Made in ........... (Part I & II)

......... I. Weston and II. Roath

....... I. Weston

What have Cranes, Donkeys, Gulls and Made in Weston in common?

.... find out as I made a visit to a Somerset Town on a coach trip in August ....

On arriving at the Promenade as the coach dropped us off... there were three distinctive features that one noticed .. the gleaming new pier that had been built and was expected to open any day to replace the old one that burnt down in 2008.

Secondly was all the donkeys on the beach awaiting the attention of young holiday goers eager for a ride on the beach.

Thirdly was the distinctive island out in the bay which I soon learned was Steep Holm, an island that can also be seen from the South Wales coast especially from the Penarth cliffs.

We had a number of hours to discover the place, so we soon set off along the seafront with the idea of getting to Breen Down a headland to the west of the town and dominating the bay.

Here from the aquarium ... a donkey eyes view shows the new pier off to the left and the Weston Super Mare eye which every major town and city seem to have now. Yes and the Donkey .. yes this donkey had a sign asking children to refrain from climbing on it ... unlike the ones on the beach .... and hey look at all those colours ... this is quite an artistic donkey!!

We did not get as far as Breen Down instead making exploration of a nature reserve at Uphill. The dominating feature were the cliffs which were in fact the back drop of an old limestone quarry with a limekiln at the foot of the cliffs to extract the lime. The top was dominated by a church, which on further exploration was derrelick save for the impressive tower.

Returning along the promenade I

was impressed with the Carters Steam Fair Ground rides to be seen.

A specialised fair with restored vintage steam fairground rides.

Onn the left can be seen one of the pair of yachts that form the 1921

Steam Yachts and is the only remaining travelling in the world.

As I made exploration of the east end, I was also impressed with this designed causeway across the beach so that as the tide retreats it leaves this safe beach and area of water while the other side of the causeway is the thick mud of the inland estuary.

http://www.madeinweston.co.uk/

I spoke to one stall holder, Nina she had a fine variety of work for sale from colourful designs and local landscapes on cards and paintings, and jewellery. Her stall was very colourful and she was obviously enjoying the opportunity that Made in Weston was offering her. It is always interesting to see how other artists are developing their creative ideas and work!

My final find was this market put on by Made in Weston, with stalls of local artists displaying and selling their wares to the visitor. I would have liked to have spent more time looking and talking to the local artists! .... but our coach was departing shortly!

European Crane re-introduction on the Somerset Levels

The European Crane was once a native species to be seen on our shores but has been extinct for 400 years due to our hunting of them and also the demise of their natural wetland habitat. Over the last three years their has been a joint project by the WWT Slimbridge, the RSPB and the Pentsthorpe Trust. For the last three years the WWT has had what they have billed as a "Crane School" at their Slimbridge centre where eggs have been hatched and then the Crane have been reared by staff dressed to resemble Crane and taught all the behaviours needed by a crane from fur aging for food to taking walks to give their limbs exercise!!

This year a number of eggs brought over from Germany have been reared in a similar manner in readiness for their release into the open on the Somerset Levels. This release which is going to be an onward project for the next three summers is being done in the hope of re-establishing the species in our countryside.

You can read more about the project and its progress at: http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/slimbridge/crane-school-2010

European Crane captured at WWT Slimbridge on a recent visit.

II. ..... Made in Roath

Last year I very much enjoyed this new community event, based in Roath, the area of Cardiff where I reside. It was a very homely event with many people opening up their homes to allow local artists to display their work and a number of workshops including a Watercolour challenge on the sunday which I took part in.

This year Made in Roath is on the weekend of the 15-17th October and I hope to be more involved this year, including exhibiting some of my work on Wetland birds at Roath Park ... quite appropriate I think!! ... Come along to see which pieces I display!

http://madeinroath.com/

And ..... Finally

I have recently enrolled to study AS level Art here in Cardiff and my theme can be seen quite clearly in this picture taken on the promenade at Weston Super Mare ... can you guess the Theme ... stay tuned in to hear more!

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Help Choose a photograph entry for WWT Photo Competition

The Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust Annual Photo Competition.

I am looking to make one entry for the Quirky section see http://photo.wwt.org.uk/


I am looking to enter a photo that I took in the third week of May when there was much activity down in Cardiff Bay with the birth of signets. Therefore most of my photos are of the signets and Penn, but I have included several others taken during the same period at other places round Cardiff.

Please can you vote for the one you think should be entered to the competition either by leaving a message on the blog or alternatively at my email artist27uk@gmail.com
You may give a different caption for photos too.

I will take votes up to a week after this post has been published.













picture 1 " This is how you preen kids" Picture 2 "Mothers delight over kids!"
















Picture 3 "keeping the downy soft" Picture 4 " Night antics at the Tail end"
















Picture 5 "Bedtime Kids!" Picture 6 "life Under the Wing"




















Picture 8 "Great Crested Grebe copulation
at dusk at Atlantic Wharf"

picture 7 "laughing Cormorant Atlantic Wharf"

Last Days of Summer and "Roaths Ugly Duckling" presentation

An artists intimacy with Nature






I have been building up a lot of experience of observing and painting birds and had been considering the best way to present my work.

I had been offered the opportunity to take up the challenge of speaking to a group at the United Services MESS in Cardiff who have a speaker once a month after a lunch on a Friday.

I was offered the chance to speak at the September lunch about three weeks ago!

Yes it was a great opportunity ... but with all the material i have on record where was I to start.

... So I gave them a title ! Roaths Ugly Duckling.

That gave it a location and still I had so much material but with a bit of planning and well I knew who was to be the ugly duckling ... it appeared in a painting I composed on my birthday back in July.

Roaths Ugly Duckling inspired as I watched Grebes back in early July

My early experiences and intimacy with the pair of swans and their signets as I painted nightly on the Thames would also act as important part and introduction. Then of course there are so many other players on Roath lake to mention ... it was just difficult to decide what not to include!

As I prepared during the week before I popped down to Roath Lake and to my complete amazement I found there was a new Grebe nest I had not seen before. I was amazed, in the second week of September ... do the Grebe never give up!!

The first morning my painting was interrupted by a heavy shower of rain, but I was so excited about finding yet another grebe nest that I returned the following morning to create a second picture.

I had discovered the new nest while photographing the family of Grebes which were now about 5 weeks old but had also had a nest on the fallen tree (see picture left). When I looked at my photos of the new nest I was more than surprised to find that they had a young chick. In the right hand photo one can see the parent turning the remaining egg with the chick, with its grey and black plumage to the right of the nest.

I was so chuffed with these latest developments as I made my final preparations for my presentation ... I realised I could even to suggest and indicate that they too the audience, could view this nest !

Final preparations

As I placed my paintings of birds round the room a long side many of the paintings which depicted various flying machines in action ... it seemed quite an interesting contrast.

As guest of honour we sat down to a lovely three course meal and when the coffee had been served I made my start. My paintings were well received and my extract from Julian Huxleys book quoting his desciption "the bird as if dead" as he descibed the act of copulation, was well received!

I felt I had performed well and all seemed to appreciate the presentation and my friend Roger described my presentation kept going well with my "exploding enthusiasm!"

I must finally thank the United Services Mess for inviting me and hosting this event.

Finally if you have a group or organisation that would like to learn more of the behaviour of Wetland Birds ... this presentation by Tuning into Birds "Roaths Ugly Duckling" can be booked.