Winter Tightens Its Grip

Well, we are still deep in snow at the moment. This is the second fall we have had this winter. The first day was exquisite but it has gradually gone down hill since then. Our friendly neighbourhood birds are voraciously hungry and I am having to restock the bird tables twice a day. It makes me laugh to see them expending valuable energy chasing each other away from the food even though there is plenty for everyone. Interestingly enough, they only seem to chase their own species.

I decided to give the paints an airing this week so this is a watercolour and gouache piece called Pale Winter.

and here is the sketch where it began. The geese trio I photgraphed on one of my forays to the local park in the autumn.

This is a digital piece called "Deer Archetype" although the deer is rendered in pen and ink.

The beautifully surreal paintings below are the work of Irish born artist George Callaghan. He now lives in Tasmania but returns to Ireland regularly. You can find lots more of his work here and here at whiteimage.com.

The Antrim Coast, Moonlight

Down By The River

Village In The Snow

We went for a lovely long snowy walk yesterday and fed the birds along the way. The fast moving rivers were unfrozen but the lakes had a covering of ice. The sky was heavily overcast and we were expecting snow all day but only a very small covering appeared overnight. The children are all back to school now after an extra, post-Christmas week off. We had a brief snow -free week and then we had an even heavier fall to replace the first one, but there might be a hint of a thaw in the wind over the coming week.

These snowy pictures are from our first heavy fall of snow.

I often buy Magic Patch magazine even though I don't quilt. It has some beautiful photographs of quilts and this month I spotted a very talented fibre artist called Lorraine Roy. Lorraine is a Canadian who is greatly inspired by nature and she brings that love into her gorgeous quilted wall hangings. She has developed quite a complex technique which involves lots of tiny pieces of fabric and thread. I won't go into detail about this because she explains it very well on her website. Her website displays her work beautifully and if you click on the thumbnails you can get an enlarged version. She has worked lots of tree designs which I find particularly interesting. You can find her site here.

Sycamore

Red Mulberry

I read about The Keeping Quilt on another blog and as the author was very impressed with the illustrations I decided to get myself a second hand copy from Amazon for less than £2.00. It is a delightful story of a Russian Jewish immigrant family who pass the quilt down four generations and it is variously used as a wedding canopy, table cloth, blanket etc. The beautiful illustrations are pencil and only the quilt is coloured. It is a lovely book and I am very pleased with it. It is by Patricia Polacco and can be found here at Amazon.

Like lots of folk I love the beautifully graphic folk designs of Sanna Annuka and I couldn't wait to buy the biscuit tin in M & S with her design on. The biscuits were pretty special too....! The tin is now home to my large collection of pens, pencils etc.

The beautiful ceramics below are the work of Lisa Katzenstein. She hand paints her lovely designs of flowers and seeds on each vase. You can see Lisa's website here.

Leaning Vases

Tall Vase and Large Vase

Michael Rothenstein was an artist of many parts including oils, watercolours, collages and mixed media but it is for his printmaking that he is best known. He began printmaking at the age of 40 and also taught the discipline to others. Much of his work is abstract or semi abstract but it is his figurative birds and cockerels that I particularly like. I love the powerful colours and bold, graphic lines. You can find lots more of his art here at Michael Rothenstein.

Bird And Sun

Forest Birds

Cockerel Turning Round

Whirling Feathers

Red Leaves