walk by the sea, and I’d taken loads of inspirational photos. I can feel I’ve topped up my endorphins!