Creative Expression

Following my journal in Skiathos last year, I have ordered a leather journal in the hope that I spend a little more time recording some of my thoughts, wildlife notes and little incidences that get forgotten in time. Sometimes, I think life has little signs that maybe mean something and maybe not but, I remain open to the possibility that they do. This post is a little expression regarding one of my coincidences.

It started with this demoiselle in Skiathos floating down the stream.



I then went on to learn some interesting things about the magical forest in Skiathos and questions that I had thought about for a while were answered by a lady who also has a deep love of nature. So, I finally put the thoughts and words from my head into some poetry....given that I am 30 years rusty writing anything in rhyme. And for me, it does have to rhyme. I am a traditionalist!

Late in the summer, floating downstream
Sparkles of light glisten and gleam,
A dainty demoiselle catches a ride
Before fingers of Autumn cause heat to subside.

Seasonal shapes crumple and furl
Twisting and falling, gracefully swirl.
Icy branches of frost creep and form
Contours of twisted russets adorn.

Winter, the host, standing still and bare
With his arms outstretched in cold, crisp air.
Silently dormant in the elements, he waits
For the harbinger of Spring to unlock the gates.

Ephemeral first signs, the buds burst again
Bright leaves, emergence, the fresh and the green
Soft misty rain above the canopy
Then sun will shine on the Sycamore tree.

We have been back for over a month now and it almost seem that wherever I go sycamore leaves and trees keep cropping up over again. When I was contemplating this outside, this leaf simply materialised in front of me. I thought I would paint it and articulate it all.



Good practice for my journal.....

Feast of Colour

The last few weeks have seen the UK move into Autumn which as yet has been quite subtle changes. We have visited the Severn Valley on a few occasions and also ventured to an arboretum that is also quite local. In fact there are two that I didn't even know were there. The colours of the trees are changing, perhaps more subtle than last year when we had some glorious reds.



This year seems to be more golden somehow but, perhaps that is because we haven't got to that stage yet. Well, apart from the acers which always provide a spectacular show.



Perhaps the most incredible sight has been the berries which have added wonderful deep rich hues to the landscape. Fruit seems to have had a wonderful year in this part of the country and lots of the trees are laden with apples, damsons and plums too. In fact I have been waiting for the first frost because it is surely time to go and gather some sloes.



An Answer

Come, let us go into the lane, love mine,
And mark and gather what the Autumn grows:
The creamy elder mellowed into wine,
The russet hip that was the pink-white rose;
The amber woodbine into rubies turned,
The blackberry that was the bramble born;
Nor let the seeded clematis be spurned,
Nor pearls, that now are corals, of the thorn.
Look! what a lovely posy we have made
From the wild garden of the waning year.
So when, dear love, your summer is decayed,
Beauty more touching than is clustered here
Will linger in your life, and I shall cling
Closely as now, nor ask if it be Spring.

Alfred Austin



However, the lack of frost so far this year has meant that the roses are still in bloom together with fuchsia's cascading beautiful colour in the gardens.



For myself, it has also been a wonderful time of firsts. Whilst sitting on the river bank last week, a snake slid under my knees much to my total surprise. It was a grass snake so totally harmless (although I wasn't quite sure at the time). I don't think I have ever been quite so up close to a snake in the wild and confess to being just a little startled at the time. But, it was lovely to see and quite beautiful at close quarters.
Bird wise, I also saw some different one's for the first time in my life. I have never been lucky enough to see a Crossbill so was delighted to see several of them one evening in the valley. I did take a picture but, as you can see, it is very poor. It was virtually dark by the time I spotted them.



But, the beauty is that I did get to see them and that made the day very special :) Finally, we were also lucky enough to see a Goldcrest which is another first for me. No image at all this time because the only one I managed is a blur of wings, it was a nippy little thing.
We have had some unusually lovely days for October and this has meant that dragonflies are still about patrolling the river and the streams so I shall leave you with a Migrant Hawker which I did manage to capture at rest.



It has gone a lot colder this week and I am hoping that Winter doesn't arrive just yet. I am loving that final feast of colour.

Art from Sepia Photo's

I was not sure how I was going to get on with my last project. Working from old photo's can be problematic and I confess to not being sure of my ability to handle this one. However, it is for a good friend and she did leave it entirely up to me to choose materials. This is the original photo of her Dad who is now in his 80's.



I was going to use soluble pencils to start but changed my mind to using coloured pencils. I thought that the subject may be tricky enough without adding the complication of a medium that I am not so familiar with. In the end I used just brown and cream polychromo's for it. I was tempted to add a little colour half way through but, after asking both Andy and my facebook friends , I resisted the temptation following good advice. There was a feeling that I would lose that nostalgic essence. So, this was the result:



Although it was challenging, I really did enjoy it it although it did take a while. I was meticulous with the original drawing and then every change to his features was little by little. As you can see, the background was blurred using Zest it solvent, I used a burnishing pencil on his portrait and left the uniform alone to provide texture.

Artistic Block

Normally when I have taken a break, I come back full of loads of idea's for art. This time was the complete opposite for some strange reason. I wonder if it was because I had been working on so many commissions before I left that I lost the ability to think...
Thankfully, I resorted to something that has worked for me in the past and used the "think small" .....
Firstly I wanted to create something for a Christmas card. I have plenty of lovely scenery from the hoar frost last year which is great for traditional but I wanted a cutsie one too. So I came up with a mouse band. I confess that the inspiration was not entirely my own, I had seen a cute music band on another artists site which provided the seed of thought. From there it grew and took on a shape of it's own. The drum was from a Christmas globe that I have, the mice were loosely inspired real mice and by some rubber stamps that I stopped using ages ago (because of their sale policies). The lamp just added itself somehow....



After that, I seemed to get back on track. We bumped into another photographer down in the Severn Valley and were chatting about photography. However, his daughter was a delight, long blonde hair, a wonderful hat and a fishing net. I don't normally like to take pictures of other people's children, people get so funny about it nowadays. But, I had to ask them all if it would be ok to snap a pic of her walking away from me. I suspect that she will be the subject of my next oil painting somewhere by the sea ;) I am grateful to her parents for allowing me the opportunity, it is a great image.
Meanwhile, I have been given another commission of something different so have plenty to keep me going!

The next bit of inspiration was from Paint my Photo and the competition this month is a French shop image and the instruction to limit the colour palate. Black, white and two primaries. So I did a couple of small (for me) pieces. They are simple sketches and took about an hour each.



Red and ultramarine blue in this one and I followed it with yellow and cobalt.



Good fun and I enjoyed something a bit different.

Skiathos Birds

I suspect that the best time to see birds in Skiathos is during the migration season in early Spring. There are a lot of areas that must provide a great habitat. In the summer, we didn't see too many part from swifts, swallows and sparrows. Going back in September provided greater variety .



Up along one of the mountain roads we came across this Red Legged Partridge who didn't seem awfully phased when I followed it with the camera.

In Kolios bay, this Cormorant was fishing in the shallows and startled us because it came into the shallows under the water with fish jumping in it's wake!



Of course, it didn't hang around whilst I changed lenses, so this shot was slightly more distant!
On the pool at the back of the harbour, we saw this Egret.



I couldn't help but notice that in the area there was an old store/building and was thinking what a great bird hide it would make!

The olive groves around the island lend themselves to insect catching birds such as Shrikes and Flycatchers. Sadly, we didn't see a Shrike this year but we did spot a number of Flycatchers. I spent some time watching this one at Kehria, what an agile little bird.



Finally, my funny shot of the holiday, I think this is a Willow Warbler not overly pleased at my presence.



I would love to go off season with a mobile hide but that would be yet another chunk out of my ever decreasing baggage allowance (thank you Thomsons). By the time I have my camera, lenses and ID books, the clothing we can take is getting less and less. It is perhaps a good thing that Skiathos is relatively informal.