July-Come Fly with me!

​7th July
​For the next few days I'll be having a mini-break from blogging. I'm going to the Welsh Borders to look after my mum for a few days who's having a minor operation. Have fun whilst I'm away  X

6th July

News article about Gog

​I am lucky enough to be friends with the Tree Surgeon who had to make safe the famous sacred tree 'Gog', which stands at the bottom of Glastonbury Tor. Gog unfortunately caught fire. (See above link)
The owner kept most of the wood, but he was allowed to take a couple of small bits that were left, that were considered of no use. He gave me a small twig; and I in return, made him a sterling silver necklace out of a piece.
I've been slicing this small ancient twig into small discs today, and have made a  few necklaces. I've used Sterling Silver; recycled from an old silver cigarette box, which has a very good texture for acorns. I made two different types of acorn style pendant bail. (The bail is the part the pendant hangs from). One which was all silver; and one which uses a brown glass bead with a disc of silver to make the hat of the acorn. I'd be interested to know which sort, other people prefer?
The wood is very hard to saw and it smells of incense when cutting it. It's amazing to think it's thousands of years old and I feel very honoured to be able to make a very small piece of it into something beautiful. So honoured infact, that I wasn't even distracted by insects and flowers today! (well maybe just a little incy wincy bit)...

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5th July

Even though I’ve been a bit ‘grubby’ lately; and my posts have followed the insect 'thread', I’m still making art. It’s just that, as usual I’m observing what’s going on around me too. Insects are so fascinating and they totally take you into another world. I’ve no idea what most of the insects even are, that I've been taking  photos of.
Take this one for instance that I snapped the other day. I mean; what the ‘Duckin ‘ell’ is that? Please message me if you have any idea? It looks like it should be called Monty Python’s Flying Circus!

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4th July

Yesterday; for the second day in a row whilst working, I got a visit from a cricket.
​Same table; different cricket, and this one only had one leg!
Isn’t nature amazing? She’d obviously adapted very well.
She did scuttle rather than hop. (I’m calling her a she, as it’s a bit sexist to call all insects he).  
Yes, she was probably called Peg, or maybe Ilene?….hmmm..
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P.S. Happy Independence Day to my friends from the U.S.A.!
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​3rd July

​Every Monday I usually fast, unless there is an event on. The first Monday in the month I try to fast for up to three days.
Yesterday I worked outside under a parasol, to fill my casting molds with sand.
As I was working away ‘By Jiminy’ this brazen little fella decided to pay me a visit. 
He hardly moved just stood there looking at me, looking at him. You would have thought his name must have been Jacques Hughes, by the way he was eyeing me up. I felt like it was like a scene from 'Lassie Come Home' and this little insect wanted to tell me something.
Maybe he was hungry too? As apparently, a normal sized grasshopper can ingest 16 times it’s own body weight in one sitting. 
Or maybe he was roasting? (Although in a slightly different way than they roast in the Far East, which is with a Bacon and Cheese flavouring) See pic below.
Maybe he was taking note of my casting technique? “Ah little Grasshopper, watch and learn from the master! “, (she says with a Chinese accent)
Did you know that Jiminy Cricket is a ‘minced oath’  (see link below) for Jesus Christ? 
After about 10 minutes of watching me he hopped off, that’s when I could see that actually, he had no 'tail' to tell….

Minced Oath

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​2nd July

BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2018

​The National Portrait Gallery BP Portrait Award Exhibition opens soon on the 14th June- 23rd September (see above link).
​With this in mind, I couldn’t help thinking about portraiture and what the general public find attractive in a face. 
When my grandmother was a child Rudolph Valentino was one of the first Big Screen heartthrobs. My grandparents mentioned how when he died prematurely aged 31 it caused mass hysteria; and it was reported women killed themselves rather than go on without being able to watch their screen hero.
I’ve looked at a couple pictures of Valentino in the past, and I couldn’t really understand what all the fuss was about. Yesterday I looked again at him. I then thought he actually has a very well balanced face. (According to scientific studies; humans find balanced, even faces the most attractive).
So I wondered what he would have looked like if he were alive now in 2018, with a modern haircut and trendier clothes.
I set about colourizing a promo photo of him from the film 'The Married Virgin'; and to update it I used the hairstyle from another Mediterranean heartthrob, Ronaldo. (See pic below)
The photo I used was very low resolution, so I knew the outcome would not be perfect.
I updated his hairstyle to Ronaldo’s, and gave him a diamond earring too.
I think it turned out O.K.? It gives a very good idea of what Rudolph Valentino would probably have looked like if he were a star in 2018.
What do you think, would he still be breaking hearts 100 years later?
“Rudi – A message to you” – I think you’ve still got it!

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First day of July!

There are hundreds of Peacock Butterflies cocooned inside webs on the nettles, but that’s their decision and they’re sticking to it!
I love observing them and wondering when they will get their wings and soar.
Already I’ve noticed small insects that have flown into the webs and got trapped. Can you imagine how that must feel in this heat? (You can now see why my mum called me Dolly Daydream quite a lot when I was a child; I’ve spent a lot of time contemplating this sort of thing).
I bet the pupae inside feel like they are in a tent at a festival and a drunken idiot has stumbled and fallen on it whilst they were having an afternoon nap. Then the idiot got entangled in the guy ropes whilst trying to get upright again. Though they’ve probably forgiven him or her, ‘cos they’ve been in the same position too. (Could it be that I am speaking from experience haha?)
You can’t help feeling sorry for the trapped insects though, maybe it’s too much to ask nature to add an insect repellent to the webs so that other insects don’t get trapped and die, yes in Deet it is!……