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Lidya Endzo Kun iLLa
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| Vicar Water sign showing the carved wooden face at the bottom |
The week before last found me in the Nottinghamshire village of Clipstone at a place called “Vicar Water”. My better half wanted to visit “Clippo” again as it had been about 30 years since he’d been.
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| Looking down towards the golden hand sign |
We arrived to find that a visitor centre had sprung up, plus a café and a large information sign in the car park (with a wooden sculpture incorporated into it). There are two large ponds on the site, with a stream running between them. It had been a quiet place when my BH last went there, but we could see a man with a remote control boat on the upper pond and other people walking around it. At the top end, sheep dozed under large, well established willow trees, none of which had been there three decades ago.  |
| A rosehip flower |
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| Clipstone headstocks - a suitable subject for a painting? |
On top of a small hill between the pond and lake, we had a view of the unusual double headstocks from the coal mine that used to be there. There have been calls for them to be preserved, but demolition looks more likely because of the cost, and because there are already so many mining museums. In front of the headstocks you can see heather, which is usually seen in Scotland, but we are over 200 miles south of there. There were rosehip bushes – here is a “rose” and the berries are up to 2cm (1”) wide and flatter than they are long. Nearby were also some unusual black sheep and black reeds. Following a path down, led to the a lake, with a large golden hand sculpture at the far end. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find out anything about it so far. Here is a link for Vicar Water: http://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/pp/gold/viewGold.asp?IDType=Page&ID=6498
Meanwhile at art group, I have been trying to decide on a suitable photo from Sue’s CD of the wildlife park trip. She herself has painted a Meerkat picture recently, and Kevin was completing one of them himself. I suggested we try them as a group project then we could “compare the meerkats” (stifle that groan). Karen was darkening the background on her small bird picture – possibly a greenfinch, and Madge had shelved her lions for the time being in favour of a waterfall. Elizabeth, our camel expert, was complaining that her latest camel looked like a dinosaur (it didn't).
This week’s painting is a fantasy based on an icy seascape – just as a practice go. Some people like it when I try a looser style like this, while others prefer a more structured approach.
Our little one is at his grandparents’ for the weekend and we are getting reports that he is quite advanced in his drawing. His nanna does voluntary work in a school, so she should know.
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