It is truly amazing where beauty can be found. A couple of days ago we went for a walk along the towpath of the  Basingstoke Canal, between Pirbright  and Knaphill; near the Pirbright end of the walk is the sight of an old bridge on the military railway, which was dismantled and removed some years ago. When the bridge was removed, the brick work on both sides of the canal were left on site to slowly decay, simply through lack of any further interest. There is no date plaque to say when it was built, but I feel that it was probably constructed during the Edwardian or 1st. World War periods; upon looking it is obvious that even for a military railway great care and pride was taken in the brickwork. Now in its dereliction period, as it falls into decay,. the five arches on either side of the canal are beautiful. Nature is slowly taking over, salts and other minerals are pushing through the bricks and mortar. Various p[ants are using the wall as a climbing frame and the colours around and within the bricks and mortar are astounding.

Seasons are changing quickly; snowdrops and daffodils have been around for a week or so, but this morning when visiting Hatchlands we passed hundreds of cowslips. We all know how unseasonably warm it is at the moment, and to be honest as walker we like the mild weather but, we must ask, Spring half way through February, what is happening? 

Duncan

 

I love Tuesday mornings, Liz is busy in her church planning meeting, so that means that there are a few hours to just chill out, or do something of consequence, which I want to do. Well the what I want to do this morning has been to finish a woodland picture. So I feel quite relaxed and can;t be bothered to get heated up about anything. The slow, hopeful relaxation of the lock-down rules is cheering and maybe we will be able to get away this year after all; so that is good.

Now the picture today is from the Iona file which I mentioned the other day. It is of a side door into the Abbey. I remember drawing it, it was late afternoon, sunny and pleasantly warm with hardly any wind and that is rare on Iona. Bernie had wandered off somewhere or other, can't remember, but I do remember my being totally relaxed and chilled out; A little like how I feel now.

Duncan.

 

 A couple of days ago as a bit of a tidy up was taking place in the studio, an old dusty file was stumbled upon. On closer examination is was a collection of art work from a trip to Iona in the Hebrides from round about 1990/93, I'm not absolutely sure of the exact date, but there is a lot of really good stuff in there and  apart from a few of the pieces, it was not cataloged, scanned or recorded in any way. We are talking of about 40/50 inks, a few water colours, 5 infra red photos, 6/7 crayon landscapes, small number of 300 degree photographs and a whole pile of colour photographs. It took two days solid to do the scanning, cataloging after which came the persevering of the work in acid free archival books; quite a job and took a couple of days hard work. So now the everything is sorted the photos have be rejigged into a controlled space and the work fits very well into a single volume. I must write a book about how to compress a hundred plus images into a fifty four page book, giving everything its own page. Sounds impossible, but you can cheat a little.

Above is water colour of a gorgeous bay to the north east of Iona called, "The white strand of the monks". It's a place where a massacre of the abbey monks by the Vikings took place around about 700 AD.This amazing island called Iona is all about the Christian history and faith; it is full to overflowing with vivid history. I love the place. It would be nice to return one day.

woodland 28

There is light in the very far end of the tunnel, a few hopeful signs are appearing of a future normality, whatever form that normality may take. 

The other day I had a zoom meeting with my friends in Epsom, where I work as the residential artist with Epsom LMLMM Week, or Epsom mental health week, I have been working with them for, I think this year will be number eight and every year has been a super experience. Last year the whole conference was digital and that in itself was interesting and slightly challenging; what format we will take on this year is still to be seen, but we are going to happen. That's good

It is now almost three weeks since we had our first vaccination, so that means that resistance to the virus is rising in our bodies. Its not the whole answer but it is a start. Sadly foreign travel will remain restricted for some time to come, as each area and country will be different, according to the state of the vaccination program in that particular region, as conquering this virus is and will remain to a large extent dependent upon immunization. I feel that breaks away in this country are not too far away, maybe late summer; lets see what happens. Vaccination will almost certainly be required for foreign travel, as in the future it probably will also be a requirement for certain caring type jobs. Things will be different. But we are getting there. So try to remain optimistic as to the future. Patience is hard, hold on; it will happen.

The above ink is an experimental piece, of using hard contrasts, to show mass areas of, in this case branches. The idea needs working on and developing and at this point is rather exciting. I was talking to a friend about this style of work on the phone last night. I love talk, as to talk with  friends is so encouraging. 

The doorbell just rang and two old friends were outside. Before I get into trouble, I am not referring to their ages but rather their longstanding friendship! With proper distancing we had a lovely natter. That is so healthy and uplifting; yes, things ares lowly getting better.

Duncan

 Winchester 9

 I love the way in which the English language adapts and changes. After all our speech is a mongrelised adaptation of Nordic, Germanic, Frankish, Latin, Spanish and a few more as well.  Now there appear to be two new phases which have come into our speech during this lock-down. 

The first is about our use of zoom and when another person can't be heard, then we hear the phase, "Take yourself of mute". I think that probably that has been said to us all by now. That is beginning to be used to say, speak up a little because I cant hear you,

The second phase is used when out walking and we are moving position on the pavement to allow correct distancing as we pass by others. Sometimes we both move to the same side, smile then we both move to the other side, laugh and one then stands still will the other moves to one side. This is becoming known as the "Covis Dance". 

I wonder what other phases will appear. Such as when we dither and change our minds, will that become known as a "Blank Boris Moment". Anybody got any other suggestions.

The above picture was painted yesterday from a sketch drawn in Winchester a few years ago. Nice day when we  to see my sister in law. pity about the rain.

Oh well must go out for a walk. Duncan

 Tuesday 2nd February

France Viviers 13

The car sounded unhappy on Friday, so off the hospital it went. Its nice to have it back fixed and running properly, its also good to know a good honest and reliable ;local garage. Price wasn't to bad either.Than k you Fields.

A new strain of the virus is rearing its ugly head and it is very close to where we live. The government is querying as to whether the vaccination is fully effective against this new viral mutation. To be honest it is a little worrying, but, we are living correctly and following the rules, so unless we are very unlucky, we should be alright. Talking about the virus, I heard on the news that Sir Captain Tom has died from it. What a super chap he was and a wonderful example to us all. His daughter Hannah seemed to be a nice lady, she will be very sad tonight.

We all need things to cheer us up on occasion, the above image is from that superb trip we did on the river Rhone a few years ago. This hill top village was an amazing warren of streets, yards and arches. We only had a few hours to explore; I would have loved a month or two in the slightly special maze like village. When on a tour there is a need to work at the speed of the tour operator and that usually means that you need to be able to work fast.

Duncan