landscape '11/work in progress

Donning warm coats and a copy of "exile on main street" we drove out to Friden to walk on the old railway line to Parsley Hay. Its a blustery day clouds scud by chasing each other heading east , the sun waking  from hibernation , appears momentarily from behind low cloud before retreating into hiding again. Such a thrill- a Buzzard ruffled up by the wind rests on a fence post near to us before a pair of Rooks looking for trouble cause him to slope of on the wind and catch a thermal and spiral way off into the distance. A hundred or so Fieldfares ravage a Hawthorne of the last few berries while a posse of Goldfinches have some kind of noisy meet up in an Elder Tree.

The land is silent. With the trees leafless the fields hills and moorland appears different. The dry stone walls divide the landscape in a way that is not so obvious in other seasons as if a giant hand has scratched and scraped the land. Interesting lines, forms and shapes. As we approach Parsley Hay ,with Gib Hill Burial Mound and Arbor Low Stone Circle just over the hill I am thinking about the unseen lines of power that also cross the earth. At this time though we wander a silent land whose song can just be heard on the wind if you incline the soul to hear.

welcome to 2011

Thanks to Nicky for recommending "Floradix" as a tonic. Today I felt some energy restored to my body. Fresh air on a cold bright Peak District afternoon, the wind whips me along as if ushering in the end of the world , the hill path silent and its good to feel the land underfoot after what seems like an age. Mother Nature greets me like a long lost brother and I'm happy to be in her company again. Breathe Breathe Breath........
I take in the sights, sounds and colours , some of my paintings are dark, it has been said, but when I look at the landscape -it is brooding and  dark sometimes but alive and evocative .

And then there are the sunsets....

almost the end of the year.

December is always a hard month. We work long hours and our days are often extremely intense with the volume of demand from customers. The snow this year presented a different set of difficulties. Just trying to move around and keep warm seemed to exact every ounce of energy. The added complication of -15 temperatures and burst pipes just an added burden. The final insult being an invasion of cold and coughs just after Christmas leaving us weak and fed up. Wasn't Christmas supposed to be about peace, joy and the gift of life?
During this time Elrick of the Clay and Mattaeus visited from Finland . The cold and snow didn't seem to worry them at all!! Discussions for a return visit to Pori next summer were fruitful!
As the year draws to a close here are a couple of lists.
Favourite Books 2010:
Rob Young               "Electric Eden"
"Best of Charles Delint"
Barbara Kingsolver  "The Lacuna"
Ann Kelly                 "The Light at St. Ives"
Sean Wilentz            "Bob Dylan in America"

Favourite Albums 2010:
Telling the Bees        "English Arcanum"
Bob Dylan                "Witmark Demos"
Worm Ourouboros
For a Minor Reflection "holdum att ad Oreidu"
Ralph Towner           "Chiascuro"

Finally my most recent finished works. "Minninglow 1" and "2"!

time travel.

Its a cold ,wet and windy morning in mid - november. The perfect day for another sojourn into the soul of the Peak District. This time a return trip to Minninglow . The wind is high pushing us along the trail and up the short incline to the Ancient Site. A quick rainstorm powered by the gale forces us under the wall for a few moments .I look over into Staffordshire it is stormy on the horizon we can hardly stand upright yet this is so exhilarating. We laugh and shout under our hoods. The view is immense. A day like this takes some beating. Sky, land, time, space....
The ancient burial chambers and stones greet us .They have been battered by the wild elements of this moorland for thousands of years- signposts to long distant relations who inhabited the land . I guess we are just another couple of visitors from another time.
Another short storm so we shelter by the beech trees grinning joyfully  glad we came. The wind hustles the rain clouds away to the south and the sun appears and we again wonder about the past....and the future.

As we wandered away in the sunlight I mused about our ancestors. Did they have more wisdom than we give them credit for? Certainly this place testifies to a connection with the earth, the sky and the land and their place. Also a connection with the unseen lands hidden beyond our vision. Maybe we could learn something from time travel? Why would they bother with ritual , why was it important to mark time and place?What did they know?
What markers will we leave for future time travellers , what will future generations learn about us. What will our legacy be?

NEW WORK AND WORK IN PROGRESS OCT 2010