DRAWING ON ALBANIA

 Albania Sketchbook: Rugged mountains extensive vast plains welcoming coasts, fertile river valleys. A fascinating country and cultural influence on the rest of Europe!  

Download a PDF of a sketchbook of our eight day journey from this link here here: https://timbaynesart.co.uk/product/drawing-albania/

During our time in Albania our constant companions were the Drino river, the country's longest and the Vjosë, one of the last intact large river systems in Europe.

From Byliss down to the Vjosë, River

The first in a series of Albanian paintings. Gouache on Paper. 30 x 40 cm.

See the painting being created here Link https://youtu.be/ro9KeXZxtZE

Celebrating the country's rugged mountains, vast plains and fertile river valleys. Rivers begin in the east of Albania and loop towards the west into the Adriatic. During eight days in Albania our constant companions were the Drin river the country's longest and the Vjosë, one of the last intact large rivers in Europe.

Second Painting:   Gouache on Paper 30 x41 cm. 

We had stopped on the way to Butrint,  just outside the kiss-me-quick town seaside town Sarandë  and gazed across to Corfu. A chalk white track cut through trees and sage bush and deep orange soil. See the painting being created here https://youtu.be/AH2bG_95770

Add to this the country's quite remarkable history...The rule of Greece and Rome, then a Byzantine playground and they stepped aside for the Ottoman turks: Fast Fwd to a post WW2 Communist rule (42 years). Independence at last from 1992.

A fascinating country and cultural influence on the rest of Europe!

Free to download from timbaynesart

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RETURN TO CRETE Via Hook Village Hall

I love demonstrating my approach to painting. Each occasion becomes a conversation. In talking with the people who are watching I am fielding great questions, they challenge, and I always walk away enriched what is said in the time we are together.

 

And that was the case on the 21^st of August when I gave a demonstration on working with acrylic paint to the Guild of Wiltshire Artists.

 After a short set-up I demonstrated for about two hours. We drew stumps shortly after 9 pm. I took the painting back to the studio and must’ve spent another two hours, possibly a bit longer, on finishing it. 

 The main passages in the finished piece, that weren’t covered in the evening were my reshaping and recolouring the far mountains in the landscape which I thought were a bit repetitive as we left it at the end of the demonstration. 

 

So I was able to make that adjustment plus also modifications to the foreground and indeed the buildings which benefited from tweaking their scale especially that line of buildings in the middle of the picture.

 

A big thank you to the guild for letting me do the demonstration. It was a privilege, and I’m very grateful.

 

SHAREABLE LINK https://youtu.be/pebfk2DdGGQ TO SEE THE WHOLE SEQUENCE OF THE DEMONSTRATION 

SWEET THAMES

 

I have rediscovered The Thames which is on my own back doorstep. 

I have joined the local fishing club, called the Swindon Golden Carp Angling Association. The clubs fishing rights are just downstream from Cricklade. The idea with fishing on a river, where there are fish is to catch some fish. I’d be grateful for just one fish. 

 

It was a lovely evening, I set forth with my friend Chris, an experienced fisherman, By way of example last time we went out, two weeks ago, he landed four good sized carp before I made my first cast. Never mind.

 

This evening neither of us caught any fish.  Actually Chris caught a small Dace. There are  Roach, Perch, Gudgeon, Chub, Trout and Dace in this part of the Thames. 

 

I am no stranger to piscatorial ineptitude; however it did not spoil our appreciation of a lovely evening by the river. Enjoy short film with sickly soundtrack.

GOD'S ACRE

I’d just settled to make a sketch of the church and a lady past by us on the path. Exchanging "good mornings" she added “I'm just going to see my dad". A moment later, looking over my shoulder I saw her standing quietly by one of the graves.

 

We were in the churchyard of The Church of St Peter, Clyffe Pypard, a lovely sunny morning, the chatter of wood pigeons, breezes playing the trees and one officious Robin, the avian church warden. The church was locked; however we'd come to see the grave of the grave of Nikolaus Pevsner and his wife Lola. 

 

Pevsner conceived the idea of, wrote and co-edited ‘The Buildings Of England’ his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides.  In remarkable undertaking He did much of the research work with his wife. I will return soon to this in another post.

 

Mooching around, exploring churchyards and gravestones and their incumbents is a favourite past time. A graveyard, churchyard, is often referred to as 'God’s Acre'. The word comes from the Gottesacker (Field of God). By the end of the 17th century it was accepted as an English term. 

 

There is a national movement, The Gods Acre Project which recognises that churchyards oh significant habitats for nature advice and provides guidance for their management.

These are places are important just to be in and enjoy.  And perhaps reflect on the words and dates on each gravestone or family vault. A few miles from us is the churchyard of Saint Mary's Purton. We often walk through here and admire the gravestones. Some of which are very grand, giving some indication of the prosperity of the area long before the industrial revolution.  One stone, which must be at least 6 feet high nestles under an ancient you, impatient to expand its girth. The inscription reads

 

 

I feel this inscription reads like an affectionate poem.

 

 There are according to the National Burial Ground Survey more than 18,000 church and municipal burial grounds in England and Wales as of August 2022 so there are plenty of opportunities to explore God’s Acre.

 

Spoiler Alert!

Clyffe Pypard and Saint Peter’s is another lovely Wiltshire wonder. We keep stubbing our toes on these delights. Here is its entry in Pevsner’s  Buildings of England for Wiltshire. Nicholas Pevsner and Bridget Cherry.  Copyright detail ISBN detail

 

The Buildings Of England, don't leave home without it*

 

* Don't leave home without it was an advertising line created by the ad shop Ogilvy and Mather, for American Express in 1975.

 

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God's_Acre

 

WILTSHIRE WONDERS 52 FORTS

 

Five miles along the busy A419 is much-loved destination: Castle Hill. It quietly waits the end of a straggly road (Burytown Lane) on the edge of Broad Blunsdon village. Siân and I discovered it soon after our arrival in Wilts. It has been a leitmotif, the inspiration for a number of my paintings and drawings. 

 

This  Iron Age hillfort is something of a conundrum. It is on private land, though apparently frequented by local dog walkers. Although privately owned it is under the dominion of English Heritage.  Look  north to relish some magnificent views across the Thames valley into Gloucestershire.

 

There is a story about this place being built by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell’s men were also supposed to have had a shot at the Highworth church from here, with the cannonball that made the hole in the tower*. A crack shot sir!  (from 4 miles away). 

 

How many Hillforts are there in Wiltshire I wondered?  Wiltshire farmer Mr. Timothy Daw. He has visited and written about all fifty two. Each is celebrated on  his web site https://www.sarsen.org/2022/10/the-52-hillforts-of-wiltshire.html.

 

Tim also has another blog, about Stonehenge Replicas, yes, you guessed it called Clonehenge. 

Barrow Boy* 

In 2013 Tim was given planning permission for a project for a 50 metre-long barrow where families would be able to lease a space inside to deposit six to eight urns containing the ashes of the dead. This is within sight of the ancient Silbury Hill and, on the skyline ridge, the West Kennet Long Barrow built slightly earlier 3650 BC.

 

Oh! The wonders of Wiltshire!

Tim also writes about the joys of life on Substack https://timbaynespainterandwriter.substack.com

 

 

SAND AND SHRAPNEL BETWEEN YOUR TOES

Ginst Point, the end of the known world.  

Name: Ginst Point, Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin) ; X/Y co-ords: 232825, 207811 ; Region: Wales ; Country: Wales ; Place type: Other Landform. Source: Ordinance Survey

 

A stretch of sand, grass and debris that is wide and broad and looks to the estuary of the River Taff and across to Llansteffan Castle and the never to missed holiday homes of Carmarthen Bay.  

 

Ginst Point the blunt end of a six mile beach.

 

High sun, a small breeze.

 

Rosie the dog,

Jacky the wonder dog,

Jacky collects sticks and will steal a sandal.

He will return it later.

Sian and Miss Megan,

And Barney, a merman*,

 

We walk, sit and get our feet wet,

Again we plonk ourselves down on a midday warm sand.

And on the walk back we found treasure, per usual.

 

 

Shrapnel Everywhere

A toilet chain thrown overboard from a passing ship? 

 

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merman

 

 

Ginst Point is accessible through Brill Gate (SN 28902 07980) when the Range is not operational. Public access is permitted if the automatic gate is open. Please DO NOT attempt to enter if the gate is closed. Anyone wishing to gain access to the residential tenant farms must contact the Main Gate using the intercom system situated at Brill Gate. https://www.qinetiq.com/en/pendine/public-access/brill-gate-and-ginst-point

 

 

 

 

 

TREASURE TWO MINUTES FROM THE THAMES

The mid-morning light streams in illuminating the gentle flecks of dust and remarkable wall paintings of St John the Baptist church Inglesham. We can see 

St Christopher as he was portrayed in the 1200’s and make out some of The Ten Commandments above the nave arch.

 

Box Pews, overseen by an equally grand pulpit, all faded and polished by time. Worship from wonderful Book of Common Prayer (1662) was given and received by all who sat in this wonderful church.

 

Sit, think, absorb the walls, roof and furniture of this special place now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust and loved by many, judging from the visitor’s book by the door.

 

Miss not the Saxon stone Madonna and Child in the south wall.

 

All within striking distance of Lechlade and Faringdon.

 

Peaceful interior 

An excellent more measured story of this church by Churches Conservation Trust is here. https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/visit/church-listing/st-john-inglesham.html

by John Piper who visited Inglesham in 1948