Witley Court

Witley Court 

Had a wonderful and inspiring day out at Witley Court, Worcester today and the weather was kind too.

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The house burnt down in 1937...but the grounds are beautifully maintained by English Heritage. This garden is spectacular and huge .

The Baroque Church is amazing ... the colours of the stained glass are so bright.and the details so clear. 

The interior of the ruins

 

Messy studio time

I have been very busy printing and colouring 

Mainly papers..but about to start on some fabric.

Gillian Ayres

I have long admired the  British female artist Gillian Ayres.

We are lucky enough to have one of her works in the local Swindon art gallery. I went along to the gallery last Friday for their free lunchtime talk and to look closely at the painting they have which is  called  Florestan( 1986)

It is a fantastic example of abstract art. Local school children have nicknames it "fried eggs".

The size is quite large as is so much of her work.

Link to Swindon Art Gallery blog    here

Her work was included in an exhibition last year at Chichester. Along with Swindon Art Gallery's---- Maggie Hambling piece, descent of the bulls head. Alic eKettle also had a piece in this exhibition.

A review  of the Chichester exhibition by Linda Kasmaty appears Here  

Better late than never

Happy New year everyone.. sorry I am a bit late with my greeting.

 

 

I have been a lax blogger again... but decided to rectify this and to go for a walk today with the camera. The sun was shining when I took this decision, and of course by time I got out of the front door ..... sun had disappeared. There was still a chilly wind persisting, but wrapped up warm, decided to make the best of it.  Well worth it as it turned out,  an abundance of opportunities to take photos. I just loved the colours of this winter tree. Sure I can do something with this........

 

Whilst I was taking this shot, I heard a rustle behind me.........

 

On turning round I realised I was being watched from the top of the 6 foot fence. So I glibly passed the time of the day, telling the feline what a pretty cat it was, as you do. It was not that impressed as you can see.  Then some further rusting and scrabbling........

 

 

cat number 2 emerged....... but was not in a mood to hang around and have its beauty praised by me..... whoosh and it had disappeared over the fence.

 

Not sure if the felines had spotted some mice in the foliage on my side of the fence.... or if they were directing me to this bush..... trying very hard to flower in the freezing cold conditions. Anyone know what it is?  Amazing white flowers. Decided not to go for a big close up photo.... just in case there were mice under the bush, so you will have to zoom in.

 



Day 20... playing with software again.. ... still thinking landscapes.

 

 

I played around and forgot to make some notes about what I was doing.... so may never be able to repeat this! 

Day 19- English countryside. ...... inspiring.

 

 

Am thinking of using some landscape photos I took last year to develop some new pieces of work.  Love the sky in this one.

Day 18.. great excitement it has arrived!

 

 

The book has finally arrived.. we had 3 postal deliveries today ( unheard of normally!) .. I know there were 3, as I had been watching out for this delivery. I knew from Facebook that some of my mates had already had theirs delivered by the postie, so I was somewhat impatient and green with envy.

 

My package also had a lovely surprise of some gold paint included, for me to play with.

 

Forgive me though I had to give it the treatment, with the new free software. Just cannot stop messing about with it. ..... but now must leave you .....I have a book to read.

Day 17---more playing with images

 

 

Can't stop playing with the layers option in Paint.net, the free software programm that Maggie Grey showed us on her blog. .

Last month I was teaching a group..... how to make a start on developing sketchbooks...... and we sketched and took photos around the town of Cricklade, where we were meeting. It was great fun.

 

This is  a photo of the Church seen through a gateway.... and I have enjoyed playing with layers today to create this image. I should be wrapping Christmas presents and stuff like that, but am enjoying playing on the computer.

Day 16 - free software and more playing....

 

Maggie Grey gave me the heads up about this free software program .... see her tutorial on her blog here, I used a photo of a hedge to try out her tutorial on layers.... so easy to do on Paint.net ( just google it) 

 

 

 

Not content.. I then used Artistic sketch from the menu.. and also inverted the photo again...... fascinating and very easy program to use.... thanks Maggie G.

Day 15 - playing with and reviewing my sketchbooks

 

 

Just a couple of sketchbook pages.... I am enjoying this sort of free work in my sketchbooks.. but the time has come to review it. I had a chat with fellow artist Bev .... and feel I am on the way to creating a meaningful review. Now is the time to play with fabrics and thread and mark making.

Day 14-- decking the halls

 

At least all the lights worked first time ... phew! 

Day 13 - sky tonight

 

Really should have written dusk rather than tonight ... loved the colours... magical.

Day 12 A black and white day

 

Great fun.

Day 11--- Christmas post

 

 

Its the time of year that this post box gets lots of use by the nearby residents. The postman delivering every morning to the houses also has lots of work to do. Exciting isn't it?