Something dark & magical

Legend was one of my favourite childhood films.  I must have watched at least 10 years later than when it was made.  I love some of the sets and the costumes. 

Althoguh a lot of it is very cheesy, including the lines and acting, there are some parts of the film that capture something......something that I feel or sense in my dreams.  Other places, other worlds, full of magic and full of mystery. 

You know nothing John Snow!

Ok, so you will only get why this is funny if you like cats (specifically Grumpy Cat) and if you're familiar with Game of Thrones.  This sentence is repeated quite a lot in the book.....too much.   It seems like the editor should have stepped in to take some of it out, but hey, at least it led to this great grumpy cat pic! 

More Winter

 At first the head dress was going to be a half-circle, then after seeing some great reference photos of other traditional Russian headdresses, I changed my mind.  A different shape suited this character better......but painting over the headdress I'd already started was very, very tedious!!

Lumionous Skies

Unfortunately I don't think I can post the photos here in case of copyright issues, but I have provided a link below which will show you photos on the BBC news website.

We hardly ever get to see the Northern Lights here in Britain, but some people captured some amazing scenes recently in the skies.  The second photo looks like it could be a scene from Harry Potter on Privet drive...........maybe there are witches & wizards battling with each other in the skies above!!

Enjoy! 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26378027

Winter

Winter is slowly going away, relasing its grip.  Time to show a painting I've been working on this winter.  I'd been wanting to paint this for a while, but it never seemed the right time.  I needed to paint it in winter, since for me, this painting is a kind of personification of winter.  It was also inspired by a track from a artist called Grimes, which I'll post later on.

Here's how the painting started, just with a drawing on paper, and later a drawing on canvas.  There's bad lighting I'm afraid because there isn't much of it in my house in winter!  There's only so much you can do in photo editing without losing detail!

Anyway, here's the start of it - 

Sochi design

I'm not into watching sport at all, not even the Olympics, but this Sochi design is worth a look.

 


 As well as being vibrant and colourful, this patchwork is supposed to represent all regions of Russia, drawing inspiration from various traditional textiles from different regions.   The people at Graphic Art News have produced an interesting piece about it -

http://www.graphicart-news.com/the-olympic-patchwork-quilt-sochi-2014/#.UuOmdfYo7-k%29



 

Shchedryk

It a bit late to still be listeing to Chstimas music right now.........but this carol is enchanting.

Most people will recognise it from the Home Alone films, but this carol is actually a Ukrainian carol called Shchedryk, and is mesmerising and stunningly beautiful in this version by a Lithuanian Choir.  Enjoy!

Welsh Teatime

It's been a long time since I last wrote........

......it's been mainly down to my computer breaking, but once you stop writting, it's easy to keep on not writing!

Autumn is here.  The leaves have started to turn colour, but only two or three weeks ago most of them were still green.

In Snowdonia National Park, Autumn has firmly taken hold......except in a few places.  So, we drove into the blue-green of what was left of our summer, which was hiding in the eastern part of the park.

We went to a small market town, which has an old, narrow bridge that is only wide enough to allow one line of vehicles to pass in one direction at a time.  

People can walk over this bridge and the view is lovely, as you can see.

At the end of this bridge there is a little tearoom.  It looks like an old witches' cottage, with its thick stone walls and gnarled ivy roots creeping all over it.

 

We sat by the fireplace, and ordered what we thought was enough for two people.  However, when the waitress came over carrying a large tray with a lot of food on it, it was clear we'd ordered too much.  So much, in fact, that people were turning around to stare at our stable!  There were only two of us, but our teatime treat was enough to feed four!  This is similar to what teatime used to be like at my grandmother's house.  She wanted to fatten everyone up!

Most of it was served on traditional Blue Willow china, which was nice. 

When we saw Bara Brith as part of our menu, we assumed this meant we would get a slice or two of Bara Brith each.....but no!  A whole plate full!

The scones were very nice as well....yumm.....

and the cake..........

........although we were so full we had to take most of the cake and some of the Bara Brith home with us with us in some paper provided by the tearooms.  It would have been a shame to waste it, don't you think?

Despite it being quite touristy, and the head waitress who seemed annoyed by everyone who was coming in, we still enjoyed our afternoon tea in this place. 

Bluebells and Wild Garlic

April & May are the Bluebell months in Britain.   I went walking for about 3 hours in a broadleaf woodland in south Wales, and the woodland floor at the moment was covered with a spectacular blue carpet of native bluebells.  It's getting to the end of their season now, so they were starting to thin out a bit.

 Unfortunately, there is an invasive species of Spanish bluebell which is making it difficult for the common luebell to survive.  They were brought here to grow in British gardens and have been spreading aggressively ever since.  Some estimates state that up to 30% native bluebells have been hybradised with this Spanish variety, however telling the difference is easy.  A Spanish bluebell plants are straight with flowers all around the stalk.  A common or native bluebell curves or droops at the top and only has flowers on the underside.  These links will explain further -

 http://www.plantlife.org.uk/about_us/faq/bluebells/

http://visitwoods.org.uk/en/visit-woods/things-to-do/nature/pages/bluebell-factfile.aspx#.UaYjldgQNK1

Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (WCA) has made it illegal for anyone to collect or uproot native bluebells in the wild, so it;s unwise to pick them.

Bluebells are quite interesting because like many wild plants they appear in folklore and have been used in various ways throughout time. The flowers produce a sticky substance which was used to bind pages to book spines.  Since it contains starch, the glue was also used in Victorian times to stiffen ruffs and sleeves.

Here are some other interesting fact about bluebells -

Around 30 - 50% of the world’s bluebells grow in Britain (this figure varies a bit depending at which source you look at).

They take about 5 years to develop from seed to bulb, so it's not a good idea to walk amongst them, however tempting it may seem!

Bluebells are poisonous!   However, the nectar is an important food source for bees, hoverflies and butterflies.

Some bluebells are white.  This is because of a genetic mutation that means they lack the pigment that gives them their colour.

 During the Bronze Age, the glue was used attach feathers to arrows.

In Welsh, they're called Clychau'r Gog, which means Bells of the Cuckoo.  

 Bluebells are strongly associated with fairies in folklore, and are supposed to ring to beckon the fairies to their dance.   However, hearing bluebells ring is supposed to bring death to anyone who hears them!

Crossing the stream carefully along the rocks.........

 

This beautiful woodland was just covered with Wild Garlic!  It was absolutely everywhere you looked!  It's  a good indicator of an old woodland.  Wild Garlic has four-and-a-half times more sulfur than your average supermarket-bought garlic which means that it's very good for you, and it's reputed to be higher in other minerals as well.  Its sulfur compounds are bound to protein, so it's orderless after consumption as well!! 

 The leaves and flowers are edible, and are great to add to soups & salads.  Maybe one day I'll harvest some and make some Wild Garlic & Potato soup.  I couldn't collect any last time because I didn't expect to see so much Wild Garlic like this.  For now, I'll have to be content with looking at my photos. 

 

                                                

Castle Combe - Part 2

As you can tell from the pictures, this village was really quiet, and had hardly any tourists walking around (which was great).  I expected it would be really busy, as some Cotswolds places are.  It was refreshing to see a lack of giftshops.  There was a hotel/pub, a second pub (with a very grumpy landlady serving at the bar), and a little tea & cake cafe. It made it feel a lot more authentic. 

This is probably my favourite row in Castle Combe, but it's not possible to get closer to these lovely cottages because there's a gate preventing you from doing that.
 

Castle Combe - Part 1

During my day-out last week, we went to Castle Combe.  This small, quaint village was used as a film location for The War Horse.  This isn't why we visited the village though - it was just somewhere small and pretty that was close to Bath.  I don't have a clip of the village as it was used in the film, but I suppose if you've seen the film, you'll recogniose this place. 

We went walking a little up the hill where we saw a lot of wild garlic growing.  The smell it gives off when you crush the flowers is wonderful!  Anyway, here are the pictures -

The rulers of Castle Combe..........

These cats live in a house next door to the church in the village.

A few doors down, there were two small tables in front of a tiny cottage right next to the church entrance.  There was a variety of cakes on them, all of which had been home baked......chocolate fudge cake, lemon cake, and bread cake.   Behind the tables there was a sign stuck onto a door saying the cakes cost £1.50, and that this feature depended on trust (I believe the proceeds we went to the conservation of the church).  So I got out my £1.50 and pushed it through the letterbox, as directed.  I chose lemon cake which was very, very good!  Really soft and very moist with a lot of lemon flavour.  Yumm!

Twilight Park

I went to the city of Bath the other day, and decided to stop by a park in my city because all the cherry blossom trees were in bloom and looking beautiful.

The grass was covered in pink petals, like natural confetti.......