This episode starts still in a drinking mode.

At this time I was working in a nursing home. The majority of the staff were heavy drinkers, which helped me a lot, as I was not ready to give up. During my period with this company I made some crude models in clay, made moulds of these clay models and produced 'whites' in plaster of Paris. I showed the residents how to paint them. They enjoyed this activity and preferred it to knitting, crochet, cards and dominoes. This post soon finished as the drinking became a problem. I did leave with a nucleus of an idea that I might promote.

What the hell, it feels good. It took several weeks for me to detox completely. The only was to stop the drinking was to lock me away inside my house. At this point, I thought of the idea that had been mulling around in my head since leaving the nursing home. I decided to start model making, never having done it before apart from the crude efforts made in the nursing home. I would, therefore, have to train myself in this art form scratch. I had enough money to buy a small amount of clay, so locked away in my converted bedroom I worked for hours, days and several months. I started making dog masks for my friends; they liked them, and more asked for me to make the same for them.

An original dog mask

Another friends dog mask I saw an advert one day that the council was looking for start-up companies which they would subsidize. I applied and was accepted. At the end of the business training period, one of my models was chosen to be presented, celebrating the first business start up course, to our Member of Parliament.

This was a commission work that was presented with the permission of the mould owner. After this I set up in business. I worked endlessly creating new models, some which were mass produced. My best market was in commissions, and I had many clients. A short list of the kind of thing I created, a world champion pigeon, a Crufts champion Chihuahua and many other wildlife products. The biggest commission was to build an army ancient Scottish soldiers, ten in number and was five feet two inches tall.

An example of a wild life wall plaque the bird is a nuthatch.

Wonderful mother and pup seals.

Another wall plaque.

A small representation of the five foot two soldiers. There were ten in the set.

An eagle in flight, this model has a wing span of thirty inches. A small selection of the kind of standard, I had aspired to, in my self-taught sculpting. I enjoyed this period immensely, but alas the business failed, fortunately with not massive debt. The drinking started again, though not to the extent of before.

Well, what did you expect. It was during this period that the realism in the title came in. I had spent the past eighteen months, in my business, working so hard with long hours, and I never thought about drinking. So was this the answer, could I do something that would occupy my mind sufficiently to control the drinking. The answer came a short few weeks later; I knew that social services were recruiting to find suitable persons to work with people in their homes. I felt would in some way it was a position that would compensate for the losses in my earlier life, namely nursing. My post would entail working with a variety of people, the elderly, those with a disability, with both physical and psychological impediments, etc. I did on application say that I had suffered from alcohol dependency, they at this point put me on a two-month trial period. Successfully completing this period, I went on to serve a period of twenty-five and a half years of continuous service, terminating after my second retirement. Never drinking on duty or when driving I now live in Portugal, I do have an occasional family drink, since I have been here, on three families get together's. Since I retired taught myself how to draw and paint, having never had a lesson much like the sculpting venture.

This is a watercolour painting of a coyote.

This is an acrylic painting of a beach in Goa, India.

This is a pastel painting of a Highland Cow(Kyloe) from the Highlands of Scotland.

A Graphite drawing of my granddaughter when she was young. If you are interested, I have a couple of sites, http://www.howitaughtmyself.net or where the images are in gallery format, thomas-mccaskie.pixels.com. My regret is that I never fulfilled my dream job from 1960, in becoming a career nurse. My apology, is for all the drink driving that I did during my alcohol abuse time. The only saving grace is that I never had an accident with persons or with vehicles. I regret with all my heart that I did this.