Showing posts with label Wales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wales. Show all posts

Focus on Tenby

Posted by Lidya Endzo Kun iLLa 0 comments
Tenby Harbour
For any readers who might have been wondering where I have been for the past week or so, I have been on holiday in Tenby, Wales. Much of Wales consists of rugged landscape, with quaint coves and harbours along the coastline, and attracts many artists and craftsmen.

 
Tenby itself has a pretty harbour as well as several privately owned galleries, and the public museum, which has a small gallery attached. 
The art group may be interested in a Tenby group project, so I am taking along copies of some of the photos I took while I was there.
St Catherine's Island
Sand art by unknown artist, Tenby beach
Once I’ve completed my Canadian Rockies canvas, I might try doing a painting of St Catherine’s Island, a small islet at the end of Tenby beach.The building on it was originally a 19th century fort.During the building of this, artefacts uncovered included Roman coins and an Egyptian figure from a tomb at Luxor. After the fort closed, it then became a privately owned house, before being occupied by the writer Norman Lewis, and finally a zoo in the 1970s, which closed and fell into disrepair.Nobody has occupied the island since, which seems a shame. With so much history, it could be an interesting place to visit.

Carving of a face on St Catherine's Island by Steve Vallene
The neighbouring Caldey Island is home to an order of Cistercian monks, and there are shops on the island selling goods they and others have produced, including gift tags, shortbread, chocolate etc.

We also visited Manor House Wildlife Park, owned by Anna Ryder-Richardson, interior designer, of Changing Rooms fame.  As might be expected, this Zoo had more than a bit of her artistic influence, as can be seen in these oversized benches.
This is comfier than Richard makes it look
The magnificent sculpted wooden dragon (top) has tunnels on the platform below for the little ones to crawl through, and they can sit on the dragon itself.  All the animals had plenty of space and seemed very contented, and human visitors were well catered for as it is very family-friendly.

Finally, here's a mention for the Tenby Arts Festival, running from 17th-24th September, featuring drama, music, a writing competition, and a sand sculpting competition, amongst other things.  www.tenbyartsfest.co.uk for details.

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Autumn Pathways

Posted by Lidya Endzo Kun iLLa 0 comments
Autumn has arrived in the UK, with the leaves on the trees beginning to turn yellow and brown. It’s harvest festival time again and, this year, our local church is supporting the “Pathways” charity, which runs a day centre for homeless people living in B&B who have to be out of their accommodation during the day. The charity was set up by Terry Waite, whose book, “Taken on Trust” I reviewed on my “Librarything” widget some time ago. Here’s a link to their website: http://www.pathwaysofchesterfield.com/

Unfortunately, Blogger has changed the way I can upload photos – they have to be in “Picasa”. They already are, as they go into it each time I upload a picture onto my blog, but it still won’t let me do it. I’ve put posted a plea for help on the Blog Catalog “Blogger” group, and am hoping someone will see it and know what to do. I am sure other people will have had this problem and hopefully one of them will have worked it out. So far I have tried:


1. Uploading new pictures into Picasa, and adding tags and comments to help my blog find them. It couldn’t.


2. When this didn’t work, I tried the URL option and put the Picasa page’s URL into the Blogger upload pictures box. It didn’t recognise it.


3. “Disabling backlinks” on my blogger settings. Still no luck.


4. linking my Picasa web albums with my Google profile, as well as trying to make my albums publicly visible on Picasa. Nope.


5. Clicking the Picasa’s “share on Blogger button” simply put the picture into a new blank post, which I didn’t want to do, I wanted it in my existing post, to illustrate it.


6. I’d planned to formally join “Picasa” this morning, giving them any necessary details in case that was what the problem was, but it seems to recognise that it’s me and not need me to join.


I’ll keep having new ideas to try, and will let you know what the answer is if I find it. After all an art blog isn’t much good without pictures, is it? Perhaps Blog Catalog readers will be able to help, although the last time I posted a query, one person suggested I try Wordpress instead, and another just put a link to his own blog “kiss my links, it’s the real deal” (and it wasn't about using "Blogger").  Eventually I sorted it out myself. Readers, do feel free to add a “comment” to tell me what to do if you know.


At art group this week, I have been working on a watery Welsh scene of a bay close to where we stayed in the summer, on the coastline of the Cardigan area. I decided to try it in pencil only this time. I wanted to show the picture, but guess what!


I’d also wanted to show one of my web gallery artist’s paintings of the church this week. Sue no longer has the original painting, but can produce A5 greetings cards to order for £1.50 each (hopefully coming soon). Instead, I am featuring a link to “Paperworx” who produce some highly original recycled cardboard furniture. I’d hoped to include photos of some of these but e-mailed the artist and never heard back, and in a picture free week, this seemed to be a good one to include. http://www.cardboardfurniture.org.uk/products.html


Circumstances forced a change of plans to the visit to the art shop, but I hope to visit soon. This week, I will be doing painting of a different kind, as we begin to decorate our house. I will be starting on the kitchen ceiling today, and resisting the urge to do a “Michelangelo” on it.

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Art in unexpected places 1 - Cadbury World

Posted by Lidya Endzo Kun iLLa 0 comments
No this isn't where the art group meet!  The inspiration ..
I've had my weekly pilgrimage to cricket pavillion for art group again. Sue and Maggie had had their exhibition at Harthill, which just about broke even. They are planning another one which they hope will this time actually raise some funds for the Tuesday group. Gill suggested that our group could exhibit at Brimmington, near Chesterfield, hopefully later this year, or early next year. It can’t be too soon – we need time to advertise. She was busy working on a painting of some “Love in a mist” (a type of flower also known as Nigella).



...The resulting painting
“You’ve missed a leaf out” said John, as he peered over at my painting of Llyn Brianne Reservoir, done from a photo taken on holiday in Wales. “Which one?” I wondered, before pointing out that he’d missed out a whisker from his chalk pastel lion picture.


I had difficulty in deciding on an artistic approach to do justice to this stunningly beautiful scenery. In real life, the reservoir’s water was a velvety black, with patches of brilliant white highlights where it caught the sun. The trees were mainly firs. I felt that if I’d painted it an intense black it would have looked wrong, so I settled for blue, to reflect the sky. For the sky itself, I dabbed some of the colour off with a dry tissue to create clouds. I have made the hills a little taller, as the camera always seems to flatten them. I plan to add this picture to the selling website in the next week or two (link above).


This week, we took the little one to Cadbury World, and were able to see parts of the factory (from behind screens) and see the exhibitions there. I had the opportunity of photographing some old chocolate packaging, and you can see how it is has developed and become brighter coloured and more sophisticated over the years. This advertising poster "Delicious and Wholesome" I photographed there looks like an antique now. On the subject of design, I have been reading “Design” by Paul Rodgers and have reviewed it on my Librarything widget (see right). A recommended read for anyone interested in design.


I have been given a disc of Sue and Karen’s photos from the wildlife park trip, so plan to use these for my next work of art.
A computer generated chocolate simulation of yours truly!


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"Completed" Wales Sunset

Posted by Lidya Endzo Kun iLLa 0 comments
I’ve taken the unusual step of completing the "rough" painting I first did for my Wales sunset, and here it is. I don’t normally finish a preliminary painting. My husband thinks it needs more reflections on the sea, though, so I’ll do that as well.



I’m getting ready to exhibit at the forthcoming small exhibition at our local church fair (Friday and Saturday 13th and 14th, 12.00-5.00, St John’s, Church Lane, Clowne). I have shown complete copies of them both before, so I am just showing the details I altered today now.


I have plenty of paintings from other group members and have spent several evenings framing my own ready. I am also using it as an opportunity to promote the group, as our membership is a bit low at the moment, so I will be printing off information leaflets, and getting the laptop ready to give a continuous display of paintings by group members. Later today will find me up in the loft, fetching down my card stand and browser, then finally setting up a contact book for potential new members to leave their details. It all takes quite a bit of time and effort, but last year it seemed to be worthwhile. People enjoyed the displays and I did get one enquiry from someone wanting to join the group, even if he never came. It also helped raise funds for the church, as Karen and Madge donated one or two paintings to be sold – and they did. It all helps get the group known a bit better.
Just a rough sketch so far

Who would have thought that a trip to the Zoo could give me inspiration? I have done this pencil drawing from a giant tortoise that I photographed while it was asleep – not that it did much while it was awake. A pen and ink drawing might follow. We visited Twycross Zoo earlier this week with the little one. It isn’t very well signposted, but was worth the extra half hour getting there. The little one now knows lots of new animals, and I got a leopard print scarf out of it.


At art group today, Karen and a few other group members had been to a wildlife park and she wanted us to have a group project of lions that they’d photographed. Our group projects are when we all paint the same subject at the same time, and then display all the results together at our next exhibition. Karen also had the idea of contacting the park to ask if they wanted to display our paintings, which seems to be a good idea.




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Well well well

Posted by Lidya Endzo Kun iLLa 0 comments
I’ve just about completed my Wales painting now, although there are some small details to fiddle around with, such as the direction of the shadows, and the figures. Here it is to date. My next painting may well be another watery Welsh landmark – watch this space.



The ancient tradition of well dressings are a feature of the Peak District in the summer months, and, although Clowne is just out of that area, we have one every year too. The colourful floral display board is erected wherever there is (or was) a well, and many villages have several.

Here's ours: it depicts the railway station that was once in the village and even includes a small working clock, set to the correct time when I photographed it.
The well dressings are made by a small dedicated team. The process begins by wet clay being spread in a wooden frame with a board at the back. The water is well mixed with the clay, and the clay has to be kept damp throughout the process or it would crack.


The design is then pricked out using a paper pattern, and then thousands of flower petals are pushed into it. Often other materials are used too, such as straw, or small pebbles etc . Ours seems to feature dried “everlasting” flowers this time, which will last longer. Normally the flower petals die within about a week.


The decorated board is displayed upright near the well, and a short service is held to bless it. If there is more than one well in the village, each has its own service.


The nearby village of Elmton recently had its well dressings, using only materials from within that village. Elmton has a sort of mini festival around its well dressings, featuring craft displays in the church, and other small fund raising events around the village.


For more pictures and information on well dressings, follow this link: http://www.peakdistrictinformation.com/features/welldress.php


The summer holidays are upon us once again, and I have been at home with my young son for the past couple of weeks. We have discovered various artists on You Tube, particularly the work of Simon Tofield. Any cat owner who sees his very funny “Simon’s Cat” films will say, “That’s just so true”. http://www.simonscat.com/films.html. On a more offbeat note, the short film “Man in a Cat” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hBjT2EekY&feature=related had my son asking if our cat had a man inside her(!)  It really is one of the strangest things I've ever seen.




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