This blog is about the many things of interest to me – from photography, jewellery making, my garden, walking, the natural world and the English Lake District.
More varied than any landscape was the landscape in the sky, with islands of gold and silver, peninsulas of apricot and rose against a background of many shades of turquoise and azure.Cecil Beaton
I don’t have much to tell you these days, as my husband has been poorly and his treatment and recovery have been a dominating feature in our lives for the moment. But as I’ve been restricted to home for a while, I have been tinkering with various cameras and images and we managed to get away to the Lake District in June, so I’ll just post a gallery of recent images below.
I posted last time that I’d got a new Panasonic pocket camera and was tinkering with that, but since then, my lovely little DSLR has died and probably can’t be repaired economically, so I’m on the look out for a second hand one eventually, as it was just ideal for me. In the meantime however, I’ve added a larger bridge camera to my collection and am looking forward to getting to know it soon – I haven’t had opportunity to get out with it yet and frankly, it has largely rained since I got it a week ago.
I have however been playing with some images that I’d not yet published and trying different pieces of RAW image file development.
I hadn’t been happy with the results I was getting, so decided that I’m going to have to pay for a decent piece of software, so have been trying it before I pay for the full version.
I’ve been delighted with the results and some of the images in the gallery are the result of getting a decent image from a shot that initially looked lost. I do love that process of taking something that looked hopeless at the time of taking – usually because of an extensive dynamic range in the scene – and getting a nice resulting image from it.
I’ve been especially delighted with the results that I’ve been able to get from my pocket camera Considering that it has a tiny little sensor, it’s astonishing to me that I can retrieve blown cloud and sky areas, as well as lightening deep shadow areas to show hidden details, from under trees and the like. It’s a bit of a dark art and both a joy and a frustration in equal measure, but I can’t relinquish that overwhelming need to tinker with images.
Gallery
I’ve published some of these photos larger than I usually do in my blog, so the pop ups when you click to view the images should be pretty much a screenful in your browser. Some originals are also perhaps a little larger than this (especially the landscapes), so if you want to enjoy more detail, right clicking the image will probably give you the option to open it in a new window or tab. If hovering over the image with your mouse produces a (+) icon, clicking it may make it larger still.
The photos below are just a selection of images that I’ve taken or worked on recently (hence the mix of seasons shown). Whilst slightly disjointed as a collection, they do pretty much represent what I like to photograph.
A favourite section amongst the trees around Tarn Hows in the English Lake District (September 2017).
It had rained hard and been stormy earlier in the day and it suddenly stopped and lifted and odd shards of sunlight glinted through gaps in the cloud. Thirlmere in the English Lake District.
I love being under trees in dappled sunlight on a hot day and this is a favourite quiet spot to stop for a picnic lunch.
Water lillies and lots of common blue damselflies at Tarn Hows in the English Lake District.
Tarn Hows in the English Lake District on a gorgeous hot sunny June afternoon.
Blea Tarn in the Langdale area of the English Lake District. The day before we’d been trying to find shade to keep cool, but this day we were glad we put coats on.
Tarn Hows in the English Lake District – the sun was out, the water lillies were in flower and the sun was warm. Life doesn’t get much better.
Walking around Tarn Hows in the English Lake District on a lovely day – we just stop on every seat to enjoy looking at the trees.
Walking around Tarn Hows in the English Lake District on a gorgeous June afternoon.
It isn’t a complete holiday until we’ve walked along the side of Windermere – it’s one of those favourite walks you do often because it has everything.
The walk along Elterwater in the English Lake District. It just started raining, so I snatched a quick photo.
One of a small family of marsh tits that visited our feeder – I don’t think I’ve knowingly seen one before. They move so fast, that they’re hard to catch – so I was glad that it paused for a moment for me.
A spectacularly clear day after a storm the day before, giving rise to good distant views over Windermere.
This blue hosta I have in the garden does form the most lovely raindrops – which I love to see on these big architectural leaves.
A favourite quite spot to stop for a brew and maybe a spot of lunch. This was an exercise in RAW file development, as it was a tricky exposure that just hadn’t worked in the in-camera JPEG.
We were delighted to be visited by a hare on several occasions, although it was only when the weather was lousy – so the light was low and the grass was blowing.
The photo isn’t sideways – this rose, which instructs you not to prune it, now flowers about 12 foot off the ground and they then flop over horizontally. I think I’m going to have to prune it after all, or I can’t enjoy the flowers at all.
We’ve had a lot of butterflies and other insects in the garden this summer and they move about so fast, that I end up with a lot of flower photos where a butterfly or insect had been.
You can see with all the tones and textures in the grass, how the hares blend in so well with their surroundings.
Thistles are the most astonishingly complicated and rather ferocious looking plants,
After a couple of visits she seemingly got used to seeing me through the window and realised she wasn’t going to come to any harm and she got more confident in her movements.
What could be prettier than a tiny spherical raindrop on the gorgeous contours of a large waxy leaf.
I’ve posted this photo before, but I re-worked this with a new piece of RAW development software and the result is significantly better.
These garden geraniums have been the most lovely delicate colour this summer.
What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness. John Steinbeck
I really haven’t had anything to say recently. Well, don’t let that lull you into thinking I’ve been silent; far from it. But I just haven’t had anything interesting to contribute recently. Certainly nothing anyone would want to read about.
But I’m feeling much more inspired after some days of early summer sunshine (and quite warm some days too), extra hours of daylight giving rise to long evenings and remembering that I love photography again. The winter with its early wetness and later cold and lack of light wasn’t one for getting out very far and I just stopped carrying my camera routinely, so didn’t have anything to show you – I haven’t taken a photograph for weeks.
But I’ve made up for it recently. My husband recently bought me a pocket camera – I’d had one that simply proved too large for a pocket and we found one that was much more ‘fit-for-purpose’ and I’ve reawakened my enthusiasm for photography by getting to know it properly. Unfortunately I’ve not been outside the garden much recently, so my pool of subject matter is somewhat limited. But it has been a joy to have some flowers to photograph and consequently they’ve attracted some visitors too.
The large red damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) shown wasn’t photographed with the new camera, but with my DSLR with my close up set up – the speed of focus and subsequently taking the shot can sometimes only be achieved with a DSLR with skittish subject matter. It still wasn’t fast enough – or at least I wasn’t – a few days later when I realised I was looking at a large chubby dragonfly at rest on one of the canes in the garden. I had my camera in my hand at the time and as I raised it to try and get a shot, it spooked and flew straight out of the garden and I’ve not seen it again since.
I’d hardly touched the garden all winter and it was in dire need of a good sort out – it was looking positively scruffy and there seemed to be piles of dead leaves everywhere. I’d lost quite a few plants with the ‘Beast from the East’ cold snap we had – plants that had previously survived several winters. But that gave me the opportunity to refresh a few spots that were looking tired and treat myself to new things instead. Because my entire garden is in pots, they don’t have the protection of much ground around their roots, so I’m surprised that I haven’t lost more over previous winters.
But thankfully the glorious weather we’ve had recently allowed me get a good run at it. I think we’ve had more nice days already in 2018 than we had all of last summer – we’ve certainly eaten out in the garden more times already than we managed last year. I really hope it continues, it’s a joy to have a leisurely weekend breakfast al fresco!
Testing the camera at full zoom:
We did escape for one evening out and a picnic – which resulted in wrestling bread and cheese inside the car as the wind was so severe it would have blown supper right down the valley. We do have a picnic rule; that if the wind is stiff enough to blow crisps off the plate, we eat inside and this certainly qualified. It was a favourite spot where we’ve spent many hours watching hares over the years, but last year we had hardly any sightings and I was worried that they were no longer resident in the area, so it was a real joy to watch them again. I saw three individuals in total. The one I photographed below got up to stretch at one point and did a large twisting leap into the air, something I’ve not seen them do before, other than when ‘boxing’.
I wanted to test the focus at distance with the new camera as it has a 30x zoom which is a 720mm equivalent focal length. It’s really frustrating to be chasing a squirrel up a tree or something and the camera failing to focus where you want. The hare shot below was a proper test in truly demanding conditions – late evening light (and through a car window) with wind blowing the grass about and an area of cow parsley in the foreground that periodically blew right in front of the scene and there was fencing and blowing reeds between me and the hare, yet the camera managed to lock and retain focus where I wanted it to and whilst some of the shots were dire for other reasons, in each case, the focus was at least on the hare. If you want to imagine the scenario, the landscape view to the right of the hare shot in the gallery is the scene – the bright green patch of grass just about in the centre of the frame is where she was and you can perhaps identify the wire fencing and patch of angled reeds. So you can see that it was a bit of a stretch for a camera that will slip into my shirt pocket.
I’ll pop my recent photographs into a gallery below, they have captions with them, should they be of any interest. I’ve enjoyed thinking about photographs again and tinkering with settings and getting to know a new camera. I’m hoping that we have a good summer and I can continue to bore you with flower and insect photos. I might even get out and about once in a while too.
Gallery:
We do see some fabulous sunsets in this spot – perhaps because the area to the left is heading out towards the sea.
Not a very good photo in any way as the wind was brisk to say the least, but I was happy to see hares again in this spot, we hardly saw any last spring.
I’ve taken this scene many times before, it’s one of my go to spots when testing a new camera. But the scene is slightly different every time.
The plants shown have already doubled in size since I took the photos. I can’t wait for more flowers to emerge.
These daisies are quite yellow when they open and as they grow, the outer petals get gradually paler.
I’ve been delighted to see these visiting large red damselfly in the garden this spring. I think I’ve identified 3 different individuals.
A new plant in the garden, a Ceanothus with tiny indigo florets – which are the most complicated and delicate structure.
I love how complicated the structures of flowers are once you get a bit closer for a good look.
Another ‘Crazy Daisy’. I just hope that the snails don’t love it as much as I do.
A Jacob’s Ladder that has just come in to flower – I think they’re the first flowers of my own to emerge this year.
I love daisies and this is a new one I treated myself to, called a Crazy Daisy.
A blue hosta that I added last year and it’s already massive this year. I love the abstract of the shapes they form.
I have a couple of gorgeous hostas and thankfully this year, the snails haven’t done much damage and it’s looking fabulous.
I loved the colour of this flower, but I didn’t read that it was early flowering, so it looks like it’s done now until next year.
A female large red damselfly that has visited me a few times now and it’s a delight to see.
My garden is very green still, but there will be a lot more colour shortly.
I’m dying to see what this hosta flower looks like, it didn’t flower last year and it’s a massive bud!
I only went out to bring in the wheelie bin and was rewarded by a spectacular display of raindrops.
I’ve always loved photographing raindrops on leaves and this blue hosta is especially good at presenting them for me.
I seem to have waited a long time for this clematis bud to open, but I think it’ll be worth the wait.
A tiny little emerging hosta leaf has trapped several little raindrops.
This plant is called Physocarpus opulifolius [ninebark] ‘Dart’s Gold’ and gets a fabulous flush of these domes of tiny blossom, unfortunately, there’s only one flowering and it’s all over too soon.
I do love hoverflies – this plant Dart’s Gold has a mass of these domes of tiny white flowers and insects just love it.
I watched this hoverfly for some time and he methodically worked from one bloom to the next.
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
I am delighted to see that spring has finally come knocking at my front door. She hasn’t however just crept along timidly, hoping not to cause too much fuss, she’s banged repeatedly on the knocker and is wearing her brightest finery. I even saw my first lambs yesterday, so that was a treat too.
It’s one of my very favourite times of year, when the usually scrubby patch of grass [read that as more moss than grass] outside our front door is solid with spring flowers. I’m pretty sure that they’re usually more spread out, in that the snowdrops are usually past their best by the time the crocuses emerge and they then overlap with the daffodils. But at the moment, they’re all in full bloom. There are even daisies amongst them already.
In fact, I thought the snowdrops had taken a battering in recent storms and were certainly finishing blooming, but a whole raft of new flowers have emerged this week, so it seems that it was only the first flush that were done. There are some, thankfully still in bud, yet to enjoy.
I must start keeping a record of what blooms when, as I’m sure it must vary quite a bit year on year, depending on how severe the winter weather was. I’m also pretty certain that winters are nowhere near as severe as they used to be – I know that we get a fraction of the snow we have had in past years.
I’m not sure this is entirely good for nature, I think some species need a good hard frost as part of their cycle and I feel this may be why for the last few years, my smaller daffs, often flower just above the soil, without ever growing proper stalks and developing the height that they should. It feels like they haven’t been allowed to sleep and then woken properly.
We had a lovely day earlier this week, when the wind finally dropped enough to try and take some photos – delicate flowers like snowdrops quiver significantly even in the slightest breeze. I caught it just on the right day – the warm sun caused the crocuses to open wide and they were pristine and new and I was delighted to see several industrious bumble bees. I wasted more time than was decent to try to capture one particular character who was very keen on the snowdrops, but he was a large chap and heavily laden with yellow pollen caught in his furry back (you can see him in the banner image at the top) and every time he landed on a snowdrop, his weight caused the flower to drop violently earthwards and dump him onto the grass. He valiantly kept trying though. The crocus shape was more suitable for him and I did manage to catch him visiting them.
Recent work and gallery:
My husband was working away for a few days recently and I consequently had a really exceptional time getting lots of work done. I was really in the zone and had few interruptions, so made significant inroads into my ‘to do’ list. It was a most enjoyable and satisfying time.
So I now have a pile of finished pieces and some fired metal clay components to make into something and I’m just getting them all added to the web site and for sale.
Having sold several polymer clay pieces recently, I decided that I hadn’t played with polymer clay for a while, so a session was long overdue and I already had some ideas tucked away that I wanted to try.
I decided to start simple initially, to get my eye back in and also used some old baked pieces to try carving designs into. I’d done some rudimentary carving on metal clay and to make texture plates, but carving into polymer clay is most enjoyable. It’s just the right texture and density to carve easily and smoothly, but hard enough that it doesn’t slip away from you too fast, as some of the softer texture plate materials can do.
I do however need some better carving tools, what I’m working with is decent enough to let me try it, but not fine enough to turn tight curves, so my designs are somewhat limited.
The blue green earrings in the gallery were made with a mix of clays to give rise to a semi-translucent clay with fibrous inclusions. I thought they had the look of carved jade and having looked at carved jade netsuke I saw that a lot were teamed with red beads, so I thought that this would be a nice way to finish these earrings, so have paired them with Brecciated jasper beads; a combination I’m certainly going to use again.
Snowdrops are like elegant ladies and one of my very favourite flowers. I wonder if I’d get bored of them if we had them all year. I doubt it, but their short stay does make them all that more special.
I love this intense colour combination after a drab winter.
Some of the patches of crocuses that were a little more sheltered have managed to remain pristine despite recent battering winds.
They were only this pristine for the one day. Once bad weather hits, their delicate structure takes a battering.
What could be more cheerful after a long winter than seeing this vibrant splash of colour and a bee busy at work.
There were several bees busy taking advantage of the sudden warmth and wide open crocuses.
Carved polymer clay earrings with red Brecciated Jasper and copper earwires. Looking at carved jade netsuke I saw that a lot were teamed with red beads, so thought that this would be a nice way to finish these earrings.
Carved polymer clay earrings with red Jasper and copper earwires. The polymer clay has been sanded and buffed to a satin sheen with wax.
Faux Chinese amber cabochon set in a pink bronze bezel set pendant.
Faux amber and pink bronze bezel set pendant on chain. The back of the pendant is decorated with hand sculpted and appliqued decorative details including scrolls, leaves and tiny balls of solid bronze. The pendant could be worn both ways.
The bezel of this faux amber pendant was cut from my own digital design using a Silhouette cutter on thin dry clay sheet, further embellished with tiny fat teardrops.
Pink bronze earrings featuring tiny hand crafted tendrils and leaves.
Pink bronze earrings, initially inspired by a couple of my favourite jewellery designers; Archibald Knox and Georg Jensen. I started with an idea and before I knew it, it had taken on my own style anyway.
Sunny bronze leaf and twig brooch pin featuring a peridot coloured cubic zirconium gemstone.
Filigree heart pendant made in a pink bronze metal clay and adorned with a lavender coloured cubic zirconium gemstone and tiny ivy leaves, tendrils, berries and leaves.
Filigree heart pendant made in pink bronze metal clay. It features a random collection of ivy leaves, berries, tendrils and tiny leaves and a sparkly lavender cubic zirconium gemstone.
Tiny fungi growing on a small branch. These were the inspiration behind my bronze bark pendant.
Bronze pendant inspired by bark covered in tiny cup fungi. When it came out of the kiln it was the most gorgeous pinky brown colour, so as this wouldn’t last, I decided to fill the tiny cups with little patches of coloured resin. It also features a citrine coloured cubic zirconium.
The back of the sunny bronze bark pendant, also featuring tiny cup fungi, filled with coloured resin.
Pink bronze pendant featuring stylised seed pods and curly tendrils. The design was inspired by photos I took of tiny empty seedpods at the end of summer.
Fruits ripen, seeds drip, the hours of day and night are balanced. Mabon Sabbat and Lore
This is a time of year that I both love and find a little sad too. That point where the unmistakable signs appear that summer is drawing to a close and autumn is chasing its heels. It’s sad because you know the long evenings are rapidly vanishing and there will now be more night than day and yet it’s still a beautiful time of year.
Each period of the year has its own merits and I do so love to observe that cyclical rhythm of nature doing its thing. As summer wanes, plants put forth their seeds and berries and animals and insects use the opportunity to feed up for the forthcoming winter. Consequently, the hedgerows are full of those fabulous later summer structures full of summer energy ready to fuel a new generation. This colourful display is full of warmth and vibrancy and stunning natural structures, just as beautiful as the flowers that precede them.
Gallery:
It’s not the done thing to take photographs into the sun, but I do like doing so – in this case, it highlights all the insects in flight.
Rosehips, a very typical sign of the end of summer.
Delicate little seedpods, with their curled back edges, after distributing their contents.
Ripe blackberries with still more to come.
Seed heads from cowslip flowers, also known as Queen Anne’s Lace for the delicate lace like appearance of the tiny flowers.
Ivy flowers about to emerge, what fabulous natural architecture.
The ripe rosehips are the most fabulous rich colours.
These nettle flowers are exquisitely delicate and complicated.
Recent work in a new material:
I recently discovered a new brand of base metal clays from Australia – the appropriately named Aussie Metal Clay, only recently put on the market in the UK, which I have thoroughly enjoyed working with. I intend to do a more detailed blog on working with the product, as there is little information out there yet, but I have one or two issues to resolve for myself first.
When I look at new materials or techniques, I often do a lot of research and reading to formulate a good idea of the features of the product to see if it will be suitable for my needs – this is very often blog articles from fellow users who kindly share their experiences. Consequently, as this product doesn’t feature very much yet, I want to write some more about it and my own findings from making several pieces with it, to make my own contribution for fellow artisans.
In the meantime, in the gallery below are a few of the new pieces I have made with a couple of the medium fire base metal clays from Aussie Metal Clay to give you an idea of its capability, but I intend to write much more specifics in a future post. [Article now written and the links above take you to it.]
Metal clay gallery:
Twig necklace in pink bronze featuring riveted silver blossoms and a peridot green cubic zirconia gemstone.
Pink bronze 3 part pendant, featuring a geometric design cut in raw clay using the Silhouette cutter.
Teardrop earrings in pink bronze with poinsettia style flowers cut out and finished with tony rolled balls.
Earrings featuring little dragonflies, the wings cut from dry clay and the body formed from tiny hand rolled graduating balls.
Mixed metal earrings featuring a base of pink bronze, with white bronze flowers riveted with copper rivets.
Naturally contoured ivy leaf with a hidden bail on the back.
Twig pendant, featuring hand crafted leaves, seed pods, tendrils and a tiny ladybird. Set with a cubic zirconia gemstone.
Finished pink bronze necklace adorned with lots of tiny naturalistic features, hand sculpted in metal clay.