Willow Workshop

On Saturday I went to a 'Willow Workshop', which was running as part of Hurst Festival. I booked a ticket for this as I'd not worked with willow before, and was curious about it!

As it turned out, the workshop was for creating a lantern from willow and wet strength tissue paper. This wasn't quite what I expected as the festival website had shown a picture of willow weaving on the event page. It seemed a number of others who attended had expected the same thing, so we were certainly surprised when it turned out we were making lanterns!

But since I was there and had paid my money, I decided to roll with it and ended up having fun!

A Raft on the Lagoon

Here is the next instalment of Folk Tales of the Sea People. This time, a tale of Mermaids, Humans and Draugs. With regards the illustration, it seems I need more practise with drawing ghostly things upon the water! But the story is much better--I hope you enjoy it.

A Raft on the Lagoon, July 2014

A Raft on the Lagoon

Long ago, not far from here, there was a lagoon, which has long since merged with the sea. Close to that sea there lived a Human sailor, who often sailed upon it with his little raft, which he had built himself. The sailor’s name was Irving, and his heart lay with a lovely Mermaid named Nerissa.

As Irving’s house was so close to the water, Nerissa was happy with the idea of marrying Irving, and when he proposed it so, her parents gave their blessing. Happily, they planned their wedding day, unaware that Irving had a rival for Nerissa’s affections in the shape of his best man, Conway.

Conway was also a sailor, and he was a very jealous man. He decided that he could not allow Irving and Nerissa to marry, for he wanted Nerissa for himself.

So a week before the wedding, when Nerissa had taken a trip away to prepare, Conway sabotaged Irving’s raft.

The Big Village Sing & Hurst Museum

As I mentioned last weekend, I would be attending several events from the Hurst Festival programme over the two week duration of the festival.

For today, I had a ticket for 'The Big Village Sing', so off I went into Hurst (along with Mum, who decided at the last minute that she wanted to go too--cue printing off a ticket at around 1am!)

Sukekiyo @ O2 Academy Islington 2014

Yesterday I met up with Lilia (my lovely and creative friend from Paracosm of Lilies) in London, and we went to a gig!

The gig in question was Japanese band Sukekiyo, who came to London's O2 Academy Islington on their 'Ameagari no Yuushi' tour.
Unusually for Japanese bands, photography was allowed, so I snapped a few pictures on my phone (most of which turned out incredibly blurry), though only during the first few songs.

The Wily Old Glashtyn

Here comes another story from my collection, Folk Tales of the Sea People.
I'm not overly happy with the painting I did for this one, but I'm still posting it as it still counts towards my goal of 52 paintings in a year! I think this picture is the result of what happens when I don't think enough about what I'm doing... Anyway, enjoy the story. It has a few surprises.

The Wily Old Glashtyn, July 2014

The Wily Old Glashtyn

Once upon a time, in a kingdom where Merfolk reigned, there lived a mermaid named Damla. She was young and pretty, and caught the eye of many young mermen, though she held out against their advances for she dreamt of being carried away by a handsome young prince.

Damla prided herself on her pale pink hair, for it was such an unusual colour, and her eyes which were bright blue and looked so splendid. Damla’s scales were like sapphires and her tail supple and curvaceous. Though she did not court vanity over her appearance, Damla knew it was her looks that drew so many men to her. They were rich and clever, handsome and charming, but still she denied their advances, and would not allow a single man to court her. She held out on her hope of a handsome prince, and was caught daydreaming many a time when she was supposed to help with her lady’s laundry.

La Luscious Rocky Road

So, I've been eating more chocolate. Hurrah! Once again this counts towards goal #64: to try 50 new chocolates. This includes chocolate bars, and individual chocolates. This post covers chocolate 17-19...I wonder what will be next?

La Bruja Turrón de Chocolate

'Crispy Chocolate Turron'

When I bought this chocolate bar (another treasure picked up at the 99p store!) I didn't quite know what to expect, only that it would be crispy, as the gold and green packaging told me so ;)

Google informs me that 'turron' is nougat, but this doesn't look or taste like any nougat I've had before--possibly because of the little pieces of crispy rice. This bar also contains hazelnut paste and almonds; the hazelnut flavour is especially prominent.

A Dragon in the Sea

It's been a week since I last posted a story from Folk Tales of the Sea People, so here's the next one...

A Dragon in the Sea, July 2014

A Dragon in the Sea

There was once, long ago, a Dragon, who lived in the sea. His name was Takumi, and though he had great golden scales and long whiskers that were quite admirable, the other folk that lived in that stretch of water disliked him, for the fire within Takumi’s belly made the water quite hot. Whenever he went by, all kinds would swim away, be they shark, Merman, dolphin or Nereid. Takumi was shunned by society, and it made him quite grumpy. He decided that, should anyone cross his path, he would eat them. Takumi thought they deserved it, for rejecting him so unkindly without knowing anything of him.

And so, he became all the more unpopular.

Treasured Transport Parade

As I mentioned in my previous post, one of the events in Hurst Festival Village Open Day was the "Treasured Transport Parade". The name is pretty self-explanatory: a parade of special, treasured vehicles!

Cars from various eras participated, with the parade beginning at Washbrooks Farm and ending at South Avenue Rec.

Broncos, Belfries and Mr Punch: Hurst Festival Village Open Day

Today was the first day of Hurst Festival, an annual event held every September in the Sussex village of Hurstpierpoint.
Now in its tenth year, the first event of the festival was the Village Open Day, which promised lots of events, attractions and performances in various public spaces around the village.

So, clutching my event guide and the leaflet handed to me when I reached the village, I went to explore and see what was on offer!

Three Brothers and a Draug

Here comes another story from Folk Tales of the Sea People.

Three Brothers and a Draug, July 2014

Three Brothers and a Draug

There were once three brothers. Their names were Marinus, Pontius and Pelagius, and apart from their names they were identical down to the very last detail. Each had short red hair, each had pale green flesh and glossy, emerald-coloured scales. When they spoke and when they sang, you could not have told the difference. Whether they danced on two legs or swam by tail, they remained perfect copies of each other.

They lived together in a house with three of everything, and had much fun being identical brothers, for it was rare and they were much admired for it. Their identical nature also allowed them to play many tricks, and it is for these tricks that this story is told.

As Darkness Falls

I painted this trio of images at the end of July, on a day I was feeling a little low.
Until now, I didn't post them, because I couldn't think of a title.
But here they are - again, towards goal #55 (to make 52 paintings in a year) - with the collective title of As Darkness Falls.

As Darkness Falls #1, July 2014

As Darkness Falls #2, July 2014

As Darkness Falls #3, July 2014

 As with the other paintings I've posted here so far, these were done using watercolours.

Regarding the title, the short answer is that it came to me and I liked it.
The long answer is that the title seemed to 'fit' the mood I was going for with these images. Whilst none of them are particularly dark (especially #1), I wanted to show the fading light that comes at the end of the day, and the fluctuation of colours in the sky after the sun sinks below the horizon. It's easy to draw the parallel between this and depressive moods--the first moments after sunset being the first hints of apathy, introversion, unwillingness to move (#1), then as the sky (mood) grows darker, the feeling becomes one of being more crowded (#2) until finally there is a feeling of being completely hemmed in by a vast, ominous obstacle, despite knowing there is still some light beyond that darkness (#3). The light may have never gone in the first place, but as the darkness of such a mood descends upon the mind, the light becomes obscured.

This has become quite a depressing post, hasn't it! Despite my ramblings as to what is behind these paintings, I hope you like them!

Techinically they were easy to paint - I created all three in one day, along with Dissolve (which I wrote about in a previous post, You'd Be Forgiven For Thinking This Was An Art Blog). The most difficult part was getting remotely straight lines on the barriers, but I ended up painting carefully along the edge of a scrap of watercolour paper to get the result I was after!

The next time I post a painting, the mood will be far more upbeat, I promise!