Mae's Tearooms and Gallery

Well that's the table 'Christmassified'....pop up to Mae's in Uldale - or the Ireby lights switch on this Saturday to see more! Plenty of frankincense and myrrh available too - from Oman - the real stuff! ....not to mention the new hand-coloured Hesket Newmarket lino print.

Mini paintings....

Two new sets of mini paintings ...the first of Skiddaw across the Solway mosses and the second of Luskentyre on the Isle of Harris. All done with a palette knife and they are 7cm x 7cm - I enjoyed doing these especially as the alternative was glittering cones!

Mungrisdale Arts and Crafts Fair

Well that's all set up for what will hopefully be a busy weekend! Lots of interesting stalls to browse.

Clyne Valley Brickworks

The Clyne Valley is a lovely county park with a fascinating heritage. 

Until recently Clyne Valley was an important area of industrial activity. Much industrial heritage is still visible within the park. Coal mining was the initial industry in the valley, starting as early as 1305, although it was not until the sixteenth centuries that large scale coal working occurred. This took the form of Bell Pits, a hazardous method of working, which involved the digging out of a cavern as large as possible without causing roof collapse. These can be seen in particular in Clyne Woods on the western slopes of the valley. These were followed by larger pits such as the Clyne and Ynys Collieries. At this latter mine an old winding engine remains.The growth of the coal industry couple with local raw materials led to the growth of related industry. An ironworks was built near Clyne Quarry in the north and a Chemical Works operated off Mill Lane in the south, substantial elements of which remain.A brickmaking industry thrived from the early nineteenth century until well into the twentieth, the final works being demolished in 1950.The industrial activity required transport. A tramway connecting with Mumbles Railway was built in 1804 and a network of railway lines followed. A number of canals were also built, many remains of which are still clear today.  (http://www.swansea.gov.uk/clynevalleycountrypark)

Left : Old bricks from the brick-works laid downs along the footpaths

Right: Tracks from the Swansea and Mumbles Railway Clyne Valley Branch.

Left: The Eagle Brickworks at Cwmafan, near Port Talbot, was once part of the Evans Bevan brewing, coal mining and brick making empire. The works ceased operations in 1968.

Middle: a product of Evans-Bevan Ltd, Clyne brickworks who also produced bricks imprinted 'Evans-Bevan Ltd, Clyne Works, Killay.

Right: an unknown brick.

A walk up the Clyne Valley, Swansea.

On a fine day Tom took the opportunity to explore the Clyne Valley, beginning on the Singleton campus.

Left: looking towards Swansea on the way to Blackpill along the coastal footpath.

Right: Looking towards the Mumbles on the way back.

Autumn colours 

Left: top: bleeding oak crust (Stereum gausapatum) bottom: birch polypore (Piptoporus betulinus).
Middle: top: hairy curtain crust (Stereum hirstutum) bottom: turkey tail (Trametes versicolour)
Right: unknown.

Left: stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus) found in the dunes outside of the university.
Right: collared earthstar (Geastrum triplex) found in a flower bed on university grounds.

Sea marbles

I enjoyed making these felt 'sea marbles' .....here's hoping for a sunny morning to take them down the beach and photograph them on the strand line.

Hesket Newmarket hand-coloured lino cut.

...and following my post on the 9th November - here's the colored version now that the ink has dried.

Greenhill Craft Fair

...The sun is shining so here's hoping for a busy day....

Cumberland foxhounds on Binsey

We'd driven through Ireby this morning as the hunt congregated outside the Black Lion for bacon butties and a drink. I had hoped to take some decent photos, but the square was rammed with cars and there were lots of cones, tape and signs due to the current 'pavement works' - hardly photogenic! We then decided to go for a walk up Binsey and as luck would have it the hunt came past - Rocky was most intrigued!

Binsey - such good views from such a little walk!

We are so lucky to live within 15 minutes drive of Binsey - the views, on such a gorgeous morning, were stunning and Rocky loved it!

Hesket Newmarket lino cut.

Hesket is a really difficult village to get into one picture - I decided the pub and the buttermarket had to be in to define the character of the village - but there are a lot of houses in between and some at right angles to the road. The houses at a right angle to the road were left out as you couldn't see them but we got everything else in..... The bottom of the picture is the grass of the green. Now I just need to wait for the prints to dry before hand colouring them!

I will probably do a couple of extra scenes - a closer view of The Old Crown pub with Denton House to the left and also the corner at the top of the village with the post office and the back road to Caldbeck.

Even the panoramic view on the camera can't get it in! 

The planning and the printing....

The print ...waiting to dry before hand colouring...

Glittery cones....

Having found and collected the cones - which believe me are heavy (ask my poor husband who had the rucksack!); dried them in the bottom oven of the Aga so they open up; removed the seeds; cooled them; removed more seeds and then painted and glittered them..........but they're worth it! Lots more to go though for the Christmas fares!

Robin textile cards ....

...and back to Christmas cards....this time robins.

The seven day black and white challenge...

I really enjoyed the facebook 7 day challenge of 7 black and white photographs with no people and no explanation. Wish I'd had more time to think about and find subjects, but I enjoyed what I did....most were taken for the challenge and hence the majority were on the daily dog walk!

Dog walks.....

Summer on Orkney.

Large textile trees...

Following on from last year's smaller trees, here are some larger trees - drift wood off the beach for the trunks. Inevitably it was a breezy day when I wanted to photograph them outside!

Drilling holes in the wood, so the ribbons can be threaded through them, so that the trunks don't fall or can't be pulled out; cutting triangles and lace to fit and the final product. 

Percy Kelly Retrospective - Line of Beauty.

Rarely have I been so inspired and so engaged by an exhibition of artwork ...and for it to be in Carlisle at Tullie House Museum and Art gallery was such a treat. I can not recommend the exhibition more highly. Curated by Chris Wadsworth it gives just the right amount of 'interpretation' and the chronological layout, with artefacts, gives a real insight into Kelly's life. I loved the quote in a letter - 'you are not only a talent but a genius... and for that I will never forgive you '...paraphrased I'm afraid. Apologies for lacks of credits for photos - the use of line and tone is inspirational. I just love the fact that it was all places we know and love too - St Davids, Parton, Whitehaven, Zennor .....Congratulations to all involved!

The final excursion ...south Pembrokeshire

Manorbier Beach- sedimentary features and trace fossil.
Top: large arthropod burrow (Beaconites) shown as a gap in the cross lamination of the Old Red Sandstone.
Bottom: mud cracks shown in the sandstone in green due to reduced iron within the red oxidised iron contained in sandstone. Also seen was paleosol, good examples of cross-lamination formed by the migration of ripples and concretions.

Freshwater East.
Left: clear bedding in the Gray Sandstone Group (underlying the Old Red Sandstone). Layers of alternating bands of a fine grained sandstone with clear parallel lamination and finer grained mudstone that is fractured. Some dark fossiliferous material containing Tentaculites.

Saundersfoot- Folding in coal measures (mudstone and sandstone)
Left: syncline and examples of beds sliding over each other.
Right: Lady's Cave anticline. A good example of an anticline with fracture cleavage and as a result has been more heavily eroded at the hinge , hence creating a cave like structure

Saundersfoot- Part of the Pembrokeshire coal field.
Right: the coal seem with fossiliferous horizons and iron stone nodules either side. We found lots of fossils, mainly roots and plant matter including horsetail cross sections and some small leaf fragments

Castle Martin and surrounds - a geological excursion.

 More from Tom's recent field trip....

Castle Martin
Top: The Green Bridge carboniferous limestone arch formed by erosion due to 3 distinct layers of limestone.
Bottom left: another archway formed in the limestone near to The Cauldron.
Bottom right: Elegug Stacks

Left top: Quay Cove trace fossils of soft-bodied worms in Carboniferous Limestone
Left bottom: Quay Cove tension gashes due to deformation.
Right: West Angle Bay parasitic folds.

Skrinkle Haven - Church Doors Cove.
Top left: fossils (mainly crinoids). The fossils at this locality are mainly broken into fragments, which is interpreted as the fossils having been transported to the site during storms, hence creating storm beds.
Bottom left: an example of storm bedding- the abrupt change between mudstone and limestone can be seen to the left of each paler limestone bed. To the right there is graded bedding as the limestone and mudstone merge together. This shows the storm sediments abruptly forming and then settling towards the end when the storm eventually diminishes. This sedimentary feature can be then used to determine 'way up' and which rocks are younger and hence laid last.
 Right: A cross section through the bedding and wave ripples. The ripples seen are symmetrical and hence are due to wave action instead of river flow that creates asymmetrical ripples. This is another feature that helps determine 'way up'.

North Cumbrian lanes ...

...and finally some sun (well ...light) on the morning's dog walk!

Stackpole - a geological exploration

With Tom down at Swansea Uni doing Earth Sciences it's good to be able to take part in field trips - albeit remotely!

Top: Stackpole Quay middle cove (north side)
 Bottom: further north along the coast.

Fossils at Stackpole Quay (Middle Cove) from the Lower Carboniferous

 Top left: geopetal structure (fossil spirit level) When cavities fill with some sediment material, calcite minerals form in the cavity above the sediment and as the sediment should start horizontally the line between the calcite mineral and the rock should represent 180 degrees when the sediment was laid.
Bottom left : colonial coral fossil.
Top right : Cross section through a gastropod shell fossil.
Bottom right:  gastropod shell. Also present were brachiopods and crinoids.

Left: Syncline Stack at Stackpole Quay- carboniferous limestone with some vertical fractures showing offset strata and fracture cleavage fanning away from the fold hinge.
Right: making a field sketch and measurements of dip and strike with a compass clinometer.

Mini paintings - across to Criffel

It's getting too close to the Christmas fare season! ....time to crack on ....tonight's mini paintings 7cm x 7cm with a palette knife.