A happy sad event

It was a normal quite day in my office when the telephone rang. I picked it up expecting the usual business caller but it was my wife calling to tell me we had some unusual visitors in our garden - a duck and her babies. At lunchtime, with much enthusiasm, I headed for the car and drove home to have a look for myself. Sure enough, a female Mallard and 14 of the cutest, fuzziest, cuddliest little bundles of fluff you could ever imagine, were wandering around our garden. My wife had put out the only thing she could think of for them ... a kitchen sink bowl full of water. A short time later we peered through the window and fell into hysterics when we saw the mother sat on the water as if she was queen of her own lake, while all the babies jumped up and down trying to get in. The bowl was only a little bit bigger than the duck herself and she certainly didn't have any manoeuvring room. Fortunately I am the proud owner of a builders cement mixing tray. You know the things ... about 4 feet square, 2" deep and made of durable plastic. I put that down on one of our patios and half-filled it with water, so the babies could have a paddle too. Very soon the whole tribe were splashing around and having fun. It may only be an inch of cold tap water to us, but when you're a baby duck it's a big dangerous shark-infested ocean just waiting to be conquered. Soon after, the family followed Mum across the garden and they all disappeared under a railed fence between me and my neighbour. We were concerned for the ducks because, like many city neighbourhoods, we have more than our fair share of cats coming into our gardens and I have found far too many birds on my lawn with their heads ripped off for me to realise that baby ducks who can't fly are very vulnerable to such threats. We didn't see the ducks again that day, but the next day Mother Duck returned. Sadly, this time she only had one baby with her. We will never know what happened to the other 13. It is easy to believe they were slaughtered by a rampant cat but they could easily have been plucked into the air by marauding Magpie's who swoop overhead in plenty. Truth is, we will never know. The day after that, Mother duck visited again ... on her own. But fortunately for wildlife, they haven't been given emotions such as grief and misery, and the following day the Mother Duck was accompanied by 2 males, squawking and quacking for her attention. The day after that, there were 4 males, and the next day 5. Isn't it typical that when there were children to tend to, the males were nowhere to be seen, but as soon as the kids are gone, Mum is flirting with every guy on the block. Though it is sad to think of those 14 ducklings wiped out so quickly, it has been a joy to have been a part of their short existence. Mother Duck and her entourage appear to be daily visitors to us at the moment. I'm sure there's nothing unusual in this if you live in the country, but we live in a city and this is the first time in my 60 years that I've seen Mallards in my garden. It probably won't last long, but it's a thrill to see them and when they stop coming we shall always have the memory of the 14 ducklings splashing about on our patio.

Chestnut - a horse portrait

My forum's Monthly Drawing Project for April is a photograph of a horse. I know nothing about the horse other than I saw it lying down on a bed of straw as I walked near the Grand Union canal one cold and frosty January morning.

I'm quite pleased with my effort to draw him in pencil but I recognise two significant mistakes in the composition. I shouldn't have drawn the whole of his body and I shouldn't have tried to draw the straw he's laying on. The 'project' really calls for us to be loyal to the photograph, and that was therefore my first consideration, but as a portrait, artistic licence would have been better served by drawing his head and shoulders only, I think.

Enjoying Pencil.

For so long as I've been enjoying art (6 or 7 years on and off), I have always had a special leaning towards pencil drawing, but I've avoided trying to do anything too ambitious. I've recently tried a number pieces that have challenged my limited capabilities.

The Duchess of Montrose contains more detail than I have ever attempted before. This engine has fond memories for me because it was one that I had in model form as a boy. It was one of the Hornby 00 range and I had quite a nice set up back in the late 50's, early 60's.

The fist is one I copied from an art book. The outline was not so hard to draw but I did find the shading to be quite challenging. The shading gives the hand solidity and dimension, as well as displaying the veins, and the whole effect is one of a hand being lit from above. It's not exciting as far as drawings go, but it was an interesting exercise nonetheless.

Finally, my jacket. It has a silky quilted lining and I wanted to see if I could convey that silky sheen in a black and white pencil drawing. Though I think others could have done it better, I am not disappointed with the result.

If you are a beginner with pencil or any other drawing or painting medium, you might be interested in visiting my web site. You may also be interested in joining my art forum. It is run for beginners by beginners, so we're all in the same boat and help each other where we can.

What happened to March?

Once upon a time I had this silly notion that I would keep a blog and post to it most days. It sounded like fun and surely couldn't be hard. Duh? Little did I appreciate that there's not always time in a busy day to sit online tapping out useless thoughts in the futile hopes that they may be read by anyone. When I do break away from my day job and household chores long enough to pursue something more pleasurable, my first thoughts turn to my web site. Is everything ok there? Have I been hacked? Have I had many visitors today? Does anything need doing maintenance-wise? Then it's into my forum to catch up on the posts. Read everything that's new, toss out a few comments in reply and check that no 'undesirables' are flooding the place with spam. Pastimes like Photography, Drawing and Painting seem to be harder than ever to make time for, and the blog ... well, it's now April and I'm staggered to see that I last posted in February. Clearly this is one of my pastimes that must be marked 'Must try harder'.

Latest Picture Puzzle

My forum's latest Picture Puzzle (number 4) is a change from previous versions. Previously we've copied an existing painting but this time we've decided to use a photograph. Choosing a suitable subject for this project is not always easy because it's important that every 'square' has something of interest in it. Large expanses of blue sky or green fields can be very boring if all you are given to paint is a blue or green square.
For this first time with a photo, we are using a picture I took last summer of some of my Fuchsia's. It's not the greatest of photo's as far as photo's go, but it has sufficient detail in all corners to ensure that every artist has something interesting to paint. Not only do the artists enjoy the challenge of painting something, but the fact that they don't know what the overall final picture will look like adds to the interest. They also have much fun guessing who has painted each square. If you're a novice painter, why not join us - JWJarts Art Forum - for beginners by beginners

Come back often and watch as new segments are added to this months Puzzle Picture.

Snowdrops

One of the things I love about my garden is the fact that I have something flowering in it every month of the year. It is an easy misconception that gardens are a 'summer' pastime, but nature doesn't stop working just because the season has changed.

From spring bulbs, through summer flowers, and on into autumn and winter. And don't the birds just love the late flowering spikes of the Mahonia in December.

But it all starts in January with the Snowdrops. Small, delicate flowers with the toughness of old boots. I have no idea which specific variety populates my garden, but I suspect it is just a basic common type. (If you know, drop me a line).

I always see small green shoots breaking through the surface of the ground around Xmas time, and by the first week in January buds are well formed. By mid-month, many are opening and by the last week of the month, they are in much abundance. They will last at least until the middle of February, and sometimes even longer.

This is where another of my hobbies comes into its own, as I rush off to fetch my camera to make a permanent record of what these little chaps are up to. I said "as tough as old boots" and I'm not exagerating. They grow pretty much anywhere .... in the shade of a large Apple tree, in a small gap between shrubs, in a rocky crevice and even by forcing their way through a gravel pathway. Even my Gnomes can appreciate the early beauty that Snowdrops bring to the winter garden.

Have a dull and dismal Xmas

That seems to be the message we're getting here in Northampton. In their ultimate wisdom, our illustrious Local Authority boffins have really gone to town with the town center Christmas decorations this year .... we've got none!!! Well, that's not quite true. We've got a string of white bulbs round the Market Square and a big tree ... covered in white bulbs. Boy oh boy.

There was a time when our Town Center was a joy to behold. We could go to the shops in the evening, and stroll through the pedestrianised center soaking up the spirit of Christmas. Going back even further, when Abington Street was still open to traffic, we had large illuminated decorations that were worth travelling from afar to see. But year after year, the number of decorations and the standard of them, has progressively reduced. Over recent years, the standard has become so poor that it is hard to imagine how things could get any worse. But hats off to our council ... they managed it. Poor became bad, bad became pathetic, and now pathetic has become embarrassing.

Someone in Sheffield told me this week that they never hear Northampton mentioned on the television news. Hardly surprising, I thought, as we're not exactly 'local' to Sheffield. However, this week Northampton was on the news in Sheffield - as the most UNdecorated town center in the country. How embarrassing is that?

No doubt our local officials are aware of some strategic rationale that justifies such an appalling demonstration of how not to spread good cheer at this festive time, but it defeats me. Cost cutting I can understand, but I understand about false economy also, and that's what this is. If our retailers report below average shoppers, especially from out of town, who will be surprised.

Still, on a positive note, it can't get worse than this, so Christmas 2008 can only be an improvement. Right? Let's hope so.

Merry Christmas from me.