Houghton Mill

 

Spent an afternoon walking at the beautiful Houghton Mill

Belton House

 

Belton House is beautiful!

You get fantastic value from Belton in that you are to view more rooms in this house than any other I have visited on the NT. The staff are so friendly and informative and extremely passionate about the house and the history behind it.

The café is reasonably priced and there is even a cart driven by a friendly guy called 'Robin' that will escort you from the car park to the house and pick you up on demand to take you where ever you wish to go. An invaluable service for someone with disabilities.

 

Wendy and I did the 'Downstairs Tour' which is free and runs 2/3 times a day. It takes you through the basement, the staffs quarters and we saw where they stored wine, beer and food, how it was loaded into the house and was given a brief history of what it would have been like to work at Belton House in days gone by. It was excellent!

 

We left Belton at around 5pm homeward bound and completely knackered!

 

 

Parade Lane, Ely, Cambridgeshire UK

On Sunday I took Kinx (my little dog) to Ely for a walk along the river and a cream tea at Peacocks Tearooms

 

On the way I pulled over to sketch the view down Parade lane. Every time I go I hope to get into the layby which has just the view I want and every time there are cars parked in it.

Sunday I got lucky!

 

I also made my very first sketch video.

It's really short because I didn't realise I was pointing at the handbrake and not my sketchbook for the first half, so I had to edit a lot out. LOL!

It's odd watching yourself sketch, at least for me anyway. When I sketch I'm kind of tranced out so I found it really interesting to see how my pen moves.

Was really tricky holding my phone AND sketching though....will have to come up with a crafty solution to that one I think.

 

Cromer 2014 - Churchyard

Found a bench in the Churchyard

Cromer 2014 - Peekaboo Church

 

Found a nice spot to sit with the beach to our right and a peek of the church to our left

St John The Baptist, Somersham UK

The view from the dentists window

Patchwork Series 2

 

Thomas Becket Church, Ramsey, Cambridgeshire UK

 

The second in my Patchworx series, using a prepared surface to sketch and paint with on location.

 

All Saints Church, Offord Cluny UK

 

I remember this sketch location very well, lovely place.

St Mary's Church, Doddington, Cambridgeshire UK

 

Sketched and painted on location (from my car) using a surface of decorative papers and stencilling prepared at home.

St Thomas Becket Church, Ramsey, Cambridgeshire UK

 

Front view

St Thomas Becket Church, Ramsey, Cambridgeshire UK

 

Love his church for many reasons but to name just two:

 

1. It has no obstructions in front of it, so you can sit and sketch it while parked up in your warm car.

2. It's one of the very few churches you can always find open, so one can just walk in and be totally alone with it's wonders!

St Peter & St Mary Magdalene Church, Fordham, Cambridgeshire UK

Still uploading from my 2014 sketchbook.

 

Spent a lovely couple of hours in this wonderful little church with my dear friend Joannie looking at all the flower memorials

Catching Up!

So, I didn't do an awful lot of art in the last couple of years but I have been catching up with scanning some of what I did manage and putting it on Flickr in my A5 DR Ebony sketchbook if you'd like to take a peek.

New Project

On Monday 15th March 2010 St Mary Church in March was set ablaze to the cost of £120,000 of damages.

The remembrance book was just one of the victims of the fire:

At the end of 2013 I was recommended and honoured to accept the commission as calligrapher for the replacement book. 

I have always loved the process of writing, as a child I would spend much time writing and re-writing letters so the font was unified and elegant. My Mother bought me a calligraphy set when I was about 13 and I enjoyed many hours trying to perfect the art over the following months. 

Just last year I found my old Calligraphy set in my parents loft, I popped a cartridge in and...voila...it worked! Once again I dabbled with it to write out the Serenity Prayer for my Brother, the same prayer I gave as a sample to acquire this very commission.

As an artist who has always been passionate about churches, I dreamed of having some creation of mine in a church like the masters in Rome.

It's strange how things work isn't it?

I am not a master! 

I am a self taught artist and I have quite nice handwriting...but...I am determined, passionate, meticulous and thrilled to be doing this.

Selecting tools for the job:

A pen I feel comfortable with...While I love the graduation of ink that a traditional dip pen can only give, I have decided the risk of an open ink bottle on my desk at the same time as the book is just too much for my nerves. So I have chosen a Lamy Calligraphy pen with a refillable converter.

Ink to stand the test of time...I have chosen Noodlers ink. I already work with Noodlers in my sketchbooks so I am familiar with it. I also decided on Lexington Gray rather than black to help try to create some of that wonderful graduation I loved when using the dip pen.

A lot of time has been spent on practising a font I could be comfortable with. I have no idea if it's a 'real' font but it flows quite naturally from me.

The header page:

The original book was a masterpiece! I can only dream of one day being as skilled as the original calligrapher (whose surname was also Davies I might add), I have flicked through it's fragile pages in awe. The header page in particular caught my eye so I decided to re-create it and add a little something of my own to it...a way to honour the Master that went before me and combine our efforts for the church. 

I realised early on that research was important and ran my new additions by the Vicar in a recent telephone call. I then added my Fleur des Lis, Lillies and Rose to the original Diocese of Ely symbol to create this design:

Which I finished adding colour to today:

(I am still undecided on the central cross)

Ruling the book out has taken time; feint guidelines for my pen work have had to be put into place so I can remain straight and true with the writing that follows. With each group of 4 lines I have created for each entry I have marked the first capital letter also in pencil...a way of double checking I am entering the correct name in the correct date as I go....there is no room for error here...Tippex just won't cut it! 

The project so far has presented many aspects one might not consider when viewing a Remembrance Book, I am thoroughly enjoying every one of them!

 http://www.stmaryschurchmarch.co.uk/TheFirein2010

Ely, Cambridgeshire UK

21-08-13, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Waiting for Harry to finish rugby training again, I parked in Barton Rd car park....what a wonderful place to sketch from.

Knights End Rd, March, Cambridgeshire UK

25-04-13, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

After dropping Harry at school

Meadow Way South, Wimblington, Cambridgeshire UK

23-04-13a, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

A quick sketch after school run and before work

Wimblington, Cambridgeshire UK

17-04-13a, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Parked up in the village hall car park and fitted a quick sketch in between dropping Harry at school and work at the salon.

Christ Church, Denton, Lancashire

15-04-13, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Sketched from an image on the internet while watching 'Revenge', my favourite TV programme.
This is the last spread in my Red Russell Parry book, it has taken me about a month to fill, and I have thoroughly enjoyed using it.

St Wendreda's, March, Cambridgeshire UK

27-03-13, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

A quick sketch on the school run.