Jane Wheeler's Blog - Just another WordPress weblog

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bim’s blog – all about the dog

Posted jane -->on 1st Jun 2017

my main preoccupation – rehoming a dog takes time and patience – this week.

of course on Saturday her arrival took precedence, but I was also open for visitors. luckily as it was pretty hot, some people from the village came but Sunday was the best day, three paintings and three pots went.

this big one from Nic’s kiln is going to a garden in the village

and this to a garden in Warham.

Brian and Sam arrived with the Galgo (and Podenco) transport half an hour early

and here is miss B, a bit dazed.

a change of collars and leads, handover of paperwork and passport, and they were off, with more dogs to deliver to Rotherham and points west …

obviously she’d not been in a house before, and everything was new and puzzling/enticing/scary, including me.

once the Open Studios day was over and I let her off the lead, the garden was explored in depth

long grass delighted in, paws paddled in the bowls of water, so I found a larger receptacle … it was a hot day …

my neighbours came round for a glass or two of pink prosecco and she had a nice time relaxing, as we did. she zoomed around the garden at top speed, showing off her muscularity and ability to turn on a sixpence, had a roll in the long cool grass, and lolled.

eventually she settled into her bed, and spent most of the evening asleep in it. she is a lovely red fawn, lion colour, with black guard hairs and the black mask. I think this is from the Sloughi ancestry, the Berber hounds from North Africa brought to Spain by the Moors. she is more Saluki shape than Greyhound, and surprisingly heavy, lean muscle and bone.

huge thick pads on her feed, shock-absorbers for running at speed on hard stony ground. she’s had a very good pedicure too, not sure if I can keep up that standard.

she’s still a pup really and takes things up the garden. she likes my shawl, and this morning she chewed a hole in the wool socks I’d taken off after our very damp-footed walk. I have to be careful what I leave lying around.

the old rotten dupion silk cushions are a favourite, they rip up so nicely, and the loo roll is a bit of a target too.

but barring one accidental puddle the first morning, I think due to a fright with the pole that opens the veelux, she has been clean overnight, and also very quiet. in fact she goes to bed for the evening, I have to persuade her out of bed to have a last pee in the garden before I go to bed.

our walks are getting more adventurous; at first she was quite reluctant. people walking down the road made her rather nervous, and heavy traffic is, predictably, quite scary.

yesterday we went to Morston, in the car. I have to lift her in, she is not keen on cars on principle, but lies down in the dog box and is quite quiet. we met one or two friendly dogs and people

saw some VERY interesting birds

but sadly were too late to buy an ice cream to share, as my watch had stopped.

this morning we tried Cakes lane. the grass is very long and wet, dock and cow parsley waist high in places,

but on a warm morning wet feet are quite refreshing, so we went all the way to the end

through the long grass set aside

Bimba seemed to enjoy all the new textures and smells

really a delight to walk. she never pulls, is more likely to stop for an in depth smelling session, but comes when called.

of course there is no way she can be off the lead yet. considering it would only be three minutes before she was a mile away … and I have a feeling I will be quite happy to mostly keep her on the lead in the countryside. I have a long training lead, not an extendable. we have seen hares a couple of times – the first time she leapt a bit, but didn’t pull, the second time just pricked her ears a bit. if she’s not allowed to go chasing I think she won’t realise what fun it is. and I think her prey drive not as strong as my last two sighthounds. I hope that she can have regular gallops on the beach before too long.