September Start-up......

It's been a great week which  involved seeing art as well as finally getting back to creating it.On Friday I drove  across to Langholm to the excellent Mustard Gallery to see the opening exhibition of work by Gill Shreeve. Her acrylic abstract work is wonderful-backed by images of her up on the hills in all elements with her materials and rolls of canvas. An exciting way to work which shows in the dynamic movement in her pieces.Unfortunately I didn't take any photos....but it was a really enjoyable evening.

It was good to finally get back into the studio as it has been a lengthy break. With work required for a Winter/Christmas pop-up exhibition at the Mustard Gallery and the deadline for Spring Fling Open Studios event 2014 looming I really needed to at least make a start.

I started on a canvas,preparing it with texture and adding layers of colour. This is just the start and definitely work in progress.

Detail...

And in the meantime the damsons became jam,the apples have been stewing and  I've acquired plums which are soon to be plum and mulled wine chutney...... Well the nights are drawing in and the weather has that autumnal feel to it.

Work in progress.....

From working on the canvas the cogs have starting cranking up and a feel new ideas blossoming.Hopefully they'll become real in time for the Spring Fling application deadline.....

Harvesting......

It's been a while since I last posted.There have been a number of reasons-a busy summer and undertaking other projects have meant I haven't been able to get in to the studio.
In the meantime I have de-cluttered and deep-cleaned the house-numerous bags to the charity shops,rubbish for the tip and making use of Gumtree.According to the principles of Feng Shui,the energy must be zipping around the rooms now.....

The children went back to school with all that entails-activity and cost-wise!

This week the weather was beautiful and I decided to tackle the neglected garden.We're putting in a patio area so we've somewhere to eat our BBQs next year. More bags for the tip.....

Husband is currently looking after a large property where he tends the massive garden.Today we started harvesting the fruits...damsons,plums,cooking and eating apples......

  

Tomorrow I'll be busy making damson jam and plum jam.....

For dessert tonight I made a batch of plum and oat muffins -delicious warm....

Sadly the Crown Gallery in Carlisle ,the marvellous venture of Joe and Julie will be closing its doors later this year so my exhibition starting October has had to be  cancelled.

The other sad news is that our local art shop in Dumfries,Art-astic is also closing.I've been popping in to stock up on supplies ......

Thick watercolour paper,48 Derwent Inktense pencils and a selection of gorgeous soft pastels will hopefully get me inspired and back into the studio.....

And monkey came too...

We spent the last week back in Yorkshire as Mr A had some holidays from work.The change in weather as we headed south into England became very noticeable with the temperature dropping 5 degrees and then we hit the rain.

Day 1-rain,heavy,all day.
We lost Africa as the river became a raging torrent.

And then the sun came out for the rest of the week so we set out on one of our favourite walks around Ribblehead viaduct. The viaduct is the longest and most famous viaduct on the Settle-Carlisle railway. Built between 1870 and 1874,it is 400m long ,32 m above the valley floor at its highest point and has 24 arches of 14m span-very impressive.

 Needing a refreshment stop  we perched on some of the boulders that are strewn in places along the valley floor.

As well as the butterflies and birds of prey, we also found some interesting fungi that seemed to be mimicking the seat on the nearby piece of rusting farm machinery.It was virtually the same size.

The walk follows a loop along the valley before cutting back over farmland and under the viaduct-peaceful and beautiful.

Family Acklam

A peaceful and restful week was enjoyed by us all.Bea also received the news that she achieved A grades in her Intermediate 2 exams in French,Biology and Chemistry -as well as As in her Standard Grade PE and SVS.This was celebrated with a cooked breakfast in the cafe in Settle-living it up!

One week of our school holidays left ...and then time to get back in to the studio......

 

Wandering....

 Well it's been a while and I've been very busy doing everything but art.We're now approximately halfway through our summer holidays and it's been nothing if eventful!

A couple of weeks ago we had a fantastic week in Yorkshire. On our journey down we detoured into the beautiful Lake District,heading for Grasmere and Dove Cottage. My daughter who is studying Higher English and currently the Romantic poets was supposed to go on an English trip in October planned by her inspirational English teacher.The trip was going to take in places such as Somerset to visit the area that inspired Samuel Taylor Coleridge to write The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. On their return journey they were to visit Dove Cottage and the Lake District  that inspired William Wordsworth. Unfortunately the trip has been cancelled due to the number of children dropping out -so we improvised.....

Wordsworth lived at Dove Cottage for eight years from 1799 with his sister Dorothy and also Mary whom he married in 1802. Three out of his five children were born there.

In 1795 he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge ,publishing 'The Lyrical Ballads ' in 1798.His most famous work  'The Prelude' was published posthumously by Mary in 1850.

We toured the cottage early in the morning while it was still cool and fortunately before two coach-loads of tourists arrived.With dark panelled rooms and stone floors ,it was easy to visualize what life must have been like back then. Dorothy also kept journals which give a vivid account of her life of domestic chores and spending time transcribing her brother's work.

The garden to the rear of the property is beautiful and rises to give a fabulous view across the fells. As for Beatrice,she loved it and fell into conversation with some lovely American tourists about the drug habits of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Beatrice at Dove Cottage

I particularly enjoyed the museum where it was possible to see the writings .Paper was so expensive that every inch was covered.

So it was an inspirational visit for us all.....I felt the horrors of 'A' level English finally begin to dissipate...and how I wish I could have had an English teacher like my daughter has who tries to inspire his pupils by trying to arrange what would have been a wonderful trip.

 

Yorkshire Riviera

We have just spent a wonderful week in North Yorkshire enjoying hot sunshine and temperatures around 26-28 degrees. It gave us an opportunity to relax after a busy school year and everything else that goes on in a busy family unit.

A lot of time was spent down by the river,playing ball,collecting rocks and odd bits of old pottery ,fish watching ,paddling and swimming.

Ross found 'Africa'.....

He also found a large triangular lump of rock in the river which under close inspection had cup and ring marks on it. We upturned it and made our own water installation......

I waded out into the river and was struck by the beautiful underwater colours......

Looking forward to allowing these inspirations to become ideas in my work over the next few weeks.......

 

On vacation...

This week saw the start of the  school holidays here in South-West Scotland.It's been a week of cleaning,laundry,shopping,cooking,baking as we prepare to travel to Yorkshire for the week. It doesn't often happen however we'll be travelling light-T-shirts,suncream and beach towels! It's going to be the hottest week of the year so playing in the river and BBQs will be order of the day in North Yorkshire.

Tomorrow we're planned our visit to Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum in the Lake District. Eldest child is studying for her Higher English and they're currently doing the Romantic poets. I'm hoping to get my own inspiration too....
Meanwhile youngest child turns thirteen while we're away .From 6lb 15 oz to 5' 10" in 13 very short years.....

It's been a great start to the summer so far-congratulations Andy Murray,an epic win. Chris Froome,current yellow jersey in the Tour de France is also performing magnificently too.

Off to pack the car for our early start in the morning.  I'll be back next Saturday....enjoy your week folks,speak soon....x

Little Stainforth, North Yorkshire. May 2013.

On the slate....

Had a great day in the studio. After a frantic weekend I decided to leave the large canvas that is sat there waiting. I chose instead to play around with some of the papers I have accumulated. After making marks on a few, I decided to make little scrolls. This will most likely become part of one of my box-works that I'm currently developing. I managed to capture some images on a background of slate-the scroll made of modroc is yet to have colour added but on the whole I'm very pleased with the results......