Looking Back..to look Forward...

This time we are all sharing is very strange indeed.

Some days I'm feeling normal...some days seem very dark, even in all the sunshine we've had here in the North West of England.

Talking to friends it seems they are also looking back at their lives.

I've had a long life and mostly a good one...noone has a perfect life!!

I'm looking through files of art that I've made over many years and am amazed at how much I'd forgotten...and how much achieved.

By that I don't mean that any of it was remarkable in some Oh My Goodness...way!

But today I'm posting a few of the life drawings that I've made in various studios and galleries.

Penketh

 Liverpool

 Warrington

Warrington

Florence

Birkenhead

Hope I manage to get back to some studio again one day!

The Third Workshop.

Friday was the last of our summer workshops at the Potters House Penketh.

The sun...a very dear absent friend...made a welcome appearance ...joy of joys!!!

First the priorities....coffee and biscuits.

I made lavender ones again this time.

(I'll put the recipe at the bottom if you are interested.)

 

Old friends greeted and lots of chat in the back yard.

Then into the studios to see what ideas the potter had prepared.

Many in this group come with their own ideas...but it's always good for Alan to have a few alternative ones up his sleeve!

The starting point for this, came from an Italian tile and the stencils were prepared previously....good one this!

Greek style pot, always popular,

waiting for some decoration.

Lunch served around one o'clock...and with that sun still shining on us we eat al fresco.

Oh...That's the potter trying to get in on the act!

Lunch-time doziness nearly takes some of us over....but then it's back to the studios

 and a race to try and finish each ceramic sculpture.

Some folk have been coming to the Potters House for years 

but others have maybe only ever tried their hand at modelling in school....

...so it's quite an accomplishment  to get this looking so good.

...I love his big feet!

There's more work to do on the plaque but I love the interpretation from the original Italian tile.

 

Four o'clock in the afternoon came all too quickly!...and off they went...excited and chatting as they go.

Lavender Melts

50 grms golden caster sugar

130 grms unsalted butter

200 grms self-raising flour

1 tblsp chopped lavender leaves

2 tsp lavender flowers

1. Preheat oven to 180C

    Cream sugar and butter.Add flour and lavender leaves

    Beat until mixture comes together.

2. Turn out on to lightly floured surface.

    Knead briefly to form a dough.

    flatten to a disc and wrap and chill for half hour.

3. Roll out on a floured surface - half a centimetre thick.

    Sprinkle with flowers and press them in gently.

    Stamp out rounds with an 8 cm disc.

    Transfer to a greased baking tray.

4. Bake for 7-8 mins...lightly brown.

    Remove from oven and leave to cool for a few minutes.

5. Store in  an airtight tin....or eat them with family and friends soon!
 

A Monastery Garden.

Hyning monastery is near Warton village in the north of Lancashire.
It's a monastery run by Bernardine Cistercian Nuns.
We've been a few times before to conduct art workshops.
There is a really good studio suitable for quite a big group of people,
 with accomodation available in the monastery.

With a bit of free time in between teaching the classes, we explored the gardens around the house.
These were laid out many years earlier by the Peel family living there at the time.
Now Sister Mary Stella and her helpers are attempting to bring them back to the glory that they were and in fact add to it.

I love this moon gate.

I think that the idea is originallyChinese.

Any gardening bloggers can put me right.

Aconites and crocuses have multiplied as they grow together under the trees.

The grounds stretch away into the distance

 with wonderful views of the Lancashire countryside.

Old stone walls are clad with ferns and mosses,

a sign of the pure air of this northern land.

An old bridge has been rebuilt over the stream that winds it's way through the garden.

And the pond has been dug out and replanted around the edges with early flowering Daphne.

This was once the summer house for the Peel family,

facing south catching the morning sun.

Ancient doors lead on to secret gardens,

and old doors wait for a thicket of undergrowth to be cleared away and use made of the rooms discovered.

It makes me think of The Sleeping Beauty!

Every thing will have it's purpose one day.

Swathes of these delicate lilac coloured crocuses have naturalised along the paths.

I've no idea what these fungi are, but they were about the size of a thumb nail
and every where on the dead tree roots.

No self respecting monastery would survive without a cat or two!
This glossy black and white moggy sunned himself each day in the early spring sunshine,
against the door of the studio.
Plump and purring and well fed by friendly nuns.

Any one interested in the art of icons might like to know that Sister Mary Stella is an icon writer.
[The correct term for the painting I believe].
An exhibition will be held at Hyning from 10th -12th April.    2.00p.m. - 5.15p.m. each day.
There will be viewing in the studio and the chapel 2.00 p.m.- 3.15 p.m.
A talk at 3.15 p.m.
Refreshments from 4.00p.m. onwards.
Donation £5
01524 732684