More Eden

Here are a few more photographs we took on our visit to The Eden Project last week. This time we present some of the more unusual / abstract / eccentric images we came home with. Hope that they inspire you!

The Sculpture of Nature

Terracotta relief sculpture in The Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum in London houses one of the world’s great collections on the living world but it is also one the nation’s truly amazing buildings. Designed by Alfred Waterhouse (1830 – 1905), the Museum is like a Romanesque Cathedral to Science with a touch of Victorian railway station thrown in. Waterhouse’s design is not only striking in terms of style but also for its innovative use of materials, with the entire building being clad in fired terracotta tiles in an interesting buff and blue colour scheme. The extravagant, nature-inspired decoration was also produced in terracotta with huge numbers of sculptures and sculptural reliefs both inside and out.

Romanesque Cathedral crossed with a railway station – A Temple of Science

I studied art at a time when Modernism was still very much the dominant force in architecture. I seem to remember that a building like the Natural History Museum was not so much attacked in discussions of good architecture (except by implication), it more just totally ignored; but I loved the building the first time I saw it and love it even more today.

Waterhouse’s Museum is as far from Modernism as you can get

These images are just a small selection of the reliefs and other decorations to be found in just the main hall of the building; the same decorative scheme is carried on throughout the building and can be the basis of an interesting museum trip all on their own.

Birds at the bottom of the grand staircase

Each piece of decoration was drawn by Waterhouse himself, then checked for scientific accuracy by Richard Owen, the museum’s director, then sent to a sculptor for modelling in clay before being cast and fired.

A canine – probably a domestic dog

The great sculpture of Charles Darwin by Sir Joseph Boehm now commands the grand staircase.

The greatest figure in biology looking over the main hall

A ram’s head decorating the base of a main pillar

A feline with her young

Another bird

Darwin

For further information see Natural History Museum – History and Architecture
 and the RIBA Natural History Museum pages
or make a trip to see the museum yourself.

The Forbidden City, Beijing

A vast Imperial Palace, the Forbidden City in Beijing can be described as one of those “places to see before you die” destinations.

Tiananmen, or Gate of Heavenly Peace is the main entrance to the Forbidden City

It is a vast place with a distinctive and coherent architectural style, and while it has been subject to a fair bit of restoration, this seems to have been done fairly accurately, if perhaps a little too enthusiastically. At least it has not been subjected to the “theme park” treatment visited on so many of China’s major sights (though a McDonalds franchise has found its way inside the hallowed walls.) The Forbidden City certainly draws the crowds, in fact the masses of people and long queues for tickets are major downsides of the experience.

The Forbidden City has many ranges of golden-roofed palaces

While the word “City” may exaggerate the scale slightly, it is too big to get to know in one visit and many of the more interesting parts are off the main visitor trail. While the guided tours do march you through the grandest and most historically significant buildings, these are also (obviously) the most crowded parts. The central trail can also feel a bit repetitive, with one enormous open courtyard leading to a range of golden-roofed pavilions, which in turn leads on to yet another courtyard and another range of similar buildings.

The vast paved courtyards are broken up by very attractive canals

Giant steel planters are the only decoration in some of the courtyards

Away from the central route through the complex it is much quieter, with peaceful gardens and minor palaces that have been transformed into exhibition galleries.

Away from the main tourist trail can be found beautiful gardens

Many of the main buildings have been immaculately repainted, which leaves them looking very garish and without any feeling of age. Those palaces which have not had the “like brand new” treatment will probably look much more attractive to western eyes.

The newly renovated paintwork looks very garish

Areas with faded decoration are much more subtle and pleasant

Only in a few places can you see old walls marked by history. These are the areas where you can feel that people lived here over hundreds of years.

An old wall, marked by time

Some courtyard areas feature potted pomegranate trees, which are heavy with fruit in late summer.

Pomegranate tree in the Forbidden City

A bridge over one of the canals

In a future post I will feature some of the beautiful objects on show in the Forbidden City.

Orkney in detail

This is Isla again, I wrote a post a month or so ago about my trip to Orkney, and promised another one was on its way (sorry it took so long!)

Chains

The last post took a wider view, but this post is going to zoom in and focus on the details of Orkney. I invariably find that half of the photos that I take are detail shots, which is probably a habit I’ve picked up from my mum – she’s always been one for looking a little closer.

This first set of pictures was taken at Kirbuster Farm Museum, a homestead that has stood for at least four centuries, and that reveals the traditional way of life for farmers on Orkney. The museum is scattered with rusting farm implements, and there are fantastic textures to be found on worn surfaces and old wood.

Fence post

Old Harness

Scrap Metal

 

Glass

Enameled Tin

Old Chair

Old Mirror

This second set of pictures was taken on various beaches along the Birsay coast. I love the colour of the seaweed, the perfect placement of the bleached curl of driftwood, and the knobbly dinosaur tail-club.
The final image is a quick sketch of seaweed drawn with a biro and some colouring pencils, that I used as an image for thank you cards.

Spinach Spaghetti

Bacon on the Rocks

Driftwood Curl

Dinosaur Tail-club

Kelp Drawing

Related Posts:
Orkney Skies
“Orkney Wings” neckpiece
Orkney Jewellery set

1960’s Hong Kong

Last month, my daughter Isla spent a few days scanning old photographs so that we could store them on computer. These included pictures from an old album that came from Hong Kong, with black and white pictures that were taken in the 1960s.

A teenage version of me, posing under a bamboo

Most of these old photographs were taken using a little box camera and are not very good but I love them for their nostalgic air of a bygone age.

Looking towards Hong Kong harbour, mid-1960s

While I probably took some of the landscape photographs, I do not know the origin, or the subjects of many of the others.

Portrait of an old man

My favourite picture of all is an old wedding shot showing the bride surrounded by her female relatives and friends, where everyone is aiming for 1960’s high fashion, Hong Kong style! My mother is seated on the far right of the photo.

I love the hairstyles and the big handbags!

Buildings with harbour beyond

Looking towards Hong Kong harbour, mid-1960s

Landscape with islands and a small harbour

Portrait of an old man

An unknown artist painting a landscape

Portrait of the artist as a young woman

Old lady with her shopping

I love the hairstyles and the big handbags!

Cows in India

This post includes some of my photos of India’s bovine inhabitants.
When I photograph the Cornish landscape there are usually some cows in the shot (or ponies, or sheep!) but in India, the cows are not simply statues studding the landscape, they are the photograph.
These photos show cows with individual personalities, who would provide plenty of inspiration for a caption competition!

And your tour guide today is….. (love the sign)

All by myself. Sniff.

Places to go, people to see!

Sulking.  (This is the drying yard at the fabric printing workshop we visited)

This handsome fellow was posing for the tourists like a Bollywood star

Hard at work

And… this is not a cow – Thought I would slip in a photo of a hoity-toity camel!

Orkney Skies

For today’s blog post I’m handing over to my daughter, Isla, who has just returned from a trip to Orkney with some wonderful photographs. 

Until this summer, the sum total of my Orkney knowledge was that it was somewhere up north, and that it had something to do with archaeology. Having now spent a week there, I still don’t know as much about the place as I should, but I can’t wait to go back to find out more.

The sky feels huge in Orkney: the hills are bare of trees and the clouds layer high above, allowing you to see for miles. This post is all about the moods of Orkney (though I was lucky enough to miss out on Orkney’s temper), and I’ll be writing another post soon that includes some of the more detailed shots that I took during my stay.

The other thing that makes Orkney special is the people – though I was only there for a very brief time, I was adopted with incredible warmth. Thank you to everyone (I’m looking at you Margaret, Rae, Jim, Lilian, Donald and Stella!), and especially to Bi, my host and friend.

The Island of Hoy is the first sight of Orkney to greet visitors arriving on the ferry. 

Aboard the ferry – dramatic interplay between sun and stormy clouds.

Sunset over the beach –  the light seems almost to render the water solid.

The Standing Stones of Stenness outlined against the sunset.

A shot that made me smile – flammable Orcadian cows. 

Sunset and clouds across a loch.

Sun breaking through the clouds at Kirbuster Farm Museum.

Sunset over the Brough of Birsay, with a cow-parsley sized person. 

Sunset clouds over the Brough.

The sun dipping over the horizon with streaked clouds overhead.

The somber grey of Skaill House against a moody sky.

The Brough of Birsay rising from the mist. 

More Bugs!

Yesterday I went for a walk around the lanes near my home and headed for a spot where the road crosses a stream, a place where I often see dragonflies.
Although this time I had remembered to bring my camera along with me, there were no dragonflies anywhere in sight. I eventually spotted one perched high above in a tree and, putting my camera on maximum zoom, I tried to frame the tiny creature.
I didn’t have much hope that the pictures would be very good, but I was delighted to find the one below – mainly because of the creature’s shadow showing through the leaf.

Dragonfly on leaf with shadow

To go with the dragonfly, here are some of my favourite photographs of various six-legged creatures:

Butterfly on my apple-blossom this spring

Another shot of the same butterfly showing the amazing eyes

I love the bees buzzing around my chives in spring

This cricket (?) was standing on the Great Wall of China

Butterfly near Nikko, Japan

 

For more bug photos, have a look at this post:
Moths In the Night

 

Art In Action

I spent last weekend at the Art in Action show held in Waterperry Gardens, near Oxford. This annual festival of visual arts has been running since 1977 and is still going strong. Hundreds of artists and craftsmen came together to display their creations, demonstrate their techniques, and discuss their inspirations. Luckily, the weekend was gloriously sunny, the atmosphere was fun and energetic, and I had a really fantastic couple of days.

Out of all the displays, I found the ceramics marquee and the glass marquee to be the most exciting – some works were fun and quirky, and some were incredibly beautiful in form and colour.

Here are some photographs showing just a few of the many interesting things that caught my eye.

Linda Dangoor, ceramics.

Tim Boswell, glass.

Ali Yanya, ‘Souk,’ watercolour.

John Stroomer, ceramics.

If you get a chance, Waterperry Gardens are also well worth a visit. Established by the formidable Miss Havergal (believed to be the inspiration for Roald Dahl’s Miss Trunchbull), the gardens feature beautiful herbaceous borders and some lovely old trees as well as a gallery, garden centre and café.

Moths in the Night

Our house backs onto farmland. When the bathroom window is open and the light is turned on after dark we will often get the odd moth stumbling in. This year, for some reason, there seem to be many more moths and a much wider variety of species – or maybe it’s just that I have started to pay attention to them! Here are photographs of a few that stayed still long enough for me to grab my camera.

The colours, forms and surface qualities of these creatures fascinate me. A few years ago I made a series of brooches and earrings that were regularly referred to as being moth-like, though no direct reference was intended. Perhaps the combination of crisp forms with soft, richly textured surfaces echoes the effects that I aspire to in my work.I’m afraid I haven’t made any effort to identify these beautiful creatures so If someone wants to take a stab at naming them then please go ahead!

Inspiring market stalls

I love shopping at outdoor markets and places where shops have street displays. Even the most mundane fruit and vegetables can look much more colourful and inviting there than they ever do in a pristine supermarket display. When I travel abroad I particularly enjoy wandering around local markets and taking in all the colour. Here are a few photographs from my trips to India, plus an old favourite from China.

Outdoor market in Jaipur

Local street market in Rajasthan

Umbrellas for sale lying beside a market stall

Stall selling Festival flowers – South India

Stall selling Festival dyes – South India

Beautiful dried fruit display – Dunhuang, China

Indian Doors

I find doors interesting. The door to a home marks a border; a dividing line between outside and inside; between “ours” and “theirs.” Old doors that have seen a lot of history have a character all of their own. They can say a lot about the sort of people who have lived there.
When I was in Rajasthan, India earlier this year I photographed a lot of doors. Here is a selection of them.

This ancient rusting iron door was amazing!

Detail of the door above

The rusting iron door-frame

And of course, with a door there is always the possibility of a glimpse inside.

In another post soon I will show you some doors from China.

Deserted Village Homes

The last time I visited my family in Hong Kong we went on a ferry trip to visit Tung Ping Chau Island. This tiny island, situated in the far north-east corner of the Hong Kong territory, is famed for its unusual geology and is part of a UNESCO Global Geopark. The island itself is nearly all Country Park and is situated in the Tung Ping Chau Marine Park.

The park’s many paths, overgrown with orchids and the spectacularly eroded rocks are incredibly beautiful. However, I found that the most striking feature of the island was the deserted houses of the former villagers, which are gradually being swallowed up by the undergrowth.

Tung Ping Chau is famed for its unusual sedimetary rocks

The island once had a thriving fishing and farming community of over 3,000 people, but now it has no permanent residents, as everyone has left for a better life in Hong Kong’s urban jungle. The only well-maintained buildings to be seen are connected with the tourist trade.

Everyone has left for Hong Kong a few miles away

I found the sight of the slowly decaying homes to be a little melancholy yet strangely beautiful.

Oxford Botanic Gardens (and a thank you!)

Hi everyone! I’m really excited and privileged that my Cornish Mornings post has been “Freshly Pressed” and I want to say a big hello and welcome to all the new visitors who’ve found their way here.
Also, a big thank you to everyone for all the lovely comments you’ve been leaving!

For tonight, here are a few photographs of the weird and wonderful sights currently to be seen at the Oxford Botanic Gardens, the oldest botanic gardens in Britain.
Founded in 1621, the gardens are a fantastic source of inspiration for would-be gardeners, and a source of thorough relaxation.

Lord of All He Surveys

I spotted this fellow gazing down at his subjects in Jaipur: