March moth trapping.

With a sudden weekend of warm and sunny weather Tom took advantage and put the moth trap out.

Left column: Early grey; brindled ochre and a pair of common quakers.
Right column: satellite; hebrew character and clouded drab; red sword grass and early thorn. 

Grune point.

A lovely, warm walk around Grune Point. Can't believe the thrift was out!

The creek; Skiddaw with snow and circling barnacle geese.

Thrift, Xanthoria, little egret, gorse, scurvy grass, ladybird, Jew's ear fungus and crow. 

...and a field sketch.

Pen-y-ghent and purple saxifrage.

A superb walk - mainly due to the perfect weather! The purple saxifrage was spot on and there is plenty more to come out. Our visit (pilgrimage) this year was two weeks earlier than last year.

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Cumbrian Beach Finds.

A wet morning so off to Parton in West Cumbria. There was quite a lot of sand this time but still a surprisingly good amount of finds.

Psychedelic flowers...

Another new design ......

Seashell hearts - hebridean style!

These hearts take quite a while to make! The fabrics are hand dyed - the shells from Islay in the hebrides are sewn in and glued so they don't move.

The finished articles...

Layered hand - dyed fabrics after heat gun treatment; shells ready to be sewn in.

More details.

Tulip textile cards.

It's hard to think of new designs that are simple enough to be able to cut out and sew, but also be effective. So here are the new cards - just in time for Mother's Day!

Crocus gelli print.

Just couldn't resist doing something with the crocuses in the garden....still learning a lot about this technique. This time I printed some deli paper as well and collaged the front crocuses so they are a crisper edge.

The photo...

The prints...

The mixed media print and photo combination ...

The Oak Beauty moth.

Our first spectacular moth of the year! Despite a slightly dodgy weather forecast Tom took precautions and made a 'bulb protector'. We were rewarded with spectacular oak beauty and slightly less spectacular hebrew character and mottled grey. It is an unmistakeable spring moth and feeds on oak, hazel and alder.

Siskin and lesser redpoll....

Delighted to have these on our feeders in the garden today.

The list for today was...: coaltit; great tit; bluetit; long-tailed tit; collared dove;magpie; siskin; lesser redpoll; house sparrow; tree sparrow; dunnock; greenfinch; goldfinch; chaffinch; blackbird and robin.

Uranium seaglass.

Shine a UV light on pieces of seaglass / beads and there's a lovely yellow / green glow. Reading up on it - it is called a 'vaseline' colour ....and it is!

Mawbray banks summer....

A summer's day with a threatening sky. A big oil - 60cm x 90cm .....with rosebay willowherb and heather and lots of sun-bleached grass.

First moth trap of the year.......

We looked at the forecast and put the trap out on the night of 5th March .....never trust a forecast, but despite the rain (which thankfully didn't blow the bulb) we got some nice moths.

Chestnut - with a slightly unusual colouration for our locality.

Hebrew character.

A pair of March moths.

Male pale brindled beauty.

Ivy with berries

Inspired by some ivy yesterday ....so here are the prints!

Ireby Old Church

As it was such beautiful weather this afternoon - a quick trip out to Ireby Old Church. The road was wet and muddy and despite the feeling of Spring being here - there wasn't that much evidence of it. The ground was sodden and just a few celandines....nice to be out in the sun though!

Dried Chillies.

We grow our own chillies - and air dry them. I couldn't resist photographing them with sunlight and steam from the kettle! Nothing planned - I was just making a cuppa!

Snowdrop prints...

It's early for the snowdrops to be over but I never can resist them ...photographing and printing.