Back Again

It is good to be back to blogging again. Many thanks to the ladies who drew my attention to Live Writer when Blogger let me down. Once I had ironed out a few problems with photo size it wasn’t too difficult to get my head around. The good thing about Live Writer is that you can insert pictures instead of them always appearing at the top of the blog. Very useful if you have missed out a vital picture or worse, deleted one by mistake. I have a bit of an issue with borders round the pictures so if anyone knows how to get rid of the borders on the right and bottom of the photos please let me know. It wouldn't look too bad if it went all the way round.

I have had this painting below as a drawing in my sketchbook for ages but thought it would look sufficiently spring like to produce now. It is actually traced from my hand but elongated in photoshop for more elegance..haha. I do like to find interesting places for birds to nest.





Days Of Sunshine And Of Rain. A quirky little digital piece.
The artwork was inspired by the title I heard on the radio.




We had a wonderful day geocaching at Redbourne this afternoon. The signs of spring were everywhere and very abundant. The church below is quite beautiful, inside and out, with rows of pollarded limes. I have some more photos of the church to share next time. The flowers of spring are really lovely like the forgetmenots below and the gorgeous cherry blossoms. So many flowers and so little time to appreciate them as they don’t really last very long.



Forgetmenots


Cherry Blossom

The beautiful collagraphs below are the work of printmaker Sarah Ross-Thompson who takes the wonderful Dorset countryside as her inspiration. She has lots more like this on her website gallery here and she also explains how to make collagraphs.

Hillside

Wintershill

I used to see a lot of Hannah Swain’s wonderful fairytale etchings at one time but she is not seen as much today. She is the first printmaker I knew who painted their etchings by hand. You can find some more of her work here on the Two Blind Mice site but they are very tiny and not easy to see.



We visited the beautiful ancient market town of Thame a few weeks ago for geocaching purposes. I have photographed a lot of the very old buildings before but I don’t think I have taken photos of this one, probably due to vehicles parked outside. (Owners of beautiful old buildings should never park their vehicles in the vicinity because it ruins visitors photographs..haha).





I spotted these lovely cushions through a shop window…closed alas. I love the graphic plant design.



I first mentioned getting the gorgeous book below in 2010. It was recommended to me by blogging friend Shirley who knew of my interest in Kantha embroidery. It is an absolute wonder of lovely images of Kantha work and is quite huge. I have only dipped in and out so far but will get down to some serious reading soon. I love Kantha because it is in the style of very detailed illustrations but in embroidery. I like the restricted colour palettes too. I have tried a few pieces myself but I am not up to displaying standard yet. More practice needed. In the meantime I can immerse myself in all this wonderous beauty.







I discovered Liz Somerville’s lovely work a while back. Liz is an English artist who graduated with a textile design and now concentrates on printmaking and painting from her Dorset home. She is inspired by Ravilious, Nash and Bawden – also favourites of mine – particularly Bawden. If you visit her website here you can see examples of her landscapes, architecture and seascapes. I love the quite retro colour palette she uses and the flowing lines of her landscapes.

Eggardon Dip



Still Tree – Quiet Hollow



Five Trees 5



White Tree