Feb 4 Photo ~ Annon’s SnowDog

Annon's Snowdog

Annon can’t get to school, so has been amusing herself

 

Feb 1 Picture

Homework!

Annon announced late in the evening that HER art homework was for ME to draw her… The idea, apparently, is that she then draws herself in her art lesson & compares the 2 pictures ~ that’s her story anyway. I was tired & wanted to go to bed, so did this quick sketch, which turned out better than I hoped

 

Christeasmas Card 2008

Christesmas Card 2008

I have been trying to post this since Christesmas Eve! O! for a reliable internet connection.

That is this year’s design of card that I painted well over 100 times for friends & family & was sent all over the world (well, sort of).

I’ve posted the card here as a record for me & as a Christesmas /New Year greeting to any who may perchance happen on this post:

Merry Christesmas & a Happy New Year

Nadolig Llawen ac y Flwyddyn Newydd Dda

Nollaig Shona

Joyeux Noel

Froehliches Weihnachten und eines Gutes Neues Jahr

с Рождество

(Apologies if my memory has bastardized your language ~ please accept my sentiments)

I hope you had a good celebration however & whatever you celebrated.

Happy Solstice & Happy Channukah to those that celebrate those feasts.

I hope that 2009 proves an excellent year for all

 

Header pictures

No post yesterday as we had a power cut, probably due to the rains that fell all day.

I thought I’d say something about the pictures used in my header ~ they’re all by me & use coloured pencil, pen & ink or encaustic. The 2 pictures that occur at the ends are designs for an embroidery. They are, in fact, 4 pictures showing traditional Gypsy themes or symbols & one day will be embroidered on a 6′ long red silk waist sash. I drew these pictures whilst on a part-time course at college to get my BTec in Forest School Skills when I had waiting time. On the left hand side there is a Reading Vardo at the top (mine is a Bow-Top) & a fiddle & bow, neckerchief, & knife in the lower picture. On the right at the top is the picture that I think of as Marzhenzha or Smelka. Marzhenzha is a Russian Gypsy song that tells of a Gypsy maid in love with dancing & not the swain that dresses in his finest to try to woo her. Smelka is the family’s name of 1 of the most famous contemporary Russian Gypsy dancers; it is also the title of a piece of music written to celebrate her by 1 of her relatives & a friend of mine. It also celebrates the wild freedom I get from the dancing which is where my name comes from. (My mother was a dancer & my younger daughter is continuing the tradition). The bottom picture is the centre design & is the fire ~ the heart of every camp, not just the Gypsy camp.

Inside of these designs in coloured pencil are 2 of the Stations: 1 from the 1999 set (the right hand 1) & 1 from the 2007-8 version. These are drawn using pen & ink & as most of my arty-crafty stuff is still buried in a 20′ container my poor parents received a frantic email asking for help in acquiring dip pen & nibs & black ink ~ things that was I unable to source in this area ~ so I could fulfill my commission.

On the left side next to the Station is a card I drew/painted for my “hen-lady” ~ my wonderful source of henniness that I found & who befriended me just as we were both leaving Othery. I used encaustic for it, but mainly drew using a heated stylus instead of the more usual iron to soften & apply the wax.

On the right hand side is my latest offering ~ a special picture for a very special lady. I’m a member of the Walker Tracker community online & have met some interesting people on this site. We have a frienfdly rivalry going concerning how far we walk each day. I sent Christesmas cards to some of my friends there, but hadn’t got Debby’s address. She said that she’d love a card, no matter how long it took to reach her. Debby was diagnosed with breast cancer & had to travel routinely from her Norwegian island to the mainland for treatment. As Christesmas had been & gone I wanted to do a Debby card, but needed to finish my commission first, so that pushed it further away from Christesmas. The idea came suddenly & I had to draw it there & then or I’d be plagued until it was drawn. The pencil sketch was made months before the inking started & once again had I to source inks. I just bought whatever colours I could find as soon as I spotted them lurking in shops. Paul who commissioned the Stations brought me over a marvellous present of drawing inks when he came over to Ireland to collect the pictures. I’d asked him for a bottle of yellow ink & received a set. Throughout her treatment, Debby kept walking, often putting me to shame with what she was doing. Her treatment is over & successful, now there’s no stopping her. She truly is an inspiration to the rest of us.

The central picture was made using encaustic wax & an iron. The initial swirling shapes suggested the detail ~ waves with horses forming out of them. The original of this picture went to a friend in Greece..

 

Stations of the Cross 1999, VI, Last Station

XIV ~ Jesus is laid in the Sepulchre

For Easter of 1999 I was asked to do an extra picture, not recorded anywhere, of the empty crosses standing above the empty tomb.

Each Good Friday my childer would turn up in the Churchyard with secateurs, trowels & gloves to clear a small area under 1 of the yews. They were supervised by 1 of the Sunday School teachers & joined by a couple of the other village childer. Together they recreated the sepulchure with stones found around the tree & 3 crosses were put on a slight rise above the tomb. There was a stone closing off the tomb which I would move away before dawn on Easter Sunday when I placed the grave cloths therein. After that I’d walk to Burrow Mump to await the Sunrise, usually being the first up the hill. When Vicar Gill was alive, the congregation of Othery often joined that of Burrowbridge on the Mump for a sunrise service, followed by a porridge breakfast in the Vicarage. Annon, bem & Llyw joined me for a few years, then my companion was Tigger after he joined our family & he & I would leave before the service & walk for hours.

Here in Ireland, I have the Mass Rock field close by my house where masses were held in the Troubled Times, but I don’t need to walk far to reach it, nor climb a hill & it faces Westish not into the sunrise. The first Easter here, Tig & I climbed Culcan, the hill at the foot of my lane to await the sunrise. Since then the dogs & I have headed up the mountain behind us to watch & there has been no visible sunrise on Easter Sunday since I’ve been here, just the daysky lightening. The top of Mother Mountain has been taken over by forestry which means that we can’t access it from the borreen behind our house. Forestry has also been planted in the Lacken behind us ~ such a shame as it would be ideal for my horses ~ there’s a water cistern there which is always full. That land once belonged to this house & 1 day I’d like it to be a part of this holding once again ~ maybe in 25 years when the trees are clear-felled & the land left barren…

 

Stations of the Cross 1999, V, Stations 11 – 13

Nearly finished…

XI ~ Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

XII ~ Jesus Dies on the Cross

XIII ~ Jesus is taken down from the Cross

 

Stations of the Cross 1999 IV, Stations 8 – 10

Back to the second 7 Stations in the set after the dogs yesterday:

VIII ~ Jesus speaks to the Women of Jerusalem

IX ~ Jesus Falls the Third Time

X ~ Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

 

Stations of the Cross 1999 III, Stations 5 – 7

V ~ The Cross is laid upon Simon of Cyrene

VI ~ St. Veronica wipes the Face of Jesus

VII ~ Jesus Falls the Second Time

 

Stations of the Cross 1999 II ~ Stations 2 – 4

II ~ Jesus Receives the Cross

III ~ Jesus Falls the First Time under the Weight of the Cross

IV ~ Jesus meets His Blessed Mother

 

Stations of the Cross 1999 I

During Lent 1999 I worked on a set of 14 pictures to illustrate the Stations of the Cross as they appeared in my 1546 Prayer Book. Our local cathedral (Wells) had a set & I wanted to draw a set for Othery Parish Church & Vicar Gill, the encumbent. Actually, I drew 2 sets: 1 in a spiral bound pad for me & 1 on separate sheets for Vicar Gill. I drew them whilst my youngest attended Playgroup in a neighbouring village ~ her on 1 side of the hall partition & myself in the main body of the hall, where that could I spread out & draw in peace. I used pen & ink & deliberately made them stark, the only colour being the Christ’s blood. The only faces you see are Pontius Pilate & Mother Mary. You only see the Christ’s face as it appears on the Shroud of Turin & Veronica’s towel (the “Vera Icon” or “True Image”). This is so the observer can give the Christ the face that is preferred by themselves ~ I object to the Christ being portrayed as a blond blue-eyed Arian when he was from the Jewish tradition & tribes. I am a heretic & I freely acknowledge this fact

Station I Jesus is Condemned to Death