Ludlow break

My husband decided to arrange a couple of nights away for us both as we haven't had as much time together since starting my new job and chose Ludlow which isn't too far from Malvern.  Here are a few of my favourite pictures from our jaunt.

 A lone acorn still on the tree whilst it's brothers were scattered on the forested floor.

 On the Sunday evening we walked along the river Teme and came to several weirs which created a loud rush of water that could be heard from wherever we were on our walk- very helpful as the night closed in at just 5:30 now that the clocks have gone back.
 The hush at dusk along with the rush of the river really was lovely and tranquil and the exact reason we had come away.

 I have no reservations in saying this is my absolute favourite time of year- the array of colours, hues and shades multiplied with the resulting textures makes simple landscape the perfect muse for many a painting.

 A glimpse of the castle nestled amongst the rust of the trees adds to it's ruined charm.  I especially like the ombre effect that many of the trees have with colours bursting to red at the ends whilst the inner branches are more muted in soft yellows and greens.  The odd evergreen continues to add depth to the warm colour palette.

  Despite the weirs, there were further stretches of the river that were very still and the reflections caught were almost like mirrors.  I took a lot of pictures of trees reflected upon the water but haven't included them all here.

 On the Monday we walked further along the river than the previous night and then visited Ludlow Castle.  Although it is in disrepair, the scale of it and layout really helps to transport you to it's medieval roots.  I could envisage it in it's glory especially when walking along the battlements which is where I took these images.

Back on the ground I took this picture once most of the other visitors had left.  They have a Christmas market here on the 28th and 29th of November which we are hoping to come to.  It is a market which is sympathetic to medieval crafts and crafting techniques and looks enchanting which you can read more about here: ludlow medieval christmas.  I really recommend it as a place to visit and we were spoilt for choice with lovely restaurants too.

Mushrooms, giant pumpkins and knitted bargains

I have a few crafty posts pending due to lack of pictures so while I am hesitating to post them, here are a few images of my favourite signs of Autumn; mushrooms! 

I like to get the children out as much as possible in these crisp dry autumn days and walking in the woods or a park is high on the list for things to do.  It is on these trips that we have keep our eyes peeled for signs of Autumn, kicking the leaves, collecting conkers, fir cones and acorns.  We look for the prettiest leaves and create pictures on the floor and sometimes bring them home to stick to large pieces of paper as our Autumn collage.  There's a lovely park in Great Malvern which is where we saw the red and white spotted toadstools shortly after I had fond these jumpers in a charity shop for £1.50 each.  The donor must have also had daughters with a similar age difference but it's very timely as the weather has begun to cool.  They have been wearing them lots since and they have received lots of compliments.

On our way home, we visited Grandad at his allotment where he had just unearthed his huge pumpkins contrasting tiny shallots. 

Our Autumn days have also included Halloween trails at Croome and Worcester woods.  I'm not a fan of Halloween but the trails have kept the children happily entertained on our walks.

 
Soon it will be Christmas but for now I want to enjoy the Autumn just for it's own mild beauty before the love affair with Christmas begins (next week quite likely).

Chapel pics

I have been looking at images and artwork to put in my new office and the chapel in school but without much luck.  Pinterest came to the rescue again and I decided to create some of my own.  I bought cheap canvas boards and chalk from 'the works' and went about creating some blending and shading using the pastel shades.

I'd seen a print of a girl with her eyes closed and the 2 Corinthians verse and decided to adapt it to my own taste.  I knew I wanted to use newspaper but it was a piece that definitely evolved as I went along.

The original print had butterflies and dragonflies on it so I decided to include some on mine, again using the newspaper.

With a few extra drawn flowers and the verse written on, it's very nearly finished.

I also saw an idea on pinterest where you paint your canvas with water and place strips of tissue paper in a pattern on and allow to dry.  Then remove them and the colours will have bled into the canvas board- as you can see the pink and orange didn't bleed but blue, yellow and green did creating a lovely backdrop for my next piece.

I decided to create a branch using twine, corrugated cardboard leaves and burlap leaves.  It was still a little dull so I added tissue paper leaves as a last minute touch.

I sketched a bird but decided it would be better raised and so cut out the shape from corrugated card and layered it up with newspaper and tissue paper before drawing a pattern over the top in pen. I cut out the letters from my newspaper to write out the bible verse but felt it was a bit dull so added yellow tissue paper and traced over the letters instead.  I much preferred the extra colour although a little disappointed to miss the green hues.

My 2 pictures still need a few finishing touches but I'm really pleased with them so far and now just need to find a place to hang them.

Shaving Foam marbling

 I saw this shaving foam marbling idea ages ago and managed to forget but it was brought back to my attention on the artbar blog and I decided to try it.

You will need shaving foam, food colouring, a tray (or multiple trays if using more than one colour), a ruler or alternative straight edge, something to stir with, a bowl and paper. 

You begin by spraying your white foam onto the tray and spreading it out into a smooth layer approx 1cm deep. Add a few drops of the colouring to the foam and swirl using a pencil or straw. Children may wish to simply make circles but try to guide them to vary lines so that I the colour will reach corners too.
Place a piece of paper face down on the foam and press gently so that all of the paper is touching the foam. Remove the paper and use the ruler to scrape off the foam into the bowl. Repeat with more paper adding more colouring when desired.  Leave to dry and you should have a variety of marbled paper to play with the next day.

I have a few ideas of what I'm going to do with this paper but I still haven't got round to it yet and rather than wait another week or so, I thought I'd share this post now since it's been a little while since my last craft confession. I have a few other posts in draft form that are waiting for pictures or edits which I will endeavour to complete quicker than this last one and with updates of previous posts.