The day the wols came to skull

The above is a reference to AA Milne's Winnie the Pooh stories and his affable character Owl who considered himself to be of great intelligence...which, I have no doubt he was...even though his letters get a bit mixed up!!

So, the day the owls came to school, the children were delighted and drew some lovely drawings, which they were pleased to show me on my brief lunch hour visit to the art department in which to also sketch these beautiful birds.

Owls at School

The cast list was as follows:

Boo - Eurasian Eagle Owl  - splendid and impressive looking huge brown owl with furry talons and eyes that watched everything;

Timone - Barn Owl - pretty little owl with heart-shaped face who spent a lot of time asleep - being 28 years old I think he was entitled;

Otis - White-Faced Scops Owl - tiny little grey owl with 'moustache' and huge orange eyes, constantly looking like he was about to nod off;

Ruben - Brown Wood Owl - interesting looking brown Asian owl with incredible streaky markings and very quiet and docile temperament;

Bundi - Vermiculated Eagle Owl - grey African owl with the most huge dark eyes and curious nature, spinning his head round every time my pen got anywhere near my paper!

Boo

Timone

Timone

Timone

Otis

Otis

These fantastic creatures were kindly brought to school by the Corio Raptor Care and Rehabilitation centre in Lancashire, details can be found on their website.

http://www.raptor.org.uk/

A Victorian Constitutional

As spring has finally decided to spring after a dismal winter of storms and floods, I decided to venture out of my hibernation and take a bit of a stroll to an ancient 'monument' not too far away, of course, taking sketchbook and camera. After having got over the initial awkwardness of going for a walk by myself, I hoped that getting out of the house for a while would lift my slightly melancholy spirits and make me think more positively.  I am not a walker or outdoor type and sometimes feel that living in the Lake District I am a bit of a fraud as every other person here seems to be an avid walker, sailor, mountain climber, cyclist, canoeist or general outdoor action person and I often feel lazy and inadequate in comparison.  I don't even have a dog!!

So I trekked off through the lovely and very quiet National Trust owned Eaves Wood and climbed towards the Victorian folly of the Pepperpot, built in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria's jubilee.  This very strange little creation stands on top of a limestone pavement looking out over Morecambe Bay and being a clear day, I could even see Blackpool Tower.  I sat for a while making sketches and indeed felt quite hot when the sun shone for long enough.  I was lucky enough to have the Pepperpot all to myself and at one point I did wonder where everybody was and if there was something I should know about going on! 

I had intended to go back the way I'd come for fear of getting lost!  However, throwing caution to the wind, I made a bit of a detour through a gate telling me there was stock grazing (there was not)! but I was glad I did as I eventually encountered the glorious Beech Circle walk, loving landscaped by Victorian gardeners enabling our ancestors a leafy meander with glorious views.

The Pepperpot

Beech Circle

Yes, getting out in the fresh air made me feel much better.  I must do it more often and stop worrying that I do not have the right walking boots or trainers or whatever other gear I'm supposed to have.  It really doesn't matter - I just need to get out there! 

The Kingdom of Rheged

The Rheged Discovery Centre near Penrith, Cumbria is an interesting mixture of very lovely, designer type shops, cafes serving fine and fancy food, spacious art gallery, indoor and outdoor entertainment  outlets for energetic children,  enormous cinema screen and numerous conference suites.  Being just off junction 40 of the M6 it is a very convenient stopping off place for people travelling to and from Scotland as well as a meeting place for families and friends.  Much more pleasant than your average service station!

I spent an interesting week at Rheged between Christmas and New Year with my very own little pop-up shop/art gallery.  I was beyond excited by this opportunity and I'm pleased to say it was a most excellent experience!  Although some days were very quiet, some were massively busy with lots of interesting people who seemed to genuinely like my work.  Sales weren't huge but I kind of expected that (although I did sell a bit of stuff - always a bonus)! - it was more for the chance to network and possible other opportunities that would present themselves - which indeed they did!  I took the teenagers with me one day for support and this turned out to be my most successful day - I decided they were good luck charms and they must come with me again...but this didn't work the next day!

I'm so glad I emerged from my comfort zone and took this chance - it would have been so easy just to stay at home and gorge myself on chocolates and watch films I've seen countless times before (as  is my usual function over the festive period)!!  If you came to visit me in my shop I must say a huge thank you - it was lovely to see you!  And I hope you enjoyed visiting and looking at my artwork. And of course, Thank You to Rheged!! 

Me in the Shop

Scary Helterskelter with shops below

Interior of Shop

My Little Helpers!

You may be thinking that Rheged is a strange name, which, indeed it is!  For those of you who are interested, here is a brief history lesson!

There seems to be little actual evidence of definite information, but the mysterious Kingdom of Rheged was believed to be a large ancient region covering the majority of north-west England and part of Southern Scotland possibly stretching  as far south as Chester with the capital being Caer Ligualid (Carlisle). 

The inhabitants were a mixture of Celtic tribes knows as Brigantes who spoke a Celtic dialect closely resembling Old Welsh.  It is thought that Brigant became Breged which eventually became Rheged, the language undergoing rapid changes during this time.  This old Cumbric language is now extinct but some farmers in modern day Cumbria still count sheep using terms that are derived from it.  This wild and desolate kingdom was sparsely populated with little land being of agricultural use either being moorland, rocky limestone outcrops or lowland with poor soil.  

Thought to be divided into North and South Rheged around AD535, the many northern kingdoms of Britain bickered and fought each other constantly.  The most notable ruler of the North Rheged was Urien in the late 6th century who won many victories over the Anglo-Saxon rulers of Bernica. Rheged had become a stronghold for the defence of Northern Britain and so when the kingdom eventually fell in the early 7th century, so did the North.

Ancient Sheep Counting System
YAN, TAN, TETHER, METHER, PIMP,
SETHER, HETHER, HOTHER, DOTHER, DICK,
YAN DICK, TAN TICK, TETHER DICK, METHER DICK, BUMFIT,
YAN BUMFIT, TAN BUMFIT, TETHER BUMFIT, METHER BUMFIT, GIGOT

An Advertisement

I am highly delighted and proud to be exhibiting at the Woolpack Inn, Boot in the beautiful countryside of Eskdale, for the entire month of November.  

This is a unique and welcoming pub in the western part of the Lake District which boasts excellent food and hospitality and will be hosting a wine festival from 19th - 22nd November,
which I'm sure will be fantastic!! 

woolpack.co.uk

In addition to this, I will be very busy over the next few weeks during the run up to Christmas and I would like to take this opportunity to advertise the events I will be attending.  

If you are in the area and would like to visit and offer your support to a wide array of artisans and creative people and at the same time get yourself some unique and individual gifts, we would all be highly delighted to see you!!

Christmas Farmers' Market, less than one minute off the M6 (junction 36), so if you're off on your travels stop off and have a browse at the stalls - there will, no doubt, be excellent cake!!

Rheged is one of the Lake District's major tourist attractions, just off junction 40 of the M6 and features many retail outlets, a wide range of places to eat, huge 3D cinema screen plus art gallery.

 The Christmas Market takes place over the weekend of 12th and 13th December. 

 I will be there on the Sunday with my stall and will also be there after Christmas (27th December to 3rd January) with my very own retail unit in Rheged's Winter Wonderland which features 

9m helterskelter plus other marvellous and exciting attractions and activities.

If you would like to have a look at my work my portfolio is available on my website and I would be happy to sell any of my cards and prints or original artwork to you if you would like to contact me.  In fact, if you would like to give me any feedback on my artwork or just to say 'hello' I would be extremely pleased to hear from you!

jaynelancaster.wordpress.com/gallery

jaynelancaster-artist@hotmail.com

Impressions of Blackpool

The other week, against my better judgement, I promised to take the teenagers and their friends to Blackpool Pleasure Beach.  Having not set foot in the place since I was not much more than a teenager myself, ie, an awful long time ago(!!) and my memories of it were of a noisy, scruffy, busy and quite depressing place full of alcohol fueled gangs, I was not expecting much 'pleasure' to be had on my part by the whole experience.

However, once inside the gates I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the transformation and quite extensive regeneration that the 'resort' has undergone.  At times I forgot I was in northern England and thought I was in Disneyland!!  I was expecting Mickey Mouse to pop up at any moment but instead we got Spongebob Squarepants and Shaun the Sheep!  Everywhere looked clean and fresh and the staff were verging on polite and friendly.  I may even go so far as to say I was impressed...and I'm not easily impressed by anything!

And I even went on a couple of rides (see below for proof)! ...Blackpool, it's been a pleasure!

There is a minion in there somewhere, dodging the (according to my daughter) very scary sky rockets.

It was indeed a riveting ride!!

Spongebob Squarepants riding some green seaweedy looking monstrosity, possibly masquerading as a seahorse.

People everywhere, with backpacks, queuing...

A Welsh Sketchbook

I have just spent an interesting week in Wales with a friend and children on the Mawddach Estuary overlooking the seaside town of Barmouth, during which I had lovely company throughout and met many delightful and interesting people (not to mention purple dogs and escapee rabbits).

My initial reservations and mild panic at being in the middle of nowhere with no wifi access, no mobile phone signal and no television or radio vanished within a couple of days and I was able to relax and forget about the outside world.  In fact, if I had been given the option of staying for longer I would have jumped at the chance!  (Even though the toilet had broken halfway through the week and we all had to use the outside loo (complete with original Victorian seat)! - bit like camping really).

The Blue Lake

Bridge at Arthog Falls

Cregennan Lake

Looking towards Barmouth

Mawddach Estuary

Mawddach Estuary

The Clock Tower, Mawddach Estuary

House at Mawddach Crescent

Shadow

...for simple sheep; and such are daffodils...

So, we're driving to the supermarket through a small village when I noticed some interesting looking sheep among daffodils in a small enclosure and, thinking that this made a very pretty scene, declared that I would stop on the way back and take a photograph.

A short while later, I duly stopped the car on the side of the main road, much to the disapproval of the teenagers.



'Really?!...you've stopped the car to take a photo of some sheep?!! I didn't think you were serious!!'

Me: 'Of course, look how handsome they are..there's some more round the corner, we'll stop there too...and some cows a bit further on.'

'OMG...you can NOT stop the car to photograph every single farm animal you see...we live in the country...we'll never get anywhere!!! Why are you so WEIRD??!!'

Of course, when the animals do something vaguely interesting, like the pheasant who then strutted out in front of the car, did some wild war dance, then sauntered back into the hedge, I'm fiddling with the camera, trying to stop the car rolling back down the hill and missed the shot!! Amid much laughter, I might add!

If anybody knows what breed of sheep they are, do please tell me.  I think they are Suffolks but I could be very wrong!!



For those of you wondering about the title of this post and why it doesn't make much sense, its a line from the following poem by Keats.

A Thing of Beauty

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:

Its lovliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing

A flowery band to bind us to the earth,

Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth

Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,

Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkn'd ways

Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,

Some shape of beauty moves away the pall

From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,

Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon

For simple sheep; and such are daffodils

With the green world they live in; and clear rills

That for themselves a cooling covert make

'Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,

Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:

And such too is the grandeur of the dooms

We have imagined for the mighty dead;

An endless fountain of immortal drink,

Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.

John Keats