Beautiful Days!

Sunday was brilliant. One member down due to 4 o'clock in the morning text that probably had something to do with alcohol. 9 o'clock start accomplished. Collected  Sylvaine in time for hot chocolate and coffee from the small batch coffee house in Hove and then off in blazing sunshine!  Sylvaine is a very gifted illustrator and jewelry designer, french born and living in Brighton, be sure to have a look at her AMAZING creations on her web site at http://www.silvene.net/. We set off around the farm, through the wood, passed the pond, along the river and back up to the farm house via the cows (where I indulged in having my fingers sucked by the calves and Sylvaine pulled faces at the slobber). Marian was kind enough to leave us some
super-delicious black current organic yogurt smoothie and some amazing apple and cinnamon cake thingys (which may not have been for us but which we consumed with great delight!). The day was terrific, brilliant with sunshine and a chorus of bird song from start to finish. We were graced with Herons, a sly fox, bunnies, a lone robin, Canada geese and a plethora of other critters busy about their Sunday business including pike fisherman, so much life in such a small space! Being there I am filled with a sense of gratitude to have access to such a deliciously lovely place. More to follow :)

Sunday February 26 2012

Another month has just fizz-whippled by and again, Sunday will see us making our way over to Court Lodge Farm. For those of you unfamiliar with Court Lodge Farm, it is an organic dairy farm in East Sussex and can be located by searching for the little village of Wartling. David and Marian Harding are amazing and an important element of their farming ideology is based around sustainability and biodiversity. As a result, Court Lodge is not just about cows, milk and truly delicious yogurt, but also about the surrounding country side, its natural beauty and the critters that like to call it home, check out the web site for more info about Fen Raft Spiders and Marsh Harriers at http://www.courtlodgeorganics.co.uk/. On Sunday I am hoping to do a roughly round trip taking in the cricket bat forest, a stroll along the river and hopefully a delight of loveliness to keep us sketching and camera shutters clicking. I fear however that the February winter chills will curtail the endeavor and have us heading for the shelter of moor hen cottage and a cup of tea!

FREE PRINT

The winners of the January give away, congratulations Felicity Pethica, Richard Harding, Steve Williamson, Dean Leppan (S.A.) and Kathy Pennington. Your prints will be shipped within the week!

JANUARY 2012

Ha Ha! :) Maniacal laughter as I rise from the depths of sleep, escape the folds of warmth, brave the bright light of the drawing table, sit quietly with quill in hand until, at last! Here it is, January's pin up. Happiness is. And there is more, to celebrate the completion of court lodge sketch number one, I have decided to reward five faithful blog followers with a free 22x22cm giclee print of January's pin up :) To get your free print, email FREE PRINT and your snail mail address to mutoyou@gmail.com. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you can have a look at a blow up of the January print and see what you are letting yourself in for.
Happy Monday :)

Sunday February 26 2012

Hi everyone, time is ticking time bomb fast and I have moved into the final phase of January's portrait. Sunday the 26 of this month we will odyssey out to Court Lodge Farm again. Once more we have some takers and I am hopeful and excited to see what comes out of take two. Please let me know if you will be joining, need a lift or have any fantastic ideas. Till then

First Drafts

On the left are the initial sketches looking north east from a field, the foto is on the right. Tonight is the night, goodness gods willing, to put some ink to paper and come up with something finished before we visit the farm again next week. I'm thinking to keep it simple in ink...