Stonecarving day three

In fact it is early on day four - I was so tired when I got back last night that I didn't have the energy to write my blog ! Yesterday we carved outside ( under a canvas roof) while the rain sheeted down for most of the day and turned our limestone dust into limestone mud. Progress was made though and visitors to the open studios came to look and speak and sometimes admire - though one lady did think I was carving a baby seal - can't really blame her ! My bird is a fat, almost beakless. short tailed suggestion of a bird and is easily mistaken for a seal, especially when lolling on a sandbag so that I can get under its neck.

Whatever it eventually turns out to be, it will look lovely in my garden I'm sure !

Stonecarving day two

Yesterday I showed you my stonecarving right at the beginning of the day when I had just riughly marked out my block. I meant to take a photo at the end of the day so that you could see my progress but I forgot !
I did though take a photo first thing this morning before I started which amounts to the same thing .

As you can see, it takes a long time to move quite small quantities of stone. We worked in the sunshine today while the studios were prepared for NY Open Studios.Four local artists are showing their work this weekend and are hoping for lots of visitors to come to look. There is a painter/screenprinter, a ceramicist, a mixed media artist and a papercutter all of whom have some brill things to display. ( There will of course be cakes by the dozen - hurrah ). Arty things aside, I have spent several more hours today moving an equally insignificant amount of stone, but I can , if I squint, see my bird emerging from the stone.

 The white bit which looks as if it might be a beak, is in fact a small piece of stone resting on the ground and is nothing to do with my carving ! I haven't yet finalised how I want my beak and tail to be angled - will it be a pigeon or a duck - only the stone will tell ! While we were having lunch, there was a lull in the conversation (probably exhaustion) and a partridge came and made such a noise with his calling that it made us laugh out loud. I think he had seen my emergent bird and was looking for a mate , so depending on my accuracy with the hammer and chisel, it may even turn out to be a partridge !

lazy blogger !

I can't believe it is almost a month since I posted - lazy blogger ! Not that I haven't been busy but generally I have been busy with the mundane -  plus of course, TJ's which I generally don't blog. Today however, I started a four day stone carving course at our local Arts place and thought I'd share the beginnings at least of what I'm doing. I decided that I would choose a more stylized subject so that if  (when!) it fails to live up to the picture in my head, I can pretend it was what I had intended all the time.
I chose for my inspiration a small ceramic I have of a pigeon.

It is about 20cm long and sits comfortably in my hand - I like it a lot and decided I would use its general form - upscaled to emerge from my 40cm x 20cm x 20cm block of Ancaster limestone.

Firstly, I roughly sketched the shape - sides,top, front and back on the block and then started to remove the unwanted stone . It is is not as easy as it sounds even though the limestone is (in terms of stone) quite soft.
Suffice to say, I came home with several small wounds - stone scrapes, hammer blows, blister from holding the hammer and a realisation that I had forgotten to take a photo of how far I had got ! I will take one first thing tomorrow so I can blog the day one progress and remember to take another photo at the end of the day as well .

Days away

I've had several days away over the last ten days or so - first a visit to friends in the Midlands which took in the Uttoxeter Quilt Show - a very jolly affair, then back home to meet up with friends from my 'other' TJ. We met for a journal exchange (plus tea and delicious scones) . This was my journal entry this time -

it was inspired by a tatty photo of my Grandmother which a wizard with PhotoShop turned into a lovely sepia study ( grotty bits all mended) within an oval fuzzy edged frame. I thought the Grandmothers flower garden pattern would be appropriate to go with it, though truth to tell, the only flowers I really remember from her garden apart from forget me nots were Golden Rod (everyone had this!) and a sort of Globe Campanula which I thought was very exotic.
The day after the exchange, DH and I travelled to North Wales for an overnight stop at Bangor. It was a glorious day and we took advantage of the sun to visit Bodnant Garden, an 80 acre NT garden that we had often passed but never visited before. It was stunningly beautiful with a huge collection of Rhododendrons and Azaleas in full bloom and a Dell carpeted with bluebells - lovely !

Next day was Ireland on a family visit. My DH's brother essentially lives in a two acre field ( well, in a house in a two acre field - gardeners they are not ) . The hedge however was brilliant - a swathe of Gorse that lit the whole place up !

I thought I was getting tired of yellow after the daffodils, the dandelions and the rape but this tickled my fancy.
I got home to find my tulips in full bloom and as we are away to Skye tomorrow and they will be over before I get back I thought you should have a look at them !

In my garden

I have been taking photos up my garden and have used an android tablet (just at the moment, I can't lay my hands on my camera!) I have uploaded them onto web albums with google+  but can't find how to move them into Picasa so that I can manipulate them. I was hoping to collage a selection of auriculas but as I am not a competent computer person, I will have to add individual photos which I fear will not have a great deal of impact -ah well !
First up is my version of an auricular theatre - this will be better next year !

Now here are some of my lovely blooms -

Norwich

Had a few days in Norwich last week - really interesting city with a medieval centre of 'Lanes' reflecting the trades and commerce that helped build the city. Many 'strangers' came such as the Huguenots and craftsmen from the Low Countries who brought their weaving and dyeing traditions with them . Local names such as Maddermarket reference their work and Strangers Hall, one of the oldest buildings was once home to wealthy merchants and mayors who helped to make the city great.
In the Cathedral I saw the work of a modern craftsman - abstract artist John McLean. The exhibition charted his design work for three new windows that were installed in the cathedral in March. He works with blocks of colour and collages his designs rather like Matisse before the windows are cut and assembled. The windows themselves were hard to photograph because of the light but I think you can get an impression of their impact from these two photos taken as you walk down the North transept towards them.

You could see the stones bathed in light all the way down the transept.
Also in Norwich, in the modern Forum ,was an exhibition by a group of less acknowledged craftspeople - knitters ! A knitted pergola was constructed with contributions from near and far (see sign !) and was being greeted with delight by young and old - my excuse for blogging lots of photos !

Cute or what !

Le Grand Depart !

Beautiful Yorkshire is the setting for the Grand Depart of the Tour de France this year and communities along the route of the race are planning lots of celebrations to welcome visitors to our lovely part of the world. One of the Embroiderers Guilds in the area has made a banner following the route through the Dales with each town and village marked with a small t-shirt embroidered with its name and an image to suggest its location. The banner will be on show at the Regional Day of the NE region then displayed in a shop window in Leyburn for the days surrounding the race. Closer to the time I hope to blog the whole banner, but in the meantime here is my contribution .

The reference is the village's locally renowned pub, The Blue Lion - world famous round here !