Julia Garner

Sunday, 5 January 2020

Round Buttermere

A dull morning with high winds on the tops and low cloud, so we decided for a quick walk out around Buttermere. The light and colours were interesting - dull and cloudy, with an indigo lake, but then touches of vibrant green and orange from the grass and bracken.

Views...

The lone tree.

Waterfalls.

Fleetwith Pike and the crags below Haystacks.

Herdies.

Saturday, 4 January 2020

Sea glass in fused glass and a glass wave .... the beginning....

Another enjoyable morning spent with Roxy of RD Glass....this time before starting with a wave I did a trial piece incorporating sea-glass. There is definitely a risk that this may crack on firing, as the sea glass will have different properties from the commercial glass and each piece itself will be different but we'll see what happens. Then Tom used some 'frit' that he had made from sea-glass to create a coaster. After that I 'played' creating another wave using the clear waters of the river Liza as it enters Ennerdale as inspiration.

Incorporating sea-glass ...

Sea-glass frit...

Kiln paper was laid under the bottom layer of glass to create texture.

I then began to cut out basic shapes, before deciding that I'd like to include some wire and gold flakes - these had to be trapped under a layer of glass. so the original design was transferred to another layer of glass so the wire and gold flakes could be trapped - see below.

Frit and powders were then added to the final design.....and now I just have to wait for the firing to fuse it all.

A lichen boulder

On the way down from the Dry Gill shales we found this gorgeous boulder. It seemed a shame not to see the photos individually rather than bunged into the previous blog as a block of four.

Friday, 3 January 2020

Dry Gill shales and trilobites

An annual trip, in cold weather, up to the Dry Gill shales ....and this year it was very productive!

The track from Calebreck that leads onto Low and High Pike.

General views.

The Dry Gill shales.

Left: Trinucleus trilobite: a similar species of trilobite and the original identification (mis-identification) of the common Broeggerolithus nicholsoni, right: the some of the specimens.

Some of the best trilobite fragments (the majority being from B. nicholsoni, with the top right being a different species).

A poorly preserved brachiopod.

Great Print Exhibition 2019/2020 Rheged

An excellent exhibition - if you get the chance - go! Here are a few of my personal favourites.

Angie Lewin.

Colin Blanchard.

Carrie Akroyd ...of all the prints the one on the left is the one I'd have purchased.

Sally Winter.

Sarah Ross-Thompson.

Tim Slatter.

Susan Dobson.

Thursday, 2 January 2020

Deepdale Horseshoe

What a cracking round this is! On New Year's Eve we parked up in Patterdale, opposite the hotel (parking £4.50 - cheap for the Lakes), where the path to Arnison Crag goes through the back of the property and out onto the open fell. A quick step up onto the crag affords good views down Ullswater. Then a nice path down and across and up the wall to Birks - a steep ascent. Then following the obvious path along to St Sunday Crag with great views across to Helvellyn - plenty of people on Striding Edge! The wind was strong and pretty cold, but there was a lovely spot coming off St Sunday Crag where there was a lull and the opportunity for lunch. Then down to the col before a really nice scramble onto the summit of Fairfield...apparently there was an easier route. The top was pretty cloudy though, with plumes and swirls of cloud coming over the top from the southwest. As we dropped onto Hart Crag we began to get the feeling it was worth while keeping the camera out of its bag incase of brocken spectres and we weren't disappointed - one appeared about 5 times phasing in and out - spectacular! After Hart Crag we had to descend onto Hartsop above How, but the cloud was freezing onto the rocks which made it treacherous underfoot, so a slow and careful descent down to Deepdale. This was a really gentle and pleasant route down. We arrived back at the car just as it got dark - 14 miles and 3495 feet of ascent with a good helping of great views and scrambly bits!