Colours of Sitges

Every day brought new colours to my views of Sitges. Every day was different: the sea and the sky, the light, were different.

One day the sky and sea were blue, and the white clouds seem to be chasing each other.

On another evening, the sea was blue and black and the sky was red, pink and yellow.

Another evening, the sea had gone all gold and silver.

And another day, the sea on the same spot was blue and silver.

Another day, the whole area was shining in blue and gold.  

And diamonds seem to be floating on the sea.

Good night!

Alicia

Gold and Silver in Sitges

I just realised that we are at the end of March and my last post was in the middle of February!  I intended to post here more often this year, but I have not.  In fact I have been writing in Facebook instead.  So for those who have not seen my photos of Sitges in Facebook, I will post them again here.

I went to Sitges for the annual Quilt Festival of the Spanish Patchwork Association. I had a wonderful exhibition there and taught two classes.  The place is beautiful - a beach resort half an hour south of Barcelona - the people were wonderful, the weather sunny and warm, and the food superb.  What more can I say?

Dusk was amazing.  Nights were crystal clear.  I took a large number of photographs and I am starting with a couple of them today, which I call Gold and Silver in Sitges.  The first one was taken from the Marina, looking into the town, just before sunset.  The second one was taken from the centre of town, looking into the sea, of a giant moon and its reflections on the water.

Will post some more tomorrow.  Good night!

Alicia

Wells's wells - a sunny day's walk in the Bishop's Palace Gardens

This Sunday was the most wonderful sunny and mild day, a welcome change from the rain, wind, storms and flooding we've been having in Somerset.  Fortunately we haven't been flooded, our area seems to have missed the worst, but so many people have been affected by the terrible weather.

In one of the recent storms, the huge Tree of Heaven, in the Bishop's Palace Gardens, broke and fell, and this is the stump that was left.

But the wood is not been wasted;  craftsmen are collecting pieces and carving all sorts of things.  There will eventually be an exhibition of all the artefacts produced from the Tree of Heaven. One large piece is being slowly carved into a giant hand on the spot.

The water from the wells that gives Wells its name, is being channelled into the Palace Moat, which has a very high level of water, to avoid it flooding the town.  Good management is the clue.

 The mild weather means that snowdrops and other flowers are carpeting the grounds.

 I love the combination of trees, vegetation, flowers, wide lawns, rampart walks, and ancient towers, in the Bishop's Palace Gardens.  Our own bit of heaven in the town.

And then we had lunch in the new cafe - The Bishop's Table...

But it was just one day - today is grey and rainy again.  When will this awful weather come to an end?  Climate change has to be recognised and tackled!

Good night!

Alicia

My orchids

My orchids are doing amazingly well.  They are flowering like mad, in spite of being winter.  Even one that has been dormant for about three years, has started to flower as well.

Here is a selection of photos - I have taken dozens of them!  Their colours cheer up the grey and wintry weather.

And I had great fun taking the pictures, as you'll see.

Hail and rain in my garden

Yesterday we had heavy rain and hail in our city.  It was grey and dark but the white of the hail gave a strange perspective on things.  Here are some photos taken from inside the house, through a large glass patio window.  By changing my position with respect to the glass, I can achieve different focus effects.

This first photo focuses on the wet glass.  The out-of-focus white behind it is the hail on the ground.

In this second photo, I am focusing more on the outside, the hail on the patio floor, and the hose laying there.  There are still wet marks left by the rain on the glass. The whole thing is much fuzzier.

In the third photo, I am focusing more on the ground and the hail on it.  The patterns on the patio flagstones produce interesting effects, reflected on the wet window.

Lastly, when the rain stopped, I went outside and focused on the hail without a glass between it and my camera, so it is a much sharper photo.  I have no idea what the red spot is - I only saw it afterwards, when I loaded the images on the computer - but it certainly becomes a feature!

Hope for sun tomorrow!

Goodnight!

Alicia

Strange light

With so much rain and grey skies we are getting here in Somerset, punctuated with bright sunshine from time to time, we have these short periods in-between the blue and the grey skies when the light is really strange and beautiful.  I managed to capture one such moment in our garden this morning.

Then I looked next door and saw the pigeon sitting on the tree, again with strange light on the bare branches.

I've been taking more photos lately - tomorrow I'll post some from the heavy rain and hail we had today.

Goodnight!

Alicia

Designer Crafts exhibition, London

I have some work in this exhibition, held annually by the Society of Designer Craftsmen.  I spent the weekend in London, attended the private view on the Friday, which was very busy, and spent Sunday there, helping to steward.  I met a lot of visitors and friends.

Here are some images of my map quilts in situ at the gallery - the Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1, just off Trafalgar Square.  The exhibition is open until Sunday 19th January, 10 - 5 every day, except for the last Sunday when it closes at 4 pm.

This is a view when you enter the gallery - The Night Road is in the foreground, with some ceramics;  some glass pieces are visible on the background to the right.

Mayfair 1671 is hanging next to some beautiful wood pieces.

And my third piece is Seaside Town, in front of which stand a number of pieces of book art - I really loved them!  Very original.

If you are in London this week, do pop round to see it.  There is a very nice cafe in the gallery as well.

Alicia

London Lights

Today I went to London for the day to take the work to be shown at the Mall Galleries - a whole suitcase of quilts.  Considering the problems that we've been having in the UK with flooding and disruption of trains, the whole trip went very smoothly indeed.  And in London, I not only sorted out the gallery questions, but had tea and a chat with an old friend who is showing in Designer Crafts too, and went to the National Portrait Gallery to see a fabulous display of portrait photographs.

When I came out of the gallery it was dark, and I found myself in Trafalgar Square, which was very busy with people, buses, lights, reflections on the wet pavements, and generally an energising atmosphere.  I did not have my camera with me, but I took some photos with my iPhone.

People rushing home after the day's work.

... taking the red London buses...

View of the National Gallery from Trafalgar Square

Good night!

Alicia

Designer Crafts

This year - 2014 - my first exhibition will be at Designer Crafts.  This is the annual exhibition of the Society of Designer Craftsmen, to which I have belonged since the mid-eighties.  The Society itself is over 100 years old, and it was founded, among others, by William Morris.

The exhibition is at the Mall Galleries, The Mall, London, SW1, just off Trafalgar Square. Walk under Admiralty Arch, towards Buckingham Palace, and it will be 30 metres ahead on your right, in one of the Nash terraces.

It includes a wide variety of beautiful studio crafts: ceramics, glass, jewellery, wood, paper, metal, contemporary furniture, textiles of all sorts, mixed media.  It will be open from 10th to 19th January, 10 to 5 pm every day, except for the last Sunday, when it closes at 4 pm.  I will be there at the private view on Friday 10th, 6 - 9 pm, and also stewarding on Sunday 12th January.

If you are in London during those dates, I do recommend a visit - and not only because I will have work there - the whole large show is wonderful to see - it has the WoW! factor I always look for.

Have a happy start to the new year!

Alicia

A walk - and swans - in the sun

Although the weather has not been good overall in the UK, with storms and high winds, flooding and all sorts of disruptions, here in Somerset we've had the odd nice sunny day in-between.

Sunday was one such day and we went for a walk around the town, taking in Wells Cathedral and the Bishop's Palace and moat.  The cathedral looked gorgeous in the sun.

There is a wrought-iron lamp by the cathedral, with sign-posting attached, telling visitors which way to go to see the various attractions.

The Bishop's Palace moat swans are famous for ringing a bell to ask for food.  But we have another, different swan in the moat now - it is a sculpture of a swan resting on a metal nest, by Ian Marlow, which was part of the artist-decorated swans which graced the streets of Wells to celebrate the Queen's 60th anniversary.  They were sold at auction, and the proceeds gone to charity. This swan was bought by a consortium of ordinary Wells people who wanted to keep it in the moat.  I contributed to the funds.

I love the patterns made by the ripples in the water, and the way they reflect the light, especially on a beautiful sunny day.

There were also some fascinating textures around - peeling chains, frosted leaves.

And after those observations, when I turned round to look at the swan again, he was off....

Good-bye swan!  I hope we will get some more sunny days to visit the moat this winter.

Happy New Year to everybody!

Alicia