For my friend Jeremy the middle Wednesday of a mid-August week away is not complete without a serious boules competition played without compromise by anyone he can get grab. Heats were played all day and after dinner under flood lights and with full commentary the finalist were crowned to cheers from the assemblage and a potted hydrangeas for the winner. What fun.
[caption id="attachment_1213" align="alignnone" width="300"] sun and clouds anticipate the storm[/caption] Unusual events in nature's calendar have a habit of rectifying themselves and we had a profound example last week in the Alps above Annecy where we were privileged to hole up for Christmas last week. The bright low winter sun over the lowland hills all grassy and green, dotted with chalets and farms making Roblochon and great rounds of Beaufort out of the creamy milk of the cows snugly munching in their rich smelling barns gave for an idyllic scene of late autumn hill life. It all made for good walking, almost spring-like with babbling ...
I have had a nice invitation to join several others in an 'Art at Home' collection of paintings,drawings,sculptors, ceramics and pottery set in her home setting at Threa Compton Vallence Dorchester DT2 9ER by Sarah Sclater. Do come along between 10am on Friday 3rd October and 6pm Monday 6th October 2014. I will be around most of Friday and for the evening drinks until 9pm and Saturday afternoon and evening. Refreshments all day. All pictures framed. I have brought together a collection of work mainly local to the Cornish Devon and Dorset Coast with some further afield [caption id="attachment_1187" align="alignnone" width="300"] picnic at ...
The Lot valley was a little cooler than parts of our recent English summer and this gave for plenty of activity at Fazende one of my favourite spots, and that of many of our friends, and so the washing needed encapsulating as it became a feature as each bed was reoccupied by the tumble of guests. My family came together for a joint paint for to provide an amalgamated view of the house with a bicycle to mark the many rides we managed to get the bakery every morning and I sat within the local herd munching and moving about the walnut ...
Very very rarely an English summers evening in the countryside there are burnt grasses, shimmering light across the fields, not fading very fast and that waft of intoxicating warmness, utterly dewless, somewhat earthy and full of the day gone by such that it does transport one to more southern climes more appropriate to the Mediterranean - rather than east devon. But there we had it as we sat high above the Axe Valley looking south to where the tributary Coly wonders towards the coast and tucked up behind Janey's vineyard - so cleverly set sunward and taking up much time and pleasure when the London ...
I managed to creep up to Cirencester to a goddaughters wedding and the backdrop in one of those pristine villages was wonderful gardening all laid out with mirror ponds and informal bordering with trimmed hedges: and that yellow stone of fine buildings and the church all of which I captured on at another sitting to mark the occasion.
The sea off the Devon and Dorset coastline is often glimpsed with a church tower peaking out of the rich field patterns and I am capturing these for my next exhibition this autumn. Simple views of clear horizons across Lyme Bay in this wonderful summer weather contrasts with the varying bright oblongs of grassland that have been mown at different times. And the peacefulness of the places of prayer and worship solidly stand like soldiers to attention amongst all this colour. Do come to my joint exhibition with much more interesting items than mine from Meriel Ensom, Sally Derrick, Robbie Innes, potters Bjork Harolddottir ...
Off from the everyday trudge and into a few hours of gaming is such a rich thing in a fine English Summer. The openness of the Dorset greenery for school cricket contrasts with the utter pinnacle of contest arenas again almost all green at Centre Court and many thanks to friend Paddy who produced some excellent tickets so I could quietly work away. And that very fine west country theatre where the urban vernacular provides a superb backdrop at Somerset County Ground. A quiet lunch in the members with my friend Bruce followed by a quick sketch of the 8th wicket stand (of ...
Eight men bold into the June mist we scurried up Pen y Fan with wetness in the air, our necks and boots but being summer and Wales all soon cleared as we strode with views along to Corn Du and Fan y Big with their precipitous edges and grassy southern slopes: eventually back to the tea and guinness in the village below. At Llanthony Priory the next day we took to the ridge between our England and the Welsh cousins revealing a fantastic patchwork of grassland field patterns and little copses in the lowlands below: most accentuated in the view ...
Staying with friends close to the sea on the north Cornish Coast at this time of year is a treat as apart from the delightful company one can move about the flower strewn lanes with ease and walk almost alone appreciating the strong contrasts in colour between the azure sea the very yellow clean sand the sky and the so green uncut grasses flopping the edges of the paths and pushing up on the horizon and out of the back of our garden the cypress trees framed the view nicely. A little further up the west country coast noisy things were ...
Using a variety of media and styles the work responds to mood and geography but is more than often an observation of simple scenes in everyday life and on the travels across Europe.
news