The digital home of author, artist & photographer Chris Elphick | All content, unless otherwise stated, is copyrighted © Chris Elphick

Friday, 18 March 2022

The Sunshine Starts - 2022

March 18, 2022

It has been a long time coming, but the weather was finally welcoming enough to invite me out in to the garden for an hour so this afternoon. And being a little behind in my writing, I took this opportunity to sit out and finally make a start on the introduction to the book Pagan Stone.


If you are interested in my garden, you can find more photographs I took of it today over on Magickal Gardening here.

Feeling Poorly

 It has been a tough few weeks, spent battling SWS. The NHS, disabled by this sour Tory government, have been of little help, save for the  prescribing of an antidepressant (paroxetine) to help my mind safely navigate my condition. To add to my physical pain and distress, I have been trying to secure my paid employment through these difficult times by attempting a negotiation for a different (working from home) role with my employer., the fruits of which are still unknown as my time off work sick continues its tick-tock.

Whilst I have had plenty of time of late to work on my personal creative project, foremost amongst them right now being Pagan Stone, SWS has left me both physically and mentally exhausted, to the degree where I now have serious misgivings about getting this guidebook published on time. As they say, only time will tell...

 


Saturday, 5 March 2022

Pagan Stone ~ Haunts of the Olde Gods

'Tis time to crackdown with my second major project of 2022 - the third in my series of guide books on the Gower Peninsula. This new entry to my continuing exploration of my home turf, introduces the reader to this area's standing stones, prehistoric burial monuments and other ancient sacred sites.  I have called the book Pagan Stone ~ Haunts of the olde Gods.

Unfortunately, I have a rather tough deadline on the completion of this project and have just 55 left to get it all written, illustrated, designed and published. And with that in mind, I made an immediate start, working up ideas on a possible cover design of the book:


Its' time to knuckle down and make this book a reality...


Friday, 4 March 2022

Sweyne's Eye - Swansea Sunsets

Ahead of schedule, you can now get your mits on this beast of a fotozine 🙂

Tuesday, 1 March 2022

Swansea City Sunsets - Introduction Time

With 28 days left of my deadline to finish and publish the latest edition of Sweyne's Eye, it's time for me to turn my attention to writing the introduction to the collection of sunset photographs featured in the zine. I have a feeling that this zine might be completed a good few weeks ahead of schedule...

Writing the introduction to the latest Sweyne's Eye zine


Monday, 28 February 2022

Swansea City Sunsets Zine Update

 March 01, 2022

I have just 29 days left until the latest edition of my fotography zine Sweyne's Eye goes to press. All the photographic content is now in place and just needs fine-tuning in situ on the page. Gotta say, I am a little bit happy with this special edition zine :

To continue whetting your appetite, here are x3 more images from the forthcoming zine, featuring Swansea's picturesque Cockett Church: 



Thursday, 24 February 2022

Swansea Bus Stop Sunsets

x2 more images from the next issue of my fotozine Sweyne's Eye. Swansea sunsets viewed through bus stops:


Tuesday, 22 February 2022

Mister Jonathan Pyewacket Begins to Disappear

 Mister Jonathan Pyewacket beginning to disappear in the fog. From Chapter One of my current W.I.P. - The Peculiar Adventures of Mister Jonathan Pyewacket... 



Monday, 21 February 2022

Swansea City Sunsets

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

With the publication date of the latest edition of Sweyne's Eye rapidly looming (T-35 days), I thought it best I at least got the cover of the zine sorted. And here it is:


 

There may still be a few tweaks that need addressing before the zine goes on the market, but I am happy with today's progress :)

Saturday, 12 February 2022

Swansea Maritime Quarter

I am continuing to make decent progress on the latest Sweyne's Eye fotozine. This issue will be devoted to some of the sunset images I have captured of Swansea City. Whilst the zine will feature its fair share of silhouetted cityscapes against blazing orange skies, I will also try to share some more unusual sunset shots, such a these two pics, taken in Swansea's maritime quarter.


Friday, 11 February 2022

Sweyne's Eye - Swansea City Sunsets

Sunday, February 13, 2022

Feeling a little brighter health-wise this past weekend, I finally made a good bit of progress on my next publishing project - the latest Sweyne's Eye photography zine, this next edition being titled Swansea City Sunsets. With just 45 days left to meet its deadline, this sudden headway came as a bit of a relief. My sight is now positively focussed on this target date.

The following set of of two images, taken from the upcoming zine, details the cobbled lane at Swansea Marina:


Sunday, 6 February 2022

Sun, Sea, Settee

I have been looking at this view quite a lot recently! I need to get outside again!

Friday, 4 February 2022

The fruits of insomnia

Sunday, February 06, 2022

Insomnia dragged me down from my bed in the wee small hours of this morning. And, grabbing myself a hot water bottle and a mug of tea, I settled myself beneath a blanket on the living room settee to while away some time working on my Pyewacket storyline.

My writing proved quite fruitful, in more senses than one, and I came away from the session having moved the story on quite nicely. I also constructed a hopefully achieveable plan of action to make a December 01, 2022 publication date for the story 🙂

The book will introduce the protagonist Jonathan Pyewacket and follows his first bizarre  adventure when he inexplicably finds himself in a fairy tale world of spellcraft commerce. The book will feature four main characters and glimpses of further magical and eccentric people who could feature in further tales set in the world. I won't give away any more details right now, except to say that this first story in a possible series of escapades is going to be rather fruity.

I haven't been this excited with a writing project for quite a while 🙂