original bookart ........

I was here on Wednesday

at a conference. It was actually a very good conference as I didn't start to drop off to sleep until about 5 minutes from the close ... result.

The best of it all was the location The British Library. What a joy!

The only downside was I had merely 30 minutes (during the lunch break) to explore its wonders.
The library contains some 150 million items which includes 25 million books and a glass tower in the centre which houses 65,000 printed volumes along with other pamphlets, manuscripts and maps collected by King George III between 1763 and 1820. A truely magical place.

I wandered in awe aimlessly for about 10 minutes then headed into one of the rooms (not sure what it was called now) ... but it housed books and maps obviously from times gone by.. I saw the writings of Shakespeare, Captain Cook, King Henry VI, Florence Nightingale and Leonardo de Vinci; original music manuscripts of Beethoven, Purcell and Mozart; and beautiful maps from around the world drawn when everyone thought the world was flat.

I had that same warm custard in your belly feeling as I did when I saw my gt-gt Grandfathers signature from 1835 in a birth register in Morlaix, seeing these great works for the first time..


wow this is interesting as I have been surfing around for images etc ... Canterbury Tales on the net .. do take a look


Anyway piece 4 is now complete and I think piece 5 will be done today and 6 done by tomorrow

3 out of 6 ain't bad ....

with only 16 days to go before setting up the exhibition.....

finished piece 3





I love how this has turned out

2 down ...4 in the making .....

& 20 days to go .....


[it has not photographed well]

finally.....

I have settled on the 6 unsung heroes pieces under construction for the exhibition......

Inventors
Explorers
Nature
Keeping the home fires burning during war times
Ancestors
Bloggers

'Ancestors' is done.... 'Nature' is in stage drying (which includes miniature photographs transferred onto course Thai silk).. ... I need crocodile clips for 'bloggers' so it will light up with a 9v battery... 'war time' is also drying but needs a lot of work... 'Inventors' is in need of some harsh sticking to make it stand up (mmm? not sure how it will work out?) .... & 'Explorers' is in its very early stages........

Must think up suitable words to accompany the pieces .. I can do that sitting on the train on the way to and from work .......
Ancestors is looking a bit like this (as the book was originally 'The Echo' )

'The Echo of those gone by
Those who were once was..
Their thoughts, their lives
Forgotten
Relived, revealed by the hunters
Who thirst to discover their secrets '

Everything needs tweaking ... including me lol

stuffy -v- sunshine.....

No contest (of course!)

After being cooped up in a hot, tiresome classroom all day there was nothing left to do when the question was asked 'does anyone have any question?' but to keep as quiet as a mouse and exit as fast as humanly possible.
The sun was shining, the air was fresh and clear and I was in my home city .... Liverpool.

This is the new Liverpool Museum .. I can't wait for it to open

Reflections in reverse


The magnificent St. Georges Hall as the sun started to set

I love this one where the sun has decided to stop .. & if you look closely there is a ghostly image of the Radio City Tower in the top left

work in progress ...

6 weeks and counting to..... here

& only two pieces in progress

On a cold and frosty morning...

Despite the rather cool nip in the air this morning, I decided to take myself, pup and camera to a park I have not visited in a long old while.
Wythenshawe Park.

In the centre of the park is Wythenshawe Hall built C1540. It is rumoured that there was an original building there before it, built in the 1300s but it burnt down.

Following the English Civil War the Wythenshawe estate increased to 2,500 acres. Today it sits in just 250 acres after the owner bowed to pressure from Manchester Council in 1926 and sold it to them as the council needed land. The land was then used to build one of Europes largest housing estates. I will say nothing much about Wythenshawe estate except it has an awful reputation for crime and poor housing

It was beautiful walk though.........

A couple of altered images from today