Sunday March 25th 2012

It's beginning to sound a little cliched, BUT what an amazing day! Court lodge Farm is beautiful. We arrived late Saturday night as Marian had offered us Moorhen cottage to stay in for the evening. Sylvaine joined us again for the sketch along with Liz and Marek (who hoped to do some mountain biking). After some delicious polish black pudding fried with onion, white bread, salad and sausage and a little bit of wine, we headed for bed, the clocks moved forward an hour for daylight saving, hopeful to get an early start with the sunrise. Remarkably after only 4 or so hours of sleep Liz, Sylvaine and myself fueled by a warm beverage, made it to the east facing hill top with the dawn chorus all around and the nip-chill of morning gnawing at the seams of our clothes. We sat in the dewy grass watching the landscape change from half light to morning glory and sketched, then trudged back for toffee cheesecake and (after a brief moment of absurdity at not finding any milk whilst staying next to a barn full of cows on a dairy farm) coffee and a wonderful nap! It's the simple things really :) The pace didn't change much through out the day and we spent our time sketching the farm house from the decking of Moorhen Cottage and soaking up the amazing spring time sun which made us all a very happy kinda lazy. In the afternoon I found a baby newt hiding under a concrete slab, which caused a remarkable amount of excitement for a creature 30 x 4 mm (and was viewed by no less than 7 people in a span of ten minutes, which was probably the most exciting and terrifying experience of its entire life!). Clare, after running a half marathon in Hastings, accompanied us for our first river swim of the season (cold and wonderful!) and sadly, after that it was time to leave.
Once more, Court Lodge has proved inspirational, and has left me with a warm and slightly golden feeling of well being. There was some lovely art work produced which I will post shortly but until then, please take a look at the slide show on the right of this page.
(Alas, I have still not managed to sketch any cows!)

Congratulations!

Thank you all for your poems and contributions! They were great fun to read, unfortunately there could be only one winner so, Congratulations to Ree Branndon on your delight-fully foxy poem!

Beyond the watery wood lay a marsh

the terrain, there was uncannily harsh

but outrun the huge, bushy tail he must

tho' the more he ran he got so confussed!

Your original sketch will be posted snail style as soon as is technologically possible!

Sunday 25th of March

Hello! It's time again to head out to court lodge farm. The car battery is dead and the sun is shining. Preparations are underway and I am excited to see what this month will offer in terms of both people and nature. Last month lovely Ms Frouin joined me in the sunshiny meadows, and I am hoping that the slightly warmer weather and officialdom of spring will bring some more artists out of the wood work... we may even draw some cows!
If you happen to be in East Sussex and would like to know more please be in touch! Happy Wednesday, it's beautiful out there :)

February 2012

Tah da! and here it is, thumb nail on left, scroll to the bottom of the page to view a larger image. I have changed the settings on the blog and it is now possible for you to leave comments, I would love to hear what you have to say. This months FREE GIVE AWAY, the original water colour sketch '...and marsh' from Sunday the 26th of February. All you have to do is write a one line description, musing or poem about February's pin up, post it in the comments box and the winner will be judged and contacted by the end of next week! Don't forget to share and tell all your friends... Happy Friday! :)

Where have you been...

For those of you who have never tried keeping a blog, there is a yearning to embellish it, to make it more interesting, readable and at the very least enjoyable. To this end, I have been casting about for pearls to post and things that will perhaps make the blog better, so far the most profound quote "FREE GUIDE TO THE CITY'S TOP CREATIVE PEOPLE AND PLACES" on the cover of a magazine in Brighton and this only for the bright pink allure of the badge. In a way, it is much the same as making a picture. As an artist, I want to transport the viewer somewhere, give them something to hold their eye, keep their attention longer than a few seconds, something that perhaps will make them think and if I am very lucky will one day be remembered and thought back on. As such I am constantly looking for new ideas, new ways of seeing, better modes of mark making... But, for some reason as this month has trickled sand quick through time, I have returned to my roots. At school, armed with only a black ball-point pen, I would doodle down margins and in the backs of text books and sometimes on desks (but I swear only to make them better!) and it is back to black line work that I have returned. Tonight I give you only this post, tomorrow I will digitise and post the results of February's sketch time.

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