30.10.12

Every leaf of every tree...

When I was little I had this poem in a frame above my bed... It's come back to me recently as I have been absorbed in trees and leaves. Of course I don't believe in fairies anymore (!), but I do believe in the same sense of wonder and excitement when you look up into a canopy of lime green trembling leaves...


On Every leaf of Every Tree

The air around was trembling bright
and full of dancing specks of light
While butterflies were dancing too
Betwen the shining green and blue
I might not watch, I might not stay
I ran along the meadow way.

The straggling brambles caught my feet
The clover fieild was, oh! so sweet;
I heard a singing in the sky,
and busy things went buzzing by;
and how it came I cannot tell,
but all the hedges sang as well.

Along the clover field I ran
To where the little wood began,
and there I understood at last
Why I had come so far, so fast
On every leaf of every tree
A Fairy sat and smiled at me!

(from Hilda Boswell's Treasury of Poetry)


27.10.12

Just a few trees...

Not much to add really....

Except that it was very bracing and almost too cold... the air was transparent and completely clear and the colours just perfect.

Going into the studio now.

26.10.12

Glassy fields...

I've been caught up a bit enjoying the lovely greens and all it's different shades. It makes a change from seascape-blues.

 

"And so I go to the woods. As I go in under the trees, dependably, almost at once, and by nothing I do, things fall into place. I enter an order that does not exist outside, in human places. I feel my life take its place among the lives... The trees, the plants, the animals and birds... I am less important than I thought. I rejoice in that. My mind loses its urgings, senses it's nature, and is free."

Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"

24.10.12

22.10.12

Something new...

Finally getting around to organising the printing of a range of greetings cards... Here is just a taster...

Hopefully available in time for the open studio trail in November. Also they will be available on my website...

21.10.12

This weekend...

 

It was all about the leaves on Saturday.

On the trees. Off the trees. Up close. In the distance. Lime green droplets. Deep red shiny papery. A crowd. One. Chosen. Left.

 

15.10.12

Frit.

Just a quick glimpse of the colours of the day... This is called 'frit' and it's basically crushed glass.

And the picture drying out on the radiator is painted with very finely powdered glass and will be fired tonight...

 

12.10.12

First to last...

This is the very first piece of fused glass I made... Obviously on a sea theme! It was the beginning of a journey that's been so inspiring.

I am really feeling the need to top up that source of inspiration lately. November is going to be very busy, building up to the North Bristol Art Trail and then Christmas.

So I've booked myself 3 days in a little hideaway by the sea - on my own! It will be straight after the open studio weekend, so I will be able to relax into some painting and drawing outdoors, hopefully getting that longed for inspiration. 3 days isn't that long, so I will go again in January...

This piece is the latest piece, as yet unfired. I love blues, with just a bit of orange...

7.10.12

A time for everything...


Still warm, rich, almost heady with Autumn... That's how it felt today to sit in the garden, do a bit of drawing and have tea. I was trying to absorb a bit of sunshine in an attempt to banish a cold.

Something strange happened earlier in the day. As I was standing staring out of the window (not uncommon!) something caught my eye, a bird fluttering and falling to the ground. I thought it was a baby bird maybe, but we realised on closer inspection that it was a female black cap, and that it had died...

I don't think I am a natural naturalist, but I do love looking at nature. I couldn't resist spending time looking at, holding and drawing this perfect and lovely little bird, who had mysteriously stopped flying in front of my very eyes.

The tree the bird fell from, a Cotoneaster, is heavy with berries today, a very busy place at the moment, feeding blackbirds mainly. In the summer it was humming with bees... It's a place where life thrives. And just a chance glance today and I saw a little life literally fall to the ground.

"There is a time for everything under the sun...a time to live and a time to die..." The book of Ecclesiastes

One way or another this summer is drawing to a close with that reality a reality. It's ok.

 

Something else caught my eye hiding in the leaves of the tree... This amazing caterpillar of a moth or butterfly! Never seen one quite like it, must find out what it is. Great reminder that life is all about the journey...

3.10.12

New arrival

Today we took delivery of a new kiln... A nice big one! It involved lots of head scratching and eventually came in through the window. It's stayed sitting there for the time being until we work out how to get it into the workshop. In the mean time I need to get my head around imagining big land and sea scapes...

Maybe like this...