A busy day today with a visit to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and Jeff Koon's Popeye Series at the Sepentine Gallery.

I love visiting the RA every year as you get to see such a huge range of different work. This year I was completely bowled over by a piece by Marian Fountain (her blog). I have never encountered the world of Art Medals before but have been investigating further!

Then it was a stop at Madsen's for open sandwiches then onwards to the Serpentine where it was great to finally get to see some of Jeff Koons' work in real life- I only wish it was one of his large pieces- oh well, I can dream.

Last night I continued experimenting with my new rivoli pieces and found myself going back to the drawing board and starting again. Beading, unlike say painting, has limits imposed on it by the size, shape and colour of the beads you have available to you. It can be frustrating to have an idea and not the materials/ palette to hand to realise those ideas. Well that's my excuse for putting some more bicone crystals on my shopping list!

When I get frustrated like this I have to remind myself that there is a point to it all and I do enjoy it!