Bluebell Picture in Roslin Park video

Later on this afternoon  I had very lovely news. Some of my photographs including the above one featuring bluebells in Roslin park have been featured in one of their videos to publicise the park and will soon be on the Roslynn Chapel website too. Here is the link to the video on YouTube.  I must admit I'm quite proud. The whole video is a beautiful representation of that wonderful place. Spot my name in the credits of the video.

 Already I'm looking forward to the bluebell time this year.

Having fun with the gelli plate

I should really have said plates in the title as a friend came over this morning to be introduced to gelli plate printing, so I had two plates out as well as a selection of papers and fabric. My papers were cut to exact sizes as they will be used to produce another folding book. It was fun seeing how someone else uses colours and as a result I even tried to be a bit more subdued in my colour usage too. But it's very difficult to go against your own nature and very soon I grabbed the brightest acrylics again. You can see stacks of the resulting papers above and below.

We used a lot of different mark making tools such as stamps, stencils (almost all from Stencilgirl) as well as Catalyst tools, old thread spools, top of bottles etc.

Both of us were very much into circles!

Beneath an example of one of my more subtle colour schemes and I have to say I do like what I have produced here.

But the best page of the session was this final one below.The colours just sing and it has ended up a wonderful mix of different patterns.

It was a very successful morning. I have the feeling that someone might well invest in a gelli plate very soon and we made an amazing amount of pages and fabric in a very short amount of time. That's what I love most about this method of printing.

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Impressions of the day

Today Lenna and I visited both the American Impressionists exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and Rosslyn Chapel. Although it had been permitted to take photos during my previous visit to the Impressionists today we were told not to, so instead I pictured the ceiling of the coffee shop there and also the very colourful toilets as seen below.

After enjoying our time there we made our way to Rosslyn Chapel as I really wanted Lenna to see this iconic chapel with its astonishing carvings.

Many photographs were taken, although non inside as again this is not allowed. I vouched not to take too many pictures but could not resist a few!

Such as this Green Man!

And this magnificent entrance way.

We walked to Rosslyn Castle too with its stunning views of the environments.

And as we had to pass the graveyard on our way it seemed silly not to capture that too once again.
I apologize for keeping my words short and sharp. We have no broadband through our phone and both Lenna and I have to use the satellite connection, which has limited usage and might have to do me if the other one doesn't return in the near future. Another engineer might come tomorrow, fingers crossed, not that they seem to do much good.

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Roslin Glen

   

After seeing many photographs on the Blipfoto site featuring bluebells and wild garlic I felt a deep desire to see them for myself. So today we decided to celebrate the start of summer by a visit to Roslin Glen country park. This park is situated in the valley of the river North Esk, below Rosslyn Castle and the now famous Rosslyn Chapel. The valley was once home to a rich industrial landscape with gunpowder mills and a carpet factory both utilizing the fast streaming water. That was in the past though and nature has now reclaimed this area which is rich in flora and fauna. It might look above like a gentle stroll but that is deceptive.

Most of the paths involve a fair amount of scrambling and it's very up and down. Fortunately it has been dry for quite some time so unlike our previous visits there was no mud. Just as well as I lay on the ground for quite a few of the pictures.

We came for the bluebells but first we stumbled on the endless white carpet of wild garlic, easily identified by the accompanying smell. 

Close up the details of the tiny flowers (only about 1/2") are delightful. The official name for flower is Allium Ursinum or Ramsons, but I have always called it wild garlic.

The park is managed but mostly the policy is to let nature do it's own thing. Trees are left where they have fallen and they are soon reclaimed by moss and lichen.

Ferns grow abundantly here (due to the dampness, no doubt) and their fresh fronds were a beautiful addition to the white as well as the blue that had also started to appear.

And then we were in the bluebell part of the woods. The quotation "And like a skylit water stood, the bluebells in the azured wood" by A. E Houseman couldn't help but come to mind. And after coming home I also discovered in my The Romantic Language of Flowers book that "it is said that if you wade through a carpet of bluebells, you will disturb spells that fairies have hung on the bluebell flowers and this may bring bad luck". We were very careful!

It's interesting to see how bluebells (Endymium nonscriptus) go from what you can see above

 to developing their dangling bells.

We also came across these delightful little flowers. Sadly I have no idea what this might be (and any suggestions are welcome!).  It was a large scrub and the leaves look very much like rhododendron leaves but it's definitely not that. The flowers looked at together are like little brushes. Must have a good look in my plant encyclopaedia.

Although we tried to spot Rosslyn Chapel from below in the valley looking up only the roof of the new visitors's centre can be seen. However Rosslyn Castle is a large presence in the glen and can be seen from a variety of spots. This was the best view of it through the trees. You can more pictures of the castle on a previous blog post here.

It must have been a very ominous presence in days gone by, sitting as it does on an outcrop of rock and towering over the entire river valley. Can you imagine the toil it must have taken to build it in such a place more or less with bare hands? Somehow seeing the stones of all different shapes and sizes and arranged all higgledy piggledy brought that home to me so well. The hands that made it have left their mark and no doubt those long ago workmen had no idea that their castle would still be standing proud after all the many centuries. Did they smell the wild garlic and think about the bluebell fairies? It might be a romantic notion but I think they did. We humans have always had an eye for nature's beauty.

Roslin Castle and Graveyard

We went off today for a walk in Roslin Glen where the main attraction is the partly ruined Roslin Castle (sometimes also spelled Rosslyn as per the nearby Rosslyn Chapel)

The castle itself dates back to the 14th Century when it was build by Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney. Amazingly it's still in the hands of the same family, now belonging to the present Earl of Rosslyn who is a descendant of the Sinclair family. You approach the castle via a very high  bridge over the glen below, but it is also possible to walk beneath this and I have added John to the picture in order to show you the scale of the arch underneath the bridge. This gives you a good idea of just how tall the entire ruins are.

This is taken after going underneath the arch and turning right where you walk along one of the sides of the castle and it's clear to see that vegetation is slowly conquering the building.

 It's climbing ever higher turning the walls slowly green.

But amazingly if you look carefully you can see that the top windows belong to a habitable residence. This east top side was restored in the eighties and if you're so inclined you can rent it as a holiday home. I personally would be ever so slightly worried about resting on the ruins of past centuries. I've no idea if there is still access to the lower half and if so whether or not it's safe to enter and explore. It would be fascinating to get in there and see what remains of this castle's past glories.
However judging from the state of the windows in the lower half you would have to be prepared to fight your way through many cobwebs, vegetation and who knows what other horrors. Still I would be prepared to do so in order to see the interior.

On our way back out of the Glen we passed Roslin graveyard and as most of you will know by now I can't make my way past a graveyard without at least having a quick look.  There aren't many very old gravestones in Roslin and I promised myself to return one day by myself to investigate them further but in the meantime I spotted the above 19th Century angel. She too is in danger of disappearing under overhanging trees and ivy and that would be a shame as she is very lovely indeed. You can see her face in detail at the top of the post (also my blip for today).

This is one of the older gravestones (18th Century) with elaborate decorations as you can see, in the classical style. As ever my main interest was in the detail, such as seen below.

Full of Beauty

The world is full of beauty. Yes, I know that it's also full of much that is ugly, undesirable or even outright evil, most of it man made.  I'm trying to wean myself off the worst of my news junkie addiction as I felt it was beginning to influence my view of the world but that doesn't mean I'm not aware of what is going on.

However in my own life I try to keep my artistic well filled with inspiration and for me that inspiration comes from beauty, made by both man and mother nature. And this weekend was full of beautiful experiences.

To begin with I and a friend went to a concert by Voskresenije (Resurrection), a vocal ensemble from St. Petersburg. They sang a mix of sacred music and folk songs. The ensemble consisted of 8 people (4 female and 4 male) without any musical accompaniment and their voices filled the chapel.

The music would have been wondrous in any environment but to have it performed in Rosslynn Chapel was a unique experience. To be able to look at a place steeped in history, decorated with the most stupendous carvings and with the spirit of ages past pervading the aisles while listening to the unutterable beauty of the human voice at its best was beyond description. It was an evening that will live on in my memory for many years to come. The chapel was lighted entirely by candlelight and to walk up to it and see the light flickering through the stained glass windows was magical.

Sadly there is now a No Photography rule within the Chapel so I can't show you any actual pictures from last night but before the rule came into force some years back I did go and fill an entire camera memory card with photographs. Sadly it was my previous camera so the resolution is not as good as I could have wished for but it gives you a taste of the building. 

Then today John and I went to Dawyck to savour the last of the autumn colours. Some of the trees have started to loose theirs but others are still putting on the most fabulous show. Some of the trees appear to be on fire!

Sadly this time there were no blue skies to accompany the show but it was still an absolute feast for the eyes.

After all that I feel filled with beauty and keen to go back to try and produce my own in the studio in the coming week!

A day out with Laura

As promised a return to the trip Laura McCabe and I made to both Rosslyn Chapel and Melrose Abbey. And by the way if you want to see us during the beading days you can admire pictures on The Bead Shop Scotland Facebook page here! I was so lucky to get the Saturday too as someone had cancelled. Laura had Friday off from teaching and it seemed such a shame that she was not seeing a lot of Scotland. I know myself that very often you go and teach somewhere but you don't have time to see the outside world much. But I've also been lucky enough for people at various venues to take me out and about, which is such a treat. So I took Laura for a day out in Scotland, visiting first Rosslyn Chapel (no photography inside allowed anymore, but they did have a DVD as well as an image CD for sale!) and then Melrose Abbey (seen above in all it's glory)

It's such a pleasure and one I don't get to indulge in too often, to go around with a fellow artist and one that is so completely on the same wavelength. I felt relaxed enough to just open my studio door to Laura during a brief pit stop at home for some lunch, in between Rosslyn and Melrose, without even considering the state it might be in since I closed the door last. Most artists simply expect the mess as they know that's how we work best. And she also shared my taste for graveyards! Above one of the stones in Melrose Abbey graveyard, where nature is fighting a winning battle!

We both also merrily clicked away to store images of the Abbey on our cameras for future inspiration!

We were so lucky with the weather. It rained during most of our visit to Rosslyn Chapel but that didn't matter as we were inside. By the time we reached Melrose the weather had brightened up considerably as you can see on the above pictures. It made a great play of sunshine and shadow through all the window arches. We also made it all the way up the winding spiral staircase to see the views over all the surrounding countryside. You can see more pictures on my previous blog post about the Abbey.

Finally this piece of sculpture which can be found in the small museum next to Melrose Abbey where Laura and I were the only visitors and which provided us with examples of tiled floors originally found in the grounds of the Abbey as well as pieces of sculpture that were once a part of the building. This one, a human face with blood suckers at the eyes and mouth, looked more pagan than religious to me, but how truely stunning that carving is, specially considering the primitive tools at the disposal of those medieval stonemasons.

I'm already looking forward to Laura's return to Scotland next year, but in the meantime I've made sure I have enough beading kits to keep me going for the foreseeable future!

Out and about with Susan

The last few days have passed in a whirlwind of activity as Susan, a fellow quilter, blipper and blogger came to stay. She is visiting the U.K. during a once-in-a-lifetime trip and we met up in Peebles on the 11st. First of all we popped into my exhibition when we were there (I also discovered one of my large quilts has been sold!). Then home to collect John and on to Rosslyn Chapel. Always one of my favourites, not just for the amazing in - and outside of the chapel itself but also for the beauty of its surroundings in Roslin Glen.

Thanks to John's observational powers we even spotted a deer in the undergrowth although not on camera. No matter, the picture above shows how gorgeous it is in Roslin Glen and as you can see even the weather was cooperating with lovely sunshine. Other creatures were easier to picture as they are stone! I love the gargoyles but the one at the top of the blog was my favourite and both Susan and I crept into a fence-off area to capture it.

The next day we went to Edinburgh, did a bus tour through the city, wandered around the Royal Mile, went into St Giles church and climbed up as far as the castle. Seeing the city through the eyes of someone else awakened me anew to the treasures to be found there and once again I resolved to go more often and visit more of them on a regular basis.

And then it was time for Susan to leave already. We left together in two separate cars this morning to that I could guide her to the A1 to take her way down South, but sadly lost her on the roundabout joining the Edinburgh by-pass. I could only go on and it took me ages to turn around and make my way back on the other carriage way. I kept a sharp eye out on the opposite road and spotted her (I'm almost certain it was her!) in her big, black car wearing a turquoise top. And we've now heard from her with the news that she's made it safely to York where she will enjoy some more sight- seeing before making her way to Gatwick and hence to Florida on Monday. So the last picture (shown above) I took on my way back home again for Susan to remember the Pentland Hills by!