Attempting to capture the 'King of the Birds' in coloured pencil

 With wind and rain, and scones for afternoon tea what better way to spend a Sunday than attempting to capture A Wren in coloured pencils.  Lots of improvements to be made if I have a second go at this topic.  I followed Linda Hampson's tutorial but changed the scale and the backing for the picture.

I've already spotted several problems, but then if a beginner like me could do this the first time, it wouldn't be such a challenge!

Last week I attempted the Highland Cow.  I started this hobby only recently and am enjoying it.

I found the tutorials on line and through The Old Kennels website.  Linda Hampson is the tutor.

Trial of coloured pencil drawing technique

 I'm just dipping my toe in a different art style.  I tried water colour botanic painting, and have often though maybe pencil drawing or colouring would be less messy and possibly easier.  Yesterday I found online some courses, with the possibility of  of attending an 'in person' course.

I downloaded an on line tutorial given by Linda Hampson. This is a free taster tutorial and over the course of a couple of sessions over two days, this is what I produced.

Yesterday I worked on the petals part of the rose...

Of course this is a first piece, a learning piece in which I learnt lots of technics and already I can see what I would do differently next time! Of course I had no techniques at all under my belt.

Seeded Sourdough Loaf from Homebaker's club and the art of breadbaking

 I've been practicing 'The Art of Breadmaking' for some time, in fact years, and there is always something for the home baker to learn.  For a few months now I have been a member of The Homebaker's club following all the detailed on line classes from my bread hero Jack Sturgess. Recently I attempted the Seeded Sourdough Loaf.

Without watching the class, without reading the recipe properly, without working the timings correctly and not putting the dough to rise overnight in the fridge, I hadn't grasped some of the finer points.  Let alone not having a Dutch oven to use, with the ratios mixed up giving a much higher amount of wholemeal flour, we still ended up enjoying a very good loaf. 

Take two: I watched the lesson from start to finish, and because of my having made the loaf albeit not understanding the finer points, the second attempt took account of all of these and most probably these have sunk into my mind and can also be transferred to other sourdough bread making sessions.

I learnt that by rising the dough overnight in the fridge, it makes it possible to bake good bread in the morning, and the Dutch Oven technique although rather good, I am satisfied with the good round shape from baking on a pre heated Silverwood baking tray.  I was not waiting up late to bake the bread, or having to leave the bread to cool overnight.  There was no tearing or any weak points, and the dough opened up nicely along the score lines.

The only thing I did differently was that I did not add the seeds to the outside, as with the poppy seed rye loaves I have made, I wanted to spare all the bits on the worktop and floor from the bits that fall off as the bread is cut.  There are of course plenty of delicious seeds in the dough.

Bread making tools came to my drawing class, again lots of lessons learnt during my first drawing class. As with bread making lots of practice and attempts will be required to get any better.

In a Vase on Monday - Perseverance

 If there was someone who would wave a magic wand and grant me three wishes, one of those would be the ability to paint, draw, sketch etc. I would not ask to be an artist: famous or even selling a few paintings, just the ability to apply myself and end up with something reasonable that I would not be unhappy to hang on the wall. 

I've grown to understand that effort and perseverance is required to achieve many things, and without even first trying, or even 'try, try, try again' : My mother always used to add the extra try, and another word she used say was needed was 'Perseverance'. I just haven't tried enough. A few one hour zoom lessons from our WI group recently has got me going. I've decided it isn't too late to try.

Getting going: assembling materials for the task, and having failures along the way, is something I find hard. I have a cupboard with a couple of shelves of 'art' things: paper, pencils, water colour, and all my calligraphy things which have not been touched often, since calligraphy lessons and also a few art sessions with Helen Clues  at the Gecko Studio and Gallery in Old Town, Kenilworth.

So following on from the zoom classes, and from posting about one of the plants in the gravel area, this Sunday I spent a couple of hours with my pencils and brush trying to paint from real life.   I had doodled this on my lap whilst watching a film on the TV the night before, to obtain composition, layout etc, but drawing in 'my book' from real life, brought on a few butterflies! 

In my vase was a little spring of Phlox bifida Ralph Lauren. with its cleft petals and elusive light blue periwinkle coloured flowers. At breakfast this morning, with not a pencil in sight, I shall fall deep in the perfect beauty of each and every detail of this charming flower.

Having started In a Vase on Monday, arranging flowers from the garden and celebrating their beauty with others has brought a rhythm to my life. Will I persevere with art as I have persevered with gardening or picking posies, only time will tell. Cathy's weekly coming together  has been a worthwhile gift  with several In a Vase on Monday arrangement to view and ponder about. Having viewed her arrangement this week, I may well have found my next subject for sketching.

Weekend Away with visits to Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Only a week before I saw that a blogging friend had been invited to paticipate in a Print Maker's Event at the Hepworth Wakefiled Gallery, and despite Mr S being rather poorly, we headed up North.

After parking up we made our way to the Gallery, to meet up with Heather and Gary of Little Ram Studio Fame.  I know how Heather loves her garden, and as if visiting a friend, I did not want to go with 'les bras ballant', so took some of my  wild pink primrose plants which are in full bloom.

It was great to meet them...and after lunch we went back again.

It was great to see their work.  The colours are rich, and the linocuts are strong, and the right size to have framed up on walls...I was really chuffed when Mr S suggested the living room for my new print.  I thought it would have been hung up in the Study.  As I have another blogging friend on my mind, it was not surprising that I chose the one called 'Daisy'.  I've had a look at Etsy and I think I shall have to keep some in mind for birthday presents.

After a little walk round the Hepworth, I knew I wanted an indepth view of some of the items, and found a great seat with a view of the river to plant Mr S down, to rest.  He was fairly poorly at this stage...but he loves old buildings more than 'modern art'.

later a close up look showed that although this is a thing of great beauty, little care is given to it, and from the dust and debris by the door, I wonder when last it was opened.  I've overexposed this on purpose as the building is so very dirty, and this shows up the detail of the carvings.

I loved the Lynda Benglis sculptures, large fanned metal pieces with the look of folded silk....

The exhibition:  British Scultors as Printmakers was really well set out,  I loved this one called Danse du Soleil by Stanley Hayter.  I'm sorry that I did not have the right light setting for this one...

I loved the large well lit space, which gave room to walk around the exhibits

The following day we set off for home, but Mr S being sweetness and kindness, agreed to stop off at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  It was from there I had sourced my Angie Lewin Mugs for my birrthday present.

In the grounds there was a Camellia House, and some large specimens were in full flower.

We enjoyed walking in the sunshine, but again I found a sunny sheltered spot for the man to rest just above the underground gallery, where there was a fabulous exhibition of some of Henry Moore's sculptures and other works called Back to the Land, but no photography there was permitted.

 I had started to wonder whether Moore did not do hands and feet as he found them difficult, but just seeing some of his detailed sketches of these, made me throw that thought right out.  There were some impressive works dotted around the wonderful landscape...Hepworth of course

Henry Moore...I had not realised that he also designed textiles, and I have just looked some up, and lots of oos and aaws escaped my lips!

Marialuisa Tadei, I took this one for my art teacher who also has mosaics as one of her mediums

Anthony Caro

and Sophie Ryder which Izzi would have loved

All in all a great and inspiring weekend away.  I was so pleased to also meet up with blogging friends.  Mr S is now tucked up trying to recover from this dreadful virus.

Let the pen make its mark

This week's art class:  we used some pens, and a little paint...I limited myself to just one fabulous colour:  Quinacridone Gold.  The pens we used were waterproof when dry:  I went in fast and free with the allium seed head, having first gone very slowly on the seeds heads of Bridal Wreath.  Then it was a dried dock flower

At first I was hesitant, then it all came together.

Lastly I  had a quick go with Caran D'Ache Neocolour which can be worked dry and wet...wow what fun!

I had been thinking of one of my friends who is poorly at the moment, waiting for an operation, and somehow a very quick 'Daisy' came out.

Confidence wobbles

I like my old things, which perhaps is one of the reasons why I am happy.  I appreciate them, look after them, value them....

This is the old cooker we 'inherited' with the house.  It had no plinth, and here is it ready for the removal, with the plinth of the unit removed to get at the electrical supply.  This kitchen was only tiled up to the cupboards, so there was no chance of moving the cupboards to accommodate a different width cooker.  The alternative would be to retile the floor, move the cupboards, or rather new cupboards, so really a whole new kitchen for the sake of a thermostat, and being told by Leisure New World that the cooker was discontinued in 2001, so no spares.  I wonder now whether I should have persevered longer to find an engineer who would repair it.  But it is gone, and there is no point crying over this now....

Here is the new cooker.  Not a patch on the old one, yes it has windows, and a light...and its a good job that I am on advanced pilates and exercises at the gym, and can do press ups, squats etc on the kitchen floor to see in the oven!!  The fan comes on to keep the knobs cool, even when the oven is being used.  Next house, we shall have an eye level oven, but then I shall have to do more squats, press ups etc to keep my figure!

As they say, you need to get use to a new oven, so I decided that the best first bake would be two victoria sponges cooked side by side and this showed they are no nasty hot spots.

And then I make some buns to catch up with the bake your way through Jane Mason's Book of buns.  As I heard that my friend Linda had just become a Grandma again to her new grandson, the second son of her daughter and son in law in Germany, I thought Die Brotchen von Meiner Grosmutter would be the one to try.  A very soft dough rich in butter, sugar, egg, lemon zest and soaked sultanas.

However was it the oven, or the recipe, or me?  I think it was me, when you are yet to totally fall in love in your oven, other little nerves tighten up, and with yeasted doughs, you 'knead' to be in the zone.  I knew perhaps that things were not quite right when I turned up for a dentist appointment one week early...well I had the automated message a couple of days ago, and with my last dentist they never sent it a week and two days before!  A new dentist as well...that is an upheaval.  I rushed the prove, probably did not knead enough, and baked too soon.

So it no wonder that I went into the garden to seek out the signs of spring.....

Winter aconites, so very beautiful,

The dark, so dark hellebore, here the camera lied, brightening the dark spot under the large conifer tree.

The soft white heads of the snowdrops.  It amazes me that they can stand the hard frosts.  With a little warmth and sunshine, maybe we shall get some early bees soon.  I think the garden despite the recent cold weather is a couple of weeks ahead of last year.

I am so wanting to dispell the gloom of these cold days, that one day last week, I got my pencils out and drew a little orange primrose plant...I favour only the near wild ones in the garden, but my hand was drawn to the warmth of the orange colouring pencils.  This is my first drawing of a plant in flower.

and finally just a couple of trial bits from Monday's art session.  We had a play with gesso, but mine wasn't dry enough before starting to paint, so maybe its just a big mess.  Maybe that was the start of the wobble.

Today I reverted to baking some bread that has always been a great success, and the new batch looks great, but I had to play a little with the oven temperatures.  The Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Wholegrain Seeded Flour has always resulted in a good flavoured loaf, with good rise.  So my confidence is returning....

Pirozhki

Pirozhki is one of the January recipes from The Book of Buns by Jane Mason given out on the Facebook page.  Again I felt that nervous mental tremor when I am about to do something out of my comfort zone.  So for me, feeling the pressure to keep up with the bakes has led me to making some very delicious bakes that I would have otherwise missed out on.

Even Mr S laughed at me when I said what was in them...what two carbohydrates?  I tend to have that rule when planning meals, for example we never have chips and bread and butter.  Now I know there are people for whom fish and chips are just not right without the bread and butter, and maybe making a 'butty' at the end of the meal.   But then I guess if your total carbohydrate input does not increase, ie each portion is small that is OK.  If fact maybe I have been missing something all these years!

The dough is made up with milk and eggs, so is fairly nutritious.

The filling in this recipe is along the lines of a Polish Pirozhki, though I read with interest Jane's comments that these are found all over Eastern Europe, Central Asia and into Greece, and there must be so many types of different fillings.  My little addition to the filling recipe of onions, potatoes and dill were some extra dill seeds.  I so love the flavour of dill.

You just roll out small portions of the dough, and gather it up around the filling,  and leave to rest, seam side down.  I used a little semolina flour on the outside, as I like its grittiness. After resting again, into the frying pan.

I used just sufficient oil to stop sticking, and used two frying pans at a time.  You really need to leave room or they will stick together.  There were four pan fulls.

I felt the edges needed a little more cooking...so balanced them..

I allowed some to cool ready for chilling.

 The rest were taken to the Monday evening art class, where colour was the theme of the day.  On Tuesday I reheated some to have with a big bowl of soup for lunch.  Really different and delicious.

We made our own colour wheel, and then a still life.  I chose some lovely tulips from a huge bunch, and a lovely art deco vase.  I chose to use a naive style...this allowed a little time to play...