Thursday, December 18, 2008

THE TRIP TO ENGLAND


I'm returning to blogging today, as now I have a more reliable internet provider at home.... AT&T wireless, only 2G here, but with an aerial and amplifier/booster, it is faster than my dial up which sometimes I couldn't get at all..... never it seemed when I wanted to upload some pictures. I have never been able to comment on other blogs from home and hopefully will be able to with this set up.

I sized these pictures a month or more ago of my trip to England and Italy for 3 weeks in September and October. It was a wonderful trip, with two friends, Jane and Kris. We flew to London and took trains to St. Ives in Cornwall and spent a week hiking the coastal trail to Penzance. We had made reservations before along the way in Bed and Breakfasts, and arranged with them to transport out packs from place to place. We were very lucky to have good weather for most of the trip.

We hiked in Devon the second week on the Jurassic Coast, starting in Exmouth and ending up in Lyme Regis in Dorset. More lovely weather until the last day of hiking where a storm put us on a bus. Then back to London where we spent a few days and Kris and I went to Florence and Pisa for a few days.

I had big plans to paint along the way, but didn't do much. I took over 600 photos though.



A view from our room in the Regent Hotel in St. Ives


Along the trail, our first day of hiking

From the Tinner Pub in Zennor

We saw lots of cows. This one near Pandeen is a banded Galloway, if I remember right. Thanks to all the cows for the delicious clotted cream.

There were lots of old mining structures and shafts in the area....coal and tin

An ancient stone circle somewhere past Porthcurno. We often ended up inland from the coastal trail.... sometimes due to weather, sometimes we took the wrong turn. There are paths all over the place.


A beach somewhere near Porthcurno


A train took us to Exeter in Devon where we visited the cathedral. Then a night in Exmouth.



The pebbles on the beach at Budleigh Salterton were just marvelous. I wanted to take buckets home, but only took one small one.

On the path to Otterton Mill

Branscombe was a gorgeous village, the longest village in England and full of beautiful cottages.
the bakery in Branscombe
We stayed here, the Great Seaside B and B lovely inside and out.

Between Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth

Some days were windy.....
other days not.

Marilyn on the left and Rick on the left joined us (Kris, me and Jane in the middle) for a couple of days of walking in Devon . Here we are after our walk from Budleigh Salterton to Seaton. Note me with a pint instead of a half pint. Maybe had something to do with the lack of painting I did. Loved the ale.


Walking from Branscombe to Beer in Devon.


The morning of what was to be our last day of walking in Devon through the Undercliffs from Seaton to Lyme Regis. We took the bus.

In Lyme Regis, the ammonite motif was everywhere.


Three nights in London. A whole day at Kew Gardens in sunshine. Besides all the plant houses and gardens there was a fabulous display of botanical art at the Shirley Sherwood gallery.

Here I am in Florence, after the Ufizzi.

Monday, September 22, 2008

SOME PICTURES BEFORE I LEAVE FOR ENGLAND

I'm leaving in the morning for a trip to England so better get these pictures posted now or never. I loaded them some time ago, wrote something to put with them, but can't find it (I usually write in my word processor, cause my connection at home is so friggin slow and load at the library where it is faster.)

This is Lee's new boat. He got it in Sitka and now is living aboard it in Juneau.

I painted this a couple or 3 years ago and never was happy with it.


I fixed it with some acrylic painting and stamping and am now happy with it.


My cousin Jill who I hadn't seen in 30 years came to visit from California. We had a fun time... here she is in one of our paddles.


And this is a sideways photo of the bank and reflection of the Salmon River. Very cool!


A couple of my cabbages and some carrots in my garden.



And these last 3 pictures are flowers in my sun-room, which has been a bright spot in a cool and rainy summer.

Monday, July 21, 2008

A MID-SUMMER TRIP

I returned Saturday from a trip to Sitka and a trip to Kruzof Island with 3 friends where we climbed the dormant volcano, Mt. Edgecumbe. We stayed in a Forest Service cabin for 3 nights on the beach at the base of the trail. Yesterday, I painted it in gouache from a photo I took last year, earlier in the summer than now and from the opposite side we climbed.



There was a lot less snow than is in my painting, though I only got a short glimpse of the mountain from afar as I arrived at Sitka on the ferry on Sunday. I didn't get much of a view of it from the top either, though we climbed to the summit of the crater.



Most of the hike to the top was very easy through muskeg with good views of Sitka Sound as we gradually gained altitude. Lots of wild flowers to photograph and enjoy, and even a few blueberries to eat. The clouds were low on the mountain. We kept hoping that they would blow off. Here you can see some snow beneath the cloud.



These are my friends and fellow hikers: Aimee, Sue and Judy


The distance to the top was 7 miles. The last mile was hard, first with these steep stone steps,


and then just above the tree-line the last .6 miles torturous, in scree and what seemed straight up in the wet cloud and was hard to get a foot hold. There were 32 posts to mark the trail, which was a good thing.



Here's Aimee, first on the top. Cold and windy; we didn't stay long. Behind her the crater, full of snow, I presume.


The rain was heavier on the way down the scree. I thought about sliding on the snow chute beside us, but was afraid I'd not be able to stop when I wanted to. It took us 11 hours for the round trip. We weren't really planning to go the whole way when we left, as we know we probably wouldn't see anything, but the first part was so easy and we were so close.

The next day was partly sunny.... should have waited. Our muscles too sore to go again. We did yoga on the beach, sketched (I did this with my gouache, but somewhat thinned out like watercolor), and walked on the beach picking up pumice and driftwood.


Did some walking on the beach. Brought home a bag of drift wood and pumice and other rocks. Here I am in camouflage


Aimee made this on the beach with driftwood. It may still be there for others to enjoy unless the tide took it away.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

ANOTHER GOUACHE PAINTING AND LEAVING TOWN

This cool, wet summer continues. I don't seem to have accomplished much in the way of art in the last week or so. I've worked quite a bit on a gouache painting that just isn't going anywhere. And then I did this small one (about 6" x 6") from a photo I took up bay in front of McBride Glaicer late last summer. I had a lot of trouble with the ice.... would have looked so much better done with transparent watercolor. I'm still liking learning how to use these, but wish the weather would cooperate so I could go paint outside.





Here are some other things I've been working on. I started these last year.... or maybe it was the year before. Anyway, they are going to be little accordion books. They are all painted with watercolor.

The weather was pretty nice on the 4th. Harrison Ford, who was staying in one of the lodges, came to the parade and festivities.

I've been keeping up with the garden better this year than last, finally got my kayak in the water last Monday in terrible weather, but it was good to get out.

I'll be going out of town tomorrow and will be gone for a week. I've been packing for 2 days and I'm still not ready.

Friday, July 4, 2008

SUNSET AND FLOWERS

On Tuesday evening, I rode my bike down to the
beach and enjoyed an hour of walking in the beautiful light.











There was a rainbow when I got there.












This isn't a very good composition, but I loved the way the light came through and made the lupines glow.


The sun went down at 10 pm, still north of the Fairweathers.

One last look back as I biked home.



The next morning, I stopped at the lupine field which I had painted last week to go see these rare white ones that someone had told me about.