Tag Archives: swimming

Spring warming...

Spring is here, relax, bask in the lovely 7°C !

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All things are relative. While the prospect of an Autumnal temperature plummet to seven degrees may cause us to shudder at the very thought, reaching in vain after warm memories of summery 18 degrees and above; here at the back end of Winter and in the wake of winds from Siberia, 7 degrees is greeted with excitement and delight!

“It’s lovely now it’s warmed up” is not mere winter swimmer’s bravado, it is heartfelt. 10 days ago the shallow salt water dipped below zero. True, we still have that glazed look of the mildly hypothermic as we hug our hot drinks. True it is drizzling, and an icy wind is promised for the weekend. But all things are relative, and these things are mere blips in the unstoppable onrush of spring.

Very soon, it will be too warm….

Spring warming...

Spring warming at Clevedon Marine Lake…

The Birthday Suit

The Birthday Suit

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On Friday it was Mary’s Birthday. There being an icy blast coming straight from Siberia, and the water 3.5 degrees and dropping, she dressed appropriately for the occasion of a birthday swim. A bikini with tassels, of course!

The Birthday Suit

The Birthday Suit

To those unfamiliar with the place, this is of course Clevedon Marine Lake. The water isn’t often this green, it’s generally muddier, but on this occasion it was  even clear enough for underwater photos.

underwater birthday pic

underwater birthday pic

Lucy

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I usually swim with Lucy at Clevedon Marine Lake. A fantastic and free facility but the lake is topped up by the muddy brackish waters of the Bristol Channel on the highest of tides, and if you can see as far as your feet through the water it is a remarkable and rare event.

Lucy asked me to paint a painting of her swimming, so we went off to Vobster with my camera, and I took lots of snaps and this painting is the result. We were just about lucky with the weather – the sun deigned to shine between the November clouds for a few minutes, but the water is lovely and clear anyway, so it’s always good for photos.

This is painted in watercolour with fragments of aluminium leaf for the bubbles.

Lucy at Vobster

Lucy at Vobster

Close-up detail of painting

'Ghislaine' detail1

Ghislaine

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Apologies for the lack of swimming scribbles, I have been devoting time to some swimming paintings instead. Some of these I am hoarding for Bath Art Fair (12th & 13th May, more on that later), a some have been commissions (I know, other people are waiting, for paintings or drawings… I am getting there…).
So, here is one finished commission, this is Ghislaine, in watercolour, with platinum bubbles…
At the bottom you can see the photo I worked from, Ghislaine asked me for more bubbles and sparkly light.

'Ghislaine' painting in watercolour with palladium leaf

‘Ghislaine’ painting in watercolour with palladium leaf

'Ghislaine' detail1

‘Ghislaine’ detail1

'Ghislaine' detail2

‘Ghislaine’ detail2

'Ghislaine' detail3

‘Ghislaine’ detail3

'Ghislaine' reference photo

‘Ghislaine’ reference photo

How to get into Cold Water

How to get into Cold Water

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A few tried and tested methods…

Some enter the water while raising arms in an attempt to remain as dry as possible. This works, for a very very, very short time. An alternative technique is to splash your face – or all of you – with water, which is rater the opposite: get wet before you have to get wet. It’s not for me, but I’ve seen people do this happily! Then there are those who like to inch into the water bit by bit, drawing out the appalling process for several minutes. It often helps to swear a lot. I used to be an arm-raiser, but I’ve slowly come to the conclusion that if it is very cold the best thing is to get the whole dreadful experience over as fast as possible, wade in and then plunge and swim as fast as possible until it stops being awful. For the sake of caution I should add this last method is not a beginners choice: do make sure you can breathe before you can swim!

It’s lovely once you’re in!

How to get into Cold Water

How to get into Cold Water

The Great Crab Release

The Perils of Half Term Holiday Swimming

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It helps to know when the school holidays are, if only because the traffic is different and sometimes everyone heads to the coast all at once. However, this was a peril I had previously overlooked. On Monday morning The Great Crab Release occurred. At a still relatively toasty 11.5 degrees in the lake, changing back into warm clothes would otherwise have been safe and simple. It was nippier than expected!

By chance, I wasn’t the hapless swimmer exiting the water: I was the one running around with a camera saying ‘Oh Look! Crabs!’ and taking photos of them. It was an impressive haul, the crabs were conscientiously counted out of the bucket and there were over 30 of them, caught in little more than half an hour. They are back in the marine lake now, but some of you may not wish to know that.

The Great Crab Release

The Great Crab Release

Faffing competition

What’s your favourite Faff?

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If you haven’t already bought one of my calendars or Swimflake hats (or if you want another) you might like to know that Oudoor Swimmer Magazine (formerly H2Open) are running a competition where you can win them.

Simply tell them in 25 words or fewer what your favourite swimming faff is!
Enter here: outdoorswimmer.com/win

…and if you don’t win, you can always buy them in my Etsy shop: www.waterdrawnart.etsy.com. I have run out of a few of the hat colours, and I have limited numbers of them coming in again in quite soon, so if you want me to email you when they are in again, please add yourself to the emailing list .

Faffing competition

Faffing competition

Outdoor Swimmer Magazine

Outdoor Swimmer Magazine