London Wedding

Had a brilliant time at a wedding held in Croydon, London.
The event itself was beautiful with Ella's Grandfather walking her down the aisle, kilt swinging.
I was so pleased to have been invited and was able to see some old friends and celebrate with them.

The handfasting was probably more memorable than the service if a little cold. Many there, myself included, took the opportunity of jumping the broomstick.
After the meal, along with drinking and dancing we could also take photos in a specially curated booth in honour of Star Wars - lightsabre, Princess Leia head piece and a grand dark hooded cloak.

Before the event, I took advantage of being in London to visit an old friend and we visited Kew Gardens, amazing! Some lovely sculpture and a fantastic exhibition with hundreds of dried flowers threaded and hung from the ceiling. We were able to walk through these - astounding.
Then there was the bee place! wow!
This incredible structure has been built to replicate a bee hive.

"The Hive is a unique, multi-sensory experience designed to highlight the extraordinary life of bees. A feat of British engineering, it stands 17 metres tall, set in a wildflower meadow.

The Hive is an immersive sound and visual experience. The lights you see and the sounds you hear inside The Hive are triggered by bee activity in a real beehive at Kew.
The intensity of the sounds and light change constantly, echoing that of the real beehive. The multi award-winning Hive was inspired by scientific research into the health of honeybees. It is a visual symbol of the pollinators’ role in feeding the planet and the challenges facing bees today."
(https://www.kew.org/kew-gardens/attractions/the-hive)
You can walk inside and it is a strange experience but very beautiful.

The Hive

inside The Hive, top level

inside, bottom level

The gardens themselves are beautiful to walk around and much bigger than expected, could spend all day there with a picnic and sketchbook.

the greenhouse

greenhouse again

The structure just leant itself to some arty photos and I couldn't resist.











During our walk we came across a wonderous line of gorgeous statues. The carving is excellent and made me a little envious, must practice more.

detail

 

There was also an amazing exhibition/ installation of dried flowers. Walking amongst them was quite surreal and would have loved to have been able to be there with no other visitors, but hey, that's the way it goes.

Self-portrait Exhibition

This project seems to go on and on, not that I'm complaining because I'm getting quite excited to see all my portraits together in one space. In fact, I'm a little frightened as well. This will certainly be an experience.

The poster:

There is also a lot of wordy bits to go with it.

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There were rules for this set of drawings: 1.        One a day.
2.        No longer than 30 mins for each one.
3.        Use whatever medium comes to hand quickly.
4.        Play.
 My decision to have them A4 was for ease of storage, but at initiation the sizes were more random. This exhibition is a very personal uncovering, as it were, of my many moods. The drawings began in November 2014, and by that time due to the lack of light, my mood had already dropped considerably. I usually feel this coming on in September and the low moods begin to lift around February. One of the ways I can describe the feelings are as if I’m trying to wade through treacle, everything is such an incredible effort that I’m exhausted. This in turn lowers self-esteem that contributes to lack of creativity. Trying to make any kind of decision is a joke and it is at these times discipline or ritual comes into its own. To concentrate on drawing as the beginning to a day enabled me to rid myself of a lot of my low thoughts. Yes, there were a few times that I was unable to accomplish the portrait for that day. Sometimes because of work commitments but also there were a few instances that I felt too low to draw at all, therefore, 3 or 4 were occasionally completed together. These were the best days. The intention behind these portraits is not to make a finished piece. They are play, exploration and ritual, initiating the focusing of the mind. Allowing me to be in the present moment where it is impossible to worry or be anxious. Abraham Maslow, the American psychologist had this to say, “The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.”

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Society of Scottish Artists

I've just uploaded 3 of my paintings for the SSA to peruse and decide whether they will be in the exhibition or not... here's hoping.
Anyway... here they are:

Watching

Passing Through

Indecision

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok… 24

This morning there was a bit of panic….. no milk, so no earl grey tea! Decision made, I was off and out the door in minutes, off to the shop and then, no milk. Well there was but it was in a machine. As someone else was there getting milk I found out the procedure, Pay for tokens and then get a plastic bottle and stick under the pipe (like getting a coffee from a machine) and press start. Sorted.

Yesterday’s travels to the country made me feel rejuvenated. Excited about starting our contemporary glass paintings. A quick stop to get the images printed and here we go. 

A couple of hours in and I’ve more or less finished the black ink.

design from paintings of Bernardo Neumann

houses in Piata Mica

After learning the technique with the icon painting it is definitely a little faster to do the next ones. An interesting procedure because I’m not exactly sure how this is going to turn out, but looking forward to it.

Vik and I decided to head off for our other exciting thing for today, going to visit the ‘head man’ again for some wee heads. A lovely man to chat to (very good English), he’s off to the biggest ceramic fair there is soon, which is held in Italy. 

two of my new heads

Ioana had shown us images from a previous exhibition he had that consisted of 5000 wee heads, this was in aid of the Hospice House of Hope. He also just opened another in Brasov yesterday. Busy man, and definitely deserves success.

previous exhibition

lots of heads

A little interlude for a cool beverage and back to the pink house to meet up with Monica and Martin again.

Ioana had printed out our certificates and everything was signed and stamped. Looking very official.

key to the door day…21

Late, lazy morning, lovely.
Off to town today to see an exhibition by Bernardo Federico Neumann of part of his collection, 'Abstraccion Surrealista'. Lots of colours coming up.

The exhibition was in the council tower just off Piata Mara and a very narrow, steep climb to get to it. The images were on the 1st and 2nd floors and were indeed incredibly vibrant, although probably more so if they'd been the originals. Interesting work nonetheless.

Bernardo Neumann

Bernardo Neumann

Not easy to take photos as you can see because of the glass and the lighting but gives a impression of what they were like.






After viewing the art it was up lots more stairs to get to the top of the tower.

door to 2nd floor

Tiny wee door, very narrow space but hand rail all the way up, which I was very glad of. As we got nearer the top the floors were smaller and the heat rose quickly, couldn't stay very long but the views were incredible.

roof view from top

Piata Mare

Another pic of the houses with eyes, I prefer the look of the older ones, possibly due to the differing tile colours.


Down again, and what a pleasure to feel cooler each descent of steps. Outside, beside the tower ,an arched tunnel(short) had a gorgeous breeze blowing through so we stood there for a while.
Went for a bite to eat next… my veggie lasagne wasn't veggie, not great and no time to get it sent back for another. Luckily, Megan does eat meat and we swopped, I got her tomato soup which was lovely. Off to meet our lift to the cheese and brandy festival. Not too far from Sibiu.

Amazing view of the mountains. The festival itself was quite small but had a good feel about it. We wandered a little, had some help from Ioana and Leonardo to find the brandy. Hadn't realised it would be in little plastic bottles……. so, a few tastes were had, prices checked and we got a wee bottle to have one night (with juice) between us all.

cheese stalls

mounting and framing

Yup, those words certainly have connotations
but boringly I'm using them with regard to artworks.
Prints have been printed and I now have them residing temporarily
at the framers.
The originals are getting a juicy frame of silver and black.
Looking forward to seeing them finished.
The naming of said pieces is another matter and as to pricing.... well!

Verily a steep learning curve when one first attempts an exhibition.

It's all a bit scary too.

photos will be added before long.