Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Back Weekend 20th February

Help..the snow has returned, but only briefly hopefully. How do people cope when they are snowed in for half the year? I take my blue fleecy winter hat off to them. We are such wimps in this country but we have been dreadfully spoiled by the gulf stream.

I won't be around for blogging next week but I will be back the weekend after.

The Bird Gardener - This is a companion piece to "Nurturing" which I posted on Jan 14.


Tigger And Bird Friend - pen an ink


These lovely images below are by UK painter/printmaker Moyra Byford. I love their spontaneity. Moyra produces her work using oils and watercolours and is also trained in restoration. You can find her website here to see more of her work.

John's Hens


Moonstruck Hare


I am a great fan of spooky and scary films and I saw an excellent one recently. It is called Silent Hill and is about a woman whose daughter is abducted and she searches for her at Silent Hill. Silent Hill is a deserted eerie town covered in ash from terrible fires but unbeknown to the mother, she has passed through a portal to another dimension of the town. The town seems deserted but every so often a fire siren sounds and dreadful monstrosities appear to chase the woman. The scenery and special effects are very atmospheric and the monsters really unearthly. I won't tell you the rest in case you want to watch it. It is much more than just another scary film. All I will say is don't watch it late at night with the lights out!!! (If you click on the picture it will take you to the Amazon site, and if you want a much better synopsis than my garbled effort then go here.


The three images below are the artwork of talented Russian artist Galina Popova. Her paintings are beautifully contemporary and colourful. I love her humanised cats. You can find more of Galina's work here at Saatchi, here at Artshop7 and here on her own website.




Some more frosty morning shots and some seedheads. We have been threatened with more very cold weather but hopefully the snow won't make another appearance.






This lovely little mini quilt creation came dropping through my letterbox the other day. It is from an exchange I had almost forgotten about but luckily for me the sender hadn't. It is a small landscape and was beautifully created by Ann Kallio. Thanks so much for your craftwork Ann. I will treasure it.


I bought this book at a charity shop recently. I met the author and artist years ago at the Hatfield House Craft Fair where she had a stand demonstrating her work. It was fascinating to watch her producing her calligraphy. Her name is Dorothy Boux and she has produced a number of books with her calligraphic text and illustrations. Each page of the book is beautifully illustrated with delicate watercolours. I have posted the two I particularly like. All the pages contain either poems or pieces of literature or prose from poets and great thinkers. You may need to click on the images to see them more clearly.






Found a couple of lovely greetings cards by the wonderful printmaker Penny Bhadresa the other day. They are from one of my favourite card companies Art Angels. I have posted about Penny's work previously but if you haven't seen her before you can find her work here.

First Snow


Me and You


Lucy Grossmith creates the most magical and delicate scenes. She lives in the Suffolk countryside and lots of her images are inspired by animals, buildings, nature and country pursuits. She is a self taught artist but has held some very high profile jobs in the art world. You can see masses more of her lovely work on her website and read more about her here.

Walk In The Snow


Secret Garden


Autumn Orchard


Frosty Autumn Day

30 comments:

bunnits said...

My favorites today are "Tigger and Bird Friend," "Moonstruck Hare," and "Walk in the Snow." Thanks1

Old World Primitives said...

Hi Cathy,
I am enchanted by all of the images in your post this week. I like the designs and details in both of your drawings very much. I especially love the little door opening at the bottom of The Bird Gardener's cage-like skirt to let the birds out.

Your frosty morning shots are so peaceful and beautiful. I have so many new talented artists to do discover now too...

:)
Stephanie

Cathy said...

Hi Melissa. Glad you like them. Tigger took quite a while to draw with all the paper covered with ink. He was an actual cat we met on holiday once many years ago.

Cathy said...

Thanks Stephanie. I hate to see caged birds so if I draw a bird cage there will always be a little door open for them...lol. We are being threatened with lots of snow this week...oh no! Hope the weather is not too bad where you are.

andamento said...

Thanks for the link to the Lucy Grossmith site, I'd seen her featured in Country Living several months ago but hadn't noted her name, her work is lovely. I do like your Tigger and bird picture.

Anne.

tammykingdon said...

Thankyou for drawing Penny's work to my attention - it's my cup of tea (as it is yours obviously) We've had snow here for the last two days, but it's not settling yet.

Kat Mortensen said...

As always, Cathy, I am mesmerized by your artwork and grateful to be exposed to the work of others that you share.

Funny you should mention "Silent Hill". It started out as a Playstation game and we had the first version which was incredibly creepy. Were there skinny white dogs in the film? When our cat Blanche is running about the house, we say, "Ooh, she's doing the Silent Hill dog!" Really scary stuff. I don't think I'd watch the movie.

Kat

Cathy said...

Thanks Anne. I saw the article on Lucy too and was very inspired by her work. Country Living is one of my favourite magazines.

Cathy said...

Hi Tammy. Ours is the same but more expected over the next few days I think. Penny is one of my favourite artists. I love her style and subject matter.

Cathy said...

Hi Kat. Yes, I saw that it was a game first and then was made into a film. No skinny white dogs but some very scary humanoid looking things. It is a very scary film indeed.

Anonymous said...

Been lurking on your blog for a long time. Love it. Your drawings are beautiful - especially The Bird Gardener this week. And all the lovely links you find for us! A visual feast! Thank you so much.
Deb

ArtPropelled said...

My favourites :-
The Bird Gardner (so charming!)
Does anyone here know Mary? ...in your sidebar.
Galina Popova's work.
Autumn Orchard.

Hope you've warmed up by now, Cathy.

Pomona said...

So much to look at, as ever - lovely, lovely pics. Hope you have had a good week.

Pomona x

Cathy said...

Hi Deb. I do a bit of lurking on other peoples' blogs sometimes. Nice to know you anyway. Glad you like the posts.

Cathy said...

Hi Robyn. Yes, it is a tad warmer now thank goodness. I don't know why I am complaining though - it is winter!!!

Cathy said...

Hi Pomona. I am having a good week thanks and looking forward to the weekend.

AmyMusings said...

I want all of these!

sea-blue-sky & abstracts said...

Hi Cathy, I know you're away until 20 Feb but, when you return, there's a Sunshine Award on my blog for you. Bfn, Lesley

Artist said...

love the tiger and bird friend. it drives my eye around the whole picture!

Caroline said...

Hi Cathy! Late in commenting this week due death of my computer - aargh! I do love your tigger cat with his birdfriend - so much detail and patterning! And Morya's work is wonderful - you always manage to find works that I adore and would dearly love to own!! Will miss your posting on Monday but look forward to seeing you back again soon.

~ Phyllis ~ said...

Cathy, your frosty morning photos are lovely. I hope we are finished with the cold and snowy weather also.
Silent Hill does sound like a scary movie.
Have a nice blog break and Happy Valentine's Day.

Cathy said...

Me too Amy.

Cathy said...

Hi Lesley. That is really kind of you. I will collect it asap. Thanks very much.

Cathy said...

Thanks Artist. It took quite a while to do that background but I think it compliments the picture.

Cathy said...

Hi Caroline. Very sorry to hear about the computer. That is really bad luck. We depend on them so much. I hope it will get sorted out soon. Tigger was an actual ginger tabby tom cat we met on holiday in Swaledale many years ago. We nicknamed him Troutbeck Tigger and he made us carry him all over a graveyard whilst we were recording all the gravestones (re genealogy research). He was the friendliest and cuddliest cat I have ever met. It turned out he only lived a short distance away. It was a pity he wasn't a stray as we could have brought him home...lol.

Cathy said...

Thanks Phyllis. A happy Valentine's Day to you too. I bet you received some lovely surprises.

red road studio said...

a wonderful collection and variety of work and artists - what a happy find this lovely blog is!!

Cathy said...

Hello white black red. Very pleased that you have found your way here and have enjoyed my posts.

Lyn said...

Beauty and diversity...who could ask for more? So much richness of talent! Thank you...

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Lyn.