Jar of Moles

Not a terribly familiar sight on your average grocery shelf, nor even in the most fancy deli…… this jar of pickled subterranean tunnellers is one of the star pieces at the wonderful Grant Museum in London. It is part of the University of London, near Euston Square, and houses some really extraordinary zoological specimens and artefacts.

These lovely moles and some hand made glass replicas of marine creatures like an Octopus and Sea Slugs were amongst my favourites. Its a must and a very educational way of passing an idle afternoon.

Glass! Handle with care!

'dem bones!

wee manatee

Wormy things

Anyway I spent a very enjoyable afternoon/evening with good friend Tanya at the Museum, followed by an essential  tea-stop, then on to the Wellcome Centre’s excellent exhibition on Death(!) ..the Otto Dix suite of etchings are very powerful, and concluded with a wee drinky and light supper in a hidden away watering hole in Kings Cross. Perfecto!

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Finished my Plate Lithography course at City Lit, I was only one of three who finished all the colour stages, hard work but so rewarding. Even if the final result, ie. my artwork is by no means my best work …being over drawn and far from subtle, I do feel pleased with the learning experience and my introduction into the exciting process.

The results

Now back at City Lit doing more Collography. Keeps me off the streets!!

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They’re here! The Waxwings have come to North London! At last I join the party – the party that is the 2012/13  bumper Waxwing Winter ! Found the Scandinavian beauties high in a poplar tree by the Sanctuary pond on Hampstead Heath. A flock of nine, they sat trilling and quietly preening or nibbling buds against a glorious clear blue sky. It was Valentine’s day and such a treat. Better than a bunch of roses and box of chocs any day.

Although nowhere near as close an encounter as my first experience of Waxwings in February 2011, (* see blog post ) when I happened upon them in my neighbourhood, feasting off berries in a front garden, when they were only a few metres away, this was a most welcome and happy sight. I went home and started an ipad sketch of my sighting, composed from memory. Pic included below, made with the Brushes app.

Hampstead lovelies

At the beginning of the month I started to learn Lithography, at the excellent City Lit Printroom, under the expert guidance of tutor Simon Burder. We are doing plate lithography and I’m hooked. I’ve always had a sense that it might suit me, lithography being so painterly and reliant on the pure pleasure of drawing and mark making.

We began with an experiment with kitchen litho, using aluminium foil and coca cola! Yes indeed, and it worked quite well. I did a messy abstract in class and a subsequent ones at home, which were half decent. Pics below:

Cola litho

Fungi of course!

Cola litho no.2

I had my third class last week and printed my first ever litho print, rather exciting! It is unbelievably complicated, with the different stages of chemical process but I’m not put off. Not yet anyway! For my first piece, I perhaps would like to have done a more considered drawing with finer lines and I certainly would have done more fluid washy ink areas, but awkward practicalities of sharing and not having easy access to the wash ‘tusche’ ink in the class, meant I rather over egged the litho crayon drawing. Still its only one’s first effort and I can already see from my print what I would like to explore more, edit and do better.

I did my drawing of fungi from life, taking an assortment of rather lovely wild specimens purchased from my local grocers and took them into the studio. I drew straight onto the plate. I was the only person in the class to do so, and bring a live subject in! Hence the rather ‘lively’ and admittedly ‘crude’ drawing I delivered! I did however get to eat them the next day, they were very delicious sauteed in butter with pasta.

First litho

The Plate

After a modest snowfall on friday and saturday the big stuff came on sunday, when it snowed consistently all day. A flock of  Scandinavian Fieldfare flew over the house and headed northwest, Hampstead direction. So the following day I set off to explore the snowy heath and hopefully find some interesting birds. The Fieldfare were indeed present, crossing the white icy slopes and woods of the heath, audibly alarmed at the amount of people around and the lack of greenery. I saw the usual flocks of Goldfinches, a few Greenfinches, assortment of tits, Treecreeper, Nuthatches and woodpeckers a plenty. Oh and some wonderfully resounding drumming from one of the Greater Spotted. No sign of the Kingfisher I often see on the various ponds or the Grey wagtail of the previous week and missed the many Siskens that have been present.

What I did see was several sightings of  Sparrowhawks, a couple soaring high and pestered by crows, another careering through the hedgerows and wooded dells. One sly male flew right into the canopy of young beech trees i was standing under and rested on a branch only 7 or 8 foot above my head. Got a great view of his golden eye and his long skinny yellow legs!

The scenes from the Heath, Monday January 21st.

The Lido

Parliament Hill

Snow in woods

Men's Bathing Pond

Snowman on Poop bin

Very Philip Larkin

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Back home and sorting through ‘stuff ‘ amidst old sketchbooks and diaries I found a couple of 1987 Berlin bits, a very interesting DDR ticket allowing entry to the Fernsehturm, an Autumn guide to the Art Galleries of that year and a rather rough sketch of the station at Friedrichstrasse where Jo and I, as students had accidently taken a train across to the East and expected to be let out. I had tried to take a photograph of the impressive station and got shouted at by armed DDR soldiers on the gantry way above the entrance. Bit scary! We were sent back west, as it we did not have our passports!

I include a picture of the 1987 souvenirs below, followed by the modern day ticket to enter the Fernsehturm. Bit of a change in price and currency!!

Sketchbook scribble 1987

Terrible perspective! Please excuse, I was only young.

Then and now

A trip to Wicken Fen and the Cambridgeshire lowlands started my birdwatching ventures for 2013. We were lucky  with abnormally mild temperatures, dry and occasionally sunny weather for our few days there, but thank god for our wellies! Normal walking boots were a no-no.

The reason to return to Wicken Fen after our first visit back in October, was to witness a very special phenomenon that only occurs in the peak winter months… the roosting of the extremely rare, but stunning raptors, the Hen Harriers. After spying  a female ‘Ring Tail‘ at Cley marshes back in the Autumn, which caused great commotion in the hide, I knew I had to get better acquainted with this superb bird of prey.

Wicken Fen did not disappoint. We arrived for our first exploration of the outer perimeter of the Fen about half two, and soon began to enjoy the ornithological bounty the winter months bring to the area. A Jack Snipe was spotted flying across our path, huge roosts of Wigeon, Teal, Lapwings and Blackheaded gulls created a thronging backdrop of noise, Little Egrets were in every lagoon and several Marsh Harriers circled the wetlands below them. Cetti’s warblers occasionally rang out their explosive call from the winter reedbeds along with the piggy squeal of the secretive Water Rail.  As the sun slipped lower on the horizon huge murmerations of Starlings filled the sky, one large flock swooped low ever our path, the collective sound of the swoosh and so many wings beating was amazing and strangely moving.

From the dense tangle of Hawthorn shrubs came the loud gurgling and throaty alarm calls of dozens of Fieldfare, my first sighting of my favourite thrush this winter. Flocks of them  gathered from the surrounding meadows up into the tall trees bordering the main fen. We then spotted a Barn Owl hovering low over the same meadow, always a treat to see. As we continued on this exciting start of the evening roost we were blown away by our first sighting of a steely grey male Hen Harrier!! I nearly lost my footing in the deep muddy troughed trail, as i excitedly tried to follow the view, as the bird silently glided across the path ahead. It was maginificent. Then it was gone. We were happy.

Day two on Wicken Fen, mud caked walking boots abandonned, wellied up, armed with flasks of hot tea and a couple of pastries, we set out for the serious business of sitting out the afternoon and incoming dusk at the top of the Tower Hide, the number one observation spot for the show of the Hen Harrier roost.

Inside the Hide

Looking out from the front of the hide over the main fen and the stage for the roosting Harriers.

View from the back of the hide

Rear view

Same view photographed back in October 2012

Autumn

Its more beautiful in winter I think! Anyway we started with three in the hide, then we were four and then joined by two more! Cozy indeed and certainly not alot of room to swing a Goldcrest, not that any of us would of course! The Hen harrier drama began quite early with a lone female coming in from the southeast corner, gliding across the sedge and reeds to nestle down for an early night. That was half three. Over the next hour we were treated to the incoming spectacle of three more females scanning the fen for the perfect bed for the night then after circling, the birds would drop and disappear from view. The same birds occasionally rose again and had another survey of the reedbeds and settled again. One of the females dropped to chase out a splendid male bird which must have been hiding there long before we arrived. This was the first male of the day, so rather thrilling and then came another gliding in from the west, he circled several times coming close to the hide, affording us fantastic views, before retreating and dropping down out of sight. I was sooo chuffed! And i think its fair to say all of us, huddled in the rickety wooden hide on stilts were grinning like idiots at the end!

I must mention that whilst waiting and watching the Hen Harriers we were treated to two Barn Owls hunting the edges of the same fen bed. We saw them hovering and dropping to catch prey and even having uncomfortable run-ins with the incoming harriers! One of the owls flew close by the hide. Cool. Also seen from the hide were a pair of Bullfinches moving around the shrubbery below, a flock of Fieldfare who came to roost in the hedge below were dramatically chased out by a darting female Sparrowhawk. An exceptional birding experience I would say.

The next day we returned to Wicken Fen to the outer surrounding fields and farmed areas in search of the Short Eared Owls that frequent the area. We did not have to wait long before we spotted one, being harrassed by a crow. This was a first for me, so again …big smiles! We carried on our walk around the muddy paths and passes around the fenland. Unfortunately we did not view the Short Eared again, which was a bit disappointing, but on the scrubby path back to the car we met a pair of lovely Redpolls feeding on the seed heads of the path’s border. Pretty birds.

The following day the fog and mist descended, visibility was atrocious. We still went out and attempted to find the Short Eared Owls again, despite not being able to see much further than a few yards ahead. A forlorn mission, but incredibly atmospheric and spooky in the dense mist. We abandoned our search and drove on to Ely to visit the cathedral and have lunch.

No owl to be seen

Lost in fog

Ely impressive

At the beginning of November I re-visited the archives at Tring, where curator Hein Van Grouw kindly provided me with study time and specimens to make accurate drawings and photos for my Hoopoe commission.

..a bird in the hand....

My watercolour sketches:

After several sessions at the London Print Studio, and a bit of  a wrangle in the newly re-arranged Screenprinting dept, (ho hummm..) the Hoopoe is finished!

Hoopoe Screenprint

Hoopoe Bird

Screenprint 70x50cm

This was a rather a big deal, as I had not returned to Berlin since 1989 when I was a young art student and the Wall still stood. The art college trip had a very profound impact on me. It was an icy, cold October, two weeks before the Wall came down. I had never before experienced cold like it! A special time, that left such a lasting impression of an extraordinary city, steeped in so much traumatic political and social upheaval. It was in parts, like a living document of recent history, bombed out ruins and vast flattened areas still existed, bullet hole puckered buildings brought to life the horror and strife of the Second World War. We witnessed first hand, the legacy of an occupied, divided city in the brutal reality of the wall, being able to experience the stark difference between East and West.

The art and the various museums were of course exceptional, and that’s what we were there for, guided by our long suffering Art History lecturer, the late August Wiedmann, an exile and expert in the German Modernist era. Artwise it was wonderful, but it was also so much more. Memorable moments included filing through strict passport control at Checkpoint Charlie, sharing lunch in a huge communist canteen with the East Berliners, riding the long escalators and wandering around the vast halls of the Palast der Republik, (now demolished) with its East German insignia, the Hammer and Dividers, the centrepiece in the bronzed glass facade and viewing the whole city at dusk from atop the iconic Fernsehturm Tower.

So returning after 23 years to a reunified city was a big deal. So much change and still changing, Berlin is a city almost incomparable in its ability to rise from the ashes, the spilt blood, the lives suppressed, to rebuild and reassert itself in bold, strident steps into the 21st century.

I was of course quite disorientated for the first day or so, not knowing whether I was in former East or West, an irrevelant issue in 2012, but it had been my formative imprint and understanding of the city. There was much to recognise and obviously so much bewilderingly new, alongside ongoing rebuilding, sky high cranes and construction sites everywhere.

Despite the new face, its smart new affluent confidence and the friendlier open perimeters, Berlin for me, still retains its unique character. It is a noble, elegant city that carries its historical legacy, scars and shame in its soil, bricks and mortar, alongside a brash defiance and anarchic vigour, in its boundless ability to embrace momentous upheaval and reinvention. I think it is a city for artists, where historical gravitas collides with unbridled creative expression in all aspects of its cultural life.

Der Mauer

I could witter on about Berlin for pages, but I will spare you,(as those who know me well….”don’t get her started on Berlin.!!”) so here are a few photos instead!

The Fernsehturm

Former East quarter Mitte

A visit to the old Natural History Museum with some very contemporary exhibits:

Mr Hirst eat your heart out!

Feeling a bit flat

Pickled Hammerhead anyone?

How to stuff a Squirrel

Birdies!

And a rather stunning exhibition on feathers:

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Back in London I get ready for the next printmaking exhibition:

Proof Perfect, an exhibition with the Printmakers Council, brought together an exciting and diverse collection of small prints,  at the lovely Framers Gallery on Windmill Street. I showed Heart of the Matter, a collograph etching with screen print and dye. My screenprint Stripe with Plumbirds features on the invite card, was one of my three prints included in the browser. The opening private view was packed, thanks to the friends who came along for what was a very enjoyable, lively evening!

Stripe with Plumbirds

Screenprint

Durer's Tree

Screenprint

On the way up stopped off at Dunwich Heath, Suffolk to check out a favourite birding spot. We did well and amongst the usual Green Woodpeckers, Kestrels, charms of Goldfinches, Linnets we spotted possible Twite, one Whinchat, several Stonechat and 4 Dartford Warblers and a low hunting Peregrine Falcon.

At Blakeney Point, Norfolk we targeted the sea, the beach shingle, the coastal flats and water meadows and at Cley Marshes the deep reedbeds and beach/dune area.

Blakeney Point – sun set glowing on the bog grasses and time to watch the resident Barn Owl hunting as the light fades.

Birding at Cley Marshes:

A spot of sea-watching revealed Gannets mostly juvenile, Guillemots, a Arctic Skua, a Great Northern Diver , Red Throated Diver and possibly a Little Auk.

Along the beach and shingle we saw Goldfinches, Skylarks and Little Egrets playing with crabs, very white Pied Wagtails, Ringed Plovers, Dunlin, and around the whole nature reserve Curlews, Black-tailed Godwit, Spotted Redshank, Whimbrel, Lapwings, Marsh Harriers and fantastic views of flocking Bearded Reedlings, all very restless and flitting about in gangs, rising up into air and calling, all very vocal and showing well. It was a pleasure to be able to see these little treasures without much effort and to spot them repeatedly on the main path to the beach.

From the hides we saw Snipe, Shoveler, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Ruff and best of all, the star sighting, a ‘Ringtail’ - a female Hen Harrier hunting low over the reeds. My first!

Seal watching at Blakeney Point

Inquisitive seals

The Beach at Holt

The Beach

Into the woods

Down on the ground

Amethyst Deceiver

On the journey home stopped off at Wicken Fen, the country’s oldest Nature Reserve

Working water pump

The Boardwalk

We didn’t see very much, it was all a bit quiet apart from a few herons, the calls of a few Cetti Warblers and a single Marsh Harrier on the horizon. We did though discover a pair of Stonechats in vegetation in one of the ditches surrounding the main fen. Bit unexpected.

Empty Nest