Kevin in the pandemic
I trained hard and got myself fit as soon as the gym and pool was open so that I could achieve the Swimathon Lite challenge of 30.9 kilometre swim within two weeks. I achieved the swims over 10 swims back to back in September and trained from May in the gym and pool. My gym routine was developing stamina and concentrated on cardiovascular exercising using the rower, bike and cross trainer and would do 90 to 110 minutes in the gym. In the pool I would aim for 80 lengths and built upwards to 120 lengths.
Here I am with the big medal as I was one of relatively few swimmers to do that distance in the country. I raised over £900 for three charitable causes including Marie Curie Nursing Care & Cancer Relief & the Swimathon.
I took on some hefty gardening challenges and got a number of trees and deep rooted shrubs out of the garden. I also did a fair amount of DIY projects including developing a shed studio.
I went to The Art Studio often when I could access but no students were permitted. It was a strange period of time and I really missed people interaction. It was great to see students again when restrictions began to lift but over the years as the variants came and went things went back and forth and it was an unsettling time for many people. I used the time to do some artwork, developed remote teaching skills and sorted out some things. I enjoyed capturing the inspiring Sir Captain Tom Moore and produced him as a card and postcard. The man so inspired me in that first year of lockdown, he really lifted me when all around was doom and gloom.
Some of my early students when I was learning how to teach through this new medium of Zoom! The skills proved invaluable for lots of meetings, lessons & teaching in the coming years, nationally and internationally.
I will post the Sir Captain Tom Moore portrait that I did in watercolour & watercolour pencils. Giclee prints are also available as well as greeting cards and large postcards. I had the idea to produce a range of cards and postcards and have worked methodically on that producing now over 100 artworks as cards/postcards. It is encouraging to see that some folk even frame the cards/postcards.
Yes, I am a Marmite fan!
And I do eat a fair amount of ice-cream!
