Creating my own Kate Tulett art

At the South of England Show this year, in the pouring rain, I stumbled across the very lovely Kate Tulett in one of the craft marquees. Kate is an art teacher, artist and generally a splendidly bonkers lady! I thought her collages were fab, and longed for one of her creations myself, but settled on a one-day textile course held at the school she teaches at in Oxted. But unbeknownst to me, my great hubby sneakily arranged for me to receive one of her aquascapes for my birthday, knowing that I have a particular penchant for all things sea related.



It was done in great haste as we only 'discovered' Kate a week away from my birthday, and the collage was a surprise, so it involved secret emails, and a hand-over on a garage forecourt.
I love my picture, it even has lines from a poem that Steve wrote for me many years ago!

Those who know me are well aware that I am a hoarder as far as fabric, buttons and ephemera go, and I like art which is both textural and three dimensional. So having a go at creating something as fun as one of her pieces was quite a challenge. Letting go, and allowing myself to empty my head of science and bees and such, even for a day, is not always easy. Nature accompanies me where ever I go :o)

And despite being amongst many (many!) children on the course, Kate was patient with all and sundry, no matter what age or temperament. I have done some machine embroidery before so I am reasonably comfortable with a sewing machine, but am always open to new techniques.

We looked at the work of Sophie Standing, a very clever textile artist and Kate explained her techniques, before embarking on our own projects. And although I haven't finished it, I'll show you how far I managed to get today.

First a sketch on muslin, then acrylic paints washed over the canvas

Here's one of Kate's pieces in progress

And two stages of other pieces of Kate's work!

Next the fabric stage, and here the photo of my garden for inspiration

Kate's desk!

My collage beginning to take shape with fabric scraps

Oh, oh! Small people upturning the giant fabric box and hiding amongst the multitude of textures and colours! Great fun!

But, of course, bees are always in my heart, and always part of my garden...

You'll have to wait to see the completed article, as there is more to add to my master-piece. However, I am pretty chuffed at the way it is progressing, and even the din of enthusiastic noise from what seemed like a hall full of halflings didn't deter my enjoyment of the day.

Many thanks to Kate and her two peachy assistants!

Going posh

On Friday Steve and I went to the capital to do some 'advising' on bees and planting in a certain posh area in Central London. In the sort of area where 2 bedroomed apartments sell for £6 million pounds!

One of the gardens we visited to bee inspect!

 After our meeting we headed off in search of lunch.

Pimlico Road: land of men in suits and ladies in pearls with sun glasses on their heads

And this is what we came across, Daylesford - a very lovely organic deli and eatery

Lots of shops with pricey price tags

Inside Daylesford, yummy deli

Great salads

Lots of nice things....

Love the elegant buildings

And all the famous connections

And the cabs heading down Kings Road, the fashionable shopping strasse

There was an exhibition/show about cycling...in Denmark! Can't  seem to get away from my Danish roots, even when I am off to London, lol!  But seriously, the Danes take cycling to a totally different level, and it's actually pleasant to cycle over there; I believe even the crown prince cycles to work.

The reason we sauntered down Kings Road was because I was keen to visit Anthropologie, but we couldn't help having a little giggle about the name of the shop pictured below ;o)

We finally reached Anthropologie and it wasn't disappointing. GOSH what a fab place, imaginatively created and full of fun and colour!

See those blue bowls on the top shelf there, well, a couple of them came home with us....just accidentally, you know

This was truly a pretty shop, and if you ever happen to find yourself in Kings Road, do pop your head in

After a pumpkin spiced latte, we headed home, having had a rather capital day!

The wildlife of Kefalonia

Today's post is a little about the marvelous wild - and not so wild - life of Kefalonia; being a tad nature crazy, we try not to miss an opportunity to photograph it! And there was plenty to shoot. Surprisingly though, a lot of it was rather fast moving in the heat!

Beautiful Scarce swallowtail butterfly. They fluttered around the whole Greek island. The British subspecies is confined to the fens of the Norfolk broads. This is partly due to the distribution of the sole larval foodplant, Milk-parsley. The continental subspecies is less fussy and will feed on many kinds of Umbellifer, such as Wild Carrot.

There were lots of lovely wild cats, very curious and very hungry. This was one of the downsides to the island, there is no spaying or castrating, so the numbers of cats, kittens, dogs and puppies grow in the spring and summer, when the tourists feed them, and then die of starvation and/or disease in the winter months. Shame really to think these lovely cats are doomed.

Ants are everywhere, in great numbers. Worldwide they are a very successful species. BB found a large dead centipede in the swimming pool and wanted to bring it home. However, as it was dripping wet, I laid it in the sun to dry and within minutes it was being carried off by these ants, using 'co-operative transport'. Love their little pointy bottoms! The Mediterranean Tiger centipede is the largest in Europe and can grow up to 150mm in length. They are nocturnal and venomous and can give a nasty bite.

Lots of damsel and dragonflies

And bee hives, seemingly everywhere. No sight of people keeping just one or two in their back garden, more that a few kept 250 plus hives. Interestingly, by late August most of the wildflowers had been burnt to a crisp by the Mediterranean heat, so what were the bees foraging on?

There weren't many wildflowers at this time of the year, but here's a honey bee on a thistle

The beaches of Kefalonia are nesting grounds for Loggerhead turtles. They spend most of their life in saltwater and estuarine habitats, with females briefly coming ashore to lay eggs. Along some of the local beaches these nests were cordoned off to prevent disturbance. Loggerheads are considered an endangered species and are protected by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

We saw several turtles in the sea when we were out swimming

The island pollinators are heavily dependent on the exotics planted in gardens and hotel grounds

Sleepy head!

This brown butterfly fell into the sea :o(

Little rustlings in the undergrowth turned out to be these small brown lizards.

Cats, cats and more cats!

This is Cheeky, who every day lived up to his name.

The ants provided much amusement; this was a 30 feet long trail (before heading off into the bushes) of Harvester ants.They carry amazingly large loads of seeds and such back to the nest.

Cicadas everywhere, the noise so characteristic of the Mediterranean!

This is the European hornet, Vespa crabro.

Caught up with a local beekeeper who kept 250 hives in his 'spare' time, he's also a mechanic! I bought some of his excellent Thyme honey.

BB feeds a bite of apple to our neighbour horse

Pretty livestock, being looked after by the traditional shepherd, who each evening herded the flock from one field to another

This is Spotty, he's very sweet natured.

This is Jasper, getting a little too comfy on our table!

Xylocopa violacea, the violet carpenter bee, is one of the largest bees in Europe. It is a solitary bee and makes its nests in dead wood. They are incredibly pretty bees, but a little intimidating when they fly close by.

The Oriental hornet, Vespa orientalis, is a hornet which looks very similar to the European hornet, and is quite common  in the Mediterranean area. It is a rather large specimen!

Lots of pretty bugs and beetles hiding in the foliage.

A group of 'our' kittens arrive to dine on left-overs!

So there you go, a sample of the amazing non-human life on a very special island!

Hope you are having a peachy week!