Autumn Planter

Such winds and rain - seasonal changes - signs of Autumn.  I'm collecting them up, conkers, beech nuts, rose-hips, curling leaves - for window ledges and bowls of beautiful colour.

Classic Urn in Sandstone

Birds at the Workshop

While getting ready for my exhibition I was watched by one of the pigeon fledglings, who instead of flying free in the big-wide-world, came straight into my workshop, and despite gentle persuasion, remained perched amid the dust and noise.

Eventually yesterday, after the torrential rain the day before, he hopped out through the door and was away.  I felt rather proud.

The swallows are more of a concern - I have a small nest of four newly hatched swallows, another second brood, and I just wonder if it is a little late - already swallows are collecting here on the wires and gathering in the evening in swirling shows of acrobatic finesse.  I think of the great journey they will shortly make, and if the little ones will be old and strong enough.  At least there are many insects, so they should grow fast and the swallow parents probably know perfectly well what they are doing, so I shouldn't worry, but I do.

A seven-spot ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata) strutting its stuff. Photograph: Martin Ruegner/Getty

I hear it has been a good year for ladybirds, presumably because it has been a good year for aphids,  my ladybird numbers here verify this!  I cannot remember ever seeing so many.  I must learn how to identify and check to see if it is the invasive harlequin ladybird.  They are of course on the menu for swallows.  At the Guardian Gardening Blog they have an identification and survey link and you can report unusual ladybird sightings.

A Sense of Place

Yesterday was spent setting up my exhibition at the Inspired By .. Gallery in Danby, at the Moors National Park Centre.  What a beautiful day too - to get to Danby from my workshop there is a drive over the moors, on a wiggly, undulating road and the views are magnificent.  Over the last week the heather has really come out, a great rolling purple blanket - lit brilliantly to violet by shards of sunlight as the sun streams through the cloud.  I nearly drove straight off the road a couple of times, taking in the views.

The exhibition is with three other artists, Gail Hurst, Sue Morton, painters and Jayne Hibell a glass artist.  We called it a Sense of Place as we all live in the National Park and the area inspires and motivates our work - a little celebration of the North Yorkshire Moors and Coast.

The day involved hanging and re-hanging, moving plinths and moving again, and shuffling and messing (for hours), and tweaking, until we were set for opening today.

During the set up we had some lovely vistors, who helped with the 'arranging' - one lady who was keen to organise us, turned out to be a gallery owner herself and offered invaluable advice.  

We're having a 'Meet the Artists' and Preview on Saturday between 1 pm and 4 pm, with refreshments and I'm hoping everyone loves the layout!

Exhibition - 25th August - 6th September, 2011 10 am - 5 pm daily at the Inspired By.. Gallery, North York Moors National Park Centre, Danby, Whitby YO21 2NB.

Rosedale Show

On Saturday the Rosedale Show opened on the most glorious weather, and the sun shone all day.  Rosedale is the next village down the valley to me and the annual show is run by the Rosedale & District Agricultural, Horticultural and Industrial Society.  It is one of the most beautiful settings for a show I have ever seen.  Right in the heart of the valley, a little cup with purple heather and grazed green sides, hills and moorland rising up all around.

For the last couple of years I have had a stand there, demonstrating stone carving and have been inundated with visitors wanting to have a go.  I was next to a farrier, also demonstrating, with a very patient horse, with the smells and sounds of the blacksmith at his trade.  This mixed with the food vans and the vintage tractors burbling away and the sheep, goats and cattle pens and you have the familiar and friendly local show.  Oh, and mustn't forget the band - this was their tent (early in the morning when I was setting up and before they had arrived with their playing).

There is a very active History Society in Rosedale and they too had a stand at the show, with fascinating information about Rosedale Abbey and the Dale.  No-one is absolutely sure of the derivation of the name Rosedale, but the Viking origins point to Rossi, being a personal name, or the word for horse.  The other possible root is the word “rhos”, meaning moor.  No rose connections have ever been found! 

Rosedale has a history combining early Christian heritage, centuries of farming,  and dramatic change.  The discovery of unique high-grade magnetic iron ore in the 1850s turned this sleepy backwater into a powerhouse of Victorian industry.  For 70 years the valley echoed to the sound of  rumbling waggons, steam trains, and the noise, smoke and dust of mining activity.  By the 1920s, the Great Depression and the lower cost of imported ore finished the mining in Rosedale.  The miners and their families left, and rows of miners’ cottages stood abandoned.  Gradually, peace and the forces of nature reclaimed the dale which is once again a place of outstanding beauty.  Agriculture once more became the main industry and now tourism is very important in the local economy.

Certainly the visitor numbers to the show were record-breaking!  And from those I spoke to, they had a most enjoyable day - as did I.

Marble and Alabaster Sculpture

During my recent travels, I managed to fit in a visit to Nigel Owen Stone and topped up my stock of Polyphant (Soapstone) and also bravely acquired a few lumps of marble, and alabaster.

I say bravely, as I haven't worked marble or alabaster before, so it is a bit of a leap of faith - into the unknown.  Something completely new.

The methods and ways or working these materials are different from the cutting and carving of sandstone, and I am looking forward to getting to grips with the material, seeing how it behaves and experimenting with polished finishes.  I feel really excited about my little blocks - the marble is Portugese Rose Marble and you can see the pinky colouring and veining. 

Carving in marble of course brings to mind the many famous pieces we know, for example  the Pieta by Michelangelo and the Rape of Persephone by Bernini.  These sculptures almost defy belief and leave no doubt as to what can be achieved in this material.

But I've also been looking at some contemporary sculptors who have chosen to use marble, and am excited by their work.  Mel Fraser carves very beautiful pieces, as this one, called Serendipity, in Carrara marble.

And Wings of Desire.

Also inspiring is Louise Plant and her sculpture, this piece Caesura is very expressive.

 

Golly, it could all be quite daunting - but I have my own ideas for these little blocks I've brought back to the workshop and I'm itching to get sculpting them.