Spinnaker Tower Skyline

Here is a photo I took of the Spiniker Tower from Southsea Common,
the photo was taken a couple of weeks ago
Here is the link to the offical site of the Tower

Reading: The Angry Tide by Winston Graham

My current fiction reading is The Angry Tide by Winston Graham. The seventh in his Poldark series. I have always said I would not read them whilst the television series was on and as I saw them advertised in a 3 for 2 offer at Watersone's on I thought now is the time!. Did not have to buy any because they are already at home! My Father was quite keen on them at one stage!
There is a interesting site here
The site gives a good background to the Author and Cornwall.

Great Western Railway

This site is of interest because of the Cornish Connection and in particular note the railway poster shing Cornwall and Italy
It ties in with the on going Cornish Theme. Considering when it was first shown , it shows awarness that if Holidaymakers whent abroad they were not visiting Cornwall.

GARSTIN COX A Cornish Artist (1892-1933)

A interesting artist who studied at Camborne Art School. Newlyn and St Ives. His main prefrence seems to have been for woodland scenes with a glimpses of the sea. four of his works were shown at the Royal academy and he had two shown at the Walker Gallery Liverpool
Information taken from a card from the Bucentaur Gallery





Here
Here
Here
Here
This investigation was started by comming a across a old greetings card

Swiss Coach Holiday Part Three

Continuing the Swiss Coach Holiday with Sketches, The actual village we stayed at was Wildhaus
This was a lovely village high in the mountains,
The highlight of the tour was the Glacier Express
Some of the sketches were done as the train wa going along

Swiss Coach Holiday Part Two

This post continues the Swiss coach Tour



These sketches are of Lake Constance and one of near to the village where the hotel was which was in the mountains.
the lake trip was very interesting and there is more info abot lake constance here

Swiss Coach Holiday Part One

As I am in a Mountain mood, I though I would show my sketckbook from my visit to Switerland in 2000. I will show some more next post

To The Mountains

I am having a montain fling at the moment, just to confuse you!

Spanish Theme Continued

Three more Spanish motif's which are the thing at the moment, it all started with the lamp at Chichester and I suppose subconsciously I rememberd a favourite theme.

Spanish Theme

This a Spanish theme which i have done in the past but thought I might do some more,
I think you can just make out the cat, and of course note the lamp,

Lamp at Chichester

I was quite pleased with the result after cropping this photo, not quite like Italian lamps or even Spanish. i had quite a thing about Mediteranian Lamps a few years back!

My Kind Of Day

My Kind of Day today has been out and about,
first along to Chichester and on the way back took a interesting anal shot from the train interesting how the shape of the photo changes the perspective of the Pylon.
Then walked to langstone and there were a few people around because it was a nice sunny afternoon, The standing under the tree....... the panoramic shot which i cropped from a normal photo is of Warblington Castle.

John Piper and Chichester

John Piper had connections with Chichester, perhaps his best known was the tapestry
for Chichester Cathedral
John Piper also had a strong liking for stained glass and this is represented at Chichester as well.
There is a lovely painting of Chichester Cathedral from The Deanery and this was done in 1975 and the Photo I took this afternoon was from about the same spot

Two Sketches

Today there are two sketches for you, one of my cornish ones and one of Chichester Cathedral, from the Bishops Garden (which was done this afternoon)

'Returning Home'

I have now straightend out the horizon a bit more madethe mount look a bit greener/yellowey . i think it still works.

St Michaels Mount and Lighthouse at Newlyn

This shows further developments, I have made it look slightly less stormy and i quite like the fuzziness of it at the moment. the horizon still slopes down too much but it still has potential. the boat is still not perfect. but that can be improved. At the moment it still looks to much like a funnel comming out of the middle.

A Tour of West Cornwall

Continuing with the tour of West Cornwall at the moment, I have dragged out some old Photos, these were taken during a painting holiday. with Bernard Evans at Newlyn, these were the holidays that inspired me to paint.
The first photo from left to right, shows the cliffs at Cadwith
This is a really nice area and the cliffs are nice to walk around as far as I remember.
The middle photo shows the church at Paul and hereif you like old churches this is the place, having a tall tower means that it dominates the landscape for miles around and you can see it from Mounts Bay.
the end photo shows bernard Evans painting (I think) his favourite subject a boat.

Missing Icons are back!

I am so excited that i just had to do a quick post. My icon thingies are back! it should hopefully now mean I cannow upload a photo and do a link on the same browser,
The reason for all this excitment was that I have just downloaded Firefox three.
By the way has anyone else noticed the lack of those silly letters you have to copy before you can send a comment, they seemed to have dissapeared......

Lamorna links

As I am in the Larmona area blog wise I thought I would put up a few links which work..friendsofminack.org.uk
was the one mentioned in the previuse post so to make it easier here it is again.-What-price-solitude.htm
this gives a interesting account of the background, to Derek's and Jeannie"s story

Independent, The (London)

A further summary of Derek Tangye appears in the above
Lamorna_
A map and further details.

"A Gull on the Roof" by Derek Tangye

I have recently been reading a book by Derek Tangye which was first published by Michael Joseph in 1961. My edition is a paperback one printed by new English library, for the grand price of 40p(!), i notice I have put the date I brought it and it is in April1975.
The reason why I am posting this is just to say that the Derek Tangye books were one of the reasons why i liked Cornwall, or rather he inspired me to seek that particular part of the world, and therefore have been in love with the area ever since.
It is perhaps a over romantised type of book by todays standards, it is about two people who give up busy London lives, and seek out the life in remote Cornwall on what was a derilict farm and they turned it into a flower farm. It is about this and more, the variouse animals and hardships of the first year spent battling against the elements. the but if you come accross the name Derek Tangye he is worth reading. he went on to write several more autobiographical type books over the years
friends of minack.org
(the above site is not a direct link but you can highlight it via google)

Newlyn Harbour Two Paintings

The first painting of Newlyn harbour was done in acylic and is looking a bit stormy, this my real prefrence in painting and I like to use it as a watercolour at the moment but there is still a tendency to use it thickly.

The second painting is oil,now i am only just starting to use oil more, it is hader work!
I have just noticed the horizon is sloping a bit in both these painting so perhaps that need to change?

Cornish Sketches Again!

Down to the sea we go, with the crashing waves.
The path's downward, so we walk fast.
A inspiring sight, the glinting sea,
the flight of seagulls.