Ardnave point collagraph, Islay

A rather short post, but here is the coloured version of my earlier collagraph with the source photo beneath it. I can't wait to get back there later this month - somehow I don't think there'll be quite such a blue sky, but it has to be one of my favourite walks! Click here for photographs of the printing block and process.

Derwent Water oil painting

Following our damp walk around Derwentwater last weekend click here I wanted to do an atmospheric oil painting ...the only problem ..there wasn't much to see! However, here's my interpretation of Castle Crag, which has just sold! Now to do another similar one!

The view....

The painting.

Northern Fells lino cutting course

..another successful morning with many of us getting to grips with the reduction / suicide method. We'll be continuing with those that aren't finished at another session. ....and there was one that I seemed to have missed photographing in the rush at the end ...another lovely reduction linocut of a view.

A busy session with plenty of tea and coffee required! 

A fellside reduction.

Simple but effective.

Love these delicate snowdrops! 

The beginnings of an ambitious reduction lino! 

Something fishy! 

The beginnings of a reduction lino cut....

Tom Garner: Fused glass by-the -wind sailor!

During our travels we have occasionally found by-the-wind-sailors Click here and here and here and ...here...for example! They are quite beautiful when fresh and Tom took them as an inspiration, for what I think, is a brilliant piece of glass work! When freshly washed up they have a lovely blue fringe which in the glass work was blue frit. The 'sail' locks into the 'foot' of the glass work. Now to find a beach to float it in the edge of the sea!

The by-the-wind-sailor...and below.

The glass interpretation....and below.

Derwentwater round walk

Not a forecast for the tops today, so round Derwentwater it was. Plenty of drizzle and low cloud - atmospheric, but unfortunately too damp to photograph at the Mansty boardwalk end.

Male goldeneye.

Female goldeneye.

Luxuriant mosses and liverworts.

Looking back towards Walla Crag and to the cloud on Skiddaw.

Using sea glass within fused glass.

I have always collected sea glass and wondered how it could be combined with commercially produced glass used for fusing. So time to experiment! What was obvious was that the sea glass melted at a much higher temperature than the commercial glass.

The bowl - with sea glass, frit and powders.

Detail...

A coaster with frit made from sea glass - with some cracking due to the different properties of the glass used.

River Liza - Fused glass wave

Following our visit to Ennerdale the other week....click here....I used the crystal clear waters of the River Liza as inspiration for a fused glass wave.

The glass was laid over kiln paper and then flakes of 'gold' and wire were laid on top of the glass. Another layer of glass was added onto which pieces of cut glass, frit and powders were added. The next step would be to find some more realistic glass colours ...in the meantime I would like to place the glass in the river and photograph it through the water....watch this space!

Thanks once again to Roxy at RD Glass for use of her studio and doing the firing!

The River Liza, Ennerdale.

Clear waters....

Looking down on the wave...

Looking through the wave....

Details ....

South Wales cave fauna

Tom's  trip to a limestone cave was also fruitful, including a new species of moth to him: the tissue, and a whole host of cave-adapted spiders. For more information visit: http://www.cambriancavingcouncil.org.uk/cavelife/wales/spiders.html

Juv. Cave spiders (Meta menardii) and a possible Metallina merianae.

An adult cave spider (Meta menardii) alongside a freshly made eggsac.

 Nesticus cellulanus- a spectacularly patterned species.

Another M. menardii eggsac.

The tissue moth, nearer to the cave entrance than other hibernating moth species, and a photograph without flash, showing a truer colour.

The tissue moth.

The herald- beaded with droplets of water in the dark.

The herald.

Clyne Valley

Tom had had an enjoyable round trip from Blackpill towards the student village and back, through Clyne Valley.

Clyne Valley. Nice to see invasive species being removed from a scrub-land area, home to small pearl bordered frits and brimstones in the summer months.

A broadleaf crust and elf cup sp.

A curtain crust and tremella sp.

Elf cup sp.

A host of lichens.

An old railway tunnel, with mineral stalactites.

Impressive yellow slugs, found when looking for slime mold fruiting bodies.

A good number of woodland birds, including this blue tit. 

Lino cutting ...another course

I've decided this year to run two consecutive lino courses, so people can dip in and out and do either large or small pieces; single colour or reduction linos; attending for one or two sessions ....and here are today's results - many will be finished next week, It's so good to see regulars becoming more confident and pushing themselves with more complex designs...