Gabby and I synchronized today and both of us looked up the forecast for our holiday at the same moment! Cold when we arrive, and SNOW the next day. Cold but sunny the rest of the week . . . Pretty long sleeved tops being put back on hangers and more warm woollies replacing them . . .
I will share my "sketching practice" with you. Well, all I can say is perhaps I shan't be sketching architecture and castles when I get there. Weeds more like, I can do plants. Oh and horses.
Say no more! It IS still a work in progress as the end heads are awful. Middle one a tad less so! Stick to horses Jen!
The cats know the best place to be of an evening.
I have done some more painting in the guest bedroom. Two walls done bar for the very top and a bit of touching up. Now I'm started on the last wall (plank top one again) as the bit around the window is staying white. Reaching up high makes my shoulders ache and my neck arthritis start to think about complaining, so having a rest now (and from gardening) until I get back from holiday.
I managed a short - but cold - walk this afternoon. I parked up by Rob's (2nd hand house clearance stuff) and walked up to St Matthew's Church at Llanelwedd. It was locked again - should have taken a tip from Billy Blue Eyes and gone there when there is a service. Still, a wander round the graveyard reading names and dates got me out of the house and in the mood to bother a few more churches in Powys* and beyond.
I assume this may well be the original font, sat atop the base of a preaching cross? The tower is 14th C, so the font probably dates from that early period. The church was restored in late Victorian times.
Name at top broken off, but he was a Wheelright and married to Ann. Sadly their daughters died so young - Elizabeth aged 6 in 1801 and Mary, aged 1 yr & 9 mths, in the same year. Yet others made it to their late 80s and 90s . . .
* At the top of my church bucket list is St Melangell's, a Grade 1 listed church which has been on this site some 1200 years. It holds the shrine of St Melangell, patron saint of Hares and Rabbits.
"Saint Melangell was a female saint of the 7th century. According to tradition she came here from Ireland and lived as a hermit in the valley. One day Brochwel, Prince of Powys, was hunting and pursued a hare which took refuge under Melangell’s cloak. The Prince’s hounds fled, and he was moved by her courage and sanctity. He gave her the valley as a place of sanctuary, and Melangell became Abbess of a small religious community. After her death her memory continued to be honoured, and Pennant Melangell has been a place of pilgrimage for many centuries. Melangell remains the patron saint of hares." Taken from HERE.
She was mentioned in the talk I went to last Friday, and we were also shown some pictures of Medieval Killer Rabbits!!! to show that the Huntsmen didn't always have it their way :) Those did make us laugh.
A good start on the drawing..the Aquilegia is going the right way...start to really look and draw..you'll get there!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your break away!
I have a feeling Crusader castles will be beyond my remit! I will enjoy the holiday though.
DeleteLook at architectural details...a door knob, a handle...what can you see through one window pane... don't try for the big picture....yet!!
DeleteI will. I'm looking forward to it.
DeleteYour drawings are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea it was so cold in Jordan, I was picturing sunny and warm. I looked it up, and brrrr! tho lots warmer than here. Maybe better than sweltering heat and hot sun tho?
Stop painting etc! Rest up, you're leaving in a few days. The trip sounds challenging but interesting.
The lichen encrusted font is so ancient and beautiful!
lizzy
No, I was imagining it in the 20s, which would have been lovely. Not single and barely double digits with sunshine . . .
DeleteI draw - well, perhaps once or twice every few YEARS, so am not exactly in practice.
DeleteI love your drawings. Be proud of your talent. I have drawn almost every day of my life since I could hold a crayon, both my parents were artists [but not their work] and my drawings can't compare. If you want to draw castles, take a bunch of photos then work on the drawings when you get home. And/ or just sketch an aspect, a window, a column, a tree.
I will zoom in on the detail. One of these years I will go to a watercolour class - Keith always encouraged me, but life got in the way.
DeleteRemind me not to go near any rabbits!
ReplyDeleteThey clearly have a nasty streak!
DeleteI didn't reallse Jordan can be so cold either. I hope the snow stays in the north and the mountains but it looks like it will be pretty cold. The drawings are great. Have you ever tried to draw moving cats? It requires great speed in drawing!
ReplyDeleteI didn't go to the Med because out of season and cold . . . Seems that applies everywhere apart from t'other side of world!
DeleteDon't think I've ever tried drawing static cats. Keith always told me to draw more but it's time . . .
I didn't know Jordan could be so cold, you learn something new every day. Miss Sheva is not a fan of this cold weather and is presently fast asleep on the throw across the back of the sofa. I've had a lovely mooch round the garden centre, on my own, only bought some cards and three lavender plants, so weather permitting that's my job tomorrow. Have a fabulous holiday. Xx
ReplyDeleteI am so fed up with the Easterly winds we've been having. Nearly in March, and looking forward to warmer days and occasional sunshine. Enjoy your planting.
DeleteClothing for travel always seems to be about layers--at least one warm over-sized cardigan or windproof/rainproof jacket that can fit comfortably over anything else necessary to keep from freezing.
ReplyDeleteI recall heading for Nova Scotia one summer and finding on our first stop that our jackets were still at home. We went into a charity shop, chose a heavy chamois-flannel outer shirt for Jim and a bulky cabled pullover for me. Not high style but they saw us through misty mornings.
Thinking about the 'Celtic to Christian' lecture you attended and wondering if you might have encountered Esther de Waal's 'Celtic Way of Prayer.' She collected various runes and prayers which had been adapted from Celtic heritage to be used in mostly Catholic prayers, retaining the sense of verses said as blessings for various tasks and for protection. Interesting!
Of course the dear cats know to cuddle on quilts and throws--ours are being rather clingy during the current cold and snowy weather.
Thank you for that - will now look out a long bulky cardy - and put the skimpy ones back in the drawer! I have a thick quilted coat I shall be wearing (especially when we have that night in the Bedouin tent!) If only I still had my Guernsey woollen jumper - SO warm.
DeleteI will check out the book. It does sound good.
I really do think that you draw well. I mean, perhaps you feel a need to practice, but to an untrained eye (mine), I think that you do well.
ReplyDeleteSomething that strikes me about the Killer Rabbits that is not mentioned is the idea that England was built on the idea of class. If you were not born in the right class, you were at the mercy of the whims of the land owner. If you lived under a cruel one, or a negligent one, you suffered greatly and had no real power to change things. The power was in their hands, not yours. Perhaps the drawings of the rabbits having their revenge is meant to have a deeper symbolism, about pushing the small, helpless bunny to a breaking point only to find that the creature was a lot fiercer than he was given credit as being.
Well, I'd draw better if I practiced more often than once every three or four years! The Hackney horse was 2012.
DeleteWhat an excellent notion about the Rabbits representing the underlings . . . I think you may have a point there.
Practice makes perfect and if you can draw the horse and flowers so well I am sure that drawing castles and architecture (your face drawing is darn good) will be a snap.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Thank you Jackie. I am best at copying a line drawing. "Free range" - I need a lot more practice.
DeleteYour horse drawings are so good. I remember when I was a horse ranger and we were learning about conformation (is thar the right word) we had to draw a horse and name the parts and looking closely and understanding helps with the drawing skills. I suppose Jordan too has been affected by this cold front that most of Europe has been under since Christmas. The desert is always cold so pack your thermals too, I slept in a Bedouin tent in 1980 and the Nomads gave us warm wool woven blankets but I also had my down-filled sleeping bag and this was maybe early March and I don’t remember being too hot or too cold. Camping on mount Masada above the Dead Sea was where we got eaten alive by midges or mosquitoes. Your rabbit tales reminds me of Mary Toft who allegedly gave birth to rabbits in the late 17th century. All the documents relating to the court case, because she was of course tried for witchy behaviour, were held at Clandon House, a NT property not far from where we used to live. Of course, my children, growing up on a diet of Peter Rabbit, could not understand what all the fuss was about! Have a brilliant holiday and rest up until you go because travelling and exploring is tiring and you don’t want to be going down with anything when you’re away.
ReplyDeleteSarah x
Your horse drawing and the Aquilegia are really good, perhaps you've just had more practise with living things, but if you can do those that well you definitely have an artists eye. As long as you take at least one lovely thick warm cardigan or jumper, and a coat or jacket that the wind can't whistle through you should be fine with your pretty long sleeved tops underneath.
ReplyDeleteThank you. As I said, I literally draw something for a couple of hours every few years. Practice is what I need, but I've always been so busy. I have juggled between two long warm wool cardies - but the thicker one on its own takes up nearly half my little suitcase!
DeleteI am with you on the Melangell church, the story of the Celtic princess hiding the hare under her sleeve and the prince out hunting has a magic to it.
ReplyDeleteI shall need Tam to put the sat nav directions of for me, as it's quite remote apparently.
ReplyDelete