Week Forty Four
Tinges of autumn are beginning to creep into the fabric of the landscape. The autumn goddess with her spectacular palette is just beginning to paint the reds and oranges on the tips of the grass, and the leaves on the trees. Most skylarks, swallows and house martins seem to have packed their bags and gone on vacation to hotter climes. Just the midges remain! The sheep are beginning to be separated from their lambs (spaning), either when the lamb stops feeding from the ewes of their own accord or more usually when they are deliberately taken off their mothers. The noise omitted from the ewes for their loss is acute, loud and somewhat heart breaking. In some respects it is a saving grace that their memory is short as they soon forget there loss….or do they? Soon the lambs will be sorted into those that will be kept for breeding and those that will be sold – either for store (sold on to be fattened elsewhere usually further south) or to the fat (i.e. sold directly for slaughter). 
The heather on the fells grows more spectacular daily and I wonder each night has the heather actually reached its pinnacle of purpleness…or is there more to come. It is truly beautiful, and in the evening light the orange tipped grasses that juxtapose the swathes of purple are a sight to behold, almost otherworldly. Who needs LCD when you have psychedelic colours such as these, which are then heightened by the dipping, dripping sun! It is all so magical. The Rowan trees bold red berries stand out triumphantly advertising their ware. The birds at the feeding stations seem to be eating more than usual, fattening up for the change in seasons. The summer fruits are all sealed in jam jars as delicious jam or have already been eaten as delectable puddings.
The haymaking is complete and next years silage is all bailed up, now its time for the agricultural shows to begin, to be proud of your livestock and to socialise with your fellow friends and farmers. I am really looking forward to my first experience of this, and I am off to the Bellingham show this Saturday where I get to see such delights as– fell racing, terrier racing, sheep showing, stick dressing, pony sports, and jam and vegetable competitions. I am thoroughly excited by the prospect.
This past week has involved a lot of sorting, organising, editing and writing. The catalogue for my show has had revisions galore and is now due to have its second proof before printing. I have forgotten as my days of graphic designer just how much work is involved. Jan a lovely person whom lives nearby did a second thorough proof read, whilst I nick-picked at the colouring of the photography etc. I am overall really chuffed, I think it looks fabulous…and it is still all very exciting. I have also been applying for another art opportunity, which seemed to take forever. I sometimes wish I could just write three words instead of the required 800, those 3 words would just simply say…”I want it”…..yeah… I know…its not going to differentiate between candidates if we all just wrote that.
Andy bless him, has had the patience of an angel as I’ve pestered him by email all week with draft versions of my application for him to check through and edit. The application is now thankfully in the post, although I have to say, I miss the Minor Road post office in Bristol, as the ladies would (on request) always rub a bit of luck onto my postal application packages. The lady in Bellingham just didn’t look like she would play ball so I neglected to ask for any good luck rubs on my application! 
I have to confess I’ve been somewhat panicky these last two of weeks…I suppose everything is coming to a crescendo, the final show preparations, sorrows of leaving, fears of going home, applications for the future, my brother being ill, tarmac to suspend…all these thoughts, emotions, stresses, seemed to culminate nicely into the odd panic attack here and there. Worry can be a strange affair and affect you in the most peculiar ways. I now thankfully seem to be back on an even keel, deep breaths, head up high…you can do it girl…your nearly there….don’t give up now…you know, that kinda stuff to settle the mind. Apart from the fretting, everything is going smoothly still, and almost everything is finished, ready to be installed next week for the opening on the 4th September. Some artworks will have to be installed at the last minute as I want them to look as fresh as possible, and considering the dampness in the barns etc I do not want them ruined before hand. I must admit, dampness, and leaks were not things I had considered when making some of the artworks, something I will be very conscientious of next time round. Anyhow next blooogy blog you’ll get to see all the artworks…just art nothing else! 
I did have an extraordinarily fantastic time last Sunday in Edinburgh with the scrumptious and fabulous Julia (a local artist), and her dog Cal. I have never been to Edinburgh before so I was thoroughly excited and completely balled over by its beauty. A city that has everything - huge hills to climb that overlook the city, the seaside down the road, rolling vastness and remoteness not far away, stunning buildings and loads of beautiful people. I think I love Edinburgh. We climbed ‘Arthur’s Seat’ in the blustering wind, criticised the artistic merits of the new Scottish Parliament building, walked miles around the streets, saw funny performances and played with art installations in galleries. Had a fantastic moment leaving leaflets advertising my show in a posh gallery.
We went for meal in a superbly wacky restaurant that served sublime food, I licked my plate clean on every cour
se and we thanked the chefs by going into the kitchen and bowing…I of course got on my knees to thank them. Cal the dog kept getting ‘lusted’ after by lots of people, she is a very attractive dog, in fact one gentleman was so enamoured by her looks that he walked straight into a display sign at a bus stop whilst ogling her fine canine features. Incredibly I bumped into someone I have not seen for years, he used to live in a house in Bristol with me, and for those of you who know him…yep John McNally still seems to have the talent of selling objects…in fact, I’m pretty convinced he could sell ice to Eskimos. It was so good to see him; I’m hoping we will catch up again before my return to Bristol.
I had a very brief visit from Fiona Hingston whom was on the same masters course at UWE as me. She is an extremely talented artist, and if you ever see her name go and see the show, it will be worth it. We went for some gorgeous walks and discussed the ups and downs of life and art whilst debating some of my artworks and the best place for installing them. I felt honoured that Fiona had made a flying visit before her exhibition starts for the Somerset Arts Week, which I think starts next week. So as I write this there is eight days left before the opening of my exhibition…ooooooohhh how excellently scary and exciting all at the same time. Next ‘Bloooogy Blog’ edition will be out as soon as I can manage after the opening of the show. Week Forty Four…..done!