Which Twin's The Toni?

I try to avoid pictures of me on the blog, but this one is an exception. It was taken in the Mirror Maze in the Garden of Surprises at Burghley. I would have given up early on, but Terry is made of sterner stuff, and found her way to the centre, then insisted that I joined her, to the amusement of another group of tourists, who joined in. The maze is reallyquite surreal, all those mirrors, particularly when you end up in a dead end... mildly nauseating. Far too many copies of me! There's lots of water in the park, too, gorgeous fountains, and a wonderful moss garden, complete with steam, or was it very fine spray? I'm not sure. The walls there were set with semi precious stones. And I was happy not to trigger the last of the surprises, which I think would have triggered a water feature at the exit. It wasn't warm enough to enjoy a wetting, no matter how much fun it was!

I'm hoping to go back to Burghley soon, to visit the house, as well as the town of Stamford, which reminded me of the Shambles at York. We didn't stop there, but drove through it; much of the architecture was amazing. Must try to talk Robin into it....

Yet More Burghley

As always, the natural world demanded my attention on the visit to Burghley; and how could it not, with a deer park, and various man-made and natural attractions. I was struck by the beauty of these huge, furry leaves, though I don't know what tree they came from (anybody know?). The patterning on the leaf is fascinating; hugely detailed and reminiscent of tree bark. The reverse of the leaf was just as fascinating, though more muted. I took this one home with me, but within a couple of hours, the green had gone. For want of waxed paper to iron it with, I sprayed it with a wax coating which you would usually use on waxed coats; that has preserved it to some extent, but the stunning colour is gone.

I wouldn't usually think of such a colour combination; isn't nature a wonderful artist? Watch this space for lime green appearing in my palette in future! I bought some, recently, and haven't used it yet... now seems to be a good time! Perhaps in a small piece, just to see how I like it... and then, who knows!

More Burghley...

Sadly, I can't attribute the photos in the last post...or at least, not yet. I abandoned my leaflet at Terry's house, and don't have the information, though I did provide a link to Burghley itself, from whence doubtless more information can be obtained. I can, however, enthuse hugely about the ongoing exhibition there. I really enjoyed looking at Julian Wild's 'Incomplete Systems', the featured exhibition there this year. They are truly amazing. For me, at least, they somehow express huge amounts of energy held captive within a construction. I was truly impressed. The image above shows one of the sculptures in situ; click either of the links for more detail.

Three dimensional work is challenging for me; it requires a depth of spatial awareness which I just don't possess. Believe it or not, that's why I'm learning flower arranging; anything that has to be viewed from all sides, and look good, has to be helping me to develop that awareness. Similarly, I recently spent a day working with clay. Whilst I was happy with the form of what I produced, the finish of the objects was not as I wanted it to be. If we are wise, we learn continually from all kinds of activities, some art related and some not...and, more importantly, we apply what we have learned.