Will Spring ever get sprung?

 My husband retired just over two weeks ago and my routine (such as it was) has disappeared. I seem to spend a lot of time drinking tea with him in the sitting room and taking even more notice of what is happening outside in this really cold weather. In the past week I've seen Mr Fox more times than I have in the 12 years we've lived here. Similarly, Brock the badger, who decimates what passes for grass here, has also made a nightly appearance, usually scoffing up the seedstuffs thrown out of the feeders by the numerous birds and dastardly squirrels. Whilst I see evidence of their visits I've only seen one in the garden before. Now, I can time my watch by him. In between I count the rabbits that are multiplying faster than seems possible and working out ways to decrease their numbers.

The jays  that we've had all winter still come regularly to feed from the leftovers on the ground and we are also lucky enough to have yellowhammers, goldfinches, siskins, coal tits and woodpeckers visit in numbers. The weather has been sunny and dry here in Wales but very, very cold. The wind is biting and it is hard to think it will be April tomorrow. We're only a few weeks away from the return of the swallows. I certainly hope they are bringing their winter coats with them! As for building nests, they will be lucky to find enough water to make mud with. Every morning our bird bath is frozen over but, we thaw it out and it gets plenty of visitors through the day as you can see. I cannot remember the last day it rained. Unheard of here.

This is the first 'light' night after putting the clocks forward yesterday so I doubt we will see badgers from here on. I'd be delighted if I didn't see rabbits and squirrels etc but it's all part and parcel of living in the country isn't it? We are trying a moth trap tonight. So far this year we've had a couple and recorded exactly nothing. No moths at either attempt. I'm not convinced tonight will be any different but we'll see. This time of year we should be seeing the March Moth in huge numbers so it's worrying that we've seen none. The seasons are proving unpredictable but I feel like Spring is almost here. Hope so.

Fossil hunting

After a couple of non descript days the sun shone again yesterday so we decided to head to West Angle Bay so that I could do a bit of fossil hunting! The rock formation down there is amazing but we headed there via Stack Rocks to see if the birds had started to gather for breeding yet. You cannot tell from my photo because, although it was bright, the sun came and went and it was very misty, but the rocks have started to colonise with guillemots and razorbills. In a few short weeks they will be heaving so a return trip is planned - with binoculars! The sea was rough both here and at Freshwater West beach but by the time we got to the shelter of Angle Bay it was much calmer.

I did not find any significant fossils at Angle, probably because I was too distracted by the patterns and colours of everything else around me. We spent a couple of hours messing about in rock pools - at our age!- but it was a fabulous afternoon. Hope everyone else is having a great weekend.

Life on Mars

 Whilst I am really enjoying improving my knowledge of lichens, I am also having a great time on the geology course with a brilliant man called Dr John Davies, aka 'John the Rocks'. On his recommendation I haved googled 'Mars' and found images which are beyond geology in my mind. These images sent back to Nasa look like drawings, embossings and prints to me. Amazing marks that I wanted to share.

I'm lichen this

 I was so delighted when I read the comments to my last post as I thought courses on lichens and rocks would not appeal to many and I can see how wrong I was, so I just thought I'd try and capture a few photos to broaden their appeal even further. I did not have my camera with me for either course which was a big mistake on the geology day as we looked at some amazing pieces of granite and limestone that took my breath away when I looked at the marks on them. I did however, bring this little twig home from the lichen course. Looks completely unforgettable doesn't it? Not so, when you take an eye lens to it. As the only one without one in the group I had to buy one quickly this week. It cost me a fiver and opened up a wonderful world for a bargain price. These photos are not great but they show that this twig is covered with crustose and foliose lichen making beautiful, colourful patterns. I am smitten and looking forward to week two, tomorrow.

more glass

 I picked up the remaining pieces of my fired glass yesterday. They are not easy to photograph but hopefully the mark making is clear. The top two have had two firings and the one below is one of the thermofax/enamel experiments. Each of them is a physical reminder of the processes I learned from Christian. The next job is to make some of them into larger panels with leaded cames so that I have the samples in front of me for future reference, instead of in a drawer somewhere, sight unseen. I find it all very exciting but there's a lot happening at the moment to stop me getting carried away with it all.

On Sunday afternoon  I start the first of two, six week sessions at the National Botanic Garden of Wales. The first session is on lichens, like this one I photographed on my garden bench the other day. I am fascinated by oakmosses in trees and lichens on old stone walls and, as regular followers will know, on gravestones and memorials, so I am going to study them in more detail for a few weeks with experts. I'm also joining a friend on the geology sessions, another subject I want to understand in more detail.

And at the risk of sounding like a bit of a 'course junkie' I am actually running one myself next week too. I'm doing a taster session with the local authority on making handmade books and if it takes off, a five week course is planned to follow. This has all happened because I've decided to organise myself this year and promote printmaking and book making courses around the county either by myself or under the adult learning auspices of the council. I suddenly realised how many contacts I have and decided to make use of them. I am hoping for enough people to turn up to the taster session to make it viable. If they don't ,what with the glass and the lichens and the rocks, I don't think I shall lack things to be getting on with!

All white?

More wet weather has meant the ground is still too saturated to get out in the garden and try and prepare for Spring. Despite a few dry days this week we abandoned the idea again yesterday and went to the beach instead to get our dose of fresh air. When we came home I was struck by how our garden looks very damp, mossy and green. Everything growing seemed to be white or primrose yellow. The soggy ground is churned up by badgers, moles, squirrels and rabbits. That's the downside of a rural garden. On the upside we are inundated with feeding birds, especially large numbers of yellowhammers as well as many others that we see so regularly, we've become a bit blase about them. We shouldn't be, as we are very lucky to see so many. Failure of the autumn beech mast harvest has meant that jays, normally shy birds in a garden setting, also come daily, over and over again to feed from the seed we scatter around for them. They are very skittish and easily spooked. I am mesmerised by their huge eyes and jaunty crest but their colouring is most arresting too. It's like a soft ointment pink with a vivid azure 'go faster' stripe at the side. Just beautiful.

Hellebore seedlings are everywhere but they are too wet to transplant. Normally we pot them up and give them to friends or else we are over run with them but they will have to stay put this year. Whilst some of the established hellebores are still in bud, others are already finished. It is the same with the snowdrops. What a strange season here. Anyone care to let me know if you are experiencing the same conditions?

Having a blast.....

Before Christmas I posted about the great stained glass taster day that I had with artist Christian Ryan. I enjoyed myself so much that I booked a glass painting weekend to learn the original techniques employed by people for centuries in producing windows and panels etc. The recent snow sadly meant it was cancelled at the last minute. Whilst the others have re-arranged to attend courses later in the year, Christian offered me the opportunity to do the two days on my own with his guidance, so I went to Bridgend on Wednesday and Friday this week to learn more. I consider myself very lucky to have had this opportunity as Christian geared things towards techniques I was keen to explore whilst ensuring that I tackled the core processes planned for the original course. So, I spent the first morning learning how to mix the specialised paint and practicing line drawing on glass (hard!!) before trying out different surface decoration techniques. All of the above small samples on the lightbox were subsequently fired once in the kiln and I can now incorporate them into a finished panel if I want to. I also worked on two larger pieces which were fired once before I worked back into them yesterday, adding layers of shading, tone and texture. I am excited to see how they will emerge from the kiln when I pick them up in a week or so's time.

Yesterday I screen printed some enamel onto glass and the pieces I did need to be fired before I can see how they turn out. This was something of an experiment for both of us as Christian does not use enamels in his studio work and we transferred the images on to the glass via a thermofax screen, technically better suited to fabric and even paper. Thermofax screens were new to Christian so we're both interested to see if the results can be the starting point for other ideas. I shall share the results when I pick them up but I also had the opportunity to try sandblasting glass yesterday, courtesy of Christian's friend Rod who has a sandblasting box in his glass workshop nearby. I loved it, although it is fair to say that whilst I did all the resist work myself, it was Christian that got his hands dirty and actually sandblasted all my samples. Here is a small selection:

A pva and bubblewrap resist

Torn masking tape on each side with both sides later sandblasted

Hand cut letters using sticky backed plastic. Ignore the wonky scalpel skills!

Pieces from a roll of adhesive backed fabric trimming

Sticky backed plastic resists on both sides. Sandblasted on both sides.

All in all I had two fabulous days and my head is full of the information I absorbed. I made lots of notes and have to think now what I will do next. This is not an activity that can just be picked up and worked on. Lots of tools and specialist materials are required so taking it further will require commitment and a real desire to do so on my part. I am keen to learn more and investigate how glass and print can be married together. I also want to try glass engraving and etching. So many things. Not enough time!