printed material

 We had a day out yesterday, popping down to Somerset to catch an exhibition at Lytes Cary Manor, all part of Somerset Art Weeks this year. Called Herbarium, there are four sculpture installations around the gardens inspired by Henry Lyte, a previous owner of the manor, who translated one of the first herbal remedies manuals in 1578 and dedicated it to Elizabeth 1. The National Trust website describes Lytes Cary as a hidden gem, a timeless little world to reflect and enjoy, and it certainly lived up to its billing.

This is a wonderfully intimate house surrounded by a beautiful garden, restored in the early 20th century by the Jenner family after the house fell into disrepair. It feels like you're visiting someone's small patch of heaven and we came away with lots of notes about plants and ideas for borders and pots next year.

I loved the topiary in front of the house. Twelve yews - the Apostles - clipped into shape and acting like sentinels down that path, which is cracked and crazed and full of so many textures that I spent a lot of my time looking down at my feet exclaiming that every one was like a landscape design. Needless to say there are many, many photos of the paving that I am not boring you with.......



The first installation outside of these carved seats and orbs by Alison Crowther was perfectly suited to their setting but I noticed these small owls carved into a roof space and kept going back to stare at them before being chivvied along and reminded that there was a lot more to see.





 Every turn brought more plant combinations into view and I cannot recommend a visit to Lytes Cary highly enough, so much so, that we are seriously considering a return visit soon. I did not expect the place to have such an effect on me as I am not given to fancy, but I truly found it to be very special, something I was hoping I would also feel at the second place on our itinerary for the day.

Lots has been written about the field designed by Piet Oudolf for the Hauser and Wirth Gallery in Bruton and, having seen it on television in  its first year, I was intrigued to see how it was developing.
Well, the answer is, rather wonderfully as it happens.

I think we struck lucky with the day we picked. It was warm and slightly breezy, so all those signature grasses favoured by Mr Oudolf wafted and shook in the wind and caught the late afternoon light to perfection. So many of the 26,000 perennial plants have turned to seedheads already this year but the late season colour offered by anemones, echinaceas, asters and heleniums to complement them  alongside all those grasses is to die for. It is so worth a visit and all for the price of a donation to the local museum. A treat.

Of course, I had to buy a copy of the planting plan to see which of the 115 planted varieties went next to each other. Along with the long list of plant associations from Lytes Cary we did nothing but talk plants and gardening all the way home. Come to think of it, I was doing all the talking and planning and the head gardener was probably totting up the man hours.......

We had spent so much of the day pointing at plants and saying 'we already have that' and 'we have that too' but after visiting these two inspiring gardens, we realise now, like that well known Morecambe and Wise sketch, that we have all the right plants but not necessarily in the right order. Now the question is whether to redesign here and expend lots of energy on a garden we may leave within a couple of years or keep the ideas ready for a blank canvas in the future! Exciting times are ahead of us.

I had a day in Hay on Wye yesterday, selling two large book collections rather than buying any more sadly, but the need to de-clutter before we ever move house again is pressing. It was  so lovely to then come home and find comments on yesterday's blog post from three of my fellow Postman's Knock collage chums and be reminded of a wonderful summer of play back in 2011! Where did those five years go girls?
Made me want to do it all over again but before they start to panic that I might suggest it, and while it is uppermost in my mind, I just wanted to let people know that one of our other Postman's Knock friends has written a book that will be published in the autumn. Anyone who remembers Jane's blog will know her thoroughness and all recipients of her artwork know her attention her detail. She will have done her research for this book meticulously so, I have pre-ordered my copy and hope it becomes a best seller!

 One day in early summer I was clearing my desk out and found a pack of 12 watercolour postcards that I had bought and not used. It was only a couple of days after a meeting to discuss my lifelong learning classes for 2016/2017 and I'd agreed to trial a 5 day mixed media collage course, each one being like a day workshop and running fortnightly up to the end of term.

So, I had an idea to use the cards to try out different collage techniques and asked my friend Sheila if she fancied a bit of summer fun where I'd give her half of the cards and we'd then exchange them via the postman. She was up for it but works a bit slower than me so whilst I've now posted all of mine I'm still waiting for all 6 of hers to wing my way.

As ever, I set myself the parameter that everything I used had to be within arms reach in my little cubbyhole that I laughingly call 'the office'. It certainly challenges the mind when you limit yourself and when I look at all six of them together I wonder if anyone would see the same 'hand' in them all but they illustrate some of the ideas I expect to be teaching this autumn and Sheila will be bringing them to class to be discussed and dissected by my ever faithful group who willingly come to everything I deliver. I hope the fun I had with these small pieces translates over to the bigger picture!

 Every time my chum Sue phones me her opening line when I answer the phone is usually 'why aren't you in that shed working ?'  Well, I was up there before I went to Oxford for a few days, getting on with preparation of an aluminium plate for some saline  etching. A post on Jac's blog a couple of weeks ago reminded me of an image I'd put together 18 months ago from photos of a mistle thrush in the garden with some text I fiddled about with in Photoshop. Jac had been using the gum arabic transfer medium for getting her image on to a plate prior to etching and I decided to pull my finger out and do mine too after all this time.

So, the day before I headed off to my course I took my photocopies , inked them up and tried to get them centred on an 8x6 aluminium plate. Easier said than done but I was happy enough with one attempt to give it a try. I didn't heat the plate up to dry it out, just left it in the window until my return. Of course by then, six days had passed and the ink was rock hard and although it etched well enough I couldn't get the original background ink off the plate... and as I'd used burnt umber, the wiping was hardly a roaring success as all these proofs on the shed wall testify to. I was printing with Payne's Grey and could not see where I'd wiped and where I hadn't.

 During a phone call this week Sue suggested trying to get the ink off with Brasso and then my husband suggested TCut which was a success! Why didn't I think of that? So, I cleaned it and then I printed it again, trying a couple of two plate options as well. I can see all the things that are wrong with it but I like the image so I'm going to sharpen it up, try to eliminate the errors and do it all over again.
 And whilst I had some left over ink on the slab I printed a collagraph that I made last year and for some reason never got around to printing. Its about 8 inches square and I think I like it in the grey/black so might frame that one and see what it looks like in different orientations.
 I've spent two days in that shed this week doing all this and I wonder why I don't have more to show for the time but it's not important. Sometimes I need to remind myself that it is all about 'doing the work' and who knows what will come out of it. I have so many ideas in my head at the moment that trying to remember them and filter out the wheat from the chaff is a real challenge but onwards, ever onwards eh?