Saturday 29 September

Hi :)
I will be going out to Court Lodge for a morning visit tomorrow, early! The weather says sun will be blazing and everyone is welcome to join. The aim in this last quarter is to remedy the illusion of the vacuum around the Court lodge Calendar Sketch project. We made it out to the farm in August for some dock removal, but I forgot to post pictures, please see them now! So technically speaking... haha, will be great to see you tomorrow morning!
Positive.

Sunday 29 July 2012

Scattered sunshine with rays of cloud, a cacophony of flowers and a drizzle of bumble bees, bugs, butterflies and other small things like stinging nettles and barbed seeds that collect around the ankles on your socks! Sylven and I arrived mid morning and sat for some time at the 13th century St Mary Magdalene Church, soaking in the sun whilst sitting upon some stumps found in the cemetery. David Harding was hosting a moth talk and bustled off to collect moths from a moth trap and once more was dazzling in his knowledge of local fauna. At moments like that I often find myself wishing that there was time enough to just sit for the whole day and talk about the habits of moths and the worms that they come from... How inspiring to be privy to the accumulation of a life time! After the church we drifted down towards the willow wood where a red fox glimpsed us from beneath the trees and we sat once more on the banks of the pond, simply overwhelmed by green. Green trees, plants, grass, shade, water and at times it seemed the sky too would green out above us and descend. Then walking, or wading through nettles and grass and barbed-bally things and trees and hills and fences to ford and hills to climb and cows and pigs and calves and lovely people... Court Lodge is really astounding, a whole paragraph and I have not even mentioned the flowers! It's over half way now, already into the eighth month and it is wonderful to look back and feel the changes. It is so much more than a graduation of colour, the growing of leaves or the changing patterns of light tracing trees from the sky, but rather an expansion of space. Space that contracts and becomes smaller with each visit but only because it fills with more wonderful things than could ever be described in a life time.

Sunday 29 July 2012

Hi all, Just a quick one to let you know that we will be heading out to Court Lodge Farm this Sunday, hoping that the weather will hold and the drawing flows! Be great to have you all there!

Sunday 24th June 2012

Hello :) Sunday was a wee bit hazy, which was hardly surprising after a night of field party that ended (for us) in a rain shower sometime around first light in the morning. When we emerged from our broken and sodden tent, the sky was gray and the wind was still up. The evening had been delightful between the barns of Disco and live music, the chill tent, cinema and far field indie awning-caravan, Thank you so much for the spirit of MO, had a great time! Due to the inclement weather experienced on waking, we elected to decamp, settling for a few foto's (see right) of Court Lodge from across the river. Nice to get a far off perspective of the farm and a sense of where I've been sketching and how the landscape all fits together. We then decided on a most invigorating swim in the Court Lodge River and some delicious food at the Lamb Inn in Wartling. Much to our delight, the sun came out in at this point in the afternoon and we idled in the church cemetery before heading back to Brighton.
Now, there is talk afoot of preparing the calendar for printing, (already now in July!) and I do believe the fire beneath my behind is about to be stoked :)... expect more from here soon!

Sunday the 24th Sketching :)

Hi everyone, back again. We are heading out to the farm tomorrow night for the
SOLSTICE 4MO PARTY JUNE 21ST TO 24TH 2012 XXX
Thursday June 21st to Sunday June 24th at New Barn Farm, Hooe, TN33 9HQ
(entrance will be sign posted)
Contact Pete 07792461485 or peter.bourner@btopenworld.com

We will be leaving Saturday night to have a boogie and then heading to Court Lodge on Sunday for a wee bit of sketching :) Looking forward to seeing some of you there.

March 2012 Calendar sketch

Shew weeee! Hello all :) Here it is, the picture for the calendar from March, presented, I know, towards the end of May... Feel free to make your own comments. For the last month I have been displaying paintings alongside Sylvaine's jewelry at her studio in Brighton as part of the Open House exhibitions. The exhibition has been an overwhelming success with a lot of incredibly positive feedback and this weekend, the 26th and 27th will be the last chance to see the work on display at Farm Road Mews. As a result the Court lodge expedition for May is going to have to be moved to another day. I will keep you posted as to where and when, in the mean time please have a look at the exhibition online by following this link OpenHouseExhibition.
Until then, Adieu from Roo.

There sure are a lot of rabbits...

The birds were singing and the grass was green, but it seemed that most of the animals had the good sense to stay warm and dry, that is all except for the rabbits, and I. They seemed to be everywhere and yet covert, like little coordinated illegal gatherings reminiscent of Shaun Tan's wonderful book, The Rabbits. Suddenly I envisioned thousands of milk rabbits, farmed like cows, roaming the Pevensy Levels and being milked by tiny little rabbit milking machines or by disgruntled and under employed faeries put out of work by a lack of magic... but I digress. I am soaked through and warming slowly on my second cup of tea. The farm was wet and windy. My hiking boots are less waterproof than they used to be and it is impossible to sketch in pencil when your page is wet. You would think that this would be obvious, but now I know... Things that will be included in April's picture, green grass, rain, cows, rabbits, a fleet footed fox and cowslips... oh! and swallows :) ... and once again a pervasive sense of amity, thank you Court Lodge Farm, beautiful, even when wet.

Hello all! I am sincerly sorry for the lack of postage over the last month but exciting things have been afoot. Sylvaine invited me to exhibit at her Open House during the Brighton Festival and i have been directing all of my energy into preparing for the weekend of the 5th of May. I will post pictures as soon as and send invites for a possible private view on friday the 4th... watch this space :) In other news, our car has been written off by a friday night drunk driver, fortunately we were at home and nicely asleep during the incident and are getting a replacement car for the next couple of weeks, courtesy of the insurance company! As a result, I will be travelling out to Court lodge this Sunday, for an EARLY morning sketch and then back to Brighton for a roast to celebrate my belated birthday from the 13th of April. Let me know if you are an early riser and I will pick you up for the mission. March artwork to follow shortly!

Great Video!

Check out this lovely video of a little of what they do at Court Lodge!

Just Published!!!

A little aside, I just got published! Whoo hooo! I mean it was a while ago, but just got my copy:) If anyone wants to see and support this awesome South Africa based intiative, check it out at Indy Planet or Comics Monkey
Happy Easter everybody, bunny ears and chocolate eggs :)