tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12208973373337018392024-02-20T23:28:49.963+00:00purple podded peasCelia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.comBlogger806125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-43665303975544798982018-01-25T18:07:00.003+00:002018-01-25T18:07:30.615+00:00My blog posts continue on my new blog ...<br />
You can find my new blog <b>Herbationes (walking and looking)</b> <a href="https://herbationes.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-92191230992370618502017-12-29T16:47:00.000+00:002017-12-29T16:47:08.300+00:00And finally . . .<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Before 2017 ends I'll show you my illustration for the 2017 Special Plant Issue of Gardens Illustrated magazine, this was published just before Christmas and the subject was 'avenues' and the love of arranging plants small and large in parallel rows that lets the eye into the distance. Frank Ronan writes about Mulberries and Hydrangeas, pollarded Willows and Swamp Cypresses; but the paragraph that sparked my imagination was a description of an avenue of Monkey Puzzle trees ... I love the geometry of the branches.</div>
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I studied loads of photos and reference books and made careful sketches of the Monkey Puzzle tree structure. Then I scanned and played around with the sketches in Photoshop, creating an avenue of trees. I wasn't sure where this was going, but after a break I suddenly realised it looked like a snow scene and how appropriate for late December. To emphasise the distance and the path between the trees, I added two silhouetted figures and two skipping whippets making tracks in the snow.</div>
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As with the December magazine's illustration (in the previous post) I decided to use a second colour, this time for the sky ... a bright pink, the colour of the sunset on a frosty snowy winter day.</div>
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I printed the green and pink areas separately and layered them digitally, this is something I often do with illustration work as the colours can be kept clean and bright when scanned and it allow for tweaking of the digital artwork to get it just right.</div>
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So, after almost 3 years and 36 illustrations, this is my last illustration for Frank Ronan's column in Gardens Illustrated magazine. I've handed the baton on ... maybe it's to you?</div>
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And this seems an appropriate time to draw a line under the PurplePoddedPeas blog. </h4>
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Ten years is a long time in social-media-land and life now has a different rhythm.</div>
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You can find me on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/celiahartartist/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and on <a href="https://twitter.com/celiahart" target="_blank">Twitter</a> </div>
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. . . <b>and also soon on my new blog</b> which I'll publish a link to in the new year.</div>
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Wishing you a happy and peaceful 2018</div>
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Celia</div>
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xx</div>
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<br />Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-82022514411584723162017-12-15T17:43:00.000+00:002017-12-15T17:44:27.128+00:00Gardens Illustrated illustrations 2017 ... part 2Here is my round-up of the linocut illustrations for Frank Ronan's monthly column in Gardens Illustrated magazine for July to December 2017 (the illustrations for January to June can be found <a href="http://purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/gardens-illustrated-illustrations-2017.html" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
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Frank's June column left him returning home after a few years living in California ... </div>
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"The joy of being back in my own garden is overwhelming at times."</div>
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During 2016 Frank's writing had taken on a gloomy tone, so I was relieved he was happy and and back among plants he loves ... and I love too.</div>
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July 2017</h3>
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Frank's garden has been left to grow wild and he's unsure what to tackle first. He decides that a large fir tree ... a Christmas tree someone planted out in the 1950s ... now dwarves the cottage and has to go; his decision made because he loves pruning things, climbing trees and using a chain saw. The fir tree's trunk already has a Clematis montana growing up it, so Frank leaves a 15 ft stump as its support. Our garden wall also has a C. montana ... and as it was May it was in flower (I work about 2 months ahead of publication), so I could enjoy sketching from life. This isn't always possible but I prefer drawing from real live plants.</div>
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August 2017</h3>
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This year I often had a very small window when I could work on the 'Frank' illustrations; the August Frank arrived in late May and I sat at my desk and carefully read and re-read Frank's words on Monday 5 June ... 2 days after the London Bridge attack, the 3rd terrorist attack in a only a few weeks last summer. Frank's essay on the subject of forgiveness, contentment and happiness was poignant and perfectly timed ... I may have cried (which doesn't happen often). If you have a copy of the the magazine or can get the online version, I recommend it as something to keep at hand if times get tough.</div>
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The editor suggested I include a Goldfinch in the composition, they are frequent visitors to our garden and one of my favourite birds, so along with grasses I sketched from life this became the image to illustrate Frank's words ...<br />
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"Happiness is no right, but an elusive privilege ... If you chase it, it will run ... The stiller you are the more it will linger. Any attempt to run after it and capture it, or even too direct a stare, and it will flit off like a goldfinch startled."</div>
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September 2017</h3>
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More happy coincidences for September's Frank, the subject is meadows and I'd just spent <a href="http://purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/meadow-appreciation.html" target="_blank">a fascinating day visiting one</a> and doing lots of sketches. Frank had been reading a book, 'Grass-fed Nation' by Roger Harvey, the agricultural adviser for 'The Archers' ... which is often on the radio as I work ... so I'm familiar with 'herbal leys'. <br />
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Frank discovers that his neglected garden borders ... now overgrown with a thatch of grasses, wildflowers and self-seeded perennials related to meadow plants ... are thriving! He muses about a new kind of garden border that is more like a meadow. Now, that sounds lovely, just my kind of thing too, Knapweeds, Burnets and Geraniums mingled in drifts of meadow grasses ... something butterflies would enjoy too.<br />
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October 2017</h3>
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Autumn flowering bulbs is the subject of the October 'Frank', all those lovely sugar-almond pink flowers that surprise the garden with their clean sharp colour among the decaying leaves of autumn.<br />
I chose to illustrate the Nerines and Cyclamen (Frank includes Colchicums too, but I decided they would overload the illustration). I included the toad that Frank says looks like a Cyclamen corm, and the drifts of Cyclamen are based on those at <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/anglesey-abbey-gardens-and-lode-mill" target="_blank">Anglesey Abbey</a> which have a special memory for me.<br />
I like his idea of planting Nerines in pots ... so this is a visual reminder to do that too.<br />
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<br />November 2017</h3>
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Apple trees and garden bonfires ... two more things I can draw from life and from personal experience. Frank is writing about how picking fruit and having a bonfire are great ways to get friends to 'help' in the garden. This was a lovely Autumnal subject and and excuse to carve decorative patterns to depict the flames and smoke.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZoJ9GQCHvYtQ06fIbbPUwIGvGxGCYaAGAFLOXgP85QjTKFFpYdUlLIV4WRNtMNDA-uBwnrz4pyWiP7qZPwZVuwDydy_w1y0DkJaFAVjGnbnDUWvTTKhKYDGeAf1iKSAlGbtHIyavPsM/s1600/IMG_7948.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZoJ9GQCHvYtQ06fIbbPUwIGvGxGCYaAGAFLOXgP85QjTKFFpYdUlLIV4WRNtMNDA-uBwnrz4pyWiP7qZPwZVuwDydy_w1y0DkJaFAVjGnbnDUWvTTKhKYDGeAf1iKSAlGbtHIyavPsM/s400/IMG_7948.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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December 2017</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4H5gLKSAsReqZKkfpNvUdkFLiiwIypn-uq3PLkD6t_h7OaJJAxRRg8Ajb0io6T4nGNI1qW-7dBlqTq-p0LnI5x7vfDzzPQuGWUi_Pg-dc4oBoHam-IPy0ex75DD-Oh9En61377RR9yLE/s1600/IMG_7949.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4H5gLKSAsReqZKkfpNvUdkFLiiwIypn-uq3PLkD6t_h7OaJJAxRRg8Ajb0io6T4nGNI1qW-7dBlqTq-p0LnI5x7vfDzzPQuGWUi_Pg-dc4oBoHam-IPy0ex75DD-Oh9En61377RR9yLE/s400/IMG_7949.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
The December issue of Gardens Illustrated includes a lovely new series of articles by Lia Leendertz on identifying trees, part 1 covers Deciduous Native British Trees. To continue the 'tree theme', Frank writes about Ash trees at a time when time may be running out as they succumb to Ash Die-Back. The Ash tree I sketched for this illustration is one I can see from our vegetable plot, it stands on the bank of the brook in the neighbour's garden, and has a twin trunk which joins to make an opening big enough for a child for small person to squeeze through.<br />
I've got used to spotting obscure literary references in Frank's writing, this month he makes a passing reference to Tennyson referring to the Ash tree's 'coal black buds in March' ... it took a request on Twitter for someone to point me to <a href="https://archive.org/stream/gardenersdaughte00tenn#page/n7/mode/2up" target="_blank">'The Gardener's Daughter'</a>, so I thought a 2017 gardener's daughter should appear in the picture ... with her cat. The door in the garden wall is based on the one in my garden ... although I've played around with the scale and made the tree huge and the wall more extensive and further away.<br />
A few more changes from the usual ... I worked slightly larger and inked the block in various shades of brown and dark grey. The red of the gardener's daughter's coat was added digitally after scanning the print (if I print an edition, I'll cut a special block to print the red).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi559_wu3MnvEV_J5vdJ4fy9_m7odS0BEVsgVcNes-b6g10NCsQiA0XXatQlBgKvZlDE4z4lL3qi558xoybBzdBD8OEawo0OIs4BxoBlpVserFsrOBTjzDhpLFuC02XxA_-JXJ9OEuvCJE/s1600/IMG_7950.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi559_wu3MnvEV_J5vdJ4fy9_m7odS0BEVsgVcNes-b6g10NCsQiA0XXatQlBgKvZlDE4z4lL3qi558xoybBzdBD8OEawo0OIs4BxoBlpVserFsrOBTjzDhpLFuC02XxA_-JXJ9OEuvCJE/s400/IMG_7950.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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So that's almost another year of prints complete ... there's one more, I'll tell you about the linocut for the Special 'Plants Edition' before the New Year.</div>
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Meanwhile, wishing you a calm run-up to the Christmas weekend. </div>
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Cheers!</div>
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Celia</div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-14449409525560132392017-12-12T16:03:00.001+00:002017-12-12T16:38:02.375+00:00Gardens Illustrated illustrations 2017 round up ... part 1Times change and these days you'll mainly find me on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/celiahartartist/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/celiahart" target="_blank">Twitter</a> rather than keeping this blog up to date. But it would be shame not to continue to record here my linocut illustrations for Frank Ronan's monthly column in Gardens Illustrated magazine . . . so here begins a round up with the illustrations for January 2017 to June 2017 . . .<br />
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<h3>
January 2017</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0u3QxeTj8VAcj3jwbzZYKfL7ySHdhVxRJ3sQlvGhCFaXCepvVhBAMzyqx1xt5tFldV71tjx1sl3ysE1855seeVN2eCOI_ilm_4Jcr0tAsZh1zV5eXsMdo-oQJppMIFokxSwZnV8jljNo/s1600/IMG_7924.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0u3QxeTj8VAcj3jwbzZYKfL7ySHdhVxRJ3sQlvGhCFaXCepvVhBAMzyqx1xt5tFldV71tjx1sl3ysE1855seeVN2eCOI_ilm_4Jcr0tAsZh1zV5eXsMdo-oQJppMIFokxSwZnV8jljNo/s400/IMG_7924.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Frank writes about the pleasure on a fine winter day, of pruning a rampant Wisteria and how a small cottage can be engulfed by a particularly vigorous Wisteria.</div>
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I aimed to give this illustration the feeling of a Grimm's fairytale.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihY8NWdwm2NSmKwIe6oJ7J0Ky5uulKdhDvoA1JaIR9Efx9XyQVNnMEpgU-TVJYgJxDwS1GmnGN7L6GtnKoztbI6ANVOAQJScJYI_-Vbrvw4H3P-lQ-g9ihuZJPNZwwSvPr7VrRPSXHbas/s1600/IMG_7925.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihY8NWdwm2NSmKwIe6oJ7J0Ky5uulKdhDvoA1JaIR9Efx9XyQVNnMEpgU-TVJYgJxDwS1GmnGN7L6GtnKoztbI6ANVOAQJScJYI_-Vbrvw4H3P-lQ-g9ihuZJPNZwwSvPr7VrRPSXHbas/s400/IMG_7925.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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February 2017</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieXZkCiLG-ma6Klq9ORBcX7vPuJWGGGGAkkpACLogRTnKRhduEcRFYJH7stdWWkTHK28zuA5c7_R6ZJw2bUuBZhyphenhyphenVjrgy5KDUk3GrtYhpva-NSL7R9Xb-bMXIzXfiLo5hjKDuiZIDthlg/s1600/IMG_7926.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieXZkCiLG-ma6Klq9ORBcX7vPuJWGGGGAkkpACLogRTnKRhduEcRFYJH7stdWWkTHK28zuA5c7_R6ZJw2bUuBZhyphenhyphenVjrgy5KDUk3GrtYhpva-NSL7R9Xb-bMXIzXfiLo5hjKDuiZIDthlg/s400/IMG_7926.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Frank's love for one of the native Californian shrubs, Manzanita, isn't put off by it's incendiary reputation, so he experiments with fire to promote germination of its seeds. </div>
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"I might not be so open minded about the beauty of this native were I shivering in a silver blanket in a school gymnasium"</div>
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These were Frank's portentous words written a year ago about Californian wildfires which right now are devastating Ventura county with its <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-thomas-fire-santa-barbara-fire-20171210-story.html" target="_blank">worst wildfire in modern Californian history</a>. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd55XfYKtGPwg6EUfHafQ3dqOvVYb_uAmIEf_AIF7rDoqgXFvHJV-TvU5VRVvU69hZAKgAGufivBNSRTcVy6KAozrcDkjRyRmbUeJIRa0Qs80-S-E3xsOyuk8w0mlLoZOoQYvSaVK5uxY/s1600/IMG_7927.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd55XfYKtGPwg6EUfHafQ3dqOvVYb_uAmIEf_AIF7rDoqgXFvHJV-TvU5VRVvU69hZAKgAGufivBNSRTcVy6KAozrcDkjRyRmbUeJIRa0Qs80-S-E3xsOyuk8w0mlLoZOoQYvSaVK5uxY/s400/IMG_7927.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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March 2017</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIvWcJ_DtFHHbhythjOQQYA8ezx5DzdPUbRgVBnU2Ir3fKURKxUY04EBsZzwGgWU92HA_h8akQapyDIMzxgYVly4Gi2qoqFFGanqYCwPnBwILshO9mYr8-Ks7VbSxf6B_Jc__YKk4r0Iw/s1600/IMG_7928.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIvWcJ_DtFHHbhythjOQQYA8ezx5DzdPUbRgVBnU2Ir3fKURKxUY04EBsZzwGgWU92HA_h8akQapyDIMzxgYVly4Gi2qoqFFGanqYCwPnBwILshO9mYr8-Ks7VbSxf6B_Jc__YKk4r0Iw/s400/IMG_7928.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The plant hunter and nurseryman <a href="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/scottish-explorer-takes-ill-dies-9188251" target="_blank">Michael Wickenden died while on an expedition</a>, this is Frank's tribute to his friend.</div>
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I've included Michael walking out into a mountainous landscape, a humble bunch of flowers ... some of the species he collected and grew <a href="http://www.callygardens.co.uk/" target="_blank">in his nursery</a> ... and a postcard of the Mountains of the Moon, the scene of one of his adventures. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQPbLefebld4Ag0AjjAq8z0zEVZaeD4s0Z4O7y6W8MWNMe4zDGQPPh0YplEo59CarkN08GbLCvQEVQ9-ordDDaXvi-8SnDFTz5-0iuV7AUwLJd1er3TLQ8ShzGvAOHhCbKdSi3nPwKUR4/s1600/IMG_7929.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQPbLefebld4Ag0AjjAq8z0zEVZaeD4s0Z4O7y6W8MWNMe4zDGQPPh0YplEo59CarkN08GbLCvQEVQ9-ordDDaXvi-8SnDFTz5-0iuV7AUwLJd1er3TLQ8ShzGvAOHhCbKdSi3nPwKUR4/s400/IMG_7929.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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April 2017</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkr6k00CZCTspPvmnPjtjQn7RYUY5rIl54kVqwjL_QqoxfSPjr0Wb1kkR7L9UmZeO0NVguT4CPY1Rtz2n41YXGyWuHT-QfgWBEYX9h2XCWmxhzw6y037INCJpzhQue3Pw3BR3vsCsTK9g/s1600/IMG_7935.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkr6k00CZCTspPvmnPjtjQn7RYUY5rIl54kVqwjL_QqoxfSPjr0Wb1kkR7L9UmZeO0NVguT4CPY1Rtz2n41YXGyWuHT-QfgWBEYX9h2XCWmxhzw6y037INCJpzhQue3Pw3BR3vsCsTK9g/s400/IMG_7935.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
After reading Frank's piece about using some pink coloured rubble to create terraces and paths around his Californian garden, this design popped into my head fully formed ... it illustrates Frank's fantasy that one day his garden will be full of fruit trees and bushes that he can harvest from as he meanders up and down the sloping terraces.<br />
This was one of my favourite designs from 2017.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZoj8-X3OH5viVx3qcEvZ0m-ofovIqy4k0-49BzDWNm7Au2ay-FlPjh1E9d0hEj9aDta2egKtG1Byv3kCWeaRexdrF6L8ptm8yKZV8E_dCM1Mjm1GFyVXnYhxWUxI5LzkaFcGnfg3fzQI/s1600/IMG_7930.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZoj8-X3OH5viVx3qcEvZ0m-ofovIqy4k0-49BzDWNm7Au2ay-FlPjh1E9d0hEj9aDta2egKtG1Byv3kCWeaRexdrF6L8ptm8yKZV8E_dCM1Mjm1GFyVXnYhxWUxI5LzkaFcGnfg3fzQI/s400/IMG_7930.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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May 2017</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjlD6Qji-TrgEwQjEjh13ajVUvOAMcuKl6SjLfsOYGbwijSZrcq2ejaP7bbRzZtrcr2CvLKnlM3fb171Soo330AVbzSnYw-lE4c_pnwRDAr0r1IZ7OA7WjqWaRDBNEnn1cfqBuMU-fe-w/s1600/IMG_7931.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjlD6Qji-TrgEwQjEjh13ajVUvOAMcuKl6SjLfsOYGbwijSZrcq2ejaP7bbRzZtrcr2CvLKnlM3fb171Soo330AVbzSnYw-lE4c_pnwRDAr0r1IZ7OA7WjqWaRDBNEnn1cfqBuMU-fe-w/s400/IMG_7931.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Flowers often invoke a deeply buried memories and for Frank it is his love of peonies that threads through the years ... his introduction by a cousin to the seductive flower and friends who have added to his collection. I saw this as a still from a whimsical film about a long forgotten childhood meeting.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbaaDP3vYMUoCGCOF7nGX0aRni37IRAHDgHOsb9JKC5Sen19Gp-OMn8KrwUO9wRJvwmeI81M8_Ol9mLkcwB92VtXnzTGPIWbcYSA5wCcxEv4socnv7VQ8IlNBh7FuuvnS5IRhh61LvhL8/s1600/IMG_7932.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbaaDP3vYMUoCGCOF7nGX0aRni37IRAHDgHOsb9JKC5Sen19Gp-OMn8KrwUO9wRJvwmeI81M8_Ol9mLkcwB92VtXnzTGPIWbcYSA5wCcxEv4socnv7VQ8IlNBh7FuuvnS5IRhh61LvhL8/s400/IMG_7932.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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June 2017</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXRDQBc_Nyo224CrgPQgs6gkURCQR5XkQVDUPjq1-T8FRoq5Q_ryq7USdulg83uGGDUrU-GXSiOmbXqEAwVeEtJ0zAo-0ttszt0oQ_Wb0QRuDmDL4IMjIjpwhq00tXsvIB082TtCa-b3I/s1600/IMG_7933.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXRDQBc_Nyo224CrgPQgs6gkURCQR5XkQVDUPjq1-T8FRoq5Q_ryq7USdulg83uGGDUrU-GXSiOmbXqEAwVeEtJ0zAo-0ttszt0oQ_Wb0QRuDmDL4IMjIjpwhq00tXsvIB082TtCa-b3I/s400/IMG_7933.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The 'June Frank' text arrived by email and to my surprise Frank is leaving California and on his way home ... where would that be? The magazine editorial and design team were as surprise as I was. We'd have to wait and see.</div>
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Meanwhile, as Frank packed his bags and left his Californian garden where he had tried to grow native shrubs, indulged his love of agaves and battled with gophers eating his palm trees; the rains came! His garden flowered, plants he had given up on and watched desiccate, sprang into life and bloomed! I designed the image in warm red/browns but after discussion with the art ed I printed it in a fresh green.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitx9R00ngouYkMRgj8geb7J4v3-LOaPnv9oUD53hLY8ipNaj1qDWePFfrHcWKTPBRxNrHhNXQnYDP8m1hA-mPr2UG18h6_JoRIJZdG8eX894CcFRz0VgAEL5JExa2-dknB7DQaDCn92jc/s1600/IMG_7934.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitx9R00ngouYkMRgj8geb7J4v3-LOaPnv9oUD53hLY8ipNaj1qDWePFfrHcWKTPBRxNrHhNXQnYDP8m1hA-mPr2UG18h6_JoRIJZdG8eX894CcFRz0VgAEL5JExa2-dknB7DQaDCn92jc/s400/IMG_7934.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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... part 2 of this round-up will follow soon.</div>
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Celia</div>
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xx</div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-22690210489003204152017-07-21T21:46:00.001+01:002017-07-21T23:31:23.609+01:00Uppsala and the Flower King<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Last week Cliff and I went on holiday to Sweden, it was a quickly planned break and we chose the destination because we've loved previous trips to Scandinavia, there was a convenient flight from our nearest airport and I'd seen some photos of lovely gardens in Uppsala on Twitter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Uppsala is the home of Sweden's oldest university, founded in 1477; and it has a magnificent red-brick cathedral which is the tallest church building in Scandinavia. There are also impressive modern buildings, pedestrian shopping streets with heated pavements that won't get icy in winter and miles and miles of cycle-ways. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">But this blog post is about the person Uppsala is most famous for ... Carl Linnaeus, The Flower King. If you know just a little about botany or about the scientific names of living things, you will probably have heard of Linnaeus but may not know who he was and where he lived.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In 1741 </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Linnaeus#Early_education" target="_blank">Carl Linnaeus</a> was appointed professor of Medicine at Uppsala University, with the job he got a house and a garden ... this became his botanic garden, where his collection of plants was kept and his system of how to categorise them was developed. In the years after his death the garden was neglected but has now been reconstructed and planted as Linnaeus would have organised the plants, each with their neatly written labels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In the garden there are cold frames and an orangery, sunken ponds and even houses for monkeys! While Carl was busy giving lectures and tending his plants, his wife Sara-Lisa ran the household and looked after their 7 children; she organised the servants and with the daughters even spun and wove the cloth for the household linen. Sara-Lisa also had to entertain guests who Carl often invited at short notice ... she had a reputation of being stern, but it sounds like she had a lot on her plate!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The house is beautifully decorated with reproduced wallpapers and the exhibits include some of the family's clothes. Carl seems to have been an energetic and enthusiastic teacher, he devised nature walks from the town out into the countryside to show his students wild plants growing in different environments. And he called his 8 walking routes "Herbationes Uppsalienis", here they are drawn on a map.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">If we'd had more time and and our hiking boots we would have explored the longer routes, but we were happy to walk a short section of the Herbation from the church where the Linnaeus family worshipped to the farmstead at Hammarby that Carl purchased to provide an income and produce, and a home they would have when they no longer had use of the university house in town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Our adventure began by catching a bus to the village of Danmark and before setting off on our walk we looked inside the church ... which today is a beautifully light and serene space. In the 18th century the walls would have been white-washed but now the walls have beautiful painted decorations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The modern glazed entrance porch is etched with horse chestnut leaves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And the organ with birds and intertwined tendrils.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Herbationes routes are all marked with these blue posts, so the routes are easy to navigate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We followed a lane out of the village and along a track between a fields of green peas and flowery meadows.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The weather was warm so we took a break under the trees, the little red house was owned by Linnaeus as part of his farm, in return for allowing a veteran soldiers to live there he was let off paying tax.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">After about 4 kilometres we reached the edge of the farmstead and the fenced vegetable patch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Linnaeus farm house is a large red-painted wooden building, visits are by guided tour only because inside has been preserved exactly as it was when Carl and Sara-Lisa lived there. One of their daughters continued to live in the house before it was preserved as a museum, Carl Linnaeus was a celebrity scientist in his own life-time so no-one changed the house after his death. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">All the wallpapers are original and Carl's study and the bedroom he shared with Sara-Lisa are decorated with botanical prints pasted over all of the walls.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Behind the farm house and buildings is a rocky hill and woodland, here Carl built a small museum to house his precious collection of specimen plants and fossils, safe from possible fires which often broke out in the town. He also grew plants grown from seed sent to hime by people from across Europe, including Siberian plants sent by Catherine II of Russia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I sat in the wood behind the farm and looked at the Swedish 100K note we'd brought with us (from a previous trip to Sweden, the note ceased to be legal tender 2 days before this holiday!). On the note you can see a portrait of Carl Linnaeus with a drawing from his treatise 'Sponsalia planetarium' or 'The Nuptials of Flowers' of the plant Dog's Mercury which grows abundantly all around. It was this plant that he noticed has separate male and female plants, and so it confirmed the sexual nature of plants.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The study of botany at Uppsala university continued after Linnaeus's death at a much larger botanic gardens on the site of the castle gardens. Today it's a wonderful place to wander and enjoy formal gardens and modern planting schemes as well as experimental and educational planting. (The restricted summer opening hours meant we never did get to see inside the glass houses or try the café.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Around the city centre there are parks and plants on every corner. I loved the new planting in the new development behind the railway station. Alchemilla mollie and Alliums seem to be favourite plants throughout the city.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We noticed that many of the city flower beds and planters included vegetables, such as these huge containers right in the main square by the bus stops ... a huge abundant potager of herbs and vegetables. This is part of a scheme to get people to grow edible plants in the city in 2017 ... I wonder if it will continue after this year, I hope it does.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">After all the walking and looking at gardens and plants, I think it's time for Fika ... a sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and a cake ... it's the Swedish equivalent of Hygge ... how very civilised.</span></div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-34873866327669374112017-06-30T21:20:00.000+01:002017-06-30T21:47:40.145+01:00Meadow appreciationDid you know that July 1st is <a href="http://www.magnificentmeadows.org.uk/visit-learn/whats-on/2017/07/01" target="_blank">National Meadows Day</a>? so this blog post is aptly timed.<br />
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For the past 2 years I have designed Christmas cards for the wildflower charity <a href="https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk" target="_blank">Plantlife</a>, and as a thank you I was offered a tour of one of their nature reserves. The nearest (70 miles away) is Seaton Meadows, and today I went there to meet Plantlife's Nature Reserves Manager Joe Costley.<br />
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<a href="http://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/nature-reserves-important-plant-areas/nature-reserves/seaton-meadows" target="_blank">Seaton Meadows</a> nature reserve is in the small county of Rutland in the East Midlands, the 28 acres of meadows are in the Welland Valley and lie under the longest brick built viaduct in Britain. Architectural and plant heritage in one place. The reserve is dedicated to the memory of Geoff Hamilton who presented Gardeners' World on BBC TV and was on Plantlife's Advisory Council.<br />
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Joe explained that just over half the meadow land is flood-meadow and this is where those plants special to the now rare water-meadow habitat can be found ... such as Greater Burnet, Pepper Saxifrage and Meadow Rue.<br />
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As we walked round the meadows Joe pointed out that the moisture levels, the areas that have silt deposits from flooding, the hummocks and the dips, each support a slightly different mix of plants. So the meadow isn't a uniform colour and texture, it is a blending of areas different grasses and herbs.<br />
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Looking across the meadow at low level you can see the different heights of the plants, the dots of purple Common Knapweed and yellow Meadow Vetchling among the green grass; pale grass seed heads sway above; and even taller, the branching stems of the Greater Burnet with their burgundy bobble-like flower-heads.<br />
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As we walked through the dense thatch of grasses and herbs, we could hear the now dry seed-pods of Yellow Rattle. This is the plant that is included in 'meadow' seed mixtures because it is a partial parasite ... its roots attach to the grasses roots and weaken them, so other meadow herbs can flourish.<br />
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After my guided tour I decided to stay a while, I'd brought with me a packed lunch, a folding chair and my sketchbook and paints. I selected a pitch on one of the hummocks in the water meadow and settled down to look, listen and sketch.<br />
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I began to hear birds singing, a Skylark rose up out of the grasses nearby and started its song directly above me, so loud! then gradually fading as it climbed into the sky.<br />
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Sitting on my low seat I could see the movement of dozens of butterflies ... Meadow Browns, Ringlets and Small Tortoiseshells. I spotted a Burnet Moth, its red and iridescent indigo wings were like jewels. The sound of bees buzzing was all around me. Mainly Red-tailed Bumblebees and some Carder Bees.<br />
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Drawing the scene meant looking even closer at the colours and textures; the swaying mix of plant shapes; and at the vast man-made viaduct striding across the valley.<br />
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So, find a meadow ... it needn't be a special nature reserve or large. Just a wild patch of grasses and flowers. Sit still and let the meadow tell you its story.<br />
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Celia<br />
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<br />Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-15244444924998254442017-05-13T22:09:00.000+01:002017-05-14T20:28:13.020+01:00Dancing on the ceiling<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Yesterday we had a change of scene ... a day out to Greenwich just south of the Thames in East London. To my surprise driving to there was a shorter distance than going to our closest sea-sides in Suffolk or Essex and was a much quicker journey.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We headed for a car park just south of in Greenwich Park near the Observatory and arrived at about mid-day, it was cloudy and drizzly but the views over the <a href="http://www.greenwichworldheritage.org/" target="_blank">Maritime Greenwich Word Heritage Site</a> were still splendid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Turning to our left ... looking West to the City of London ... we could see the Shard, the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, the cluster of high-rise around The City, the River Thames's curving meanders and the history clipper sailing ship Cutty Sark. (click on the photos to enlarge them)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And over to our right ... looking East ... the chimneys of Greenwich Power Station which generates electricity for London, including the London Underground system; and to its right is the space-ship shape of The O2 arena, originally called the Millennium Dome.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We'd booked a tour ... I'll come to that shortly ... but we had time for a quick lunch in a restaurant overlooking the Thames Clipper boat jetty and then we went for brisk stroll under the river ... through the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_foot_tunnel" target="_blank">Greenwich Foot Tunnel</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Out the other side on the North bank of the Thames we had a great view of the Royal Hospital buildings and the Queen's House which make up the iconic Greenwich architectural scene.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Swiftly back through the tunnel and the reason for our trip ... we had booked places on <a href="https://www.ornc.org/painted-hall-ceiling-tours-tickets" target="_blank">The Painted Hall Ceiling Tour</a> in the great Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The hall was designed by Sir Christopher Wren to be used as the refectory of the 'hospital' ... a home for retired and needy naval pensioners. It was basically their canteen, where they ate breakfast, lunch and dinner. Wren envisaged an elegant, unadorned space. But by the time the building was completed Nicholas Hawksmoor had taken over from Wren and fashions in architecture had moved on to ornate Baroque, as was fashionable in Europe, with complex allegorical scenes painted on every surface.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The masters of such work were Italian, French or Spanish but politics dictated the artist must not be a Roman Catholic or foreign. So a young British artist, James Thornhill, won the commission to design and carry out the work. He was paid £1 per square yard to paint the walls and £3 per square yard for the ceiling. Out of that fee he had to pay for his materials and pay his assistants.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The 300 year old paintings are now undergoing a major restoration ... at a cost of over £10 million. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The end wall of the Upper Hall and its ceiling have already been cleaned and stabilised, so we could see how bright the vast ceiling of the Lower Hall would be when it is eventually transformed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So the work can be carried out, the whole of the Lower Hall has been filled with scaffolding supporting a temporary floor just below the ceiling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And that's what we had to ascend! Now, I'm not that comfortable about open mesh staircases ... so this was going to be a challenge for me. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ZlSuUOkNobMpvGN6AqA7OJAiXoXJwcvbZxSZLtN358M2wPRllLMQHeBGMxO5juoNTwGkC_XP61LlTzATwIMwpipDi33FtIERX-ld5_yasqeSMh1SN6bJlxJOt6QFJVzgeeyDYpBtmLw/s1600/fullsizeoutput_1e2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ZlSuUOkNobMpvGN6AqA7OJAiXoXJwcvbZxSZLtN358M2wPRllLMQHeBGMxO5juoNTwGkC_XP61LlTzATwIMwpipDi33FtIERX-ld5_yasqeSMh1SN6bJlxJOt6QFJVzgeeyDYpBtmLw/s400/fullsizeoutput_1e2.jpeg" width="340" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">But I managed the 70 steps to the top and onto the solid floor. Up close to the painted ceiling you realise what a massive project James Thornhill had taken on. To create the design of two arches and an oval balcony full of hundreds figures depicting King William and Queen Mary presiding over the 'Triumph of Peace and Liberty over Tyranny', he had to make hundreds of sketches and plans, then somehow (and exactly how isn't known) transfer this design onto the 15 x 30 metre ceiling, while working on wooden scaffolding.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">When viewed from the ground the composition creates an illusion of a dramatic architectural space. Up close you can see the vitality of the painting and the immense scale of the figures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">At the centre of the composition are Queen Mary and King William. Their faces and those of the other figures were painted by a portrait artist who was one of Thornhill's team. You can see the grey patches on the oil paint, apparently this is deterioration of later layers of varnish and this is what the restorers will remove to reveal the original colours.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Another artist was employed to paint the renditions of fruit, foliage and flowers, these are particularly beautiful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Seamlessly blending with the trompe l'oeil architecture, is a huge carved royal coat of arms ... it's not clear which parts are carved wood and which are modelled from plaster (?), however the gliding is the original 300 year old gold and even through the dust it's still very shiny.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It's an exhilarating experience ... do go along if you can. I'd like to return next year to see the partly cleaned and restored ceiling before the scaffolding comes down. I'd never heard of James Thornhill, his career was meteoric ... 25 years as a celebrated decorative artist who went on to paint the interior of the dome of St Paul's Cathedral and the interiors of many stately homes including Chatsworth, and was the first British artist to be knighted. He became an MP and a member of the Royal Society. He was 58 when he died at his country house in Devon. His last major painted interior was the chapel at Wimpole Hall ... I've visited but not taken close look, so I plan to go along there soon. His work may not be seen as the greatest 'art' and allegorical Baroque history paintings are a forgotten genre, but I can appreciate the hard work and skill. In fact it seems closer to illustration than fine art, and the architectural illusions that Thornhill painted can be compared to those created by CGI artists for film and video games today, so maybe he will now step out from obscurity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">By the time we had walked back up the steep hill through Greenwich Park, the weather had changed and the sun was out. We turned around to see this grand view! Do you think James Thornhill would have admired this panorama of architecture under those billowing clouds ... I think so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Celia</span><br />
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-63819427063279826582017-04-26T17:07:00.000+01:002017-04-27T16:05:58.170+01:00April flowers ... but no showers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I've been spending as much time as I can in the garden, determined to have a productive vegetable plot and colourful flower border this year. And when Cliff and I both have time off we go out for walks, visiting some of our favourite local places. Here are three</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This is <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ickworth" target="_blank">Ickworth</a>, the estate surrounding the National Trust property. We visited at Easter when the car park, overflow car park and over-flow over-flow car park were heaving . . . families visiting to hunt for Easter Eggs. But beyond the formal gardens we had the views to ourselves.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPmpAemzBdLh_Y8ThgcRROyzN_xH9PzIMbB2PiT6e9Z4TtJqnDs4AxNVWpT-t1z22Sgfc4Cmez1Xf_C_1v0PdM8hROwEK6L_hEJfCMOBTMWAswBa8L5kS1ucXzV6IQH7T9xsrywEObCRE/s1600/Ickworth-A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPmpAemzBdLh_Y8ThgcRROyzN_xH9PzIMbB2PiT6e9Z4TtJqnDs4AxNVWpT-t1z22Sgfc4Cmez1Xf_C_1v0PdM8hROwEK6L_hEJfCMOBTMWAswBa8L5kS1ucXzV6IQH7T9xsrywEObCRE/s400/Ickworth-A.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The magnificent oak trees are just coming into leaf. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">we're in for a soak</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">we're in for splash</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">At the end of March it seemed as if the Ash tree buds were about to break before the Oak. Now the Ash trees are still in bud, so if the old rhyme is true we're heading for a drought.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilyBiZS2DExQqKtduf8SoMZE7no-jU81h79aiBUTasAJGAlYTgET3oLcPufLXs9j9eYqZR4CDGE8tvA2pocsHZXKqO-36V2YpX8tZzbwWA69fPbHZcFC2iHHPe6j6FtZHCqMGrA8yeODU/s1600/Ickworth-B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilyBiZS2DExQqKtduf8SoMZE7no-jU81h79aiBUTasAJGAlYTgET3oLcPufLXs9j9eYqZR4CDGE8tvA2pocsHZXKqO-36V2YpX8tZzbwWA69fPbHZcFC2iHHPe6j6FtZHCqMGrA8yeODU/s400/Ickworth-B.JPG" width="347" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There were others along our route . . . little lambs skipping in the sunshine.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsB4u46VdGn3tukaknf5dUov9kZn1GGjMksf8oSjApKNMs4DALaicR1fl8slqV7sTC28RE2dpVuS7-ahByd9ScxpALNOBELZN5I2yWPD6-K2GXg-3mZS8SAqL4PZ0aEatY7fi3VVRL8fc/s1600/Ickworth-C.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsB4u46VdGn3tukaknf5dUov9kZn1GGjMksf8oSjApKNMs4DALaicR1fl8slqV7sTC28RE2dpVuS7-ahByd9ScxpALNOBELZN5I2yWPD6-K2GXg-3mZS8SAqL4PZ0aEatY7fi3VVRL8fc/s400/Ickworth-C.JPG" width="350" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Another weather related rhyme . . .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Ne'er cast a clout</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">'til May be out</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">but is that the month of May or the May (or Hawthorn) blossom?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">or this year it might be the PM? I think I'll hedge my bets and keep a warm sweater handy all year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It was while walking in <a href="http://www.wildlifebcn.org/reserves/lower-wood-0" target="_blank">Lower Wood</a>, just over the border in Cambridgeshire, that I noticed a Hawthorn in flower . . . but looking closer the flowers were large with red stems and the leaves had shallow rounded lobes. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCqcsRtdUVvAStCov4yyIqrEZyuJzt664LuQbebwR9qsHxLiG62A4-O3375A4jmFKLyY-j320gUjcwPaK10MCbEYhnxJtgR2x6Ow1CNJsB7SxYA95pIcWRO734yXNEFEwixzUetHroZzU/s1600/MidlandHawthorn-A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCqcsRtdUVvAStCov4yyIqrEZyuJzt664LuQbebwR9qsHxLiG62A4-O3375A4jmFKLyY-j320gUjcwPaK10MCbEYhnxJtgR2x6Ow1CNJsB7SxYA95pIcWRO734yXNEFEwixzUetHroZzU/s400/MidlandHawthorn-A.JPG" width="298" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This is the <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/native-trees/midland-hawthorn/" target="_blank">Midland Hawthorn</a>, Crataegus laevigata, you'll find it in ancient woodland. In medieval times this was the most abundant Hawthorn of the English countryside.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyqEotIc-GppWprNT0ZToPSbyc5hYh9fHVX2TP1P9NX6RTV6QzC1knAjhfhsck9Pi-sw5EPiTdoJb30XKvUB2HKlzYYdIR6S8aB0465aUKhgs-djXJ_SiRmjdzH_RLCStVijyFUrb8xwo/s1600/MidlandHawthorn-B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyqEotIc-GppWprNT0ZToPSbyc5hYh9fHVX2TP1P9NX6RTV6QzC1knAjhfhsck9Pi-sw5EPiTdoJb30XKvUB2HKlzYYdIR6S8aB0465aUKhgs-djXJ_SiRmjdzH_RLCStVijyFUrb8xwo/s400/MidlandHawthorn-B.JPG" width="298" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Common Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna, is the usual Hawthorn hedging. Along the hedgerows near the wood the Common Hawthorn buds are about to bloom, you can see the leaves are divided into pointed lobes and the flower stems are green.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtg6ru4Y34sw8_F2mP9c5yRTtv_eYkzSRHKA-15f5Fxnz2-3SCWFQm3piXoBtAmGdfD5amm_C2K_v4G_J5BXXGbnthtFtl3wf6v34lSSNTeOldw9e2tVS7qkA04xwX0N3M6PKo3gWclcQ/s1600/Hawthorn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtg6ru4Y34sw8_F2mP9c5yRTtv_eYkzSRHKA-15f5Fxnz2-3SCWFQm3piXoBtAmGdfD5amm_C2K_v4G_J5BXXGbnthtFtl3wf6v34lSSNTeOldw9e2tVS7qkA04xwX0N3M6PKo3gWclcQ/s400/Hawthorn.JPG" width="298" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Probably my favourite Easter walk is along the <a href="http://www.countryfile.com/days-out/devils-dyke-cambridgeshire" target="_blank">Devil's Dyke</a>, an Anglo-Saxon ditch and bank which was built 1300 years ago to defend the trackways along the narrow stretch of land lying between the Fens (before they were drained) and the uplands of West Suffolk (which were thickly wooded). Did a Saxon leader announce "I'm gonna build a big ditch" ?</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL3GC2jGNrDUx85LkgNaMp8KS3Vw7VCjsczzRyb8-ivST1GLqM3KUmh3Q7xm5hGqqQ6x1p6ThQfVqVOgDg6IDAlin9rDcRVYkEQAJ4XUToGkDS76iIvszSyUlRCx9HBiRMB_Ha4wMMPZc/s1600/DevilsDyke-A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL3GC2jGNrDUx85LkgNaMp8KS3Vw7VCjsczzRyb8-ivST1GLqM3KUmh3Q7xm5hGqqQ6x1p6ThQfVqVOgDg6IDAlin9rDcRVYkEQAJ4XUToGkDS76iIvszSyUlRCx9HBiRMB_Ha4wMMPZc/s400/DevilsDyke-A.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Last year the ditch along this section was dense with brambles, over winter it has been cleared, so we ventured down from the path along the bank top. Walking along the bottom the the ditch you can appreciate how much chalky earth had been dug and piled up . . . how many people did it take to do this? How long did it take?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZG2KUzmj_7HMfS6jyFLLlyU169gq-i5Tfvr3ZKfbYHwhOp2iQuuB23Q2mJ0VHokQDUuAlAbFXbsNIGiOa0CwR8HGCg8T3-oCAiEfELn67286sy4qdmT2WCYqaP4MAGbaJ9IjSg9Nl01Y/s1600/Pasqueflower-A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZG2KUzmj_7HMfS6jyFLLlyU169gq-i5Tfvr3ZKfbYHwhOp2iQuuB23Q2mJ0VHokQDUuAlAbFXbsNIGiOa0CwR8HGCg8T3-oCAiEfELn67286sy4qdmT2WCYqaP4MAGbaJ9IjSg9Nl01Y/s400/Pasqueflower-A.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The reason for my annual 'pilgrimage' to this spot is to see the <a href="http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/pasqueflower" target="_blank">Pasqueflowers</a>, Pulsatilla vulgaris. This is one of the few places to see them growing in the wild, the little clumps of soft down covered feathery leaves cling to the steep bank. Unexpectedly exotic purple petals with a boss of golden stamens in the centre, look like fragments of some richly embroidered gown.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBIdMzSINAUjCq7z-G6jmroBGwhS8mGFQYrHUCcq9gI5JqHwhsDjklhHfCP242v9uytaYOhz_FPmHex87bwPX5-apGRwY5uwLN61uodDYNGOA_jGdugdw3DTxbA7-nNsHUIsYQ7Z9uKCI/s1600/Pasqueflower-B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBIdMzSINAUjCq7z-G6jmroBGwhS8mGFQYrHUCcq9gI5JqHwhsDjklhHfCP242v9uytaYOhz_FPmHex87bwPX5-apGRwY5uwLN61uodDYNGOA_jGdugdw3DTxbA7-nNsHUIsYQ7Z9uKCI/s400/Pasqueflower-B.JPG" width="322" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The quintessential flower of Spring in England is the Bluebell, though <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants-and-fungi/woodland-wildflowers/identify-native-bluebell/" target="_blank">the true English Bluebell is now increasingly rare</a> as it hybridises with the Spanish Bluebell.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5aJeyRS7Bm8aTBpW3ljKpMbhr4nYLANpKl-mc1BgvT5kXflQdNzz1Ef5AOBMdMgGxcoHTnhBWky3YWx2Y3zXgxBTG2_mDgzSXSF4Ea6KZHbNANOPQsLFN8GuWC2pl7GCnx0KY6_4Skg/s1600/Bluebell.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5aJeyRS7Bm8aTBpW3ljKpMbhr4nYLANpKl-mc1BgvT5kXflQdNzz1Ef5AOBMdMgGxcoHTnhBWky3YWx2Y3zXgxBTG2_mDgzSXSF4Ea6KZHbNANOPQsLFN8GuWC2pl7GCnx0KY6_4Skg/s400/Bluebell.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We drove down to Hertfordshire to revisit a Bluebell wood that Cliff had seen while on a <a href="https://www.cambridgeramblingclub.com/" target="_blank">Rambling Club</a> walk. It was well worth the trip and walk to find it . . . alongside the Chiltern Way south of Hitchin.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGldqey2PdY_6jmzYfGNuTQysIKDahER9rxlGysVW3X0fV688HQrLbKJDWkh4vDGgFv8QNuo651kJy-DtsEnQGFH-2nDnLiAOs1FI5vrnOKzPPZ-ufXvFk_F4yCjNpNJhDsQ66X_bHn_I/s1600/BluebellWood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGldqey2PdY_6jmzYfGNuTQysIKDahER9rxlGysVW3X0fV688HQrLbKJDWkh4vDGgFv8QNuo651kJy-DtsEnQGFH-2nDnLiAOs1FI5vrnOKzPPZ-ufXvFk_F4yCjNpNJhDsQ66X_bHn_I/s400/BluebellWood.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The density of flowers seems to flood the woodland with a blue so intense and shimmering. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">On all our walks in April our boots remained mud-free. There's been no significant rain in most of the South-East of England for over 2 months. At times it has been unseasonably hot, 25C, and now a bitter Northerly wind is blowing an bringing night frosts. Today we had a hail shower!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjah2sYN-_AhxBTqrqZpgEDIfeObnPp_pNMjb7B7-xKez9xgLQ7-oa7PBpR91jEdU1cPztS4ZDf884CbmFJ-0fKzqccMOfi4SL0VWzhRtqQxRIPoPGD5ZzqD9bjj5zw930ifAIK7FBuQ_M/s1600/Drought.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjah2sYN-_AhxBTqrqZpgEDIfeObnPp_pNMjb7B7-xKez9xgLQ7-oa7PBpR91jEdU1cPztS4ZDf884CbmFJ-0fKzqccMOfi4SL0VWzhRtqQxRIPoPGD5ZzqD9bjj5zw930ifAIK7FBuQ_M/s400/Drought.JPG" width="298" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The farmland is cracked and dry. We need rain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Last Sunday I had a stall at Wyken Hall for the Plants & Crafts in the Garden event. I've attended for the past 2 years and it's one of my favourite markets.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsxYFcvrkzk0zC0wBpGeIOcYpLMTfHS0tdmLKCnFya8EHmT_xI9uXKlh7-0gtAz0PG4h91N2BGC5yzm-bfcH99xugIPB9zYOYST50N5d4928E4yn74KnQvSeWxoXhYgyVYU2vHXGbWaTI/s1600/Wyken-A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsxYFcvrkzk0zC0wBpGeIOcYpLMTfHS0tdmLKCnFya8EHmT_xI9uXKlh7-0gtAz0PG4h91N2BGC5yzm-bfcH99xugIPB9zYOYST50N5d4928E4yn74KnQvSeWxoXhYgyVYU2vHXGbWaTI/s320/Wyken-A.JPG" width="318" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This year the sun shone! It was a busy day with 700 people coming through the gates.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I sold lots of cards and chatted with some lovely customers and fellow stallholders. And I bought myself some treats, a polka-dotty canvas hat made in Suffolk by Sally Wilding of <a href="https://www.etsy.com/people/hedkasemillinary" target="_blank">Hedkase</a>; an exquisite wire and beadwork bee brooch made by Susan North and a pair of blue and grey glass earrings by Clair Rice of <a href="http://www.designermakers21.co.uk/members/clair-rice/clair-rice-home.php" target="_blank">HunnyBunny Glass</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I'm looking forward to getting out and about over the next Bank Holiday weekend and wearing my hat! Hope you all have a good May Day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Celia</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">xx</span>Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-74488169988018240362017-03-14T13:10:00.002+00:002017-03-14T13:53:34.070+00:00My blog is 10 years old!<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I've never kept a traditional written diary (except for holiday journals) but somehow I've kept this blog going for 10 whole years!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">My <a href="http://purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.co.uk/2007/03/welcome-to-purple-podded-peas-my-blog.html" target="_blank">first blog post</a> shows the amazing tidy and sunny vegetable garden </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">the vegetable plot, March 2007</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">. . . and here's the same view today</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Looks like I need to do some weeding! The main change has been <a href="http://purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/ppp-now-means-pigeon-proof-pen.html" target="_blank">the Pigeon Proof Pen</a> which keeps the Purple Podded Peas and brassicas safe!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Inside the wall the garden is looking Spring-like and much neater, with lots of daffodils in flower and yesterday Cliff cut the lawn for the first time this year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Our cockerel, <a href="http://purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/cheeps-epic-tail.html" target="_blank">Mr Cheep</a> is now 5 and a half years old, here he is supervising Ivy pecking grass (Ivy, our youngest of the surviving 3 hens, needs no supervision ... she has one spur and occasionally tries to crow! she also lays beautiful brown eggs).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The other hens are Saffron, who is Mr Cheep's biological mum, seen here paddling in the pond ... of course, under supervision!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And finally Nutmeg, who is the same age as Saffron. She was in the nest box preparing to lay one of her lovely blue eggs ... yes, Mr Cheep popped up into the hen-house to supervise!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In the view of the walled garden above, you can also see the Ginger Studio Assistant strolling across the lawn. He and is Tabby sister were <a href="http://purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/studio-assistants.html" target="_blank">very young apprentice assistants</a> when this blog started. She prefers to walk on the wild side!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This blog charts the past ten years of working in my studio, I've found it a useful way to record work in progress and the different things I've done and places I've visited.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFfXn6xJb0loNnr9ggd9MtG8VU_NtHdwxWqSllNKo2nj1DT3zexMORmGUFGPjB-15oHVAMEwXO8K4rzuKYj4ioNEh1ZJf8DboH_TBLIlJCvOljCehyphenhyphenl2RvggpMPdg9F4ZvmSd18rYa2Y/s1600/B-10.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFfXn6xJb0loNnr9ggd9MtG8VU_NtHdwxWqSllNKo2nj1DT3zexMORmGUFGPjB-15oHVAMEwXO8K4rzuKYj4ioNEh1ZJf8DboH_TBLIlJCvOljCehyphenhyphenl2RvggpMPdg9F4ZvmSd18rYa2Y/s400/B-10.JPG" width="298" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I've decided to keep blogging from time to time, but electronic communication methods change rapidly these days, and I'm finding Instagram (which didn't exist when I started blogging, Instagram is only 6 years old) fits easier with busy times ... <a href="https://www.instagram.com/celiahartartist/" target="_blank">you can find me on Instagram here</a>, where I'm posting my photos of my Lent sketchbook, Meditations on the Colour of Trees. You can also find me on <a href="https://twitter.com/celiahart" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Thank you for visiting, I know some of you have been following from the start. And welcome to new visitors who have just stumbled into the Purple Podded Peas blog.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>To celebrate, here's a discount code </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">BLOGBIRTHDAY10</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>to get 10% off anything </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b><a href="http://www.celiahartdesigns.co.uk/" target="_blank">in my online shop</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>valid until midnight on 31 March 2017</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">A whole decade of my life, recorded in a blog! Who'd have thought?!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I wonder where we'll all be in 10 years form now?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Celia</span></div>
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<br />Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-52347471401802467052017-03-06T18:38:00.002+00:002017-03-08T14:08:19.750+00:00Madonnas & Miracles at the Fitzwilliam<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The major exhibition this Spring at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, is <b>Madonnas & Miracles, The Holy Home in Renaissance Italy.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Last week I went along to a preview event, below are my thoughts along with some hints and tips which may add to your appreciation of the exhibition. But first here is the official trailer ...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">You can also see more photos of some of the exhibits in a local news report, <a href="http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/miracle-baby-jesus-doll-survived-12680422" target="_blank">here</a>. And the Fitzwilliam Museum as lots of useful information <a href="http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/madonnasandmiracles" target="_blank">here</a>. I'll add more links to press reviews, as and when I stumble across them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This exhibition is the culmination of over 4 years cross-disciplinary research by Cambridge University's departments of Italian, History, Architecture and History or Art. It was funded by a grant from the EU, which has covered the cost of the research, the exhibition and the transportation as well as the cleaning and conservation of many of the exhibits. I've often wondered how long it takes to put on a large scale exhibition, and hearing the curators/organisers talk about the research in hundreds of libraries, archives and museums mainly in Italy but worldwide, certainly underlined the massive task that was undertaken.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>So, what did I think of the exhibition?</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The title 'Madonnas & Miracles' led me to expect lots of gold painted altar pieces, but it's really about how families and women in particular, made prayer and their faith in God and the Saints, part of their day to day life and coping strategy in times of adversity. Of course there are lots of Madonnas among the exhibits, including a beautiful painting by Botticelli which is featured on the poster, but the focus is on objects which would be treasured by ordinary working folk - ceramics, beads, bowls and cutlery which would be handled while a prayer was murmered or painted plaques offering to a church as thanks for a miracle. Afterwards I thought that 'Domestic Devotions' would be a more accurate title . . . and to my surprise I've now found the <a href="http://domesticdevotions.lib.cam.ac.uk/" target="_blank">research team's web site and blog</a> is called just that! I wonder how and why they decided on the different title for the exhibition?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">To transport you to Renaissance Italy, the exhibition space has been divided into rooms with dark green or blue walls, there's even a fire place and a bed. Stone effect archways frame the openings between - rugged semi-circular arches symbolise the masculine world around the piazzas and square topped doorways frame the domestic feminine world inside the home. A fact I would not have noticed if I hadn't read <a href="https://www.instagram.com/fitzmuseum_uk/?hl=en" target="_blank">the Fitz's Instagram feed</a>!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The theme of the exhibition is, I think, a bit obscure and academic - although the curators stressed how relevant the themes are to today. If you visit I'd be interested to know what you think. But many of the exhibits are intriguing, charming and have a link to ordinary people rather than the rich an famous. So it's well worth a visit (its' free to go in) and there is some wonderful imagery which you can enjoy without even reading the labels (though the labels are very clear and informative).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Here are my highlights:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">- the pottery nativity table centre-piece, this is just fabulous and it's worth popping into the exhibition just to see this alone. I can imagine how this would illustrate the Christmas story told to children. And there is another ceramic nativity which incorporates inkwells ... which would be useful for Christmas cards and thank you letters!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">- the Camerino wooden doll of baby Jesus, this life-like painted wooden baby is nearly 600 years old. It is from the nunnery in Camerino which was devastated by an earthquake last October, amazingly the doll survived unscathed. Apparently life-like baby dolls were popular with the nuns, who would cuddle and kiss them as part of there devotional rituals. Maybe they needed something to cuddle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNdcZqD3EoWx-ShsSv6dX7t5oEqheUNO9KkXQ1eQmuRps0jXR4m5OhsJOpnoIBUyqjjg0-EAM9U5CQJQICvkdscfDCzOUFhAdVMZQaQA6LSM40rBClTDdrcrnuN6_uBc00sWPBdJgN9Jk/s1600/MnM-D.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNdcZqD3EoWx-ShsSv6dX7t5oEqheUNO9KkXQ1eQmuRps0jXR4m5OhsJOpnoIBUyqjjg0-EAM9U5CQJQICvkdscfDCzOUFhAdVMZQaQA6LSM40rBClTDdrcrnuN6_uBc00sWPBdJgN9Jk/s400/MnM-D.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">- the 'singing knives', which are engraved with music for the Benediction at the beginning of a meal and the Grace afterwards. Recordings of the prayers being sung (very beautifully) by members of St John's College choir, can be heard on the headphones next to the exhibit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">- look out for the rabbits munching their lunch in one of the large photo panels showing a scene from a painted interior. Just one of many sensitively observed scenes in the backgrounds of the pictures in the exhibition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">- I loved the jaunty horses on a ceramic plaque of St Sebastian and St Roch, who were both poplar saints for protecting a household from the plague. Notice how St Roch seems to be pointing to a rip in his tights ... actually he's drawing attention to a scar from a nasty plague boil, to give YOU hope that HE DID so YOU CAN survive. The ceramics and the illustrated woodcut pamphlets are probably my favourite things in the exhibition and the reason I'll go back for another look.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">- And don't miss the wooden model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, like beautiful Renaissance lego! Imagine a family telling stories as they put the building together, perhaps tales of the pilgrimage grandfather went on years ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>To sum up ...</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Well worth a visit if you're in Cambridge. I learnt a lot. Take time to look and find the unexpected and think about how the objects on display were once part of someone's daily life.</span></div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-89950427129235429142017-02-28T21:41:00.001+00:002017-02-28T22:35:43.803+00:00An interlude in Edinburgh<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We've just got back from a long weekend in Edinburgh. We travelled by train, luckily missing Storm Doris and cancelled trains by a day. The mountains were still dusted with the previous day's snowfall.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFhz91aeuCJKBLKJ0rQM_HC914XRxgd8XXzuMvmMPok5J8YWeQIOQkEFWeZo3PBGrHYDtp5cQWSs9e3Tj9tlAzem52XjYhCpsDyqxJN1Ljqb8wqTqnA812fEnLhK6o-oiBXt5dXButXkc/s1600/A-Edinburgh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFhz91aeuCJKBLKJ0rQM_HC914XRxgd8XXzuMvmMPok5J8YWeQIOQkEFWeZo3PBGrHYDtp5cQWSs9e3Tj9tlAzem52XjYhCpsDyqxJN1Ljqb8wqTqnA812fEnLhK6o-oiBXt5dXButXkc/s400/A-Edinburgh.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Below you can see the roof of Waverley station with the grand monuments on the top of Calton Hill beyond. Our hotel was just around the far side of the hill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">A short bracing walk takes you to the top of the hill for a panoramic view of the city.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4uf3q8uhDcILf5Lw6_mfcAn4l10V2dJrunZFdRPps83G5IW8AqGQ5NecYzN1Gyo40EkE-o2z57yy1pf1kcwIOKSaSHa8q-I6jEIi0BCqu22yX34h0qkimKEAUd3NgVNU28ZywEUJnVis/s1600/E-Edinburgh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4uf3q8uhDcILf5Lw6_mfcAn4l10V2dJrunZFdRPps83G5IW8AqGQ5NecYzN1Gyo40EkE-o2z57yy1pf1kcwIOKSaSHa8q-I6jEIi0BCqu22yX34h0qkimKEAUd3NgVNU28ZywEUJnVis/s400/E-Edinburgh.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">One of the first places we searched out (knowing it also had a nice café) was <a href="https://dovecotstudios.com/" target="_blank">Dovecot Studios</a>, here in a former Victorian bath house is a tapestry weaving studio. Our visit didn't coincide with being able to watch the weavers at work, but we were able to look at work in progress from the gallery.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7pXGp78HitEWls6rBAHe2VD94m0pWIWbx6Q9oCXnuPK4rG_bc-RHXcliv6BIIG5P2WyUIywIdVdX62YwiQVmvRQiUYfcivJ58VLpPKOgkPVVa9Cp3klIgV6c6TBLC8VzEGU5uVAy8WhM/s1600/B-Edinburgh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7pXGp78HitEWls6rBAHe2VD94m0pWIWbx6Q9oCXnuPK4rG_bc-RHXcliv6BIIG5P2WyUIywIdVdX62YwiQVmvRQiUYfcivJ58VLpPKOgkPVVa9Cp3klIgV6c6TBLC8VzEGU5uVAy8WhM/s400/B-Edinburgh.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The largest piece in progress was a massive tufted rug, the wool yarn is fired using a tufting gun, through a canvas fabric. This makes a dense pile on the other side. This rug designed by <a href="https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Victoria-Morton/344F4256A8E7C948" target="_blank">Victoria Morton</a> is destined for a new performing arts centre at the Perse School in Cambridge.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17hiq4TGj0js2REwnpFsSZRsVQ-4dETQyzZojCfK9fzANFDtQPmugSwCIYP6ZlZpK1H1JDm1f_LpiQ53heQAbRfEXOcPoLr6EcMlIeJritB1bJystoEaGh0LSGs0Zn70SIYx3-r0xrb8/s1600/C-Edinburgh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17hiq4TGj0js2REwnpFsSZRsVQ-4dETQyzZojCfK9fzANFDtQPmugSwCIYP6ZlZpK1H1JDm1f_LpiQ53heQAbRfEXOcPoLr6EcMlIeJritB1bJystoEaGh0LSGs0Zn70SIYx3-r0xrb8/s400/C-Edinburgh.jpg" width="327" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Late on Friday afternoon there was just time to pop into the <a href="https://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/introduction-114" target="_blank">Scottish National Gallery</a> before it closed, it deserved a longer visit as there are so many spectacular paintings. But the bell rang so we had to leave.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">On Saturday morning we walked down to the Old Town for a tour of <a href="http://www.nts.org.uk/GladstonesLand" target="_blank">Gladstone's Land</a>, a 17th century tenement house now owned by the National Trust for Scotland who have furnished it with original household furniture and accessories ... you have to imagine the grime, smells and noise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Our lunch was at the excellent café at the grand Victorian Gothic Scottish National Portrait Gallery, before seeing the <a href="https://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/exhibitions/bp-portrait-award-2016" target="_blank">BP Portrait Award 2016</a> exhibition. I recommend a visit if you're in Edinburgh, although you can see some the paintings online they really don't show the variety of scale and media. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">As it wasn't raining, we decided to walk through the New Town to the Botanic Garden. I spotted a very smart mini-library with roof garden and then noticed we were in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/44_Scotland_Street" target="_blank">Scotland Street</a> ... so maybe not surprising at all! (I don't think that No. 44 actually exits.)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGZdCvjsMG0tO-u4g6YV22oz_MpbwOR01a71LYlI8EnmPRC2p5QrGSn4je2EED6QdtJcMXLNNxKmf_WZVPMf8f0miDcjd-zah5Zo4aeyL6fPejwHwTeFszRXD4Xoujht0sP6CfsjPSk9k/s1600/G-Edinburgh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGZdCvjsMG0tO-u4g6YV22oz_MpbwOR01a71LYlI8EnmPRC2p5QrGSn4je2EED6QdtJcMXLNNxKmf_WZVPMf8f0miDcjd-zah5Zo4aeyL6fPejwHwTeFszRXD4Xoujht0sP6CfsjPSk9k/s400/G-Edinburgh.jpg" width="298" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Sunday morning and the sun was shining ... we set off on a bracing walk past Holyrood Palace and up the path towards Arthur's Seat, the rugged volcanic crag that stands over the city. But the weather soon deteriorated to rain and 40mph gusts (and I was wearing my leather knee boots rather than walking boots) so we took the 'easy' low level route. But it gave us a flavour of the 'mountain in the city' landscape.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The rain had definitely set in so we headed to the <a href="http://www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-scotland/" target="_blank">National Museum of Scotland</a> which is in a fabulous building. We joined lots of people who were appreciating a great indoor space that's free to visit. The huge galleried Victorian hall provides a wonderful area to promenade around. And the modern extension is a maze of intriguing spaces. There is also a roof garden, but we were content with viewing the rooftops of the city through the windows.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4CjDSuk0Ukev-bbaGyLLd7KLhnawzwONxcvfzKsL9YRfiIE45PkzzH25evyzIL-Ni8pE0v13Rn6byLF6aP3Ea1rO72stbRVzLiqHHM6J_v6cioy5xmhzFFy7rAoTqxCs45qfPbdxHils/s1600/I-Edinburgh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4CjDSuk0Ukev-bbaGyLLd7KLhnawzwONxcvfzKsL9YRfiIE45PkzzH25evyzIL-Ni8pE0v13Rn6byLF6aP3Ea1rO72stbRVzLiqHHM6J_v6cioy5xmhzFFy7rAoTqxCs45qfPbdxHils/s400/I-Edinburgh.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">While at the Dovecot Studios we'd seen a reproduction of a painting of trees, and here it is again in the Museum, but this time it is a large tapestry that was woven at Dovecot. The design is based on a painting 'Large Tree Group' by Victoria Crowe, which features shepherd Jenny Armstrong. The colours of the yarn are all natural undyed wools from different breeds of sheep and were sourced from 70 different flocks across the UK as well as St Kilda and the Falklands. I've found an interesting programme which includes <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04vk6kr" target="_blank">Victoria Crowe discussing her relationship to the landscape she depicts</a> with Andrew Marr, well worth a listen. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We were enjoying exploring the Museum and had found the Lewis chess pieces, but we didn't want to miss visiting <a href="https://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Edinburgh Castle</a>. So we braved the wind and rain. At times it was difficult to remain standing! Inside the castle the howling wind added to the atmosphere. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We found a quiet and cosy café at the top of Jenners department store, where tea and toasted tea cakes soon revived us. Then I treated myself to a pair of black suede ankle boots in the sale.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Our train home wasn't until 2pm, so we had time for a guided tour inside the new <a href="http://www.parliament.scot/visit-and-learn.aspx" target="_blank">Scottish Parliament</a> building. It was interesting to see behind the scenes and how the intriguingly shaped building contains practical work spaces ... it's well worth booking a tour.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Time to get the train, we'd paid a modest amount to upgrade our tickets to First Class so enjoyed being served lunch, tea and drinks as we sped through the countryside under dramatic storm clouds and 6 hours later we were back home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Tomorrow is 1st March, in a couple of weeks this blog will be 10 years old! A whole decade of blogging. I've toyed with the idea of closing my blog, changing its name, or starting a different blog. But I think I'll leave things as they are and still blog whenever I feel like it. In recent weeks I've enjoyed posting on Instagram more than blogging, it's like a mini-blog post. Starting tomorrow, I'm planning a series of painterly Instagram posts through Lent, you can find me <a href="https://www.instagram.com/celiahartartist/" target="_blank">@celiahartartist</a>, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">xx</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-23605408830528732202017-01-01T20:13:00.000+00:002017-01-01T20:22:00.659+00:00Greenery and other colours<div>
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Each year Pantone selects a colour for the year and for 2017 the colour is 'Greenery' or to be more precise '<a href="https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/15-0343-TCX" target="_blank">Pantone 15-0343 TCX</a>', so be prepared for lots of green in the style magazines this year. The reason I've mentioned this is because it nicely links the first day of 2017 ... Happy New Year! ... to something I've been planning to blog about but haven't got round to, mainly because the first blog post evolved into something quite unexpected...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I'll begin at the beginning ... I was looking at a list of <a href="http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/foodplants.php" target="_blank">UK Butterflies' larval food plants</a>, the reason to see if we could grow more plants in our garden that butterflies need - not just flowers. I saw that Brimstone caterpillars need Buckthorn. The Alder Buckthorn, Frangula alnus likes acidic woodlands - you don't find that in SW Suffolk - but Purging Buckthorn, Rhamnus cathartic, is very similar and that is the shrub our local Brimstones would be searching for on which to lay their eggs. And so began my search for Purging Buckthorn in the local hedgerows. I eventually found some on the Devil's Dyke and more planted by the gamekeeper for Pheasant coverts along our favourite hare-watching walk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I didn't expect to find more Purging Buckthorn when I visited the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge to see the fabulous exhibition '<a href="http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/colour" target="_blank">Colour - the art and science of illuminated manuscripts</a>', but that's exactly what happened! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">(By the way the last day of the exhibition is Monday 2nd January so you could visit if you get your skates on, otherwise do look at the online resources which are brilliant.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The first part of the exhibition looks at the pigments used by medieval scribes and illuminators, ground up earth pigments and semi-precious stones and plants like madder and woad and BUCKTHORN BERRIES! The caption in the exhibition explained that the purple juice of Purging Buckthorn berries made green ink!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I picked some Buckthorn berries and </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">found some basic instructions for making ink from berries ... which recommended freezing the berries as when defrosted the juice will extract easier without needing to add water.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I then mashed the berries into a paste, adding a tiny amount of water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I then pressed this through a tea-strainer, the consistency of a fruit coulis (DO NOT EAT! it's called Purging for a reason) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Then I added about a teaspoon of vinegar and a pinch of salt, this acts as a preservative, so the ink doesn't go mouldy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And to make the ink slightly viscous so it holds onto the pen-nib/quill/brush, you need a teaspoon of gum arabic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Result - INK!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And the magic bit is that it's purple but turns green as it dries!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">After further research I discovered that by using alum (as a mordant) the ink can be made a green colour and it was by a complex distilling process that the colour 'Sap Green' was made from Buckthorn berries.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I was keen to make some more colours ... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I found a jar of dried Cochineal beetles, a holiday souvenir from a street market in Lanzarote, soaked in hot water they produced an intense red-pink colour.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">But without alum to fix the colour, the ink dried a dirty grey-brown. In the next batch I added a pinch of alum and hey presto! PINK INK!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">What colour next?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I remembered the Saffron harvested from our Saffron crocuses, this year the yield had been good so I have a small jar of dried stigmas in the kitchen cupboard. I put a small pinch of Saffron in a mortar and ground them to a fine powder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Mixed with a little water and WOOOOO! Liquid gold!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Saffron ink needed no alum and the colour is intense. No wonder it was prized as a colour in medieval times</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMAdXTVXKIKKEdekIrSxDKZdGleFJmng9RkpzW4EGNgvOP8_Ygz6_wgCRL4tZJJItAZTnVLRApKit9y97wIO1E3cqa1Lp7EUWeE9cVujQCxM9pT0w5LgW_Clw6PwVxizz-fHQBeTWFz5c/s1600/Colour-K.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMAdXTVXKIKKEdekIrSxDKZdGleFJmng9RkpzW4EGNgvOP8_Ygz6_wgCRL4tZJJItAZTnVLRApKit9y97wIO1E3cqa1Lp7EUWeE9cVujQCxM9pT0w5LgW_Clw6PwVxizz-fHQBeTWFz5c/s320/Colour-K.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Painting Saffron yellow over Cochineal pink creates a lovely bright red.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkT4byQ5pTDPSYe2kuAuidpXEo4mfZLFFQfjAMVif7TzPLQo2UqYn0tLJRsINDY-f_uwe6ElCxlYeLD7gJRNgcRgISneRnKDyhLRo0R5tOyzfYesuDRa_DifsooKa2_wM7HcwrskoK1A/s1600/Colour-L.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkT4byQ5pTDPSYe2kuAuidpXEo4mfZLFFQfjAMVif7TzPLQo2UqYn0tLJRsINDY-f_uwe6ElCxlYeLD7gJRNgcRgISneRnKDyhLRo0R5tOyzfYesuDRa_DifsooKa2_wM7HcwrskoK1A/s320/Colour-L.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I used my home-made inks to make some Christmas cards, writing with a quill. The Buckthorn ink gradually changing from purple through indigo to green. I added red berries (and forgot to photograph them!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">One of my Christmas presents was the book <a href="https://victoriafinlay.com/books/" target="_blank">'Colour, travels through the Paintbox' by Victoria Finlay</a>, it's a fascinating journey through the stories of colour pigments. </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It's certainly got me thinking about how much we take for granted the coloured paints, pens, crayons and inks we can buy so easily today. </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And it's sure to inspire more ink-making experiments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Wishing you a creative 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Celia</span></div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-11068284336864433542016-12-18T16:47:00.000+00:002016-12-18T17:31:38.550+00:00The months rush by when you have monthly deadlines!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There's nothing like monthly deadlines to speed up time! Already on my desk, I have Frank Ronan's words for 'The writer's plot' for the February 2017 edition of <a href="http://www.gardensillustrated.com/" target="_blank">Gardens Illustrated magazine</a>. January's illustration is done and probably at the printers by now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Then I realised I'd failed to update this blog with the past six, yes a half year's worth!, of monthly illustrations. If you read the magazine you will have seen all of these already, but I like to keep a record of them here, and for those who don't see the magazine, here we go . . . </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">August's theme was Frank's neglected English garden (he now resides in California) and his joy of revisiting the damp, green and overgrown plot. Much like the outer edges of my own garden, I thought - so I sketched some bindweed, buttercup, cow parsley and wood avens from life . . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhErBu1Z9-zCMbm1hHOwdmVL35wTI3AX80zvfzoSU9LfZc0vCeM9O6HN5_2-QtB_gnskGccMyxBoXkPX_T6KxAQbf5C0N_GEIlp-AAIhJ8l6kQNhZUrx9_bWZJQRpTFhdBgmPFp7H2FLaQ/s1600/GI-Aug16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhErBu1Z9-zCMbm1hHOwdmVL35wTI3AX80zvfzoSU9LfZc0vCeM9O6HN5_2-QtB_gnskGccMyxBoXkPX_T6KxAQbf5C0N_GEIlp-AAIhJ8l6kQNhZUrx9_bWZJQRpTFhdBgmPFp7H2FLaQ/s400/GI-Aug16.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">. . . and added some blackbirds - I'm sure there are blackbirds enjoying Frank's plot while he is away.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJhsxIqa6Ch1jsBphe6kwhe4Yn5UroIxQyDd_0abDe78YqTO2BrcFGOoWN7rJIBrcHzeCnR0_tQEEjqhiRJkJMsd81Z1R5gZuvyfPR76DF_UOMYeqGRPqJ4dkd87A2yecSm78kCn2eRF4/s1600/page4-1005-full.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJhsxIqa6Ch1jsBphe6kwhe4Yn5UroIxQyDd_0abDe78YqTO2BrcFGOoWN7rJIBrcHzeCnR0_tQEEjqhiRJkJMsd81Z1R5gZuvyfPR76DF_UOMYeqGRPqJ4dkd87A2yecSm78kCn2eRF4/s320/page4-1005-full.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Then onto September and Frank was in a gloomy mood - plants were dying in his Californian garden, expensive large and precious plants. He blamed his dog. A tricky subject to give a positive and decorative spin, so I decided to play it straight and focus on the wrongly accused dog.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis_1yd1-Li9m0uBKeaURxTEKxKAB2470PLKMWxAwOmS7tb24yRQ6zt5FMXcExH3FPJmZ-Fdty91oOgKQR6VKFZXc8kmJu-nF0JISfVaU-wGnP5dusEI2zkOUaWN14fl3r88R4VxLc9tYQ/s1600/GI-Sept16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis_1yd1-Li9m0uBKeaURxTEKxKAB2470PLKMWxAwOmS7tb24yRQ6zt5FMXcExH3FPJmZ-Fdty91oOgKQR6VKFZXc8kmJu-nF0JISfVaU-wGnP5dusEI2zkOUaWN14fl3r88R4VxLc9tYQ/s400/GI-Sept16.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Because it was gophers that were to blame. Frank is now waging war on gophers! And I'm now thinking grey squirrels aren't so bad after all.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1jVOTnZ8MqnK_2lr6olgUkOFJVialQcxrao9YIshyphenhyphen_QRQicK6LQZGZOqT68wUry4W2xOkSW06i0exdbdocb6YCp48OrzOhAhx17EMiG89tkFqdE_tde-7TveNAHwcTv2Fo1dpooCsXRU/s1600/page4-1004-full.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1jVOTnZ8MqnK_2lr6olgUkOFJVialQcxrao9YIshyphenhyphen_QRQicK6LQZGZOqT68wUry4W2xOkSW06i0exdbdocb6YCp48OrzOhAhx17EMiG89tkFqdE_tde-7TveNAHwcTv2Fo1dpooCsXRU/s320/page4-1004-full.jpg" width="319" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">October, and Frank is back to writing about his English garden and the pleasure of dahlias and succulents still looking good as autumn fades into winter. I sketched the dahlias which were flowering right outside my studio . . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">. . . combined with sketches of succulents in pots by out kitchen door, it made a cheerful design of rosette shapes printed in a rich pinky-red.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6gX19YvhtjJaOFIXZ54OayO5t9OpEWTrxbeshkdTc5tHFDHTUMDJ6VJyoymMfP260lC80LwGN3dUiaevaLUeA2KeDxOk8x9Jg8VMVr9DHDWUrdVyGBP7sOzDD7SLKUdR-E6bGkMgszfQ/s1600/page4-1003-full.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6gX19YvhtjJaOFIXZ54OayO5t9OpEWTrxbeshkdTc5tHFDHTUMDJ6VJyoymMfP260lC80LwGN3dUiaevaLUeA2KeDxOk8x9Jg8VMVr9DHDWUrdVyGBP7sOzDD7SLKUdR-E6bGkMgszfQ/s320/page4-1003-full.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">November's subject returned to Agaves, at first my heart sank as much I like them (and Frank seems to have a passion for them) I was floundering for spark of inspiration. It didn't help that I had to shoehorn this illustration into a couple of free days in a very busy August which included a few days in London. While I was visiting the <a href="https://skygarden.london/" target="_blank">Sky Garden</a> at the top of one of the City's newest high-rise buildings (by the way, do visit if you can, it's free and it's fabulous!) I spotted plant label - "that's what I have to draw for Frank's article" I said out loud, before kneeling down on the marble steps to get a good angle for some photos.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoAdtt-dmiwUdKMTD7StgQ5RmeJc5YaWh6SRliWEzzNQ_pOilWz8GeEdeU9YA4mC2lXb-tTqOUalzijH6ViYD72isTzHIGDdcEGBjCOnD4p9IGm9IlU0sQy_NVd_hh5iwfXgrp7QOz8zI/s1600/GI-Nov16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoAdtt-dmiwUdKMTD7StgQ5RmeJc5YaWh6SRliWEzzNQ_pOilWz8GeEdeU9YA4mC2lXb-tTqOUalzijH6ViYD72isTzHIGDdcEGBjCOnD4p9IGm9IlU0sQy_NVd_hh5iwfXgrp7QOz8zI/s400/GI-Nov16.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The plant at the Sky Garden wasn't in flower but I found some photos of the swan-necked flower spikes and they reminded my of fireworks, which seemed apt for the November magazine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">December, nearly the end of the year and the Christmas edition of the magazine . . . and Frank is musing about weeping (bear with me, he has his reasons) he needed to get something off his chest, the subject of weeping forms of tree and how some people are snobby about them. It's an amusing read and as with many of Frank's articles contains some references that had me scurrying off to google to check out their exact meanings (hence the copious notes in my sketch book). </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfywzyqb-qAvIrY9qdgDLtqXH2n_nyO2nGpJjK4ocVXe9Ovv0neygOPwTDFpdDVZ9eNUiWz3wwdQV1-ED2umwDMqwNh945LE9oNNAwDV3kVcky97DhKs9oSpzOUIyjOzqTXQN-LQeFWv0/s1600/GI-Dec16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfywzyqb-qAvIrY9qdgDLtqXH2n_nyO2nGpJjK4ocVXe9Ovv0neygOPwTDFpdDVZ9eNUiWz3wwdQV1-ED2umwDMqwNh945LE9oNNAwDV3kVcky97DhKs9oSpzOUIyjOzqTXQN-LQeFWv0/s320/GI-Dec16.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The idea for the composition arrived in my head fully formed – a weeping Cercidiphyllum (or Katsura tree) over a pond of golden carp.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnGTalUoZgvHAlWzcWZNDvYA3zL8LfHbfFRzRMmtVi25-i7FDHUEzznikNtZEKFlk8fOK1dBUa9niFqvRmjO3GFpWUp1LbRKoeDpksLkUPmvDKhTmTNpTq-91LmY2x3PyOEo3WtGAsvI/s1600/page4-1001-full.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnGTalUoZgvHAlWzcWZNDvYA3zL8LfHbfFRzRMmtVi25-i7FDHUEzznikNtZEKFlk8fOK1dBUa9niFqvRmjO3GFpWUp1LbRKoeDpksLkUPmvDKhTmTNpTq-91LmY2x3PyOEo3WtGAsvI/s320/page4-1001-full.jpg" width="310" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">To mark the end of the year Gardens Illustrated magazine has a Special plants edition, this year for the 13th issue of 2016 Frank returned to his favourite subject . . . yes it's another agave! To be fair Frank realises that he has written about succulents in more than a few articles this year, but he has a valid excuse - a specialist succulents nursery not far from his home in California has closed down and there is a liquidation sale! Frank is extremely excited by the chance to buy huge specimens of the agaves on his wish-list. I loved Frank's description: "There was the mother plant of Agave bracteosa with all her pups still peering out from under her skirts", it reminded me of a dame's costume in a pantomine, which is rather apt for the festive season.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">After scanning my sketch I worked on the design some more using Photoshop, and added birds and a lizard - after all, neglected greenhouses would be sure to have wildlife sneaking in among the plants. And to mark the passing of the old year into the new I reversed out the left side and made the background the night sky with the sun rising on the opposite side. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I'm not sure how I fitted these into the the past few months, but I still get a spark of excitement when a new article from Frank arrives via the magazine editors to my inbox. Yes even if it's another agave! I'm beginning to love them too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Season's Greetings!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Celia</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Some of my Gardens Illustrated designs from earlier in the year are now available as original limited edition hand-burnished linocuts and also as cards ... <a href="http://www.celiahartdesigns.co.uk/shopdepartments/cat_1100370-Gardens-Illustrated.html" target="_blank">please visit my online shop</a>.</span></div>
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<br />Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-64799263181575509622016-11-19T00:17:00.001+00:002016-11-22T09:55:26.688+00:00Of whales and other creatures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I can't believe it's 3 months since our adventure in Newfoundland, so it's been interesting to look back through my photos and select a few for this blog post - the one I promised about the wildlife we saw on our road trip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We were warned about Moose. Apparently many folk are injured and tragically some die in road accidents caused by Moose straying onto roads in Newfoundland. We saw huge road signs recording the year's fatal collisions. But we saw no sign of the giant gangly beasts. However while staying at Trinity we were looking forward to walking the Skerwink Trail and were warned that a family of Moose were on the headland. After the first bend in the path we spotted the youngster ... reading a house sign!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2HJSAjg80OiRsrhJVoxz_SUZZpaRFdtqHugNcmxZUh6_BY9b9IxkoJWwS0XnxLL3qShCUd3gZL0hZT8MojyJ6gExQe9dIkNxiXpvm5Otqq3DiyMGOqqdD4e6cqKeMVxguOMkW5pQAjyA/s1600/A-Moose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2HJSAjg80OiRsrhJVoxz_SUZZpaRFdtqHugNcmxZUh6_BY9b9IxkoJWwS0XnxLL3qShCUd3gZL0hZT8MojyJ6gExQe9dIkNxiXpvm5Otqq3DiyMGOqqdD4e6cqKeMVxguOMkW5pQAjyA/s400/A-Moose.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We slowly and calmly walked past as he munched on the vegetation. There was no sign of his parents ... although we knew they couldn't be far away - this made our return at dusk slightly un-nerving!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90KoYdGbP3oUR9Pf_swoghO4l-KqwaHnwgNCjLTbbg6I-Lh4DlPNcpKzoeZD-DmgPhSL6zUchXxJ1zUBfgBy_JXvehbsz-0e_NN6d75csfCartM4RLziieZPL5pMy1JmC3dSrNkPNvsE/s1600/B-Moose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90KoYdGbP3oUR9Pf_swoghO4l-KqwaHnwgNCjLTbbg6I-Lh4DlPNcpKzoeZD-DmgPhSL6zUchXxJ1zUBfgBy_JXvehbsz-0e_NN6d75csfCartM4RLziieZPL5pMy1JmC3dSrNkPNvsE/s400/B-Moose.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Beavers are one of my favourite animals, I find it amazing how a relatively small animal can fell trees and made such massive constructions. This lodge is on a lake near Rocky Harbour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">One evening just outside St Anthony we stopped by a lake where we thought we had spotted a beaver swimming back and forth carrying small branches. Then a much larger beast appeared - compared to the 'beaver' it was massive! The penny dropped, we had been watching a Muskrat. I didn't take shots as the light was failing, mosquitoes were eating me alive and it started raining.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTxyBx6fAETgH3RcwRwwthxzzxnqtbH0cuGvDkDETADsTc5t5yblA5PX8psopMvBFZeZjlwuQXPSCdOjMjLAgTio6E1cY6nIlr4ooyelSeP4kB1OLylzcsEJERWmrHC2suyeRGFAGGEUM/s1600/C-Beaver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTxyBx6fAETgH3RcwRwwthxzzxnqtbH0cuGvDkDETADsTc5t5yblA5PX8psopMvBFZeZjlwuQXPSCdOjMjLAgTio6E1cY6nIlr4ooyelSeP4kB1OLylzcsEJERWmrHC2suyeRGFAGGEUM/s400/C-Beaver.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This little squirrel was easy to photograph, he just sat nibbling a berry by the Skerwink Trail path.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIvwk5KV0BezHawp2do5pUHoPy7dHJGaZpCbZvw1LGHfj8y-YHPC4Aup176W8J8rHw7rIZvOb28Zh1Jwe6VMGLsS-3l7y0IL_kz3U0ythyDA9ddIfZSZR4kflMrB5eoLcgOaEd7ZPLMUE/s1600/D-Squirrel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIvwk5KV0BezHawp2do5pUHoPy7dHJGaZpCbZvw1LGHfj8y-YHPC4Aup176W8J8rHw7rIZvOb28Zh1Jwe6VMGLsS-3l7y0IL_kz3U0ythyDA9ddIfZSZR4kflMrB5eoLcgOaEd7ZPLMUE/s400/D-Squirrel.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And this Jack Rabbit - or Arctic Hare (wearing his summer coat) was even more laid back, he was just hopping around outside our cabin at Gambo.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglTqw7sEK4kc65u_apyetTrFHKJ0VuB9z_6ol4zmCMLY3QUysa3hfJAe5iG0-qVqtSaM50SzbNGsBVJjcXZaJruqA2AMXWrpAYhdP7B880Lco2eR_2WDBmyF0vk-21R9FU3Vxn9IMX8dg/s1600/E-Hare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglTqw7sEK4kc65u_apyetTrFHKJ0VuB9z_6ol4zmCMLY3QUysa3hfJAe5iG0-qVqtSaM50SzbNGsBVJjcXZaJruqA2AMXWrpAYhdP7B880Lco2eR_2WDBmyF0vk-21R9FU3Vxn9IMX8dg/s400/E-Hare.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Of course it's the giant beasts of the sea that Newfoundland is famed for. At St Anthony we went on the obligatory Whale Watching trip, this also included a close encounter with a massive ice-berg! We did see whales, and some were quite close to the boat. I think that these are Humpbacks.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQsJ467K_2VqX7l6ACcFEI0NRlpJwvQqSC851zICKKhiyQ2B4nzMs30Dkvu7DUrkyDMNoI3Ps0T6JGWCKuTju4gtE_vF2wHeof1YgR0axZTkcimS5QmedrGHm779DhoOGtzCUIOlyzHCQ/s1600/F-Whales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQsJ467K_2VqX7l6ACcFEI0NRlpJwvQqSC851zICKKhiyQ2B4nzMs30Dkvu7DUrkyDMNoI3Ps0T6JGWCKuTju4gtE_vF2wHeof1YgR0axZTkcimS5QmedrGHm779DhoOGtzCUIOlyzHCQ/s400/F-Whales.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And this is a Fin Whale, which was my favourite - they are HUGE, the 2nd largest mammal - over 20 metres long (70+ feet).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi09gyE0obUn7Z0_uS_CvqDU1ZwoXDtwiD2DRziQsLBRVPFJvAX6NCK_ingd37hQnkF3iyDKbiCMFzvl-1XECDk8lm2Ezn4msVVE4Sw4xSGMnqYLD89NKkt_gesbvPv5Lj2wBBNDJpIbZE/s1600/G-Whales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi09gyE0obUn7Z0_uS_CvqDU1ZwoXDtwiD2DRziQsLBRVPFJvAX6NCK_ingd37hQnkF3iyDKbiCMFzvl-1XECDk8lm2Ezn4msVVE4Sw4xSGMnqYLD89NKkt_gesbvPv5Lj2wBBNDJpIbZE/s400/G-Whales.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">On a Whale Watching boat you expect to see Whales and Dolphins, but what surprised me was the fact that pretty much anywhere along the coast of Newfoundland you can just sit on a high headland and see Whales - it's just fantastic! This rocky cliff top at Bonavista was one of the best locations ...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjufXE2prQQADyTqF8knmF_SgV8nX8DULFFRyQle35d1By4xTuBxCOg0uakk_d_9MZCQlcHfQ-b5i6cQX69XT3i4annfOaWZvd-IEgwPDFADyStWXSOGdbSWc2IfCwX29lbsUUif1zc95I/s1600/J-Bonavista.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjufXE2prQQADyTqF8knmF_SgV8nX8DULFFRyQle35d1By4xTuBxCOg0uakk_d_9MZCQlcHfQ-b5i6cQX69XT3i4annfOaWZvd-IEgwPDFADyStWXSOGdbSWc2IfCwX29lbsUUif1zc95I/s400/J-Bonavista.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">... and because you are high above the water you get a great view of the whales - you hear them too, as they breathe out - a deep swooshing sigh and the white spray of water - apparently you can learn to tell the Whale species by the 'blow'.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZVBbyNyPR2MfK2GCq8W3lp2MwjcXdNna-1LbcgFdpXmvFXEHPcLqS9DPbSImm8Rt9FWo5fjMpRYHUYJ5b4Fqm8YN8fmRvrAXNaNDWPEfLMgvu7yxi7doHVv0aQHTb3RK1-7uGmaeIIY/s1600/H-Whales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZVBbyNyPR2MfK2GCq8W3lp2MwjcXdNna-1LbcgFdpXmvFXEHPcLqS9DPbSImm8Rt9FWo5fjMpRYHUYJ5b4Fqm8YN8fmRvrAXNaNDWPEfLMgvu7yxi7doHVv0aQHTb3RK1-7uGmaeIIY/s400/H-Whales.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Humpback Whales have long pectoral fins, like wings or arms, these are white on the underside so as the Whale swims the fins shine a pale turquoise colour under the water. Looking out to sea and watching for the 'blow' and then waiting to see if you'd see a fin or a tail or even a breach when a Humpback leaps right out of the water, is sheer magic. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqYWLg_zvWd02_PbSj8R7FcQwTCRwNUnCnG09MD9NHc-FNuRzvpqMU-ouBkruab0IRuS36naCroDu09kcE25U9uDHw07acyq8zzDKQqb34mrTKA-FaGRYtIgs04Az4AOWOzK2hD08jd7U/s1600/I-Whales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqYWLg_zvWd02_PbSj8R7FcQwTCRwNUnCnG09MD9NHc-FNuRzvpqMU-ouBkruab0IRuS36naCroDu09kcE25U9uDHw07acyq8zzDKQqb34mrTKA-FaGRYtIgs04Az4AOWOzK2hD08jd7U/s400/I-Whales.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Of course there were lots of sea birds ... </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">here are two Yellow Legs on a rock at Rocky Harbour.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_DF9-t6XFVMmvGrQTUuPCbM7Q9GAU0bvw4JRcLDrbG9ubYJ6LkN97VQmOw6G66xCj-w-rUSX_GCUqnFplBRu36R3-HKvr9CiDlv6OOtyEuha0wJ6lUyQ-stESnPM7YibZ7k20a5bMcKs/s1600/K-YellowLegs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_DF9-t6XFVMmvGrQTUuPCbM7Q9GAU0bvw4JRcLDrbG9ubYJ6LkN97VQmOw6G66xCj-w-rUSX_GCUqnFplBRu36R3-HKvr9CiDlv6OOtyEuha0wJ6lUyQ-stESnPM7YibZ7k20a5bMcKs/s400/K-YellowLegs.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Black Guillemots on a precarious ledge at Bonavista</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoExPKuzvmdn-LPDZRTjTBiMReADsOdaCKzmNkobnpDKUT6fsxhQrHWD2m0ICNCs1jGN3f9FkhGfbC1WQ13DFjYJ1fB991FdiUtljEziwJPay-TMsZfosw2Xeo79SMR55eXYKt0jPmPC8/s1600/L-BlackGuillemot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoExPKuzvmdn-LPDZRTjTBiMReADsOdaCKzmNkobnpDKUT6fsxhQrHWD2m0ICNCs1jGN3f9FkhGfbC1WQ13DFjYJ1fB991FdiUtljEziwJPay-TMsZfosw2Xeo79SMR55eXYKt0jPmPC8/s400/L-BlackGuillemot.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">and hundreds of Kittiwakes on a rocky islet off the coast near Trinity.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTANaJ8lfk2ToMBnsWD84UAgS6TDreR7v4vWK1gcRKu8jbJdniOEZRuonbYRJ0GNeQgckD32WgBzFFH8Tb0kvHP72B7a5lBSmHv85JEkAXbgCqbXM5cJmJE-AI5Nqc8NBO3izR-RDtFJM/s1600/M-Kittewakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTANaJ8lfk2ToMBnsWD84UAgS6TDreR7v4vWK1gcRKu8jbJdniOEZRuonbYRJ0GNeQgckD32WgBzFFH8Tb0kvHP72B7a5lBSmHv85JEkAXbgCqbXM5cJmJE-AI5Nqc8NBO3izR-RDtFJM/s400/M-Kittewakes.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The bird I most wanted to see was the Puffin. I've never been lucky to see one in the UK and in Newfoundland there are a few spots that are easily accessible and near huge Puffin colonies - they like grassy cliff tops where they can live in burrows.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There were thousands of Puffins! Swarms of them filling the sky around the rocky islands off-shore, hundreds bobbing along in the waves below.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And Puffins are surprisingly small, a bit bigger than a Blackbird but not much, look how that Gull is massive in comparison. That Gull is after the Puffin eggs and young chicks! Luckily the young Puffins were mostly full grown and able to fly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">On the day we were there, a professional wildlife photographer had set up a toy Puffin decoy on the rocks to tempt a brave Puffin to land close to her cameras. When the tourist and bird-watchers aren't about, apparently the little Puffins land on the main cliff top as well as the off-shore rocky islands ... one brave little chap was curious and landed not far from where we were sitting, so we got close up view.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">On a cold winter evening it's lovely to remember how beautiful Newfoundland was in summer. Where do the Puffins go in winter?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Celia</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">xx</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-28859574118780546482016-10-14T19:09:00.000+01:002016-10-14T20:12:25.885+01:00My Newfoundland crafts safari<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I promised to tell you more about my Newfoundland adventure, when I'm on holiday I love hunting out the local handicrafts and especially the local yarn/knitting shops as skeins of the local yarn make perfect holiday souvenirs.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I knew that there is a tradition of knitting in Newfoundland, although yarn is no longer produced locally the traditional patterns for warm mittens, hats and socks is kept alive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Of course selling the knitted accessories to tourists is what keeps the tradition alive, I took these photos in a shop attached to an extremely popular restaurant in Rocky Harbour, while waiting for an hour for a table!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I somehow failed to take a photo of the 'thrummed knitting', <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/thrummed-mittens-stuffed-mittens-or-fluffies" target="_blank">here's a link</a> to give you an idea of what it's like. Roving (carded but not spun fleece) is looped along the reverse side of the work making a thick fleece lining. It is used to make EXTREMELY WARM gloves and slippers! I put my hand inside some thrummed mittens and almost overheated (we were there in a heat wave! so I wasn't tempted to buy them). I regret this now, but I'm sure I could find the materials needed and have a go at making some one day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We did a good bit of research before travelling to Newfoundland but somehow I missed appreciating how significant 'Grenfell' is to the town of St Anthony at the far end of the Great Northern Peninsula. By luck we'd booked a room at the <a href="http://www.grenfellheritagehotel.ca/" target="_blank">Grenfell Heritage Hotel and Suites</a> which is right next door to the <a href="http://www.grenfell-properties.com/" target="_blank">Grenfell Interpretation Centre</a>, so we had a chance to find out all about Dr Wilfred Grenfell.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Briefly, Dr Grenfell was a newly qualified doctor from England who travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador in 1892. He was shocked by the poverty and lack of medical services - there were no hospitals or doctors; so he made it his life's mission to bring medical services to NW Canada and his legacy still serves these remote areas today. <a href="http://www.grenfell-properties.com/about_dr_grenfell.php#rightcoltop" target="_blank">You can read more here</a>.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dr Grenfell and his wife Anne and their children lived in a lovely 'arts & crafts' style house on the hillside behind the present day hospital in St Anthony. I could have stayed there for hours looking through the original photo albums and letters in this beautiful gallery/verandah running the length of the house.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dr Grenfell needed to raise money for his plans to set up hospitals and fund nurses and doctors to cover the remote settlements. One of his main fund-raising ideas was to teach people to make things using traditional handicrafts and sell these to raise money and get lots of publicity. The crafts had to be high quality so patterns were designs for the makers to follow - although they were encouraged to interpret the designs and make them unique. Embroidery, beadwork, carvings, leatherwork and most famously rag-rags, made the Grenfell Mission famous.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">High quality materials were in short supply, so Dr Grenfell asked women in England and the USA to send their laddered silk stockings to Newfoundland to be dyed and cut into strips and made into intricate rag-rug pictures. Dr Grenfell became an international celebrity - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk_dhNmt_lU" target="_blank">his daring exploits made him an action hero</a> - and tirelessly worked to make the lives of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador better and healthier. </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I particularly loved this map design and it reminds me of our Newfoundland adventure.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Also at the northern end of the Great Northern Peninsula, not far from St Anthony, is L'Anse aux Meadows where 1000 years ago, Viking adventurers built a staging post where they could repair there ships and gear.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In the museum there is a spindle whorl and a broken bone Nalbinding (a fore-runner of knitting) needle which is evidence that the Vikings were doing some kind of wool-craft. I read somewhere that this is evidence that women had been living in the settlement, as Viking men would never had spun wool or made socks. I'm not convinced, I suspect that a Viking far from home could have spun some thread and mended his socks is the need arose.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Intrigued by this and by the reproduction woolen caps the 'Vikings' at the msueum were wearing, I wanted to know more about Nalbinding. I found a small kit in the museum shop, consisting of a birch wood needle, some yarn and a page of instructions. This turned out to be 'Coptic stitch' which didn't make a fabric like the Viking caps, more research was needed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Back home, and determined not to be beaten! I've poured over YouTube videos of Olso Stitch and eventually managed to get the hang of it. A breakthrough was using <a href="http://www.twool.co.uk/" target="_blank">Twool</a> instead of wool, the stiffer yarn makes learning much easier and I managed to make a little storage bag.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Practice makes perfect ... maybe not perfect but an improvement at least ... and I've Nalbinded a bag, the button was bought in Alaska 2 years ago and is made of Moose horn ... which I though apt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">More souvenirs! Patterns to make traditions Newfoundland mittens and a book about Rug Hooking in Altantic NW Canada. I really want to have a go at rag rug making, or even just make a small hooked picture panel.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Our adventure began and ended in the Newfoundland capital and only large town, St Johns. But being weekends and with most shops shut on Sundays, shopping opportunities were limited! However I managed to find a lovely yarn shop, </span><a href="http://www.castoncastoff.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;" target="_blank">Cast On Cast Off</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, that I'd checked out online before the holiday – it was a good walk out of town! I bought the grey and red skeins of <a href="http://www.briggsandlittle.com/" target="_blank">Briggs & Little</a> Heritage so I could knit some Newfoundland mitts. And then treated myself to the gorgeous hand dyed sock yarn in blue/green/ochre to remind me of the island, it's by <a href="http://fleeceartist.com/" target="_blank">Fleece Artist</a> from Nova Scotia. Also I couldn't resist a small skein by <a href="http://rhicharddevriezeyarns.com/" target="_blank">Rhichard Devrieve</a> - just because it would have been wrong not to! and the colours reminded me of the painted houses of Newfoundland.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The terracotta and the black skeins are also Briggs & Little yarn bought as souvenirs from the Grenfell Handicraft Centre in St Anthony.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I have yet to decide what I'm going to make with all the lovely yarn; but when I do use it, it will bring back some wonderful memories.</span><br>
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<br>Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-206515859207772122016-09-22T10:32:00.001+01:002016-09-22T10:45:57.567+01:00Cambridge Original Printmakers Biennale 2016<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">At 10.30am this morning (about half an hour from now, as I type this) the <a href="http://cambridgeoriginalprintmakers.com/" target="_blank">Cambridge Original Printmakers</a> exhibition will open to the public. If you live near enough to to Cambridge to visit, it's well worth the trip . . . over 500 framed prints for sale, representing probably every printmaking technique you can think of.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">How do you organise about 40 artists to arrive at a venue in the historic centre of Cambridge during the rush hour; each of them unload about a dozen framed pictures, carry them to their allotted stand and hang them on the only just erected display stands? Did I hear some-one say 'herding cats might be easier'?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The answer was 'time-slots' so not everyone arrived at once, my arrival time was almost the last - 7.15pm, so by the time I'd carried my work to my stand, I had precisely an hour and half hang my work. There would be no extra time, 9pm meant 9pm. </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">No pressure! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In fact, contrary to popular opinion, artists - particularly printmakers - are usually organised and focussed. With only 45 minutes to go the collective creative adrenaline and effort was heating up the exhibition rooms like a sauna.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So while many of you were watching Bake Off, I was doing Art Off! We even had a 'Sue' who shouted "half an hour to go", "15 minutes!" etc</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">As I grabbed by bubble wrap, bags and discarded cardi, I managed a few quick snaps of my stand . . . </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">A huge thank you to Cliff, without whose help I would never have managed to hang my stuff (he didn't need a stepladder to reach the top) and another thank you to the person who suggested I'd need to take a stepladder - I nearly didn't and glad I did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So, Phew! it's all on the wall and right now people will be walking through the doors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And today . . . actually I'm going to have a little rest today and maybe do some drawing out in the fields; tomorrow I'm on duty on the front desk/sales area; I'll be popping in and out over the weekend and looking forward to attending some of the talks. On Monday at 2.30pm I'm demonstrating Hand-burnished Linocuts (so I really should get things together for that!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">PS I haven't forgotten the Newfoundland crafts and wildlife posts, they'll follow soon.</span></div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-15817991842774093112016-08-26T09:15:00.000+01:002016-08-26T10:40:51.220+01:00Who led us to Newfoundland?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">As you can see in the photos in the previous blogpost, Newfoundland is a beautiful, wild and remote island; but not at the top of most folk's holiday destination list. So what prompted us to go?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">About 6 years ago Cliff's aunt became very ill and we had the task of helping her move into a nursing home. Her house was sold and among the things we brought home were keepsakes that had been in Cliff's family for generations – including a writing box with a secret drawer and a print hinting of a naval connection; a Georgian snuff box and a portrait of Joseph (Cliff's GtGtGtGrandfather) painted in 1804.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Then, 2 Christmases ago, a cousin sent us a copy of the front page of a family bible, the names were familiar from what we knew of Cliff's family tree but what caught our eye was where Joseph got married . . . St John's Newfoundland!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We we intrigued and did some research on the web, the Anglican Cathedral in St John's has records online, we found Joseph's marriage to Ann in August 1803 and he is described as 'Purser on HMS Iris'. So now we knew that Joseph was in the navy and his bride, Ann, was from St John's. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">By now we wanted to see Newfoundland for ourselves, it was a good a reason as any to go there for our holiday. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Inside <a href="https://www.therooms.ca/" target="_blank">The Rooms</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In the photo of St John's harbour at the top of this post, you'll see a huge building with pointed gables and red roofs, that is The Rooms. Inside are a theatre, galleries, a museum and exhibitions, as well as The Archives. We had two opportunities to visit while in St John's, on the first and last days of the holiday; so we headed straight to the Archives on our first day in Newfoundland.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We were able to look at facsimile copies of the handwritten marriage records from 1803, and we saw that there was more information than in the transcribed online records. The archivist told us that we could only make notes with a pencil and photographing the documents was not allowed, we copied the words carefully. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">St John's, 1800</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">As we travelled around we began to put together a picture of what Newfoundland had been like in the early 1800s. While staying in Trinity, which was a major harbour and like St John's, a crucial part of the salt cod industry; we went on <a href="http://trinityhistoricalwalkingtours.com/" target="_blank">an excellent </a></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="http://trinityhistoricalwalkingtours.com/" target="_blank">walking tour of the town</a> and also </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">saw <a href="http://www.risingtidetheatre.com/the-shows/" target="_blank">The Pageant</a> - a historical play by <a href="http://www.risingtidetheatre.com/" target="_blank">Rising Tide theatre company</a> which is acted out around the town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSz-FqntPXYW34ak9LITbt_7B4fvYbT0fJaPasyplceFegQzjiSW4knN5v4ulfUI-y3HJlfuPQ10zcLAlUOS8m34CGi9VBg2p8UiJ7_EXACz76GjkyMSsQw30bI4nzDu9-_41HAjxN4us/s1600/PageantD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSz-FqntPXYW34ak9LITbt_7B4fvYbT0fJaPasyplceFegQzjiSW4knN5v4ulfUI-y3HJlfuPQ10zcLAlUOS8m34CGi9VBg2p8UiJ7_EXACz76GjkyMSsQw30bI4nzDu9-_41HAjxN4us/s400/PageantD.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Trinity Pageant</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This gave us some idea of the industrial scale of the salt cod industry and the tough existence of those who worked there. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhskD3xE_OTQqVioa8GceIqz7b9k6MAOOgPfSJUvH0qcXyAXFtKjkprj6dMCfSyJgKQ44AduBM0ioUkVTnR-ebF4W5BO9sTntIDJRjJvL3RLl2L7ywuM6Td76FOln5FlJY0a_pJrX039hI/s1600/PageantA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhskD3xE_OTQqVioa8GceIqz7b9k6MAOOgPfSJUvH0qcXyAXFtKjkprj6dMCfSyJgKQ44AduBM0ioUkVTnR-ebF4W5BO9sTntIDJRjJvL3RLl2L7ywuM6Td76FOln5FlJY0a_pJrX039hI/s400/PageantA.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Salting Cod on the Flakes - Trinity Pageant</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The hillsides around the harbours were covered with fish flakes, wooden shelves on which the salted cod fish was laid out to dry in the sun and wind, before being packed into wooden barrels and transported to Europe or to the Caribbean where the poor quality fish was bought to feed the slave labour in sugar plantations. Newfoundland was part of a triangular trade route crucial to the economy of Britain and Portugal. The French were vying for control of the key harbours, these were tumultuous times.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYC44mQ6jvCoiwALe18WPJfhPSCjJ2uTkrGL9NB2JjpsT3eRkRmpmAqqm4pSvchCySjRorTKznhaCjgoJMyLz6RQy_7uDC_PDUV4Btt3TsMoGTUTXL84Slb_fCayPc_xtR29qrVAy8H5Q/s1600/FlakesA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYC44mQ6jvCoiwALe18WPJfhPSCjJ2uTkrGL9NB2JjpsT3eRkRmpmAqqm4pSvchCySjRorTKznhaCjgoJMyLz6RQy_7uDC_PDUV4Btt3TsMoGTUTXL84Slb_fCayPc_xtR29qrVAy8H5Q/s400/FlakesA.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Fish Flakes at Bonavista Bay</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Imagine miles of these wooden structures covered with salted fish and hundreds of people working to keep the fish from spoiling when it rained and packing the fish into barrels. Imagine the stench!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizg0e1gh1qz_5EDN72iTmzN1vnY4duoPqzEr_9bnaiLUdEe9wNd3eg1JUSjp8aMiE6eCr5PIZXbiTCBxbdIJV9fK5CUckS25E4avqM5uuNbuhL34dtPs3SmuNCPNwGJnM-vFpoSNNdJn8/s1600/FlakesB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizg0e1gh1qz_5EDN72iTmzN1vnY4duoPqzEr_9bnaiLUdEe9wNd3eg1JUSjp8aMiE6eCr5PIZXbiTCBxbdIJV9fK5CUckS25E4avqM5uuNbuhL34dtPs3SmuNCPNwGJnM-vFpoSNNdJn8/s400/FlakesB.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">One thing puzzled us, although there was a naval record of HMS Iris, we couldn't find any mention of her sailing to Newfoundland. However, the flagship of the British admiral who was the governor of Newfoundland, was HMS Isis; the more we read the more the facts fitted with Joseph's story - what if the marriage record had said 'Isis' and not 'Iris'?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Newfoundland Archives</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There was one chance to find out, at the end of our holiday we arrived back in St John's an hour before The Archives closed for the weekend. We ran up the steps and up to the archivist's desk, she remembered us and retrieved the marriage records box.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So, was it 'HMS Isis'? It could be, but equally it could say 'HMS Iris', we could see how the transcriber had gone for a name that seemed more plausible. Then I noticed the minister who wrote the records was called 'Harries' and in every record he wrote his own name and the word 'married', both those word have 'ri' in them. He was used to writing 'ri' so if the ship was 'Iris' the letters would look the same ... they didn't! Surely it must be HMS Isis! And proves that you should always go back to the original source of the information.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIY6m_bJDsioX9oeDahyphenhyphenlvYgq0iM0eyt78qAHBm5A9QEheb3wyK0KVTILiUySsNwwzV4nsUFKS21CG7S05ssmcbVlda-iEdI9IOLE4Uj1JeanbR62_uD3LDHa-FS7aVBlMBPw9H6mEooY/s1600/PageantC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIY6m_bJDsioX9oeDahyphenhyphenlvYgq0iM0eyt78qAHBm5A9QEheb3wyK0KVTILiUySsNwwzV4nsUFKS21CG7S05ssmcbVlda-iEdI9IOLE4Uj1JeanbR62_uD3LDHa-FS7aVBlMBPw9H6mEooY/s400/PageantC.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Trinity Pageant</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Knowing Joseph was on HMS Isis made things fall into place. He had probably been on board the previous year when Admiral Gambier arrived in St John's, having survived a hurricane in the North Atlantic, his flagship Isis with broken masts and tattered sails. As the purser, Joseph would have been responsible for sourcing and paying for the repairs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATs6-45mL_FAApfNS5R2J3SIvOfxPOzJ2CEeZq8ZDH6HPocjyLsYhpNheDUf2c99o5QqotCg_YCh-8OweJZf_M08D5OjIo5g37AQYiqpd8XzVu_OaTGJ36N96ayI84XD2_XyQTXaO-gY/s1600/StJohns-1800-B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATs6-45mL_FAApfNS5R2J3SIvOfxPOzJ2CEeZq8ZDH6HPocjyLsYhpNheDUf2c99o5QqotCg_YCh-8OweJZf_M08D5OjIo5g37AQYiqpd8XzVu_OaTGJ36N96ayI84XD2_XyQTXaO-gY/s400/StJohns-1800-B.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">St John's in the early 1800s</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0);">There were more names of witnesses on the handwritten record than the transcriber had put in the digital records. One </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0);">was probably Ann's father, we found that he may have owned a butchery and tavern, was this where Joseph got supplies for the ship? Other witnesses were <a href="http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/skinner_thomas_5E.html" target="_blank">Thomas Skinner</a> and Jane Hester Skinner, most likely this was the surveyor and architect in charge of building the British fort on top of Signal Hill, and his daughter who was the same age as Ann.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_KBXghYz6gyWO2SRKM6aVYRd8ZrGHHYn6_p_bRWGYUkQZb_VpiHq38d26e5K1HIljRDIvr-pVd_N8hLnSg3oBeKAlMyMRklVGm8gzyGEcrCJwGuba0lEgTrv0_Tc2MXCHGZI9CtejKo/s1600/StJohns-citadel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_KBXghYz6gyWO2SRKM6aVYRd8ZrGHHYn6_p_bRWGYUkQZb_VpiHq38d26e5K1HIljRDIvr-pVd_N8hLnSg3oBeKAlMyMRklVGm8gzyGEcrCJwGuba0lEgTrv0_Tc2MXCHGZI9CtejKo/s400/StJohns-citadel.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The fort that Thomas Skinner designed and built</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I wondered if Ann had stood on The Lady's Lookout on Signal Hill, waiting for the Isis to return in Spring 1803, after spending the winter months in England</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">. Had Joseph already proposed to her? Or was she hoping he might?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Waiting for her sailor<br />- a scene in the Trinity Pageant</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In November 1803 Ann sailed with Joseph to her new life as a navel officer's wife, on board HMS Isis leading </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">a convoy of ships including captured French warships.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The view from Signal Hill</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">looking over the narrow entrance into <br />St John's harbour</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In January 1804 the war against Napolean's France was getting more serious, Joseph had already joined another ship, HMS Scourge, which sailed to the Dutch coast to rescue a captured British merchant ship. Joseph rowed a boat under gunfire to help in the rescue and was commended for his bravery. Was this that prompted him getting his likeness painted in June 1804, was this a gift for Ann in case he didn't survive the next voyage?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Joseph had a long career in the navy as a purser/paymaster, a position that was gaining more respect and importance. He retired in his 60's with a naval pension.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So, </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">raise a glass and toast Joseph and Ann, without whom we would never have thought of going to Newfoundland and having a wonderful adventure.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Celia</span></div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-39672914696567608502016-08-15T09:06:00.000+01:002016-08-15T15:38:34.154+01:00Over the sea for a road trip<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We've been away on an adventure, a road trip of about 2000 miles on an island that's a 5 hour flight from London; west and a bit south of the UK; about the size of Gt Britain and Ireland together and with a population about that of Cornwall . . . have you guessed where we went to?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Jelly Bean Houses</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The brightly painted houses in the capital, St John's have become one of the iconic features of</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>NEWFOUNDLAND</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I'm told it should be pronounced to rhyme with 'understand'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">New-f'nd - Land</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> St John's Harbour from Signal Hill</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We arrived fully prepared for fog, rain and chilly winds but the weather was hot and humid! We stood on the rocky headland high over the narrow inlet into the harbour that for over 450 years has been strategic to Britain's trade and naval history. Click on the photo to enlarge it and above the two red ships you'll see a white building with a red roof, this is <a href="http://murraypremiseshotel.com/" target="_blank">Murray Premises</a>, the hotel we stayed in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> On the cliff at Horrid Gulch<br />Pouch Cove, Avalon Peninsula</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I think this was the moment I relaxed and thought, 'I like this place', the day before we started our 'road trip' we ventured along the coast just north of St John's and sat on the cliff eating sandwiches and crisps. The Atlantic Ocean stretched out to the far horizon, blue and calm and as we watched we saw a puff of spray, and a Fin Whale gracefully surfaced, briefly showing its dorsal fin as it dived again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> Heading West on the Trans Canada Highway</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Newfoundland is big. Towns are few and far between and off the high way. Much of the next two weeks we'd see this view.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">But the places we found along the way were astoundingly beautiful . . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> The West Coast<br /><a href="http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/nl/grosmorne/index.aspx" target="_blank">Gros Morne National Park</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I think this was my favourite walk, the Coastal Trail from Baker's Brook just north of Rocky Harbour to Green Point - if you're into geology look this up! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> Tablelands</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Looking at the landscape of Gros Morne you notice a </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">vast lumpy ochre coloured mountain that looks completely different from the forest covered slopes all around. Geologists get very very excited about this place called Tablelands, where the rocks have tipped and folded so that part of the earth's mantle is on the surface. The rock contains very high levels of metals and chemicals, so much that plants can't grow, it supports hardly any living things. And yes, that is snow you can see in the far distance.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> St Anthony<br />the Great Northern Peninsula</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The top west of Newfoundland is a long narrow peninsula, one road snakes along the west coast, the east is only reachable by boat. If you've read 'The Shipping News' by Annie Proulx, this is the setting (the movie was filmed at New Bonavista near Trinity, we went there later on the trip).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> Whales and icebergs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Vast lumps of ice, some are kilometres long! break off the glaciers of Greenland and float south in what is known as 'Iceberg Alley', they take up to 2 years to reach the Newfoundland coast where they break up and melt. This is one of the last icebergs of this summer, we saw it on a whale watching boat trip from St Anthony. On the left edge of the photo you can see a whale blowing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> The Viking settlement at<br /><a href="http://archaeology.about.com/cs/explorers/a/anseauxmeadows.htm" target="_blank">L'Anse aux Meadows</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">When I was about 9 years old, I read 'Vinland the Good' by Henry Treece, but I never dreamt I'd stand on the shore where Vikings landed and set up a camp and ship repair workshops 1000 years ago. The historical novel written in the 1960s was inspired by the most exciting archaeological find at the time - the confirmation that the Norse sagas telling of a land of plenty to the west of Greenland, were based on truth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> Trinity, Trinity Bay</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In the second week of our adventure we stayed for a few days at Trinity, Trinity Bay. This was once the most important harbour in Newfoundland, imagine the slopes around the harbour cover with racks of drying salt cod and dozens of tall masted trading ships at docks around the sheltered 3-armed harbour (hence Trinity).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Heritage buildings at Trinity</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Now this is the tourist hot-spot of Newfoundland, many original wooden framed buildings were saved in the nick of time and are now museums in the care of the <a href="http://www.trinityhistoricalsociety.com/" target="_blank">Trinity Historical Society</a>. In fact the whole town is a 'heritage zone' and all buildings have to be constructed in traditional styles and materials. Trinity is the home of the Rising Tide theatre company and we arrived in time to see a production of their famous Pageant, an open air history of the town performed in locations all around the harbour, the audience walks between locations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Two whole weeks of almost constant sunshine but on the last day, back in St John's, we had a taster of some real Newfie weather! This is the </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">view from <a href="http://www.stjohnsqualityhotel.com/" target="_blank">our hotel at the north end of the harbour</a> opposite the narrow opening to the Atlantic Ocean.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In a lull in the rain we ventured out for a last visit to <a href="http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/nl/signalhill/index.aspx" target="_blank">Signal Hill</a>, I'm holding on to that wall so I don't get blown into the harbour!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I'd love to share more about the beautiful animals and plants, the crafts - knitting and rag rugs, and the reason we chose such an obscure holiday destination ... but I'll save those for another blog post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Now I have to pack for my stall at <a href="http://www.folkeast.co.uk/" target="_blank">FolkEast</a> next weekend, it's the best summer festival (<a href="http://www.folkeast.co.uk/" target="_blank">not just my opinion</a>) if you're coming along do call into the Art Marquee and say hello.</span></div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-36361993129788043742016-07-15T15:40:00.000+01:002016-07-16T06:51:35.802+01:00Chaos theory . . . and carrying on as normal<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">What a lot has happened since my last blog post on 17 June, not only has the UK decided on Brexit and to swerve onto a different course leaving everyone on both sides of the argument bemused and *insert words of your own choice* but also here at home we've had a chaotic few weeks - stuff happens sometimes! - but we're all OK and that's the main thing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">When life gets messy it's good to take the long view and get things back into perspective . . . to help us do this we had a lovely day out at <a href="http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/wrest-park/" target="_blank">Wrest Park</a>, somewhere we discovered a few years ago; since then English Heritage have done loads of work and there's now a lovely café and more of the house is accessible. But it's the park and beautiful pavilions that are the main attraction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">On the day we visited the unexpected bonus was that there was <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BHZ0E25BLx_/?taken-by=celiahartartist" target="_blank">a brass band concert</a>, add to that sunshine and some delicious ice creams and it was <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BHZ0E25BLx_/?taken-by=celiahartartist" target="_blank">a perfect Sunday afternoon in the park</a>. </span><br />
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<br /><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So . . . what's been going on in my studio?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I've designed 2 more Christmas cards for <a href="http://shop.plantlife.org.uk/" target="_blank">Plantlife</a>, they'll be for sale online later in the year; and I spent an intense 5 days working on a packaging project for a Scottish design company, drawing and then carving lino faster than I thought possible! I hope to show you the finished design sometime, maybe early next year.</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Then there's <a href="http://www.gardensillustrated.com/" target="_blank">Gardens Illustrated</a>, I illustrate Frank Ronan's column 'The Writer's Plot' a few months ahead of publication, in fact today I'm carving the lino block for the October issue. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Here are the illustrations I did for the June issue . . . Camellias - do you like them? I confess that I don't but maybe that's because I've never had a garden where they grow happily and look good, frosted buds and clumps of brownish petals aren't a good look in my opinion. In the article Frank discovers that Camellias can be pruned in the Japanese cloud-pruned style, known as Niwaki. If you follow my blog you know I love Japanese design so this immediately grabbed my attention and cheered me up; so I took my inspiration from Japanese blue and white ceramics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">As I've come to expect, Frank's next article was a complete contrast; in the dry oppressive heat of the Californian summer Frank encounters a little weed, it's Groundsel which as you probably know is a common British native weed. Frank seems homesick for a damp verdant English garden:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i>"you know how it is when you are abroad and lonely and you meet someone slightly disgraceful from home whom you never really liked, and suddenly you feel they are full of charm and you get drunk together and talk too loudly"</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I hunted around our garden and soon found a Groundsel plant that I could draw from life; looking carefully are the complex curves and points along the leaves, how the leaf wraps around the stalk and the cluster of flower buds and the fluffy seed heads, I'd begun to find Groundsel interesting too! And this sparked an idea for a project of my own through June ... <b>30 Wildflowers From My Garden</b>, each day I sketched a different wildflower and posted the picture and some facts about the plant, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/celiahartartist/" target="_blank">on Instagram</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It became fascinating ... I learned new botanical terms like 'dioica' and 'achaeophyte' and 'neophyte'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I found that even the most mundane and common weeds have amazing stories to tell.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And at the end I realised there were many many more still to sketch, I could probably find 100 wildflowers!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So, this is something I'll probably return to from time to time and start another sketchbook of 'More Wildflowers From My Garden'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Last week, at the end of another hectic weekend, we we went for a walk on the high fields between our village and Cambridge ... we hoped to get a glimpse of some of the air displays at <a href="http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford" target="_blank">Duxford Imperial War Museum</a> and we weren't disappointed - <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BHsAyDcBOD1/?taken-by=celiahartartist" target="_blank">a flypast of 19 vintage WWII planes just for us!</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And on the way home, this glorious view across the cornfields and the sky full of skylarks singing - that's the tonic we needed to start another week and just focus on getting one thing done at a time - it's as good a theory as any to sort out chaos.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Coming soon: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="http://www.folkeast.co.uk/" target="_blank">FolkEast 2016</a> and <a href="http://cambridgeoriginalprintmakers.com/" target="_blank">Cambridge Original Printmakers Biennale</a></span><br />
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-45783716512717087072016-06-17T18:46:00.002+01:002016-06-17T18:55:53.288+01:00In Arcadia - the sublime and the almost ridiculous<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Earlier in the year I was contacted by <a href="http://www.tashmina.co.uk/instrumentalists/emily-pailthorpe/" target="_blank">Emily</a> from the <a href="http://www.conchord.co.uk/" target="_blank">London Conchord Ensemble</a>, she wanted an illustration to publicise this year's Conchord Festival. You may recall <a href="http://purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/rathfinny-music-festival.html" target="_blank">the design I did last year</a>, when the festival took place in Sussex. This year the festival relocated to Twickenham and the theme for the illustration was to be 'London's Arcadia'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfNOAiAURIDxRt3QFH7tOTXoz3itZxgRjIzdp0wac-uwD8uFAvwdDWdByAUlRfKqVKSH9FxdDdDqJeon9hS5ZT1Mw2bdk_6RW2rQHLFkVhwtSXj4K6qzTV8wZSKZXg8-sWSj-EuLE1to/s1600/J-lino.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfNOAiAURIDxRt3QFH7tOTXoz3itZxgRjIzdp0wac-uwD8uFAvwdDWdByAUlRfKqVKSH9FxdDdDqJeon9hS5ZT1Mw2bdk_6RW2rQHLFkVhwtSXj4K6qzTV8wZSKZXg8-sWSj-EuLE1to/s400/J-lino.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I wasn't familiar with the places and buildings along the banks of the River Thames in SW London, but I was sent lots of photos and web links, so I immersed myself in pastoral views, Palladian architecture and swirling river eddies. The design also includes a rowing boat, sand martins and swans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCHtcRB2FlsATMDPMwLypeghPcaBP4Tf4GVjRZ995nz9AKei80MIULBd2ZZQK0V2zG831n2UDIO7yc2OxlLlKFP2UEgdiMGYEo4iTZaxH1tWeEnGEByKLDtizGrW7X9t8EZU2tK7OYOhw/s1600/I-cards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCHtcRB2FlsATMDPMwLypeghPcaBP4Tf4GVjRZ995nz9AKei80MIULBd2ZZQK0V2zG831n2UDIO7yc2OxlLlKFP2UEgdiMGYEo4iTZaxH1tWeEnGEByKLDtizGrW7X9t8EZU2tK7OYOhw/s400/I-cards.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">My design was used on <a href="http://www.conchordfestival.co.uk/" target="_blank">the festival posters, advertising and programme</a> - in addition I produced a set of greetings cards to be for sale at the concert venue, St Mary's church, Twickenham. I'm thinking of getting a reprint to sell in my web shop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-jtgevc-yv5K6-oTRV48_NDLtjYlxivnq9HXvoWIqr2MMmg-6TZdVjibBKzTcD2BgI73RuAthelw3cy7UJnJEEGA2UfMDWDb5wwVuwGXy2Nb7I4aREkOg5Uy5KTvcfly9roOv8EV0f4M/s1600/B-church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-jtgevc-yv5K6-oTRV48_NDLtjYlxivnq9HXvoWIqr2MMmg-6TZdVjibBKzTcD2BgI73RuAthelw3cy7UJnJEEGA2UfMDWDb5wwVuwGXy2Nb7I4aREkOg5Uy5KTvcfly9roOv8EV0f4M/s400/B-church.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">St Mary's Twickenham and the riverside garden featuring quotes from <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/alexander-pope" target="_blank">Alexander Pope</a> whose home was nearby.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Emily kindly offered me 2 tickets to a concert of my choice, I chose the opening concert of music by Bach; so last week Cliff and I drove down to South London - a burst water main on the Edgeware Road made this a very very long trek, as all roundabouts for miles around had become gridlocked! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">But is was a sunny day and we arrived mid afternoon, in time to deliver the boxes of cards to the church and have a lovely walk along the river in the sunshine.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhma5-apKvgPhyphenhyphentVbgOfVXC8HQrwrRy053Sv7Woy3spaQ5QJpV3jgYuWh9BXLaJqHZ4F0R9DDgke7gtckkeokbRth-OzLpjQFSWC1qCXbAJZ8MrosZ-6pPVyVHpA8nYJdyPtt2hLWwk8BQ/s1600/A-wall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhma5-apKvgPhyphenhyphentVbgOfVXC8HQrwrRy053Sv7Woy3spaQ5QJpV3jgYuWh9BXLaJqHZ4F0R9DDgke7gtckkeokbRth-OzLpjQFSWC1qCXbAJZ8MrosZ-6pPVyVHpA8nYJdyPtt2hLWwk8BQ/s400/A-wall.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">At the church I discovered my linocut design had been printed on a HUGE banner!<br /><br />And onto VERY TALL flags! they looked splendid.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxt5qFYObjQWg0jLPUU4aDln2ZLP8_f9GK5IbLljYnf3tJPGhnBFasteg1s483OEBQ_MXis4p_J1wIL9Y73RWQ5cnegGSDJoHUt-OAbM9RZfk4H8k6O2WXaUOSeLufHSr4cdwKFVAmBfk/s1600/C-flags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxt5qFYObjQWg0jLPUU4aDln2ZLP8_f9GK5IbLljYnf3tJPGhnBFasteg1s483OEBQ_MXis4p_J1wIL9Y73RWQ5cnegGSDJoHUt-OAbM9RZfk4H8k6O2WXaUOSeLufHSr4cdwKFVAmBfk/s400/C-flags.jpg" width="310" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">On our walk I was pleased to find <a href="http://www.visitrichmond.co.uk/londons-arcadia.aspx" target="_blank">the Arcadian landscape</a> along the river just as I'd pictured in my mind. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKbHq1JCya03CRxdP3Ef_5c-bjTDGXQm5ePspU0hz6qjHWhh_WIMIMynUtVeUbShdpyZWmqdx3AunnNkINpxTYvGDi3QdEUwHo0EGcBl2cyVv65qH4ze5sMd0VVVjAZCmFDU6-jTkQcSs/s1600/E-MarbleHill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKbHq1JCya03CRxdP3Ef_5c-bjTDGXQm5ePspU0hz6qjHWhh_WIMIMynUtVeUbShdpyZWmqdx3AunnNkINpxTYvGDi3QdEUwHo0EGcBl2cyVv65qH4ze5sMd0VVVjAZCmFDU6-jTkQcSs/s400/E-MarbleHill.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjleN_3ECWzvkwwXvtOsZczgdkMqpYz52_90z0VJrmmQvqNOIpdfYv4pPAsvFCh1T2taEu8-3BVu9yM-YHl5TIUkLAu0rvg3zHOhTnTmXIZIjo9CiPt9wJJd81dDpB3sZYlaRHfb3K68I8/s1600/F-Orleans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjleN_3ECWzvkwwXvtOsZczgdkMqpYz52_90z0VJrmmQvqNOIpdfYv4pPAsvFCh1T2taEu8-3BVu9yM-YHl5TIUkLAu0rvg3zHOhTnTmXIZIjo9CiPt9wJJd81dDpB3sZYlaRHfb3K68I8/s320/F-Orleans.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Across the river from St Mary's church is Eel Pie Island, if the Palladian palaces and gentle leafy parks are sublime, then Eel Pie Island is it's ridiculous neighbour - there are about 150 quirky residences, studios and shacks on the island which can only be reached by a foot-bridge or by boat.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCfSACUAEa8V2gB7n1kjbR_dSfgVTIWZTvrJm5bgKaCzDc4TCSocN7Hqlx0aP3LgS2_SGnB3Oj9HiB6uB_IvWy9x7C6qSMUCmQjvW15wbiO06esDvfRwxE9jKOpY1UQi6BCzA997pTirY/s1600/D-EelPie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCfSACUAEa8V2gB7n1kjbR_dSfgVTIWZTvrJm5bgKaCzDc4TCSocN7Hqlx0aP3LgS2_SGnB3Oj9HiB6uB_IvWy9x7C6qSMUCmQjvW15wbiO06esDvfRwxE9jKOpY1UQi6BCzA997pTirY/s400/D-EelPie.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Back in Twickenham 'village' pedestrian high street we had time for a snack before the concert, a small Lebanese tea-house/café looked inviting and the owner kindly moved a table outside for us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCGENBxvCik3xrR-CpNYC2wNTd2yiUGdXwVHmS-M4Z314ZFWiZ2cryZRgTMgIFPSwPcs75pN1KLZ8v0vjotlQrP24iQIPBhPOORUE5b8ilXVnkDl0-p3EcosBEmw3fXxDteKOvz5Ovy_8/s1600/H-tea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCGENBxvCik3xrR-CpNYC2wNTd2yiUGdXwVHmS-M4Z314ZFWiZ2cryZRgTMgIFPSwPcs75pN1KLZ8v0vjotlQrP24iQIPBhPOORUE5b8ilXVnkDl0-p3EcosBEmw3fXxDteKOvz5Ovy_8/s320/H-tea.jpg" width="266" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Tea with a timer!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">However it wasn't calm and tranquil! Friday evening was also the start of the Twickenham Summer Festival, and that means Tug-of-War!!!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2gn6RwD6U3CMf4TG1D88VmsDi7eZFaoBe6eh0IDRDGa2UCqWVYp7dChb1u7hTKYYkRnT8tEwRcAaZ3OEX3npSM7QFsC8gzDHe8qZ3lHAWpHl6pV1H3L-dG2C9hXpWUMnXxGWd124uErk/s1600/G-tug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2gn6RwD6U3CMf4TG1D88VmsDi7eZFaoBe6eh0IDRDGa2UCqWVYp7dChb1u7hTKYYkRnT8tEwRcAaZ3OEX3npSM7QFsC8gzDHe8qZ3lHAWpHl6pV1H3L-dG2C9hXpWUMnXxGWd124uErk/s400/G-tug.jpg" width="298" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> This was happening right beside our café table!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Tug-of-War teams were still battling for the prize when we had to leave and take our seats for the opening concert on the Conchord Festival. The church was packed and the music was beautifully performed; it wasn't surprising the audience demanded an encore! You can see a photo of two of the musicians, <a href="http://danielrowland.com/" target="_blank">Daniel Rowland</a> and <a href="http://www.michaelfoyle.org/" target="_blank">Michael Foyle</a>, inside the elegant church, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154982592633378&set=a.10150216000168378.385564.528868377&type=3&theater" target="_blank">here</a> on Facebook.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The concert was recorded and filmed, so I'm hoping there will eventually be a video on YouTube. In the mean time you can see some of the Conchord Ensemble's past performances <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/LondonConchord" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There are so many places to visit along the 'Arcadian Thames', I can recommend a wander. If you look at the last page of the <a href="http://festival.conchord.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/110835_Conchord-1.pdf" target="_blank">Conchord Festival programme</a> you'll find a map and a list of some lovely places to visit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This weekend the entertainment is closer to home . . . <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WithersfieldVillageFete/" target="_blank">our village fete</a> on the green just around the corner from my studio. I'm busy baking cakes for the teas!<br /><br />Celia</span></div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-51628435030147083072016-05-25T15:18:00.000+01:002016-05-25T15:23:24.104+01:00Orange is THE colour<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It's nearly the end of May and I haven't written about my linocut illustration for the May issue of Gardens Illustrated magazine . . . so here goes</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Have you been following the media coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show, I'm not going to be there in person but I've enjoyed looking at photos of the gardens and displays while I've been packing a big order for greetings cards for <a href="http://www.conchordfestival.co.uk/" target="_blank">the Conchord Festival</a>. From what I've seen, there's a lot of zingy colour this year and orange seems to be 'in', geums, verbascums, irises and those very sexy orange foxgloves on <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/chelsea-flower-show/chelsea-flower-show-2016-the-medal-winners-in-full/" target="_blank">Andy Sturgeon's 'Best in Show' garden</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So it seems I was 'on trend' when I chose a vivid shade of saffron for my linocut illustration for Frank Ronan's column about the summer heat in California and two native poppies that enjoy the baking temperatures - the huge white Matilija Poppy and the orange Californian Poppy.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihsBr72rfHWOcrASuTofKImzGf9yKNSw4xGIptnOYVxETPq7rpJlq5Pa9J_n_a7qE2tOgnz3yev7B69iA2ltWzf_ztMbVssbB25OgqaiVqxENBacmqjHdisWuIufLmjZdFm6WeirqPS9E/s1600/Poppies-A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihsBr72rfHWOcrASuTofKImzGf9yKNSw4xGIptnOYVxETPq7rpJlq5Pa9J_n_a7qE2tOgnz3yev7B69iA2ltWzf_ztMbVssbB25OgqaiVqxENBacmqjHdisWuIufLmjZdFm6WeirqPS9E/s400/Poppies-A.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I began with sketches of both, getting to know the shapes of the petals; and I made a quick sketch of an idea for the composition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I then worked more on the composition - using negative and positive shapes I could place the white poppies on one side and the orange on the other, joining them together with the rocky canyon landscape and sizzling mid-day sun.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRl3L7w2rMF9ZVEJFbT-_txpWMATLuoMTnwimjaRtGmDgsU0BQYsvpaF6V4Knh1Pc5VgK-N4dBbyYfUQcJoVVmHije5zyAw_DWNVzsB152SnRkGI6R3rDjbrqMrCYEqjTOmGal5EN-gQ/s1600/Poppies-C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRl3L7w2rMF9ZVEJFbT-_txpWMATLuoMTnwimjaRtGmDgsU0BQYsvpaF6V4Knh1Pc5VgK-N4dBbyYfUQcJoVVmHije5zyAw_DWNVzsB152SnRkGI6R3rDjbrqMrCYEqjTOmGal5EN-gQ/s400/Poppies-C.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It needed something to focus the attention and add a quirky touch - I imagined the scene and in my head heard the rustle of dry leaves as a lizard scurried out of view - that's it! So I added a little Californian Alligator Lizard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And then . . . Oooops! do you see what I did there? I flipped my design on the tracing paper then I flipped it back again and without even realising I cut the block and finished the print as a mirror image of my rough design. AND I didn't notice until I was showing a customer my sketchbook on my stall at a craft fair. Oh well, we all have our 'embarrissing moment'. And the composition still looks OK, even though it's back to front! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There are no </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Matilija Poppies, Romneya coulteri, in our garden (though I know some people grow them in the UK) but I do have a few Californian Poppies <a href="http://higgledygarden.com/shop/" target="_blank">grown from seeds from Ben at Higgledy Garden</a> . . .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I sowed the seeds last year, they survived the winter and are now large healthy looking plants and the flowers are a lovely cream colour.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The variety is Eschscholzia 'Ivory Castle' and petals are like expensive wedding dress fabric.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So my Californian poppies aren't the fashionable zingy orange but I do grow another lovely orange coloured poppy, Papaver atlanticum, the Atlas Poppy, which is a beautiful shade of earthy pale orange.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I think this is my 'signature plant', I love how it seeds itself into just the right spot and then the transient flowers (each lasts no more than 2 days) on tall wire thin and almost invisible stems, seem to float above the foliage like vivid butterflies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Before I finish, if you're interested in original prints here's a date for your diaries:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The <a href="http://cambridgeoriginalprintmakers.com/" target="_blank">Cambridge Original Printmakers Biennale</a> takes place from 22nd to 28th September. I'm excited to have been selected to take part and I'm also doing a demonstration on hand-burnished linocuts - <a href="http://cambridgeoriginalprintmakers.com/demonstrations-and-workshops/celia-hart-demo" target="_blank">details on the web site</a>. The exhibition and all the talks and demonstrations are free of charge, though you need to book a ticket for the talks (and you need to be quick to grab one)so, I recommend keeping an eye on the <a href="http://cambridgeoriginalprintmakers.com/speakers-and-demonstrations" target="_blank">web site</a>/<a href="https://www.facebook.com/CambridgeOriginalPrintmakers" target="_blank">facebook</a>/<a href="https://twitter.com/CambsOrigPrint" target="_blank">twitter</a> for updates of when the tickets go live. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And the next thing on my work list is . . . Christmas Cards (not joking) the fabulous wildflower charity <a href="http://www.plantlife.org.uk/" target="_blank">Plantlife</a> have once again asked me to design some cards for them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Hope you all enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Celia</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">xx</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">PS: I'll try to do a non-work-related blog next time.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-16159422179366136052016-04-20T17:03:00.001+01:002016-04-20T17:28:24.047+01:00When April with his showers sweet . . .<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b><br /></b></span>
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">When April with his showers sweet </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">with fruit</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>The drought of March has pierced unto the root</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>And bathed each vein with liquor that has power</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>To generate therein and sire the flower;</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath,</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Quickened again, in every holt and heath,</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Into the Ram one half his course has run,</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>And many little birds make melody</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>That sleep through all the night with open eye</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>(So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)-</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">those are the opening lines to </span><a href="http://www.librarius.com/cantales.htm" style="font-family: 'courier new', courier, monospace;" target="_blank">Geoffrey Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales'</a><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> and they seem to pull together the random things in this blog post . . .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Back in early February when I received the text of Frank Ronan's column for April's 'The Writer's Plot' in <a href="http://www.gardensillustrated.com/" target="_blank">Garden's Illustrated magazine</a>, I breathed a happy sigh of relief that the subject was 'Green' and in particular, English bluebell woods. Of course bluebells were'n't in flower nor were leaves breaking from their buds, so I had to work from reference photographs and my memory, though I did find Dog's Mercury and Honeysuckle already in leaf in the tiny 'Wild Wood' at the end of our garden!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Frank makes the observation that . . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i>"A bluebell needs the shimmering green</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i>of the woodland floor for its magic" </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">and he goes on to beautifully describe how all the varied hues of green transform the blue of a bluebell into</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i>"an illusion of purity and blueness" </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7W41YYQf_zNsmeIv6jwCNQWYZlBz8-pPdb07KwLNoKEkhoAPwoLeSdT4Jg-mE-9RiFZQb00HpEFk-JOH3SemuTX0lo4wLK_bdpgn1SovcnuxPKCemgI2NBbjmMRYP7VXsj557y1x6wIk/s1600/C-Sussex.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7W41YYQf_zNsmeIv6jwCNQWYZlBz8-pPdb07KwLNoKEkhoAPwoLeSdT4Jg-mE-9RiFZQb00HpEFk-JOH3SemuTX0lo4wLK_bdpgn1SovcnuxPKCemgI2NBbjmMRYP7VXsj557y1x6wIk/s320/C-Sussex.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Now is the perfect is time to <a href="http://visitwoods.org.uk/en/visit-woods/things-to-do/nature/pages/bluebell-walks.aspx#.VxUB0yMrL64" target="_blank">find a bluebell wood</a> and see this for yourself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Having 'worked my socks off' during March, I was in need of a recuperative break. Cliff was going on a weekend away to Sussex with the local walking group, so I tagged along and we added an extra couple of days for good measure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I discovered some new places . . .</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Ditchling </span></a><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="http://www.ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk/" target="_blank">Museum of Art & Craft</a> is devoted to the artists that lived and worked in this village tucked in the South Downs north of Brighton, notably Eric Gill and his friends and family but there were others too, such as textile designer </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">and natural dye specialist, </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Mairet" target="_blank">Ethel Mairet</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The current special exhibition is about the calligrapher and type designer <a href="http://www.ejf.org.uk/" target="_blank">Edward Johnston</a> (that's his desk in the display, above), coinciding with the </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">100th anniversary of </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">his type designs for London Transport (with only small tweaks, they are still in use today).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The museum is a beautiful tranquil space full of inspiring things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">After delivering some of my prints to <a href="http://rathfinnyestate.com/gun-room" target="_blank">The Gun Room in Alfriston</a>, which already stocks my cards I drove a little north along some tiny lanes and found Berwick Church. If you're in need of inspiration and don't have time to visit Charleston and want to avoid the crowds, I can recommend <a href="http://www.berwickchurch.org.uk/bloomsbury%20at%20berwick%20home.html" target="_blank">this tiny church with murals by Bloomsbury Group artists</a> Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I spent an hour there completely by myself just sitting looking at the paintings and the views across the fields through the clear glass windows and listening to the birds singing in the churchyard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy4PjYmuxlHIvv2YIRk4eb6qe2ny6ZfW2wCtnIiBNjqMw0m1rTBeCxzvtjj8O-FG52aGD2bwoJb4qS44PVb5MH0fYTY8LMzI7Ak0PmsqDoMgKKl5vt5hxyCyUcRkMkCmrb-YIAYqgVv3Y/s1600/IMG_6154.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy4PjYmuxlHIvv2YIRk4eb6qe2ny6ZfW2wCtnIiBNjqMw0m1rTBeCxzvtjj8O-FG52aGD2bwoJb4qS44PVb5MH0fYTY8LMzI7Ak0PmsqDoMgKKl5vt5hxyCyUcRkMkCmrb-YIAYqgVv3Y/s320/IMG_6154.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And revisited some old haunts . . .</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">A friend who recently moved to Brighton had been urging me to visit so that I could show her places I remembered from my student days. I wasn't sure I really wanted to re-live my past, especially if I found places changed beyond recognition, but I was looking forward to having a long chat, a good laugh and a nice lunch. In the end we had great fun wandering along the sea front (<a href="http://britishairwaysi360.com/" target="_blank">what IS that monstrous THING?!!!</a>) and around the town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The old fruit and veg market next to the Art College has gone and was a pile of rubble behind hoardings but opposite I was delighted to find the Market Diner was still looking just the same (except for new formica on the table tops). I like to think of all the art students who have enjoyed a calming mug of tea there after a scathing crit'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemptown,_Brighton" target="_blank">Kemptown</a> is a bit tidier but still familiar and there, </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">still thriving, w</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">as The Bristol pub which was next door to the Seafront Hall of residence (now swanky apartments!).</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We went in for a drink and a sit down in the lounge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Walking back to my friend's flat we past the building that was the subject of my first reduction linocut (a long long time ago! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJPMRceBDRlvS8CbQyL5odeWy3diGaaagQNR8fOS4LEUploft54pAk8tqTNVqFhROpHOx4rGGhvXGrDdQvR2QTiOm_JTraBPaw9y3Egtmz94Ib6_7MY_z2RTN9T9gDkq37csVj3MBnSsM/s1600/J-Sussex.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJPMRceBDRlvS8CbQyL5odeWy3diGaaagQNR8fOS4LEUploft54pAk8tqTNVqFhROpHOx4rGGhvXGrDdQvR2QTiOm_JTraBPaw9y3Egtmz94Ib6_7MY_z2RTN9T9gDkq37csVj3MBnSsM/s400/J-Sussex.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I now remember, we were paired to share sheets of paper, printing on the reverse of our partner's print; then we each got a set of all the printed pages and we bound them into books. On the cover of my book (I found it on a shelf in my studio) is an embossed street plan of Kemptown and foil blocking representing the 'sea'.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnC5pgzLPVfK-KBRqQv5hNLnFOaXZy3ikTWvYIuP8bz3iK7m2lpSps8sVd1a_WnoDxh9VmDEXafdl25PJA9O4Q9MbcNLh7CJ6VoSe9y47tM8Q6HkpzfXWOftOECzkov-AQx-ylUImp6U/s1600/K-Sussex.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnC5pgzLPVfK-KBRqQv5hNLnFOaXZy3ikTWvYIuP8bz3iK7m2lpSps8sVd1a_WnoDxh9VmDEXafdl25PJA9O4Q9MbcNLh7CJ6VoSe9y47tM8Q6HkpzfXWOftOECzkov-AQx-ylUImp6U/s400/K-Sussex.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">New discoveries and refreshed memories . . .</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">and having a jolly good break from the norm!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">maybe that's what inspired Chaucer's Pilgrims too?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Wood engraving illustrations of <br />scenes from The Canterbury Tales</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">by <a href="http://crisfieldchapman.co.uk/" target="_blank">June Chapman</a><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(I bought these at an auction a few years back - and really must frame them!)</span></span></div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-39977857137341638452016-03-28T12:55:00.001+01:002016-03-28T12:55:32.437+01:00Happy Easter with Hares and Flowers<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Easter holiday weekend came in like a lamb and is going out like a roaring lion!</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Good Friday was a glorious Spring day and reminded us how lovely a sunny day in the garden can be. I worked hard clearing dead plant stems and weeding flower beds . . . <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BDYl7DzAsjp/?taken-by=celiahartartist" target="_blank">with a little help from my under-gardener Ivy!</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwU_mKpk8nVQxgRPdc5diaq8WGuZZ31d0InQlkueK3I40YSH_C6LIx4FvEF9BD_7LA-UWUZqSHMcOddVFXxpiTMpOKjtUHJVXJTXTIkvl21Y-IQ8q97KJx_8TO_HRmSo38NPY6XaROoSk/s1600/A_Easter.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwU_mKpk8nVQxgRPdc5diaq8WGuZZ31d0InQlkueK3I40YSH_C6LIx4FvEF9BD_7LA-UWUZqSHMcOddVFXxpiTMpOKjtUHJVXJTXTIkvl21Y-IQ8q97KJx_8TO_HRmSo38NPY6XaROoSk/s400/A_Easter.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Then in the afternoon I went for a walk along my new favourite route, I was joined by one of my Twitter followers and her family, she'd asked if I might let them join me to see hares . . . luckily the hares obliged so everyone was happy!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5sHH13zRrEt5vVNSyxtjCvVfwWwVU86K0XTiYZzqVQR7PA_ja0edmvPrXptIyIZoPq0CWhHK6IirIxTtK4SbQjbs-RCz1RRnfn1esVl0Vs1gxVlV-WizVFWhd7wNm2UURvV6YR3e980k/s1600/C_Easter.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5sHH13zRrEt5vVNSyxtjCvVfwWwVU86K0XTiYZzqVQR7PA_ja0edmvPrXptIyIZoPq0CWhHK6IirIxTtK4SbQjbs-RCz1RRnfn1esVl0Vs1gxVlV-WizVFWhd7wNm2UURvV6YR3e980k/s400/C_Easter.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_kTorrF2g79Y7CvtOPFe6AuIbsraw38ang_r7GMKOQA7nuxj842SJlKP0KnTWwWjafVCmZ4v3Z98oX8taMZ8x8Faz-DU_5rL2UjdOZ3UwbV-Iz2MoeLTyUzsfezetwaNB8JJuH_HeFzs/s1600/C_Easter.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6AfeoCFAcep5ltZN6W7NmyFJxg4N28zJIc6JP9ua4kdVpIRfY6c3dz_-yOVvrrvyRAxuQNAdpZva2f59kYUk54iisUT-I4ZtgvhEXzW66a8D1ZlHokJ71lHDdCX2lGKMQqMb9NTjv8zs/s1600/D_Easter.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6AfeoCFAcep5ltZN6W7NmyFJxg4N28zJIc6JP9ua4kdVpIRfY6c3dz_-yOVvrrvyRAxuQNAdpZva2f59kYUk54iisUT-I4ZtgvhEXzW66a8D1ZlHokJ71lHDdCX2lGKMQqMb9NTjv8zs/s400/D_Easter.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The weather has been changeable, I hope you managed to dodge the showers! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMcOzYytidCZeM4eGF7rNLAh92wnG9byOlstLmwaGGDTgyAKnNnji1cq90Y9wItnA9Rl8ed6NdZpQia-84p_PmecNoZ2zBgdm_zqtwVLXKYGnLPUNS-srpvrYGPqSSyNleIjFzNgsdO4/s1600/B_Easter.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMcOzYytidCZeM4eGF7rNLAh92wnG9byOlstLmwaGGDTgyAKnNnji1cq90Y9wItnA9Rl8ed6NdZpQia-84p_PmecNoZ2zBgdm_zqtwVLXKYGnLPUNS-srpvrYGPqSSyNleIjFzNgsdO4/s400/B_Easter.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">On Saturday we went to Southend-on-sea, the main reason was to see <a href="http://www.southendmuseums.co.uk/whats_on/event/The-East-London-Group-Out-of-the-City" target="_blank">'Out of the City'</a>, landscape paintings of East Anglia by the <a href="http://www.eastlondongroup.com/" target="_blank">East London Group</a> – and almost forgotten group of talented artists for the 1920s and 30s. Their work appeared on some of the iconic Shell posters of the time, I like the graphic, pared down quality of their landscapes. If you're in the area it's worth a visit.<br /><br />It wasn't 'sea-side weather', it would have been madness to brave a walk on the pier! we had fish and chops in a characterful 'caff' and managed to walk back to the car park without getting blown off our feet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Twitter is amazing for discovering things that are right on your own doorstep but somehow you've missed . . . and this was just what happened when I saw a tweeted photo of a beautiful field of flowers and discovered it was just off my route when I visit my Mum. So on Sunday we went to see the National Collection of Hyacinths . . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It's <a href="http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/pictures/Cambridge-garden-home-world-s-largest-collection/pictures-26290272-detail/pictures.html" target="_blank">in a field in the Fens</a> near the Cambridge-Ely railway line. Behind the farm buildings are row upon row of perfumed hyacinths growing out of the black fen soil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimrpBbLeYID5WnNRTlEn8umY-4h5jihpkUmJoT9DBlLro97ErNBqdZRljKbzJfBki9IbaqMzVSzbfz3u9UcKRlspdwJm2qtfF3VquF2m4TZkHPNMo5zLLrd8bkB4B2HJh2SLzyfoXLrG8/s1600/G_Easter.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimrpBbLeYID5WnNRTlEn8umY-4h5jihpkUmJoT9DBlLro97ErNBqdZRljKbzJfBki9IbaqMzVSzbfz3u9UcKRlspdwJm2qtfF3VquF2m4TZkHPNMo5zLLrd8bkB4B2HJh2SLzyfoXLrG8/s400/G_Easter.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Delicate species varieties and rich deep coloured named varieties . . . </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We timed our visit between the heavy showers and when the dark clouds loomed again on the horizon we quickly made our way back to the car . . . getting out of the car park in a neighbouring grass field was an interesting wheel spinning and very muddy challenge!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We joined my Mum watching <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rowing/35908187" target="_blank">the Boat Race</a> on TV. Well done Cambridge! and well done to the Cambridge girls for bravely carrying on rowing while almost sinking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So, as <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35909651" target="_blank">Storm Katie</a> still rages outside, stay safe and dry and enjoy the rest of Bank Holiday Monday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Celia</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">xx</span></div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-36237337562916945942016-03-24T18:14:00.000+00:002016-03-24T18:14:27.616+00:00On the trail of the lonesome pine . . . my illustration for March's Gardens Illustrated<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Until the email arrives, I have no idea what Frank Ronan is going to write about for his <a href="http://www.gardensillustrated.com/" target="_blank">Gardens Illustrated</a> column 'The Writer's Plot'. And as he lives in California for most of the year, I can't rely on familiar seasonal plants making an appearance.<br /><br />But even for Frank, the March article was something different . . . a road trip!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUxz7VzeuEQRaFtiuQHg4SZVnU1v5rTuQiph6E_QV0-xZ1movlhRSK28r-pjNgNttr_HnuHql2zniTS6qK7ieqCcyDcw78_NfMc7DuPf1vYTN1OyZFNOsI-LRHAaXzFk547imcLSjFcXo/s1600/A_Pines.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUxz7VzeuEQRaFtiuQHg4SZVnU1v5rTuQiph6E_QV0-xZ1movlhRSK28r-pjNgNttr_HnuHql2zniTS6qK7ieqCcyDcw78_NfMc7DuPf1vYTN1OyZFNOsI-LRHAaXzFk547imcLSjFcXo/s400/A_Pines.jpg" width="316" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Over lunch one day when Cliff was at home, we sat down and followed Frank's route on Google Maps. If you have the magazine and read the article, Frank writes: 'I made a road trip the other day...' with a casualness of saying he popped down to the supermarket; BUT let me explain, Cliff and I have driven from Portland to San Francisco, we've also driven from LA to San Francisco, taking the coastal route in both cases, and each of those trips took us over a week! At our pace I think we'd need 6 weeks to do Frank's trip! So I suspect he took more than just 'a day'! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfKer1CPuMrcZna7FVYGjOlNvvFUzJJV7OVjN3crQIOiaYzNwcJS6jeaNFUT5AoVmB9kYyMo5R3dN335qOp7maa1e-uAJo87B3JEFZbGcbFyAAWuMkbujw0p0rcLleC2b5YdLLB6ics8/s1600/B_Pines.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfKer1CPuMrcZna7FVYGjOlNvvFUzJJV7OVjN3crQIOiaYzNwcJS6jeaNFUT5AoVmB9kYyMo5R3dN335qOp7maa1e-uAJo87B3JEFZbGcbFyAAWuMkbujw0p0rcLleC2b5YdLLB6ics8/s400/B_Pines.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As you can imagine, the landscape and the conifers change dramatically along the route from gnarled coastal trees, then mile on mile of uniform forest and on to <a href="http://www.aveofthegiants.com/" target="_blank">the Avenue of Giants</a> back in California. Not to mention the wide pastures of Montana and the beauty of the <a href="http://www.fs.usda.gov/lolo" target="_blank">Lolo National Forest</a> (somewhere I hadn't heard of and is now on my 'must see' list!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I admit to floundering about not knowing what to draw. My sketchbook is evidence of this!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm8YzD1lOGjlHfuDp6zm-igS-jGhz60CQYN7cM62KEGvoTAYblbjusRwplS112RyMc7_hcY-3KwDIYM8xFeJ6e0S4fCScW1C5rxmAage7fnkQE9jJOhRTBqlNq7Drm7Ls4oCRlPEimwOQ/s1600/C_Pines.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm8YzD1lOGjlHfuDp6zm-igS-jGhz60CQYN7cM62KEGvoTAYblbjusRwplS112RyMc7_hcY-3KwDIYM8xFeJ6e0S4fCScW1C5rxmAage7fnkQE9jJOhRTBqlNq7Drm7Ls4oCRlPEimwOQ/s400/C_Pines.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Frank's writing is always full of passing cultural and literary references, some I'm familiar with others have me turning to google </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(who's Smokey Bear?) </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">... I learn a lot. The key that unlocked my ideas for this linocut was this sentence: </span><i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">"spectacular mountains give way to the sort of cowboy landscape I'd dreamed of seeing since the first reading of My Friend Flicka" </i><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. . . I remember that book, it's one of my Mum's favourites and she recommended it to me when I was young. I was more taken by the black and white illustrations by </span><a href="http://www.thecharlestunnicliffesociety.co.uk/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;" target="_blank">Charles Tunnicliffe</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and noticed he'd also illustrated some of my favourite Ladybird nature and wildlife books. I think this was when the seed was sown in my mind that drawing pictures could be a real job.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So slightly inspired by Tunnicliffe and <i>My Friend Flicka</i>, together with my own memories of huge landscape views in Oregon and California and some unspecific conifers – here is my finished illustration in the March edition of Gardens Illustrated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHFQOJS0W7dVkWLxu3Cwcg0nmpqDaO7wgr5zgcxVDE29fsJdVwHtygDyjFpehZ4j4MPSIMGbzGbQT5tf39rvrKUcisFRLQSC0oN9CWuS4vySOQEEoG7qQga_Zc88f9SdGbx1HDi-IdkFw/s1600/D_Pines.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHFQOJS0W7dVkWLxu3Cwcg0nmpqDaO7wgr5zgcxVDE29fsJdVwHtygDyjFpehZ4j4MPSIMGbzGbQT5tf39rvrKUcisFRLQSC0oN9CWuS4vySOQEEoG7qQga_Zc88f9SdGbx1HDi-IdkFw/s400/D_Pines.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">To my surprise I've managed to get my work schedules back on track, it's amazing how fast I can carve lino when I have to!!! I can take the Easter weekend off, knowing I just have to print and scan the linocut for May's Gardens Illustrated to meet the deadline next week. Phew!<br /><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Wishing all of you a very happy and peaceful Easter weekend. I hope the sun shines, but if not finding somewhere cosy is good option.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Celia</span></div>
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Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220897337333701839.post-84964282787285511452016-03-12T16:58:00.001+00:002016-03-15T08:18:20.214+00:00Illustration for the Telegraph Gardening section<h3>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">to paraphrase Jane Austen . . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It is a truth universally acknowledged that nice commissions come along when you are already up to your neck in work!</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It was late on Tuesday after that I got the email from the Daily Telegraph's creative director, there was no time to dither the deadline was the following Wednesday afternoon. Yes or No? Overload or miss a juicy commission?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I said yes.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_fYzmCTmT32m2zsD0qNXB7djTgOmaClTionA1E4JAavPAiwEDMEIN-LvPOkFlZyX4vEbxHGG1LXL4c6mJ1gFP8IYcLt6W3X_8t2UOeG0Ha1GSxwcY3SLVlf5Wobk_YDUpB-dD5hne0Xs/s1600/A.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_fYzmCTmT32m2zsD0qNXB7djTgOmaClTionA1E4JAavPAiwEDMEIN-LvPOkFlZyX4vEbxHGG1LXL4c6mJ1gFP8IYcLt6W3X_8t2UOeG0Ha1GSxwcY3SLVlf5Wobk_YDUpB-dD5hne0Xs/s400/A.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The brief was to illustrate an article about growing edible plants in a shady garden. It was for the front page of the Gardening section of the Saturday Daily Telegraph. I found a previous week's copy and stuck a print out of the designer's layout on the front. The design could break out of the top and slightly overlap the header, I also noticed the bottom of the illustration wouldn't be visible when the paper is folded in half.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I then researched the plants mentioned in the article and did sketches. By Wednesday evening I'd come up with a design - this was a relief as I wouldn't be in my studio on Thursday. However after sleeping on it, I awoke the next morning with an alternative idea! So after frenzied scribbling while eating my porridge I supplied an alternative design as well. And this was the one the creative director liked best. (Moral: always sleep on a design before submitting it!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ7ZJwsX5lPy0VEN5J4x5YiWsQF5gh21qjosXlqlKy5Z1MN4De24lWGc2AYI44zExLubwHqcOlrh3Qy8Ulcsc9F8EPXT3eofTq5ZQmoc5T86Mw_ZLuKCqfJ_kD0yKKT_KkkU6UJXXxPUA/s1600/C.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ7ZJwsX5lPy0VEN5J4x5YiWsQF5gh21qjosXlqlKy5Z1MN4De24lWGc2AYI44zExLubwHqcOlrh3Qy8Ulcsc9F8EPXT3eofTq5ZQmoc5T86Mw_ZLuKCqfJ_kD0yKKT_KkkU6UJXXxPUA/s400/C.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Thursday evening . . . I drew a more detailed version of the design and traced it onto the lino ready for cutting on Friday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Friday was spent carving the lino! I was determined to get it done by 6pm as we were going out for supper and then to a <a href="http://www.katherineryan.co.uk/" target="_blank">Katherine Ryan</a> gig. Gosh I was tired! but the laughing was a great distraction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Saturday . . . I printed the lino. A few tweaks and once I had one good impression that was it - hung up to dry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjQ_zABbQ4QtjTew5kvsziqw7czCJ_jvYvdA31xqsNtjgnCyFLGbrUtmu-L4w-mkdgEAVy0T9LGyzl6YnvNtbhqnmxUxfcUa1xPiZB4l0K3eZX8JsdS5HtGTwlvmcA1gdW_bYmrWnOJA/s1600/E.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjQ_zABbQ4QtjTew5kvsziqw7czCJ_jvYvdA31xqsNtjgnCyFLGbrUtmu-L4w-mkdgEAVy0T9LGyzl6YnvNtbhqnmxUxfcUa1xPiZB4l0K3eZX8JsdS5HtGTwlvmcA1gdW_bYmrWnOJA/s400/E.jpg" width="297" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Sunday was Mothering Sunday - my Mum came to lunch and tea and I did lots of cooking (and eating)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Monday . . . </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">now for more colours . . . the brief was to emphasise the shadiness of the garden by using dramatic blocks of colour. I scanned the printed image (thank goodness for my new studio toy - an A3 scanner) and settled down to work in Photoshop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikiMUn1oThFeBIu3hqke7l-e7HM7Zit8cOJO21YjvlgUD602qhm5Zbf_8llV0S8VZqNs12bSXNsoVtz2dhJhelGCQHvCSUznW3AAPeXKz8LqnGH6uIjKrOGBoFt3awOA1kpCv9hFMKJ4I/s1600/F.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikiMUn1oThFeBIu3hqke7l-e7HM7Zit8cOJO21YjvlgUD602qhm5Zbf_8llV0S8VZqNs12bSXNsoVtz2dhJhelGCQHvCSUznW3AAPeXKz8LqnGH6uIjKrOGBoFt3awOA1kpCv9hFMKJ4I/s400/F.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Each colour is on a separate layer and is set to 'multiply' with the other layers. The result is just like printing layers of transluscant ink over the scanned linocut. Radio 4 on iPlayer and a mug of tea are also essential.<br /><br />And there it was finished. 'Just' the last "flight-checks" and the image whizzed by email to the newspaper on Monday evening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And here it is in this morning's paper . . .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCk4yK7-oomg0kuLOujzXtLFH5hAZqIwyOVPj6g5140ummRQd6J9Ais4WsFrkr7FcM-9cUFZxICEg0y7RXrHdF3TudyIUhyphenhyphennqucahJzqcHKHYkKAeXXR4cwuvw8juz7-2cgjQFHNagf-Q/s1600/G.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCk4yK7-oomg0kuLOujzXtLFH5hAZqIwyOVPj6g5140ummRQd6J9Ais4WsFrkr7FcM-9cUFZxICEg0y7RXrHdF3TudyIUhyphenhyphennqucahJzqcHKHYkKAeXXR4cwuvw8juz7-2cgjQFHNagf-Q/s400/G.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I was pleased with the colours, they looked so zingy on the screen but printed on newsprint they are muted but still bright enough. And the folded paper shows the shady garden and then turn over to see the small sunny area utilised to grow salads in a raised bed and herbs in pots (great idea)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL6mYWBcAktt1f8fhb0wuA77UfchuEhs13BwexPejcMHN6YHEDtRPg09MCxjPwWscGzJptcMMEV0-wwoA0nhTUvenRYSTlT8byWl6HLM-9z6fWH48rPHWD09MI3VvSvAUbToAi1mjap00/s1600/H.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL6mYWBcAktt1f8fhb0wuA77UfchuEhs13BwexPejcMHN6YHEDtRPg09MCxjPwWscGzJptcMMEV0-wwoA0nhTUvenRYSTlT8byWl6HLM-9z6fWH48rPHWD09MI3VvSvAUbToAi1mjap00/s400/H.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And opened out, here's the illustration in full . . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtK5zg7m9SIPNXrLovLOsDZNUNFBc2hXtrjIPv37Ikt6-hcXy7MguFNvszqpFEw1glToyBZk7lIYKRQtZq2lUElolf7jwM6GN3Inn5_w8cT_HGH3OvI859lqqw1GAsZB_ZPIuEiBKhR0/s1600/I.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtK5zg7m9SIPNXrLovLOsDZNUNFBc2hXtrjIPv37Ikt6-hcXy7MguFNvszqpFEw1glToyBZk7lIYKRQtZq2lUElolf7jwM6GN3Inn5_w8cT_HGH3OvI859lqqw1GAsZB_ZPIuEiBKhR0/s400/I.jpg" width="302" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">If you can't get to read the paper, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/how-to-grow/how-to-grow-veg-in-the-shade/" target="_blank">Lia Leendertz's article is in the online Telegraph</a> (my illustration is only in the print edition) and it's full of interesting ideas for growing edible plants in a shady garden.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Now, what was I doing before I was interrupted! A commission for a music festival programme, a local landscape print and May's Gardens Illustrated magazine illustration. I'll need a holiday in April!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And I haven't yet blogged about the March Garden's illustrated linocut . . . that was an interesting challenge! I'll tell you about that in my next blog post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Before I finish . . .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">on my website I've updated the <a href="http://celiahart.co.uk/page2/page2.html" target="_blank">news and events page</a>, there are some new <a href="http://celiahart.co.uk/page11/page11.html" target="_blank">stockists</a> and <a href="http://www.celiahartdesigns.co.uk/shopdepartments/cat_1100370-Gardens-Illustrated.html" target="_blank">in the online shop </a></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="http://www.celiahartdesigns.co.uk/shopdepartments/cat_1100370-Gardens-Illustrated.html" target="_blank">my Gardens Illustrated linocuts </a></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="http://www.celiahartdesigns.co.uk/shopdepartments/cat_1100370-Gardens-Illustrated.html" target="_blank">are now available as prints and cards</a> (more are being added over the coming weeks/months).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="http://www.celiahartdesigns.co.uk/shopdepartments/" target="_blank">In my shop</a> you can use the discount code MADMARCH16 to get 15% off your purchases of prints and cards (offer ends midnight on 31 March)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvY43C9Rv-55AStGIA0Ry4qVwWUuGKE4-GB1qKSYcJKJkSVDoWc298-tTIcYalBurjlDL4Ymx7YDsrdjxgUBmF1h5q1ZA-JIWHQ7ugfOKx4xyjUEFPo2HI5MMj-np-p4LOlpFhjC6cCs/s400/March16Header.jpg" width="400" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br />Celia</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">xx</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>Celia Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12776686088752602321noreply@blogger.com16