A PATH OF BEAUTY IS A JOY FOREVER

Just one of the most wonderful things about Tesco in Carmarthen is it close proximity to Carmarthen Park. The park boasts a full-size velodrome, an area dedicated to skateboarding and graffiti and my favourite, Victorian Band Stand, crumbling but still standing defiant.

 

Having waited patiently whilst I did the shopping I thought it important to take the sketchbook and precious Rosie for some exercise. So off we went to discover footpaths new.

 

New National Treasure Robert MacFarlane had this to say on paths.

“Paths are the habits of a landscape. They are acts of consensual making. It's hard to create a footpath on your own...Paths connect. This is their first duty and their chief reason for being. They relate places in a literal sense, and by extension they relate people.”

 

 Robert MacFarlane, The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot

He makes some important points especially the relationship with people. Where would we be without them? And do we appreciate them enough?

WINTER GARDEN

 On April 23 last our lives changed forever. We landed in Laugharne, moving into a small house with a backyard. Our backyard is emblematic of change and our passions. Our Back Yard: Garden. Gallery. Studio. Café. Bar.

A place to relax, entertain, paint, draw and garden. All transformative activities in themselves.

Summer

r.

A place to relax, entertain, paint, draw and garden. 

 

When we moved in, Sian, the constant gardener, set about transforming this small space. From debris to delight. Then nature brought us back down to earth in Autumn. And drawings before this project, chronicle activities, thoughts and hopes.

 

Throughout this in darkness allows the solar panelled lights to glow. Having soaked up their share of ‘solar’ during the day. And we battled with leaf fall and wet. 

Autumn

 

Storm's Eunice and Franklin constant attacks on Laugharne, over the last few day, caused some damage: High up on our yard's parapet ground a neighbour's fence blew over letting even more light in.

Hostas fading in Winter

Yet, Sian’s summer plants still stand, victorious and ready for show in four months time.

Water butt fills so quickly here

View through the window

EDGELANDS ENCORE!

Lots of exciting briefs in this semester at Art School. One asks us to create a body of work taking our cue what are known as liminal spaces.  

Oh, in case you not totally familiar with the term

 

NOOKS AND CRANNIES AND WHO KNOWS

 “They are the waiting areas between one point in time and space and the next. Often, when we are in liminal spaces, we have the feeling of just being on the verge of something. Liminal space is, of course, a literal space.” 

https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/general/understanding-how-liminal-space-is-different-from-other-places/

 

And this takes me straight into one of my favourite areas about which I first wrote in 2016: ‘Edgelands’ 

 

GATES AND YARDS AT GLANGWILI

‘Edgelands are the semi-rural or extra-urban spaces that exist at the interstices of the built, urban environment and the wildscapes beyond.’

Source: Edgelands Aesthetics: Exploring the Liminal 

in Andrea Arnold’s Fishtank (2009) Lance Hanson, University of Wolverhampton.

 

There is lots of material around Carmarthen town just waiting to be sketched and drawn as part of the project.

 

A week or so back I  was a prowling around the edgelands of Glangwili Hospital whilst I was waiting for Sian who had an appointment there.

 

More to come….

THE BOILER ROOM?