Learning to draw botanicals ...

 

I am a life long learner, always willing to try something new because you never know if you will like it or be any good unless you try it. 

I did a morning workshop with the lovely Emma to try out glass painting with my friend Ellie & what a great time we had.  I really liked her way of supporting people on the day. While there, I noticed a set of 4 workshops for Botanical drawing & I chatted to Emma before I left. I have not spent enough time drawing & so mine are rather basic, but that is why you seek out a workshop & a tutor to guide you through the process.

Even more delightful is that the 4 workshops are held in the stunning Shrewsbury library. I shared the long history in this blog post of the 450 years of Shrewsbury library. It is a fascinating place, pop over & read the post. 

A delightful group of 10 of us ladies gathered in the Darwin room of the library for the workshops. Some took art lessons, some painting lessons & then at least half of us were like me - enthusiastic beginners,  & we skilfully learnt the basics of drawing, pen & pencil work each week, making noticeable progress through the stages until our drawings look very botanical  & pleasing. 

Emma's knowledge & skills certainly had a lot to do with our progress because she suggested improvements with great patience so that we were supported & enthusiastic about it. 

It certainly has made me happier to have a go at botanicals because of the skills we have learnt, I know there is heaps more to learn but practice is the key to learning any new skill. The muscle memory is important, remembering the skills & applying them. 

I have signed up for another 4 week course / workshop in November which will look at winter botanicals. That will be very handing in the run up to the festive season when darker days keep you inside more.

While out in the forests last weekend, I picked various leaf shapes & pressed them as a reference because you look at leaves but don't really see the shapes, veins & details you need when drawing. I pressed them in a magazine & it is a great reference to actually look at them closely. 

I have been spending time practising my drawings, it is not natural yet & I still have to refer to the drawings we did with Emma, but it is a lot quicker & more defined which is hugely satisfying. 

Several of the ladies commented that they will join another set of workshops & I hope they do because it was a lovely group of women. 

Do tell if you indulge your passions or curiosity & try something new. Thank you for stopping by, it is appreciated.

Dee 🖌️👩‍🎨✍️💐🌷🥀🌺

Home grown salad leaves

 

Some years back, I bought 3 my elho raised planters with their clear covers & they are in constant use on the patio along the back of the house. 

They were especially useful in covid times when there was a short supply of salads etc

I took out about half the soil & replaced it with fresh potting compost recently, then sprinkled various salad leaves in 2 of the planters, alongside my camomile that is still going from last season. 

The third planter has a variety of celery, spring onions & a gem squash that needs tidying up still.

They are covered to prevent snails & birds feasting on the leaves. 

I treat the young leaves as cut & come again salad leaves - just snip what I need with a kitchen scissors, wash, spin & enjoy. 

There is a great variety of leaves & flavours which I enjoy in salads & even better that they are fresh & readily available. 

Do you have anything growing? Tell all, 

Dee 👨‍🌾🪏🪴🫜

The Knife Angel statue returns to our county town of Shrewsbury

 

The Knife Angel returned to Shrewsbury from its travels around the UK & was installed in the Square where I popped past to view it today.  

It had been on display some years ago but a return visit is worthwhile. 

We visited the British Ironwork Centre last year & saw the Knife Iron between its visits to major centres around the UK.  

All of the ironwork statues are so impressive, pop past this blog post to see them. 

The Knife Angel was made from 100 000 handed in or seized knives & blades from police forces across the UK. 

It stands 27 feet tall, its hands outstretched in from of it, the coloured blades glistening across the whole statue. 

The angel wings are a juxtaposition to the glint of the blades. The expression on the face is 'WHY'

The making of the Knife Angel is set out on the website of the British Ironwork Centre where the artist Alfie Bradley explains the process of procuring the knives & the expression he wanted for the angel. 

It is a powerful anti knife message & all the cities it visits, pledge to use it to educate on the effects of knife crime. 

It is a national statue that did not receive any public funding. 

The Knife Angel serves as a memorial to those killed by knife crime & as a remembrance to their loved ones. 

I am privileged to have seen it three times, in two different towns & where it was made.  

It is a powerful statue with a sobering message & when I stopped past this morning, there were many people stopping by it to read the information & to photograph it against the traditional square. 

Thank you for stopping by, it is appreciated. 

Dee 

The charming church of Clee St Margaret with an long history ...

My regulars know how much we love the history of our many countryside churches, each so different, many Shropshire ones connected to my ancestry. 

We stopped by Clee St Margaret, a village on the high slopes of Brown Clee Hill in Shropshire. 

From the road it looked unremarkable but as soon as you approach, the history stands out. 

The chancel walls facing the path have the herringbone masonry patterns associated with ancient buildings. 

It is very distinctive on two sides, showing this part is the oldest of the church. 

  

The beautiful church information booklet mentions it is recorded in the Doomsday Book of 1086 which was a type of census recording of towns, villages, villagers, livestock etc. 

The earliest known reference to a church at Clee St Margaret was the taxation records of 1291. 

There was likely a church here from Saxon times even though no trace is visible today. 

The Chancel with its herringbone masonry could be Saxon, but the small chancel arch is Norman, with pillars that support the pointed arch. A Saxon arch would be rounded, hence the Norman dating. 

There are so many features that are considered with the dating of churches & I admit to having only a scant knowledge of them, not enough to pin point the dates. However, it is a learning process & each visit brings something else to be aware of which is useful.

The war memorial tablet is in the window - the details of the fallen of the parish are here 

The wooden South door is about 600 years old, probably Norman too. The roof of the chancel & nave has timbers dating to the 14th & 15th century, probably local timbers from the Brown Clee forests. It is a listed building 

The pulpit & chancel doors are Jacobean (1603-1625) . The carved wooden chancel doors are unique, giving the chancel area a secular feel, away from the main church. The thick walls of the chancel have an interesting shape. 

We were both taken by the serene atmosphere in this unexpectedly spiritual space. Sometimes churches that are stripped back without too many adornments hold a special space & feeling. 

We lingered here, taking in the quietness & the feeling of history, of peace and of being somewhere special. 

The church had various Victorian 'restorations' done in 1872 - 1897 but it has not distracted from this beautiful space. 

Sometimes, we find ourselves in unexpected spaces. Thank you for stopping by. It is always appreciated. 

Dee ⛪️🪦🙏🔔

A local church with interesting family memorials

 

We love visiting local churches, especially those with a connection to my maternal side who were Shropshire born before taking military pensions in The Cape in the mid 1850's. 

One such church is St Edith's at Eaton under Heywood. 

The church is modest, set under Wenlock Edge. In the Doomsday book of 1160, it was referred to as Tickelvorde, with the next door manor belonging to the Wenlock Priory. It is a grade 1 listed building, showing its importance. 

St Edith (of Wilton) - an Anglo-Saxon saint. 12th Century nave, not divided from the 13th century chancel. The tower is unusually placed on the south side, and is of about 1190. The church stands on a the hillside, and has a sloping aisle.

Eaton under Heywood church is set in a tiny village surrounded by beautiful rolling hills. 

There is an effigy to St Edith who the church is named after.

The Church at Eaton-under-Heywood is dedicated to the 7th century St Edith. The church nestles under Wenlock Edge, west of the small town of Church Stretton. A small nave, which is just the western part of the present church, was built in the 12th century. The present long chancel was built c.1200; it is the same width as the nave and has three lancets in the east wall. About the same time the tower was built against the south side of the new chancel and a new north door was made in the nave.

Special features of the Church include a tub font probably Norman (cover c. 1872), a 14th-century wooden effigy in the chancel, a late medieval chest, and a superb example of a three-decker pulpit. The plate is 18th-century and later, and the three bells date from 1615, 1622, and 1869.

The church was built for the estate that the Pinches family owned for 250 years, their memorials filling the walls, leger stones in the floor & stained glass windows at the entrance. 

The estate passed to the Buddicom family, the husband of the last daughter who had no children of her own. 

Her siblings - a brother & sister had not married & so the estate passed out of the family when the last sibling wed. 

It is distant family line of my maternal grandmother & I felt strangely grounded in that space. 

I will definitely visit it again, to be able to just sit in the space & to take in the history.

I hope you have enjoyed the visit with me, 

Dee ⛪️🔔🪦