Wivenhoe Art Trail. 13th— 15 th May 2022

- have you everfound that coincidences can be quite odd ...like that bumblebee buzzing by just as Iwas writing about pollinators yesterday...? well I've been thinking recently about calling my studio "wylde garden studio" just for fun... and then this morning I was very surprised to see a large pheasant hop down from a tree branch and walk across our garden! All kinds of birds seem to love our garden, but Ive never seen anything quite so colourful before. You never know what you might discover if you join in the Art Trail this May... Look on the website for a preview... www.wivenhoearttrail.co.uk

Reflections at dawn : oil on canvas: Janet Driver (After Monet) one of several paintings you might enjoy looking at during the art trail...

our small apple tree in blossom now

Ravenna Mosaic c 6th Century AD I just happened to pick up a copy of the Big Issue that was lying open on the kitchen table... and was shocked to read " The UK has led the world in destroying the natural environment" [Sarah Wilson, quoting research by the Natural History Museum in 2020 ] Apparently our biodiversity losses are acellerating at an alarming speed ! Fortunately the writer continued by saying there are a few things you can easily do to help... imagine my smile as she then said the easiest is also the laziest : don't mow your lawn & if you can, plant an area for wild flowers, even if ts only a window-box... to help pollinators... at that moment a large bumblebee buzzed by... and I remembered how we are trying to grow wildflowers in a small part of our lawn down the garden, where we won't notice too much if the grass just grows untidily long and the wildflower seeds still don't grow again this year ! However, one thing she suggested was to help record wildlife...so Butterfly Count here I come again this year... though I've seen precious few butterflies so far... a lovely peacock butterfly and some large white buttrflies, rather blown around by the strong north winds that now afflict our garden, are all I've seen so far...

each time I looka at this painting by Jyoti Sahi I find something new to focus upon... What can you see ? ... give it time...

despite awful winds, flowers and cherry blossom are beginning to come out. They bring joy in spite of shivvering cold...

23rd March Day of Remembrance … for victims of Covid

Marie Curie Nurses have designated today : 23rd March as a day of remembrance for all those who died of covid during the pandemic [23rd March this year is just 2 years after the first " lockdown" imposed by the uk government to help prevent the spread of the covid virus, so this is an apt day of remembrance for all those who died during this pandemic ]

daffodils are beginning to fill st marys churchyard in wivenhoe...[photo : john driver ] and extra bulbs have been planted especially for this day of remembrance

if you have just clicked onto this blog from the ST Mary's Church WIvenhoe site, then you might like to listen to this on U_Tube: Kyiv chamber choir :Litany of Peace... someone suggested it to me when we were at St Bart's, Holland on sea... I found it very moving just now ...

Father Forgive : c. janet driver (oil on canvas)

daffodils are coming out : photos Steph Driver :

there is just room to show you 2 of the pictures I sent in for the next Wivenhoe Trail which will be 13 - 15 May this year... Do come & see some more at my studio... WHen the trail map is ready you will be able to download it from the WIvenhoe Art Trail website...

R Colne from Hythe to Wivenhoe pathway : photo Steph Driver beautiful winter afternoon at high tide...

seen on internet... Do look at the Guardian online today for its "awesome astrophotography from the south downs"

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Golden Sunset (oil on canvas. c. janetdriver) Yesterday (Sunday evening), at WIvenhoe St Mary's Holy Ground meditative service, we were asked to share our experiences of a memorable sunset...this painting is of the one I tried to describe... I felt words alone were not enough for the beauty of this sunset...or at least, not my words...and so I have found this painting to share with you, hoping I have been able to convey something of the joy this amazing sunset gave me...the wall of this house glowed golden with reflected light, and the leaves on all the trees were bathed in golden light as well... IF, like me, you enjoy sunsets and love to see how their colours are portrayed inj paintings, then do search the internet for MOnet's houses of parliament sunsets... or the dramatic sunsets by Turner, whose vast glowing canvases are in the Tate gallery. I am wary of putting my own dramatic red sunsets on this blog, as some people might find them disturbing... I was once warned by the father of a friend of mine, when I was only just beginning to try painting in oils and he saw one I was secretly quite pleased with: a dramatic sunset seen across the sea while on holiday in cornwall... "Oh Janet, do be careful about painting sunsets like this... they will remind too many people of explosions during the war, you know..." I realise I am very fortunate that sunsets for me are signs of joy, and not at all fearful images... and I tend now to make sure I paint the more joyful golden glow that sometimes fulls the whole sky just before the red ball of the sun sinks low... I have seen this golden light shining miraculously through mist and fog turning them from dull grey into glowing light... someone asked me "Why paint fog this colour instead of grey... I mean, fog is always dull, grey and depressing, isnt it ?" Well, one obvious answer is another question: "does anyone want a dull grey, depressing painting to look at "? but, seriously, have you never noticed how the sun can shine right into fog & mist, especially when the light is at a lower angle during autumn or springtime, making it glow with golden light just after dawn or near sunset ? D o watch out for it, as it really makes such a transformation ! This nextpainting is of the early morning sun shining through the sea-mist as we watched from the ferry to the Isle of Wight crossing the Solent with the Needles on the horizon...