Tuesday 31 August 2010

Charleston











Charleston

"Charleston was the home and country meeting place for the writers, painters and intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury Group. The interior was painted by the artists Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, and together with their collection forms a unique example of their decorative style."



Vanessa Bell wrote in 1936,
“The house seems full of young people in very high spirits, laughing a great deal at their own jokes… lying about in the garden which is simply a dithering blaze of flowers and butterflies and apples.”


Charleston's walled garden was created by the artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant to designs by Roger Fry.

Friday 27 August 2010

Elderflower bubbly experiment 2010

Q. Why does a milking stool have only three legs? A. Because the cow has the udder.



Was busy working here on my laptop and was rudely interrupted by these chaps...I "herd" a moooooing sound outside and looked out of the window...

The Grand Medieval weekend




Bodium Castle Medieval weekend

mmmmmm






Some of the summer crops and eggs from the girls...

Making Treasure





Making Treasure Blog

OPENING TIMES:Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. from Monday 13th September to Wednesday 22nd September. Closed Saturday/Sunday.

Fantastical edible creations, modern re-interpretations of historical decorative arts, rubber glove garments and wearable drawings, a selection of what will be showcased at Making Treasure, the MA Jewellery, Silversmithing and Related Products graduate exhibition opening on September 11th at 6.30pm.

The exhibition is the culmination of the intensive one-year long course taught at the renowned School of Jewellery, Birmingham City University.

School of Jewellery
BIAD
Vittoria Street
Birmingham B1 3PA
0121 331 5940l

Paula Lindblom: New Exhibition


"This is wearable jewellery, but also done as sculptures/objects when it isn’t wearing…

I working with unique pieces and I related my art to the nature, more the artificially nature…

Today our fauna looks a little bite different form yesterday, today we have to count coca cola cans, cigarettes, different plastic material and so on, things that we human left in the nature, it has become a new “fauna” because it takes years and year to break it down and go away…
I do the jewellery with a twist, but IF you start think about your own surroundings and what you throw away or as in my case, kept…"


Good Luck Paula and Congratulations!

Sintra Blog

Sintra Website
Paula's Blog

Thursday 12 August 2010

Loukia Richards: I care a lot goes to Sweden


I CARE A LOT - A Portable Discussion for the Middle East moves to Platina
Gallery, Stockholm.
Opening: 2 Sept 2010

www.icarealot.me

Monday 2 August 2010

Agatha



"Queen of Crime"

An adventure...


The girls out on an adventure under the fruit trees. From left to right: Frida a Rhode Rock Hybrid, Agatha a Speckled Sussex, Rosa a light Sussex and Hep a Buff Orpington. They love their outings under the trees, they can scrath around and make dust baths, funny to watch them. They have been with us since May. Rosa and Hep (the two on the far right) were only ten weeks old when we got them, but they are getting bigger and braver.

Red House: Exterior






"The garden is also significant, being an early example of the idea of a garden as a series of exterior "rooms". Morris wanted the garden to be an integral part of the house, providing a seamless experience. The "rooms" consisted of a herb garden, a vegetable garden, and two rooms full of old-fashioned flowers — jasmine, lavender, quinces, and an abundance of fruit trees — apple, pear and cherry."

"Morris lived with Jane in the house for only five years, during which time their two daughters, Jenny and May, were born. Forced to give up the house for financial reasons in 1865, Morris vowed upon leaving never to return. He said that to see the house again would be more than he could bear."


I think it's so sad that Morris created his idyllic home and garden in what was then the Kent countryside yet was not happy there and moved after only five years. It's disheartening to think of him never returning there, yet he must have thought about it often. Red House is situated in my home town, now part of outer London. I first visited Red House in the early 90's when Ted and Doris Hollamby still lived there and they opened the house for a few days in the year and gave guided tours themselves. It seems that the families who lived there after Morris were very happy, a nice conclusion to an otherwise unhappy tale.

Bexley became a London Borough in 1963. In 1859 Bexleyheath would have been very different from the Suburban town it is now. The Bexleyheath train line was not opened until 1895, so Morris would have had a long commute back into London. I wonder if the train line had been there 30 years earlier if he would have stayed there longer.

This year at Red House it was great to see the vegetable garden with enviable beetroot and green beans, also a scarecrow and a wishing tree. Red House holds an apple day in October.

Red House: Interior details









Images: top to bottom

Printing block

Painting discovery in the drawing room

Fire place in the drawing room

A Mural that has been discovered since the National Trust took over in 2003. A letter was also been found under the floorboards.

Glass at Red House.Windows with illustrations of farmyard birds by Philip Webb. I love the proud hen, top left.

Daisy textiles,a reproduction of the original now at Kelmscott. The original was embroidered by Jane Morris and her friends.

Red House


'It is a most noble work in every way, and more a poem than a house…but an admirable place to live in too.' Dante Gabriel Rossetti


Red House
, The only house commissioned, created and lived in by William Morris, founder of the Arts & Crafts movement, Red House is a building of extraordinary architectural and social significance. When it was completed in 1860, it was described by Edward Burne-Jones as 'the beautifullest place on earth'.