David Nash's Sculptures

Also at kew was the work of David Nash the sculptor who is exhibiting at kew until April 2013. Nash's work shows a comitment to the enviroment helping inspire visitors to Kew to understand our place in the natural world. The work is spread across the gardens unfolding like a narrative. Many are found in the temperate house nestling amonst the plants. The sculptures are often charred then oiled but retain an essence of their original form. Whilst he is there he is creating a new sculpture from a three hundred year old tree one of the oldest in the park which has come to end of its natural life. He is resisident at the gardens for one year so the displays will change over time. Well worth a look.

Kew GardensTreetopWalk

Whilst in London I also visited the Rhizotron and Xstrata treetop walkway which was opened in 2008. It was designed by Mark Barfields architects who designed the London eye. The design is based on the Fibonacci numerical sequence. The word 'rhitzotron' is derived from the greek word 'rhiza' which means 'root'. This 18metre high 200metre walkway towers up from the ground supported by rusted steel colums. It was inspiring to be so high amongst the tree tops.

Old Spitalfields Market London

Whilst in London last week I visited spitalfields market for the first time. Set in a old victorian market hall it a had a mixture of traditional market stalls and also unique designer items one of which was upcycled clothes from a designer called Enienay have a look www.enienay.com which really stood out.

Afterwards we wandered over to Fournier st which has houses which date back from the 1720's. The houses were built to house a significant community of French Huguenots around spitalfieds many of whom brought silk weaving skills. More recently it has been known for the famous residents artists Gilbert and George

new colours for autumn

I'm looking forward to making up these lovely new autumnal colours. I have a new design in mind to make these hides into.

Technoviking

In All Saints Park in Manchester I saw a 4-metre high inflatable head. Apparently this gigantic viking head was the work of Wafaa Bilal and is called technoviking which was linked in some way to the no of tweets it recieves to keep it inflated. Life is full of surprises.

We Face Forward

Yesterday I went to see the exhibition at Manchester city art gallery We Face Forward which shows   contemporary art from West Africa. I was especially struck by the tapestry-like wall hanging by Ghanaian born arist El Anatsui. The metal cloth uses thousands of strips of aluminium bottle tops and discarded metal objects commenting on globalization,consumerism and waste.

Graffiti in Copenhagen

I found this graffiti down some of the side streets in Copenhagen.I guess it is a side of the city not many tourists photograph but I found it beautiful in its own way

jam and jerusalem

A busy bank holiday monday I went blackberry picking  in the morning and also came across a crabapple tree, food for free how marvelous. In the afternoon I had my first atempt at baking bread I was pretty pleased with the results.

Bums on Seats

fishermans cottages in Copenhagen

red chair at Elsinor castle

Most people photograph landmarks in a new city but I took pictures of benches and chairs. I really like the okha / yellow colour that is used a lot in Denmark it contrasts so well with other colours.

Ring tone

This statue in the centre of copenhagen made me laugh even the ancients are on the phone. If you look closely you can see an old phone and reciever in the hands of the statue

Cycling in Denmark

Denmark is a great place to cycle with its own dedicated cycle paths it is really safe. I saw these great models of bikes in a shop in copenhagen

Denmark

A little belated but here are some of the images from my trip to Denmark. My brother lives there and I spent a glorious two weeks walking and painting. He lives outside Copenhagen by several forests and a large lake. The drawings that I did there are going to be source material for a new poject which is very exciting.

Arts and craft market

So the first arts and craft market which was over four days was spent mostly sheltering from the wonderful british summer weather. Rain, rain and more rain. Thankyou to all of you who braved the weather.

Arts and Craft Market

I will be taking part in a arts and craft market in St Ann's square which will be on from the 21st till the 24th of June trading times are 10am till 5.30 pm. It will feature some of the regions most creative designers. If you would like to pick up a unique gift or treat yourself come and see whats on offer. to see the list of traders go to www.manchester.gov.uk/markets

Crab Fishing in Priests cove

Priests Cove in St Just is a small rocky cove that is still a working fishery but with only a few fisherman left still working in the cove. Whilst we were there one of the fisherman very kindly took us out on his boat which gave us a fresh prospective on the lanscape.

He was clearly very proud of his profession and had worked in the cove all his life. Mainly lobster and crabs are fished, with most of it ending up in France as there is a higher demand for them but a certain amount is sold locally.