Some Moles

I like moles. They are yet another addition to my list of the much maligned creatures, who I feel are unjustly disliked for some bizarre reason or another. Eels, snakes, insects, frogs, nightjars are not high on natures beauty parade, are they?

My great delight in moles though is their subversive, subterranean activities which signal a bold two finger gesture to those nice green lawns and the dreadful golf courses. Go moles!

I was prompted to make this print after seeing a poor little dead mole by the roadside. I cant quite remember why I didn’t pick it up but I think it had something to do with not having anything to put it in, except my very small shoulder bag. I am such a lightweight. I should have just walked on with the mole draped over my shoulder or dangling from my belt. I may have also hesitated because I know that mole fleas are BIG. Still it’s no excuse for being so faint hearted.

Anyway mole sketches and a small print have followed, to get me back into printmaking and the blogs too.

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Sketchbook pages A5

 

First proofs of pale grey and darker grey plates

First reasonable print.. my registration is getting better…2 colour lino 4 x 6

More mole stuff to come …

Buttercups and butterflies

At last, the end of the academic year for both of us so now to get back to the much missed diary of the Jubilee Wood.  Most days I've been able to walk around the wood and even though it has seemed so cold because of the winds we've been having, the young trees in the wood are looking great.

The wild flowers are at their best, with vetch, orchids and buttercups weaving through the grass and making it sparkle  with their purple, pinks and yellows and in this recent warm weather even the butterflies have been in search of nectar.

Buttercups in Jubilee Wood

 

I made a quick sketch to try and capture the feel of the moment

 

 

More work to be done on it but its a reference and even if I don't use it later for a print or picture, it  really helps me to remember  all of the sensations  of the moment - the warmth, the colours, the sounds of the birds and the peace of the place.

 

To help us create a more three dimensional memory of the wood through the seasons, we've decided to make some 'creative' pieces from items we find there. My first piece was inspired when I saw some of the thin, wispy blackthorn branches left over from some maintenance work which had been done by valiant volunteers during the winter. Once I started bending them they appeared  to me to have spines like some treacherous deep sea fish that you just wouldn't want to meet....... 

 

 

So here's my flying thorn fish which has come up from the deep to see what Gidding  Jubilee Wood is all about!.......

 

 

 

 

Swans

Sue and I have both been up to our ears in academic life so the blog has had to take a back seat for a while. However by mid June we should both be back to regular blogging.

I have been let out a bit earlier than Sue and have been cycling by the Reservoir. There are swans feeding on the young corn in the field by the track and I have watched over the last couple of weeks as the corn has grown higher and the swans have begun to disappear into the green. Sometimes there are geese with them. When you walk along the track all the heads go up at once.

And as I am slowly getting back to sketching, here are a few sketchbook notes of the swans and a little colour study. They are bright white against the spring green of the corn and the dark wood.

Great Crested Newts!

Yes, it's that time of year again when Triturus cristatus [otherwise known as the Great Crested Newt] moves out of its hibernation on land and gets on over to a pond for the fun pastime of breeding.   We seem to be popular with the Great Crested Newt in Great Gidding [must be something to do with the water] and you'll even see it's picture on the many trail signs if you happen to be driving or walking through the village.

                                                              Jubilee Wood pond

Taken at the beginning of the month, this picture of the pond may not make it seem that inviting but the days have warmed up a lot since then and already there's a  lot more signs of life showing in the vegetation and trees.  Soon we might catch our first sighting this year of the infamous newt which apparently is Britain's most strictly protected amphibian [check out froglife.org for more information on these fascinating creatures.]

 

Male Great crested newt...the UK's largest newt

 

 

 

A page from my sketch book which is a pictorial diary of the Jubilee wood. The newts will soon be laying their eggs in pond weed and then folding over the leaves to protect the eggs...... 

 

The female doesn't have the crest or whitish tail stripe but still manages to have an orange stripe underneath her tail and orange belly with irregular black spots . I think the male great crested newt will make a good print so will be working on that next,  probably using this sketch.......  .

 

And finally, another sign of new life......garden spiders recently hatched in our greenhouse and were found scurrying around their web which was attached to a plastic chair.....I decided to leave them alone as they'll be gone next time I check and will hopefully be usefully employed in catching some of the flies that have recently appeared.

 

 

So many spiders, like little yellow droplets of rain until they start moving around!......

The Busiest Bee in the Garden.

The warmth has brought out flowers and bees and none is as busy, as the delightful hairy footed flower bees. For the third year running the females are nesting in the blue strawberry pot. It has never grown strawberries but the variety of side entrances seem to make it very attractive to these industrious little bees.

The females are all black with ginger legs, the males gingery with white faces. This year they were very early, slightly too early I think as one of the girls didn’t make it, but they are all doing well now with a bit of competition for nest space. The males have a higher pitched buzz and a very characteristic hover and zoom flight pattern.

 

The early male warming up on my hand and below approaching the violets

Approaching the violets

 

 

 

The very early female who did not make it, but she is about to be the model for some more sketches,so will live on in a way!

They love pulmonaria, and comfrey and approach the flowers with their tongues out, ready to go!

I painted them both for my British Bee set, but I was in the US at the time and had never seen them in action. But I read about their characteristics, their habits, sounds, flying patterns etc  and it was wonderful to catch up with them when came back to the UK.

The two paintings from 2010... time for some more I think. Sketches to come.

Spring is everywhere!

Val's fascinating prints of the blossom in her garden got me racing down to the  Jubilee Wood to see if the blackthorn was flowering there, and guess what........

 

Looks like there will be plenty of sloes for sloe gin in the autumn.......

 

As I walked around the wood I could hear the peculiar clapping noises of pigeons' wings as they tried to position themselves in the thorny hedges for their rather clumsy mating rituals.  I know they're the bane of farmers and vegetable growers but there's still something rather appealing about them - and as a vegetarian I don't mean their meat!!

 

I've been trying to catch their shape and movement using minimal lines and broad washes of colour  which is a bit of a change for me but one which I want to progress, particularly to a much larger scale.....

 

Some quick pencil and watercolour sketches of happy pigeons - before they start eating our allotment veg! 

Spring Blossom

In my garden the wild cherries are blossoming at last. The wild cherry is my tree following tree for this year. They were chopped back severely in the winter but still they are covered in the tiny pretty white flowers. The bees love them which is one of the few good reasons to have this tree is your garden.

As part of the tree following project I am intending to make a small print based on a twig of the cherry each month, to reflect the changes of the seasons. I have images for Jan and Feb when nothing much happened although in Feb there was snow. In early March the buds started to swell, followed  last week by the white blossom. Already some of the petals are falling in these strong March winds. So March will be the buds and April will be blossom and bees.

Eventually I hope to bind them in into a small book so the printing has had to be carefully worked out with a registration plate and each of the printing plates cut approximately to size. The project is really a vehicle to try out different print techniques on a small scale.

These are a few of Jan Feb and March trials… nothing quite working well enough yes but good practice.

The white flowers are giving me a problem because I need to use the white paper for the white. White ink is not very satisfactory unless really opaque. It might work better if slightly tinted. But I am using quite thin translucent layers so am persevering with the cut away shapes ( very fiddly and patience trying).
Some first proofs with various colour trials

 

Printmaking is pure alchemy, every combination throws up new possibilities. Frustrating and rewarding in equal measure. This year is all about experimentation in print, bookmaking and in developing ideas for the coursework.

It is all equally frustrating and fascinating!