Owls, owls, owls

There are such wonderful organisations all over the UK which are dedicated to the preservation and the showing of wildlife; whether butterflies, birds, mammals, or wildflowers.These organisations routinely pop up around shopping centres, markets, fairs and any public show.Last Saturday, I came across some lovely ladies with their little flock of tame owls at the steam rally.I can't even begin to tell you how valuable that is for me as an artist. To actually see an owl up close. To be able to take reference photos of the wings, talons, eyes...it's probably what every wildlife artist dreams of.Now I must have drawn, painted, sketched, and generally mucked up over 100 owl paintings in the last few years, but there's always more to learn.Look at the feather structure in her face and around her beak.That's something which can't be realised thru Google.And those eyes!And this Scottish owl. The size comparison to the girl's hand in my photo makes it possible for me to paint it life-sized.This week, my reference photos have made it so much easier for me to paint a life-sized barn owl.I love this one.Watercolours, inks, chalks on a page from that 100 yr old Mendelssohn book I'm working my way thru.The Scottish owl is next!

Pre-supper drinks in our friend's garden plus a silly video

Our friends Elaine and William invited us to their lovely garden for pre-supper drinks. Our friends Mile and Val were there as well, and it was so lovely and warm in the garden that we talked and caught up till well past supper.Today I had to do the banking and shopping so I made you an other silly video. :Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ9SdJoQl9g

A steam rally visit

Do you guys know what a steam rally is?You probably do, but up until a few years ago, I didn't.It's a gathering of all sorts of historic steam-powered machines from the Industrial Revolution to modern times.There are machines that whir, and bump, and jiggle,and sizzle, and hiss, and steam,and splash, and spit, and pour......in interesting ways. :DThere are small machines...and ginormous ones, who take turns demonstrating their power in a central show ring.It's also a car show with all sorts of beautiful, vintage machines on offer.I found beautiful examples of my most loved Landies......and minis.And the exciting thing for a vintage lover like me, there's a jumble sale with wagons and wagons of junk and vintage car parts!!!!!Where I can make new friends. This is Penny, she was the cutest little pup.And find so much great stuff!Would you like to see what I came home with?Look at this! Ink bottles, an autograph book from 1954, a carpenter's pencil, (because some days you just want to draw with a carpenter's pencil), a crystal screw-in door knob, a small hammer and wooden mallet, and a piece of wood from a broken planer. Also, (not shown), a vintage Austin mini badge like the one I had on my stolen 1959 mini! It's going on my new mini Robert and I are building. The badge cost me £1 and would probably fetch £50 on Ebay. Now that's a deal.I'm so addicted to the ink bottles but will probably have to stop collecting them soon because my collection is bordering on ridiculous. :D

Found while walking: A Roman villa in the Oxfordshire countryside, plus video

Come with us down this country lane......ignoring this dodgy sign......in our bucolic Oxfordshire country......to find this Roman villa.https://youtu.be/6YHD2tXIywA

A quiet day at home with too little sleep and a silly, pointless video

It's been a hot and tiring kind of day with not enough sleep.Not much to speak of... my hair's frizzy... made a kind of silly pointless video, just for fun.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpowc6WSrn0The wind finally won and knocked the poppy seed heads over.Yup, one of those days. :D

Art inaction...nobody moves, nobody gets hurt! Joking...but only just.

Oh dear.I've been looking forward to Art in Action all year and felt rather sad when the email arrived saying this would be the last ever A in A festival held, so made up my mind to get as much out of it as possible.Guys! All of England did the same thing!I chose to start on the first day, the Thursday, thinking that maybe there would be the less traffic than the rest of the weekend. But the whole festival was massively over subscribed with more than 7600 people showing up on Thursday...and being allowed in to the show grounds.The end result was long queues outside the tents, and absolutely no way I could get into any of the practical classes, (there being about 30 spots per each of the 20 or so classes per day...which were sold out in the first few minutes, as people queued up at the crack of sparrows). I understand that Thursday was the least attended day.So there we are.I decided to only spend the one day, despite having bought a three day pass. I made my way thru the throng to say hello to my five friends exhibiting, found some new inspiration, and decided to preserve my memory of the wonderful years past rather than trying to wade my way thru two hour traffic jams to get in and masses of people.But still, everywhere we go among artists, we learn something new, and I'm very happy I had the chance to be there and:See my friend Nathan Ford paint.These photos are stills from a movie I made (had high hopes of a vlog post) so a little less resolution that you're used to, but I hope you get the idea.It was amazing to see Nathan mix a selection of flesh tones on his palette and then, he dipped his pencil into the oils, checked the load of paint, and carefully deposited the tone into his portrait!That's something I would never have thought to do.Wow.It's like a little light bulb went on in my brain. Of course, a pencil will deliver a lovely, controlled line of paint.I popped into the printing tent to visit my friend Sue Brown.She did a demonstration for everyone on gum arabic transfers. I asked her where I went wrong in my collagraph try, and got the answers: Oil based inks rather than water soluble inks are needed, and, I need a printing press.Like Sue said, trying to print collagraphs without a printing press is like trying to do machine embroidery without the sewing machine. Good to know.Speaking of embroidery, I made a new friend.Jane E. Hall.I was so completely mesmerized by Jane's life-sized butterflies embroidered onto silk with custom dyed silk threads.How amazing is that?I loved her work so very much. I liked chatting with her so very much. We said we'd stay in touch.So then home.But not without treasures. Sue's helpful guides and Jane's beautiful book.Guys this book is so gorgeous.Jane describes her collections, her studio and her process.Look at her finished piece. I just love this one.Well, that's all from Art in Action and that's a wrap on a festival which has marked its 40th. So sad to see it go, but looking forward to new ventures and venues.Onward and upward.

My birthday at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and a painted parrot

This year, like every other year...lol... I got to go to the royal botanic gardens, Kew on my birthday.I wonder if you're all bored with seeing Kew every July since I started this blog? Seven years of Kew!!!But I just love traditions and rituals, and my birthday wouldn't be the same without a day out in Kew, so I hope you'll come with me yet again.Each year Kew has a different theme, and this year the focus was on bees and deep, flowering borders.These borders are planted all along the walk to the Orangery where we always have lunch.On the way we spied these two young artists and stopped for a chat.After lunch we walked to the Kew palace and round to the palace kitchens and kitchen garden.I love the palace kitchens.Situated a safe distance from the palace, (in case of fire), they are my absolute ideal shabby chicness.Look at this wonderfulness! Really, what more would I need?Ok, maybe an aga and a fridge...but that's all.Oh, and maybe some chairs too. :DWe thought about not going to see the hive. It just seemed to be a sculpture one could stand inside and listen to a recorded buzzing of bees, but thought that maybe we should anyway, you know, just to say we've been there done that.But on the way up to the sculpture, we were shouted at from the guard at the top telling us we're going up the wrong path!!! Path police!!!The thing is that there were no directional signs and actually the only sign there, a 'please keep off the wildflower meadow' sign, was planted facing the direction we were going!!!We looked at each other and thought, "good feeling's gone."We turned around, walked out and happily went to find our own buzzing bees.Then on to the walled garden. I love walled gardens in general because they create the most wonderful microclimate for vegetables.This one is so full of wonderful ideas.For example, look at these cucumbers being grown up these little trellises. How brilliant is that for keeping them off the ground and away from slugs and maybe even protected a little from mildew because of the air flow.And these tomatoes grown as cordons in this system.And here in this walled garden is my favourite rose: Filipes Kiftsgate.I just love this rose. A village friend gave me a Kiftsgate shoot last year and it's doing really well in my garden here, but hasn't bloomed yet. I can't wait to see this kind of display in the old crab apple tree in a few years.Out of the walled garden......and past the two artists.Their paintings were really coming on well. If I lived in E full time, I'd paint at Kew too.I just couldn't get enough of the borders. Can you imagine having the room in your own garden for deep borders?Such a dream.On to the glass houses.The waterlily house, and the palm house, (which are my favourite), were open, but the temperate house has been closed for repairs for a couple years now. It will reopen next year.The waterlily house was so warm and humid that my camera lens fogged up almost immediately, so you get very romantic Victorian photos. :DDo you see in the centre there are three buds on the giant Victoria waterlily.Out of the waterlily house and into the old Victorian palm house.The palm house is really full of plants because so much of the material had to be relocated from the temperate house. I love it like this. It's a jungle.One more look out and around the garden, a quick stop at the little shop, and home we drove.When we were walking around we kept hearing raucous squawking from some of the trees and then finally saw the bright flashes of green. We stood still and watched. It was the feral parakeets, the ring-necked parrots, which escaped or were released in Victorian times and found their new homes in the trees of London.So, naturally I painted one for myself. I put him on a piece of Mendelssohn with the term "Presto agitato" and a very repetitive note structure. So fits!Well I hope I haven't bored you to distraction with my annual post from Kew. :D

Our Knight Templar next door as inspiration for a Medieval angel painting

The other day Robert and I walked down to the church to visit Thomas Moore, a 13C Knight Templar, and his wife Isabelle.The ancient frescoes around them gave me some inspiration for a little Medieval angel painting.Here is the video:https://youtu.be/yrfJLWUPMoYTheo thinks I've done enough painting and should pay attention to him now.

So here I am back in England

Robert picked me up at Heathrow and drove me home.We actually managed to miss each other at arrivals with both of us texting each other at the same time while apparently walking right past...lol.First world problems.Robbie took care to have some beautiful garden roses waiting for me.While I made a cup of tea and moved my art supplies back into my studio.I washed my art table and organised my tools,Did a bit of gardening,And suddenly it seems like four days have gone.On the other hand, I did walk the fields and carved a new magic wand. (last year's here) Evidence on my YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AAhevc1M8wAnd then I went grocery shopping and a bit of a mooch in our market town: (more evidence on my YouTube)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLRgOjxk99YYou know, I really like making these silly little videos. Is anyone interested in YouTube and videos? Or is it just for the make-up/fashion 30-something crazies? :D

A beautiful vintage wedding

My daughter Kerstin has had a dream for a few years now.She wanted to launch a vintage rental business and cater to special occasions. Today, after much planning, headaches and even some grinding of teeth, she staged her first vintage wedding.This was the most beautiful and intimate wedding, with 40 family and friends in attendance, but it was that all important first go at something new and scary.I was so proud of Kerstie and Adam, and while I tried to help as much as possible, it was really Kerstie who had everything running brilliantly. The groomsmen gifts that she'd bought were absolutely what I loved.The bride wanted everything black, white and purple, and so Kers pulled out her black and white vintage.She made some beautiful hand-lettered chalk board signs as well as bespoke driftwood wedding and arrow signs to show the way.A long table was made ready with an area for cards and well wishes, and two huge galvanized tubs full of ice and water. (It was a hot day)Soon the guests arrived...but where was the bride?The bride was delayed a little bit because she was having a fresh flower crown braided into her hair.Some of the children grew impatient and peeked around the old heritage house.But soon the bride was walked down the isle to her groom.And while all family and friends witnessed, listened and wished them well,the bride and groom spoke their vows.And there they are, Mr and Mrs Fabulously Happily Ever After.Congratulations Christy and Brian, and congratulations Kerstie.Well done my darling, well done.