Fishink Nature Watch.
A Blackbird has been nesting in the jasmin bush in our garden for some months now. We have been happily watching it fly in and out of the bush with food and hearing small excited cheeps and chirrups every now and then. The bush is in our garden but flows over the wall into the neighbours’ garden too. Yesterday it’s fledglings had come out of the nest. They are a good size but can’t yet fly. The problem is that there are far too many cats in the neighbourhood, including two the live next door who are very curious and who would normally often visit my garden.
The chicks had fallen from the Jasmin bush into next doors garden and whilst I was sitting outside yesterday morning, I heard some fluttering noises, cat bells (from the one tied to it’s collar) and a mother Blackbird shrieking it’s distressed alarm call. I sprang up and into next doors back garden just in time to scare one of their cats away from the young bird. One lay dead on the lawn and the other had squashed itself into a dark corner under some handy twisted vines. Fearing that the second young bird would meet the same fate as the first I scooped the bird up and took it into my garden, where it’s been hiding amongst the shrubbery whilst it’s mum continues to come back and forth feeding it a mix of worms, snails etc.
It’s been quite traumatic and draining for myself, the young bird and the poor distressed and ruffled mum who’s been constantly on the look out for cats, magpies as well as doing it’s rigorous feeding routine. Amazingly the mother seems to understand that we’re trying to help and has been happy to enter the small back garden to feed often when I’ve been standing close by. I’ve felt quite privileged to be part of the survival plan of this youngster, even if it does mean leaping out of bed at 4.45 am because the blackbird is tooting it’s alarm call and the cats are in the garden again ! Here’s a few snaps I managed to get.
The RSPB give some tips on possible foodstuffs to put out at this time of year here. I hope there will be a happy ending to this tale. Fingers crossed that some small bird flight lessons and tail feathers come soon.
Earlier this year I entered some illustrations into a competition organised by the People’s History Museum.
The competition was offering the winner the chance to create a storybook alongside local puppeteer Emily Capstick. Emily had created a story based around the characters that appear on the Manchester Coat of Arms, the Lion, the Stag and the Bees.
Even though I didn’t win, from the 200+ applicants that entered, I did get through to the final 6 for interview, so I was pretty pleased as it was the first time I had entered anything as a children’s book illustrator. I was even amongst a few names that already knew like Lyndsey Roe and established author and illustrator Lizzie Finlay.
The lucky Illustrator who won the chance to create this book was another published author Adam Pryce.
Alongside Catherine and Emma (from the People’s History Museum) and Emily, the four became the creative team and working with ideas from the involvement of school children they created the book ” Mr Ordinary’s Prize “. Here’s some of the preliminary work that went into the book.
I really enjoyed seeing these original painterly sketches in the exhibition too.
You can grab some lovely souvenirs from the gift shop, badges, mugs….
and of course the book itself !
The Museum is free to visit and well worth popping in if you have a spare hour and are in Manchester. There is a small exhibition showing the work that lead up to the completed book. It is on now at the People’s History Museum, Manchester until early September. Here’s a few images from another exhibition that was also on there.
It’s a great space to visit, even the cafe looks amazing !
Based on Emily’s original puppet of Mr Ordinary this was my quick depiction. Made from brown paper, how ordinary can you get lol
If anyone else has a book idea they’d like me to work on, you can see more of my illustration work here. or contact me craig@fishink.co.uk
Fishink in Somerset Part 2
Welcome back to Wedmore in Somerset.
We start in St Mary’s Church. Such a wealth of beautiful artistry inside. Woodcuts and engravings.
Some amazing detail in this large local parish embroidered hanging, near the children’s play area inside the church.
More creative and colourful stained glass.
The village was equally as visually captivating as St Mary’s had been, everywhere you looked there was beauty and detail. A wonderful place.
After a good tip off from a local guy in the Ring o Bells, we headed up to see Roger Wilkins on his award winning Cider Farm. Roger has been making Cider for the last 45 years so he knows a thing or two.
Wilkins is a well-known character among Somerset producers and in his unkempt barn he offers nothing but traditional scrumpy from the barrel (sweet, medium or dry). There was a gathering of locals enjoying a glass of the deliciously fruity cider while they wait to fill up their containers to take home. They also sell fresh veg, eggs, pickled onions and a great variety of cheeses.. mmm of course it would have been rude not to sample the local produce.
After that we needed to clear our heads a little, so passing by the rather oddly named village of Sexey and the cattle and church in Mark, we drove to the coast and ended up on Berrow Beach.
The flower lined path took us there.
I found a few animal shapes in the washed up driftwood. Can you spot the whale, horses head and crocodile or is it just me seeing things ? I did see sand trees on the beach too… honest and Tintin kindly took a photo for me. How much Cider did I have again ? lol
I liked this Lighthouse on Legs built in 1832, it reminded me instantly of Edward Hopper’s Lighthouses and the wooden structures around Maine.
I imagined that it probably scuttles about the beach at night when everyone goes home. It was a great afternoon to walk on a beach, just to ‘be’ in that big blue and sandy open space.
On the way back home we stopped for tea in Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. The town has such a perfectly preserved medieval character that in 1964 The Council of British Archaeology listed it amongst 57 towns “so splendid and so precious that the ultimate responsibility for them should be of national concern”. I was hoping that it wasn’t still the effects of the cider, but the buildings did look a little crooked and drunk themselves.
You can’t tell from the photographs, but again the river levels had risen to worrying heights. I hope the rain subsides for a few weeks and lets everywhere get back to normal.
A beautiful sunset marks the end of a great weekend away. Hope you enjoyed it too.
Manchester Jazz Festival 2012
Just to remind those of you who live in Manchester that there is a whole host of artists singing in and around the city under the banner of the Manchester Jazz Festival for 2012. I was very lucky to catch a free performance today by Dan Whieldon & Alice Zawadzki at St Ann’s Church this lunchtime.
Such a great venue for light and acoustics, the pair are both classically trained and played an hours collection of jazz inspired, self penned songs and also folk songs from Galicia, Taiwan and Poland. Here’s an image of them waiting to perform.
If you go to Alison’s My Space page here you can even get a feel for the event. The festival has been on from last friday until saturday 21st July and features over 90 bands over the 9 days. More going on in Albert Square, and how nice it looked in the sunshine.
In fact Manchester looked pretty good all round.
Manchester Jazz Festival has something for everyone, check it out !
Fishink in Somerset Part 1
I spent last weekend in Somerset County (why do I always want to spell it with a Z lol ), starting in a little place for an overnight camping stop at Wookey Farm, and no the Des-Res place with air-con and double glazing (below) wasn’t part of the deal.
It was feeding time with the goats when we arrived. The pigs seemed rather happy, busying themselves making more muddy mess in their own enclosure.
It was extremely wet in the area, due to the high levels of rainfall and although the pigs didn’t bat an eyelid at the added level of ‘slurry’ in their pen, the local Ford crossing, in the meantime, had turned into a small tidal river.
We had arrived late afternoon, so the next stop was definitely somewhere for tea. In the nearby village of Wookey we came across the friendly staff at the Ring o’ Bells and grabbed a table warmed with early evening light. A pint of local cider and some rather tasty Puy lentil burgers later, and all was well with the world.
The next morning, after a dry nights sleep, we headed into Wookey to have a look around. The Church of St Matthew in Wookey, Somerset, England dates from the twelfth century and is a Grade I listed building.
I loved the almost Nordic looking green men on the gate house with their big noses and toothy fangs.
Some stunning stained glass windows too.
A beautiful little church. We then moved onto Wookey Hole, more recently famous for its kid’s attraction of the same name and local caves. I got to meet the local Witch, who kindly, happily posed for a photograph. Apparently the position of Witch is a much sought after position as you can see here in this pr stunt in 2009. Local legend has it that the caves were home to the Wookey Witch who was turned to stone by Father Bernard, who had been appointed by the Abbot of Glastonbury to rid villagers of her curse. I hope she didn’t cast a spell on us because shortly afterwards a few odd things did start happening.
We came across some wild stampeding cattle down the high street, some rather strange signs and a flying dog ! lol
I should have guessed there was something funny going on when I saw the Harry Potteresque Sorting Hat roof on the Wookey Hole Hotel !
Further down the road was the beautiful village of Wedmore which in Old English probably means hunting lodge. There used to be a Saxon royal estate in the area. It’s a pretty rural village with some beautiful architectural details.
More to come in a couple of days.
Chin Ko From the Army to Artist
Chin Ko took a while to find his true calling. Growing up in Taiwan and in his adolescence he decided to join the army. Two years later he found himself studying as a maths major but still thought that ‘crunching numbers and solving mathematical problems just wasn’t for me’. He stumbled upon the idea of becoming an artist and enrolled into the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, coming away with a BFA as a Digital Media major.
Chin says ‘ I was privileged to work as a Conceptual Artist for Star Wars The Force Unleashed and Clone Wars. I have also been working as a visual development artist for Lucas Arts and Dreamworks covering games, and feature / animated films.’
Chin’s take on the lives of superheros.
Some wonderful landscape studies ….
and some fab personal work.
I think Chin can finally put his feet up, as it appears (luckily for us) that he has found his calling lol.
Whatever the weather
To many of us in the UK , this has recently been a rather too familiar picture.
The Environment Agency has issued 57 flood warnings and 150 flood alerts across England and Wales, as a month’s rain fell in just 24 hours in July. It’s had a devastating effect on the country as you can see on MSN news. Here’s a couple of images I took recently that made me look at rain in a different way.
Water creating beauty.
Water for growth.
Whilst parts of the USA have been experiencing soaring temperatures of over 100 degrees, including a record 105 in Washington, St. Louis (106), and Indianapolis (104) they would probably welcome a downpour or two.
Pity we can’t do a swop ! Hope you’re all doing ok wherever you are.
管子天 Chinese photographer
This is some of the beautiful work by 管子天 Guanzi, a Chinese photographer and film maker from Beijing.
He claims his reason to work is …. ” Purposeless. Not for fortune nor for fame. Shooting no beggers. Shooting no handicapped. Shooting no reluctant subjects. Neither recording misfortune of life, nor violating the privacy of others. Only reveling in an affection to nature and the sensations of life”
He has a wonderful eye for colour, subject, detail and manages to capture images that have great narrative.
It’s no wonder that he is also a film maker. Here’s one of his pieces.
Wonderful work.
Juliet Peter‘s childhood was almost tragic. She saw it, however, as the catalyst for a creative life which began with drawing when she was barely out of infancy. She was born on her father’s sheep farm, Anama, in the Canterbury foothills in 1915. There was a big gap between her and the three other children in the family and she was sent, as a baby, to live with her mother’s sister and was happy there until her aunt’s death, while Juliet was still a pre-schooler. She was returned reluctantly to her birth parents. A governess gave her a love of words and she took pleasure from her pets and drawing.
By the time she was 11, both her mother, Violet, and her often absent father, Charles, were dead. Her elder sister took her to Kent, in England, where she lived until she was 19, including a brief period in boarding school. For pocket money, she sketched the neighbours’ houses.
With the help of a very practical Aunt, she was enrolled into the School of Arts In Christchurch studying for a diploma in the fine arts. Here’s a couple of her paintings of Wellington from the late fifties.
After the Second World War, Peter worked full-time for the School Publications Magazine, a unit of the Education Department in Wellington. She was one of the New Zealand School Journal’s most prolific designer/illustrators between 1946 and 1960, contributing hundreds of drawings and dozens of cover illustrations. Her line drawings and two-colour covers from the 1950s shaped the visual character of this magazine.
Her work demonstrates a strong interest in social and environmental issues and her subject matter is wide-ranging. Here she illustrates the bush and wild-life around her Wellington home…
Creating strong memorable images which speak of the artist’s love of people, animals and places, her art reflect a sharp wit and a keen, observant eye.
She met her future husband Roy Cowan when he, too, was working on school publications. Not long after they married in 1952, he won a two-year travelling scholarship and they went to London where he studied at the Slade School and she studied lithography and pottery part time at the Hammersmith School of Building and Crafts. They travelled – in a cheap old London taxi they bought – spent time in the Victoria and Albert Museum and were both influenced by Ken Clark, a New Zealander potting in London. Here are some of her London pieces.
Peter’s art practice combines an interest in painting, potting and printmaking.
I particularly like these two images. The former is called ‘ World of the Night Kiln Firers ‘ (1973) and is quite 2-D flat and poster-like. The oil fired kiln in their garden in Ngaio, Wellington. Roy is the one on the roof, Juliet is the other figure. The black cat was their cat Tinkerbell of 73. (They had a succession of Tinkerbells!) The second image ‘ Circus Parade ‘ has much more form and shape with a wonderful circular movement to it, which is echoed in the yellow and blue sweeps of watercolour that surround the main focus, the Circus Tent. You get a real birds eye view of the whole event, with the Wellington skyline in the background.
Although I’ve not featured Juliet or her husband’s ceramic work in this post, I feel I must point out that they were both very influential figures in this area. On their return to NZ in 1955, their most significant contribution to modernism was probably in terms of studio pottery – both through their own pottery, and their contribution to the New Zealand Potter magazine which they helped start in 1957. They are notable early stoneware potters who created ceramics outside the dominant tradition of stoneware that developed from Bernard Leach’s writings about Japanese ceramics, and which might be called Anglo-Oriental pottery.
In 1999 she was awarded the OBE in recognition for her outstanding contribution to the visual arts in New Zealand. Juliet passed away in 2010, aged 94.
My thanks to Steve MacDowall, Maxine Bennett, Carter’s Antique Guide and Art-NZ.com for their help with this post.
Pembrokeshire long weekend
I spent a lovely looong weekend in a little place called Nolton Haven, Pembrokeshire last weekend. This was the view from the chalet and on the nearby beach (3 mins walk away) on the evening we arrived.
Some great drawings from illustrator Sally Seymour in this 1971 publication about the local area.
We started the trip with a visit to local author and publisher David Lewis and his wife Penny. This is the view from their home.
David not only has created two very prestigious volumes of local artists paintings and photography, but has also formed ‘ Young Voices’, which is the largest school choir organiser in the world and currently gathers together over 14 capacity concerts a year in the UK & Ireland’s leading Arenas. Each year over 2,500 schools, 90,000 children 6,000 teachers and 120,000 family and friends assemble to enjoy music and celebrate singing.
David’s book ‘Pembrokeshire Art’ features artist such as Grahame Hurd-Wood, John Knapp-Fisher, Mark Raggett, Monica Groves amongst others. The latter two artists (featured below) are even relatives. What a talented family !
We started our walk in St Davids. Surf inspired shops and beautiful picture postcard sights.
Within 5 minutes we had the sea for company, and superb views.
Plenty of foliage and a couple of wildlife sightings. I think one could be a Northern Wheatear but not sure about the other bird, grasping hold of its lunch. Any guesses ?
There are stunning views around every bend and we were thankful for the windy, yet, sun filled weather too.
I love seeing the small twisty pathways set out the walk and line the hills before me.
Dramatic coastline. Feel the grass. Time to connect with nature, whilst still being careful to not loose your footpath or footing altogether !
We reached our destination, in the beautiful harbour at Solva and had tea and welsh cakes mmm.
The bus (with the traveling themed seat covers) took us back to St Davids where we had parked the car. The Cathedral is staggering in it’s size and one member of our party visibly gasped when she saw it for the first time. There has been a church on this site since the 6th Century.
The following day we walked from Little Haven to Nolton Haven. Some dramatic rock formations on the beach. For all you budding Geologists, did you know that Pembrokeshire’s coast displays a greater variety of rocks and scenery than any equivalent area in Britain with over 250 miles of exposures. Quite impressive.
Large open beaches, largely deserted at this time of day, apart that is, from the odd Sphinx ! (above)
We ended up at a favourite place of mine The Druidstone, which is a haven for artists work, great food and relaxed and friendly service. My kind of place.
Who wouldn’t want a back door with a view like this ?
You can even ride horses on the beach, how great is that !
Many thanks to my friends Julian, Johnnie and Emma for a great weekend. I’d like to leave you with my version of the old and the new. Salty old seadogs with excited young scamps lol
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