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silver Y and other mark-making

Posted jane -->on 3rd Sep 2017

I found this beautiful silver Y moth dead on my table the other morning

it ought to be an inspiration for painting as well as ash glazes, wood-firing, and printing leaves on fabric, all those subtle tones and colours.

in fact I have been quietly making some bottles,

reclaiming all the bits and bobs of clay that have been maturing under my worktable

imprinting

marking

impressing

carving out

 

stamping, stitching,

joining,

a series of tall bottles that a friend calls

soldier bottles.

perhaps that should be shouldered bottles

they have a kind of military bearing

after I have whacked the tops into these rounded

smooth corners

and inserted the neck, combing over the join

which catches glaze and oxide in the final firing.

they are evolving into a continuation

of this series, inspired by watching African women potters decorate their big spherical containers with wristy deft finger movements.

so I shall be looking amongst my glaze bins for various colours and textures as well as the cool grey blue chun.

as for cool, summer is turning into autumn

the landscape is becoming more linear again

some leaves are already turning

turning my thoughts to scratching lines through thick paint.

as long as I can still walk these woods and fields, never mind the shooting towers and soon the young pheasants

which turn this scamp into an elastic bundle of claws, paws, muscles and head full of prey drive.

 

the danish camp

Posted jane -->on 25th Aug 2017

is what the locals called the iron age earthworks at Warham, nowadays it mostly goes under Warham Camp

you walk up the back lane to Wighton – we cut the corner off and went through the churchyard – one of the two in Warham, All Saints. the church is closed for renovation at the moment, an interesting mishmash of building styles and re-builds, and its tower collapsed a very long time ago by the look of it

we crossed the river Stiffkey, one of our treasured north Norfolk chalk streams

water clear as a bell

by a pretty little bridge with curved walls

and up the top of the road to the track.

the earthworks or fort – though the actual purpose of the site is not really understood – are huge, double ramparts with ditches, dug in the chalk, so the whole thing would have glittered white in the sun when it was new. the information board says it was built around 200BC and used until 100 AD with the remains of Roman building – tiles and so on, in the enclosure.

the river once curved around, cradling the circle of the fort, providing an extra barrier, but probably also providing summer pasture for cattle and horses. the enclosure-mad landowners of the eighteenth century straightened the Stiffkey, cutting off a slice of the ramparts in the process, while draining the wetland around it for agricultural use.

for us, apart from the glamour and resonance of the history of the place – wild celtic tribes, warrior queens, heroic charioteers, golden torc hoards and all the rest – the plants and insects here are quite special.

the chalk ramparts are a wonderful habitat for various orchids and butterflies

there are chalk hill blues, and common blues flitting about

autumn gentian is very common here – a plant I’d never seen before – amongst birds eye trefoil and ladies bedstraw –

the orchids are over in late summer, but I found seedheads of common spotted.

colonies of stemless thistle like the south facing slopes

clumps of mignonette

harebells all over the mounds, scabious and devil’s bit scabious,

meadow flowers in the thin grasses looking like medieval tapestry

self-heal

wild angelica

the area inside the rings of banks and ditches is covered in thistles and nettles – thistledown blowing across and catching on everything

and the surrounding hedges full of hips and haws

a holme oak, very old, stands inside the enclosure

probably seeded by a bird carrying an acorn from the trees in Warham’s churchyards. from the camp you can see two church towers, St Mary’s Warham and All Saints Wighton

next year I will be visiting in early summer, to catch those orchids in flower.

 

 

silver-washed summer

Posted jane -->on 6th Aug 2017

I’m in a state of high excitement at  my discovery around the fringes of Bale wood.

here about eight years ago this wet corner of a field was sown with a conservation mixture to encourage birds and insects. since then it has been almost untouched, with a changing population of wild flowers including thistle and ragwort.

it used to be cultivated, with a very wet fringe along the edge of a section of the wood which is really an overgrown watermeadow. A complete neolithic axehead was found here, perhaps a deposit as an offering to the place.

now agrimony and fleabane grow alongside knapweed (hardheads) and woundwort,

providing a rich diet for insects

the fleabane – yellow daisy-type of flower – is a resistant plant that pops up in many places alongside the wetland of this tiny valley which eventually feeds into the Stiffkey, one of our North Norfolk chalk streams.

I’ve never seen a fritillary before, so imagine my surprise to find one, at first on the brambley hedge on the other side of the green lane, then in this watermeadow-woodland environment

such a handsome butterfly, the male with streaks and spots

the female an eye-catching spotted pattern rather like leopard-print, and the hairs on her thorax an iridescent green.

some of them rather beaten up, perhaps by the windy weather we’ve had this week.

this morning I counted at least fifteen

along the edge of the wood where there are thistles as well as in the fleabane and knapweed

 

and on the cut grass around the edge. these silver-washed fritillaries need woodland and open flowery rides, the woodland must have common dog violet, which the caterpillars feed on, and open leaf litter; the eggs are laid on tree trunks, in the bark (smooth barked trees are no good), the larva hatch out in a few weeks, and then enter hibernation, only waking to feed in the spring. you can read about them in more detail here

it seems to be a good year for butterflies, despite the cold spring. I have read that they may need a colder winter to reproduce successfully.

there are plenty of red admiral around,

 

speckled woods,

and I found this very smart comma feeding alongside the fritillaries,

with a painted lady.

turn around from the rich habitat of the wood and the weedlands, and you have successful monoculture, all trace of weed, disease and insect and birdlife gone or invisible.

my beautiful spanish dog enjoys all the views,

the little vixen that crossed our path here the other morning,

the muntjacs in Cakes lane,

and hares that cross our path, willy-nilly.

she was very patient with my butterfly observing this morning; week by week she grows calmer.

(also I think I saw a small pearl-bordered fritillary, much rarer …)

added August 24th – I have now logged this find with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service, and Butterfly Conservation. this last organisation tells me that the nearest silver-washed fritillaries are at Bretts Wood, Thursford, which is not very far away as the butterfly flies. I hope that they will spread to other woods nearby.

field light

Posted jane -->on 25th Jul 2017

Field Light – a walk through five fields

butterfly light

at the top of the flint-walled ivy tunnel into a bright dry hay field, bramble hedges sop up the summer sun, the gate kept, guardian wings flicker orange brown.

sea and lagoon light

through the kissing gate a field of strong sugar-beet plants – dark green, juicy leaves, not needing hand-singling with a hoe, along the path

scarlet pimpernel, common fumitory,

field poppy, bugloss, wild radish, toadflax, bindweed,

hedge of tall alexanders with umbels of tarry seeds, sand spurrey, the ivy-grown brick bunker above, rusting dock spires, redshank, mallow, bird’s eye speedwell, knot grass,

procumbent pearlwort, knapweed, toadflax, cat’s ear, mayweed, mugwort, agrimony.

barley light

steep blackthorn hollow-way, loose stones on the path, tread carefully and take the left fork, birds calling in the tangle could be willow warblers,

soft and silky reflecting spring barley, a little green still in the stalks shimmering like velvet,

tramlines double stitched, the path swoops down through the middle of the crop,

flattened by last week’s thunderstorms, rises again into the wind,

its dogleg white blonde, rustling silk skirts, blue-white flints embedded in the chalky soil, each beaded barley head tight plaited, crab boat dances in the white tops, a plane rumbles its propellors, lark not so high.

chamomile light

an arch of hawthorn in the hedge,

in the deep ploughed furrow beside the grassy path sunspurge, pink and white convolvulus, white wild radish, wild oats tall and ticklish,

on the bank alexanders, no leaves – dying stem and umbel architecture, dark red docks, tractor below mowing grass on the marsh, small fields, high tree hedges, autumn barley dry and ripe, heads folded down on thin stalks.

corn marigold and poppy light

burdocks a dark furry entrance,

looking across towards Walsey Hill and Cley saltmarsh dotted with galloways,

small and wilted sugar-beet full of marigold,

poppy,

bugloss, overlooked by dour and dark heathlands higher up, a brooding skyline,

turn round,

flower-strewn barley and blue sea at the top,

four larks rise up.

 

painting the hedgerows in a jug

Posted jane -->on 22nd Jun 2017

I have a squirrel buster sunflower seed feeder! I have had a bumper spring -baby bluetits, great tits, starlings, blackbirds, robins, chaffinches and woodpeckers being fed at my feeding station. but also squirrels and wood pigeons, and the squirrels had chewed off all the plastic bits of the sunflower feeder, the only one not protected. this squirrel buster is great, the weight of the squirrel (or woodpigeon) closes the feeder.

sadly found this beautiful baby great tit, no idea what killed it. all that work the parents have put into growing this bundle of bones flesh and feathers gone in an instant.

also you can see one plant of the wonderful display I have had of foxgloves, still going. lots of purple flowers.

and this jugful of wild flowers has mallow in it, the same purple – picked up by the cottons I’m getting rid of from the stock room …

I wanted to paint the local landscape in a different way and thought of cutting the tall weeds from Cakes lane, as I was pushing my way through the towering growth the other day. in fact, I have most of them in my garden, or in the lane just outside my gate.

the canvas a little smaller than that huge mass of vegetation in the jug

the hogweed leaves are full of pattern. I’ve sprayed some of the background with gold, for a change

keeping it loose. palette knife mostly.

finding it an adrenaline high, needing some relaxation in between to recover.

left it at this yesterday, glad of a slight cool down in the weather

then this afternoon I added in a few densifications

and some sorrels from the garden

and some clarifications …

really enjoyed this, I’ll have to do some more.

 

post open studios

Posted jane -->on 18th Jun 2017

I enjoyed Open Studios – I have a tidy-ish garden, the office turned into a decent space – and I had reasonable amount of visitors and sales – well actually sales were just as good as at Hatfield Art in Clay, even the second time I did it which seemed like a roaring success – without the cost and effort.

I have left most of the pots out, they suit the garden and the garden suits them.

my vegetable plots are being undermined by a mole – I thought I had sorted moles out with my underground wine bottles – but it seems I’ll have to get the pest man in.

the difficult thing is to get myself back into the swing of making. it seems I am either loafing around, writing, gardening, messing about with the dog

or over-producing, whether painting or making pots.

so this has been made into my painting space, mostly, though there is still some knit and office stuff going on

and I am just putting off touching that canvas, but the idea is to paint the plants of cake’s lane and all the wild parts of walks in the jug, a flower painting, of sorts

though the hogweed is most unhappy and one of the docks fainted too. however the intention is to make it quite abstract. you can see the office stuff going on behind … the imac is back, and some parcelling up going on …

having not been at all inspired by the rush of green growth,

I took Bimba round the Hard Farm paths and suddenly realised that the way to approach it is close up, texture and thick paint,

a bit Joan Eardley

however the heat is making me opt for indoors and the computer, as you can see ….

but I have lots of lovely summer photos of the sorts of things I want to paint.

walking with La B has been interesting, getting calmer,

we are getting to know each other

she likes to stop and sniff a lot, which means that I have to stop too, no way can she be off the lead.

but I am getting new angles

catching more details (a speckled wood butterfly)

feeling more like translating these field textures into paint textures.

the hot weather means the house is open to the garden

she is more relaxed, has learnt to cope with the stairs (she thinks my bed the best place in the house but as she’s still very puppy and likes chewing things I certainly don’t leave her upstairs on her own, and she’s quite happy in her own bed in the kitchen at night)

she’s worn a racetrack through the long meadow grass

and likes to play football by herself with a tennis ball.

the roses are over more or less, early; they started very early, except for the rambling rector which has made the plum tree and part of the sycamore above it white as with a fall of snow.

there are humming bee hawk moths around (see, rather blurred, above, on the valerian), but no swifts nesting – occasionally some screaming parties fly over but they are from the farm, ditto swallows.

 

this morning we paused on the path next to Bullfer Grove, on the bank under the big oak trees and I recorded this – thrush, chaffinch and crow. 8.30 am June 18th summer wood birdsong

such a short season before the birds stop singing and everything starts to be a little dull and over-ripe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

open studio starts tomorrow

Posted jane -->on 26th May 2017

I’m waiting for the evening to set up my signs – I have a mallet, but the ground is a bit hard, I just tried one ..

this morning’s early walk brought one of the most magical things that’s ever happened to me – two hares on the lane above Bullfer Grove ran towards me instead of away.

I think they were intrigued by the beep of the video button on my iphone,  and my leaf contact print dress blended in in the dappled shade of the hedge – their sight is not thought to be very good. so here is my Hare poem (in the Rialto) come to life!

they hovered and looked and sniffed and dithered for about five minutes,

in the end deciding to bound away back to the field.

earlier this week I walked down Cakes lane – got soaking wet feet and trouser legs, the rain has made the grass, cow parsley, docks, hogweed and the odd nettle, shoot up.

everything in full leaf, even the ash trees have decided it’s worth the risk.

Bullfer Grove is a better bet for dry feet on an early walk

I recorded a thrush singing in Cakes yesterday morning

it sounds quite nightingale-like at times

the hedgerows are as pretty as gardens.

I’m filling mine up with pots for Open Studios.

which has liberated the shed, I even cleaned out all the spiders and dead flies –

the shelves are still full

it’s so sad that some pots have been hanging about in there for ten years

so I am open to offers

and I think they look much better out in the garden than crowded on the floor of the shed.

two for tea

and tea for two

some wood-fired

some last year’s experiments

some just old friends.

some that have very definitely been overlooked, up on a high shelf. they need to be on their own.

the office has been de-officed and cleaned up, and will be my painting studio after this.

these are all from the last seven or eight months

the abstracts!

the evolution of the landscapes

from winter

and autumn to spring.

I do hope I see a few people!  then tomorrow afternoon Bimba is arriving. she will deserve a whole blog to herself

for the time being, this was taken in Spain. a slight lens distortion making her nose even longer than it really is.

It’s just been pointed out to me that I haven’t given the address of this event (which is on for 3 consecutive weekends by the way including this bank holiday Monday). I’m in the Norwich and Norfolk Open Studios catalogue, number 103. I am at The Granary, Sharrington Road, Bale, Norfolk, NR21 0QY

for hare afficionados, here is Cowper’s account of his tame hares – link

archaeology

Posted jane -->on 21st May 2017

I’m clearing the old office out, to make it into a summer studio and a gallery for Open Studios, which starts next weekend (27th May). I’m opening studio and garden for 3 days the first weekend, as it’s a bank holiday Monday, then the next two weekend just Saturday and Sunday. I had the old photocopier removed for recycling (expensive!) and amongst the old paper carrier bags and wrapping paper tucked behind it was a watercolour I painted in 2001.

I painted a series, and when I looked in the plan chest I found five more, two red, and two blue the same size, and bigger square red one. I remember enjoying how the pure colours behaved on the paper, sometimes drowning in water, sometimes very intense, and planning the bare paper areas. lovely paper to paint on too.

four are mounted, the first red one has gone to the framers. it is going to be very expensive, using clearglass because it makes such a difference to the colour.

then I found something much older. I went to Norwich Art School for summer school in 1985 and got very involved in the print department, especially etching. they had a fantastic etching studio, with a very big press, and I was liberated by two weeks of life-drawing before I started on these.

the three make a triptych. obviously Picasso’s Vollard Suite was a big influence too, but previous to this I had made a huge painting on a roll of brown paper of human figures with animal heads, more influenced by Assyrian bas-relief.

these three coloured etchings are one-offs, artist’s proofs, but I also have an edition of 25 in black.

I have to mention a particularly pleasurable outing, in The Rialto, one of the most respected poetry magazines. This is the cover, which is lovely; they always have great covers. I have FOUR pages and a mention on the back! wholly amazing and wonderful. I would encourage anyone interested in poetry to buy the magazine, and subscribe, not because I want you to read my work especially, although of course that would be very nice, but because it is a wonderful and beautiful publication, and the Arts Council’s support depends on there being more subscriptions and sales.

meanwhile I’m still walking solo, although in six days that will no longer be the case. as she will be on the lead you won’t see Bimba trotting ahead like Tilda. we shall see how her recall and attachment to me progresses, but when a dog goes off after something it’s seen, one’s heart is in one’s mouth, and I am less prepared to take the risk this time. This photo interestingly echoes the stormy etchings above.

I caught a few drops that time, but this cloud looked like soaking me for most of the walk.

lastly, a rare find in the churchyard

meadow saxifrage

rare because there are so few unsprayed meadows with ancient turf left

after a very dry spring we have had rain at last and there are plenty of puddles reflecting the sky!

even so the ash trees are only just coming out.

a weeks ago the oaks had very young leaves still but now they are well covered

in my garden the buttercups are replacing the cowslips

for Open Studios most of the pots for sale will be in the garden. I hope to see plenty of people. Bimba is arriving on the first afternoon, which will be interesting – she is an easy dog, sweet and affectionate, so although I will have to keep her on a lead while I have the gates open for visitors, it will be good to have her meeting lots of humans.

 

grey is a subtle colour

Posted jane -->on 7th May 2017

our skies are grey this week, with a cold easterly and then northerly, and then back to vicious easterly and fine damp mist.

my last painting was in a similar state,

but it seems soft grey skies can inspire something better

this is “A Little Rain Earlier” after today’s transformation. it is only 24 x 30cm.

despite the cold wild flowers are showing up in the lanes.

this bank of borage repeats year after year.

down Cake’s lane the ferns are all coming up strongly, male fern

and hart’s tongue like a green crown.

red campion start early and go on half the summer.

I’m not sure if the bracken isn’t a bit slow this year.

but all is greened up, except for the ash trees, which seem to be waiting for warmer weather.

I put these bean and chard plants in a week ago, watered them today as everything is dry. the state of their greenness entirely due to being raised in a greenhouse; the runner beans seem to have grown but nothing else has the larder in the seed to make such immediate progress.

 

abstract

Posted jane -->on 4th May 2017

it’s the season for acid yellow fields. there aren’t as many here as usual, it shifts around, but it certainly grabs one’s attention.

in fact I can’t smell it this year, the virus that laid me low also removed most of my sense of smell, but I remember the sickly sweet stink of it.

having painted the bluebell wood, I started wondering how to approach these landscapes, now all vibrant green with fresh leaves effervescing out of hedgerow and wood, studded occasionally with the strident yellow.

all I could come up with, it seemed, was yellow. completely abstract. in fact there are several layers here, and I have done quite a lot of mark making which is under the final coat of yellow; the layer under it is gold … small canvas, 30 x 30 cm. there’s safety in smallness, apparently. well, for a start, the canvas is not so expensive if I fail!

emboldened by this one I started a few more. I should explain that I stopped painting in around 2003 partly because I wanted to work in a more abstract way, but I couldn’t work out how to. so the pots were my abstract paintings, the glazes did it all for me.

since I started painting landscapes I have learnt so much about working with acrylics rather than oils, how to handle small scale, and transferred intuitive mark-making from working on clay to working in paint.

so now I have the skills to play with. I’m using water soluble wax crayons as well, so one could call this mixed media rather than acrylic.

the paintings are still very much about landscape.

a detail before this one was finished – it’s bigger, 50 x 60 cm

it is improvisatory, quite scary, feels like stepping over a cliff edge, but things start to come together and make sense as they build up.

I’m still paying attention on my walks

lucky enough to catch this holly blue in the little bit of warmth we had on the bank holiday

I don’t know if this abstraction is going to be total

here’s the second stage for another small one

but it might encourage me to put the paint aside for some time and come to terms with my ceramic practice.

in the mean time there are a few more canvases waiting in the workshop. and in three weeks I will have some thing to divert my attention – I am adopting a Spanish Galgo, found on the street, among so many thrown out after the hunting season. she is somewhere between a whippet and a greyhound, and will be arriving with a van full driven all the way up from Galgos del Sol in Murcia in the south of Spain. I hope the next bank holiday weather is warmer, otherwise she might need a coat.

 

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