The latest exhibition at Waterston House in Aberlady features the renowned wildlife artist Darren Woodhead. His outstanding exhibition (some examples) is on until 14th January 2024. The exhibition organiser sent me three examples from the event. The first painting (photo below) depicts three waxwings on a berry-laden rowan tree. The waxwing, according to the RSPB (good photos) ” is a plump bird, which is slightly smaller than a Starling. It has a prominent crest. It is reddish-brown with a black throat, a small black mask round its eye, yellow and white in the wings and a yellow-tipped tail”. These birds visit our shores in winter and can occasionally be seen in flocks called, the RSPB notes irruptions. The birds in Woodhead’s panting are beautifully coloured but have quizzical looks, with the birds on the left and right perhaps arguing. This artist does not seek to replicate the actual colours of the birds, so the crest and head are more pink than red, although the black on the throat and round the eyes are realistic. Each bird has a slightly different pattern on its light purple and white feathers. Also, the rowan berries are white, rather than red. Rowan trees, with scientific name of Sorbus aucuparia, were once planted to keep witches away from people’s houses but are commonly seen in large gardens or the countryside. Waxwings eat the red berries and the birds disperse the seeds of the tree.
Waxwing trio on Rowans by Darren Woodhead (Click on all photos to enlarge – recommended)
The second painting (photo below) features a pair of teal ducks. The RSPB (good photos) tell us that “Teals are small dabbling ducks. Males have chestnut coloured heads with broad green eye-patches, a spotted chest, grey lower sides and a black edged yellow tail. Females are mottled brown”. Teals are very common around here and we saw a large group of them at Belhaven Bay recently. In the painting, the artist shows the more brightly coloured male, with its black and reddish brown patches and he captures the spotted chest very well. The female has turned her back on the male and shows her brown feathers of different shades and these have been beautifully portrayed by Darren Woodhead. Another feature of this painting are the reflections of the male and female duck in the shallow water, most likely on the shoreline. Woodhead cleverly draws our eye down the painting and it is then you notice the slight swirl on the water. There’s an abstract quality to the reflections as there is in relation to the seaweed behind the ducks. The seaweed is given unusual colours and the white and brown patches on it are similar to some of those on the teal.
Teal Pair by Darren Woodhead
The third painting (photo below) is a depiction of curlews and pinkfooted geese swaying gently down to roost at Aberlady Bay in East Lothian. In this dramatic piece of work, the artist shows the arrival of curlews at the top of the canvas – note the extended beaks – with the pinkfeet (his description) at the bottom but also in their hundreds in the background. The curlew, with the glorious scientific name of Numenius arquata, is perhaps my favourite bird and the RSPB (good photo and bird call) advise us to “Look for its down-curved bill, brown upperparts, long legs and listen for its evocative, bubbling, call”. The second photo below is from the blog in 2013 (good photos) and taken over the wall from the Dump Road at Belhaven Bay. The curlew is such an elegant and graceful bird in flight and I can always pick out its distinctive call on the rocks at the back of our house. Woodhead shows the curlews in outline and they look like scraps of torn paper in the sky, which itself is aesthetically pleasing with its varieties of white, brown and pale purple. Each September, there is a huge influx of pinkfooted geese on to the sands and dunes at Aberlady Bay and you can watch a video of this event here. This bird, with the more clumsy scientific name of Anser brachyrhynchus is described by the RSPB as “a medium-sized goose, smaller than a Mute Swan but bigger than a Mallard. It is pinkish grey with a dark head and neck, a pink bill and pink feet and legs”. The geese arrive in their thousands across Britain from Sweden, Greenland and Iceland, where they breed. In the painting, the geese can be distinguished from the curlews by their long, outstretched necks and beaks. When the birds arrive, they can often be seen feeding in fields across East Lothian an you can see photos of the grazing geese here.
Curlew and Pinkfeet arriving to roostCurlew and ducks at Belhaven Bay
There is still a month to go and see this amazing exhibition, so go there if you can.
In the summer, my ex colleague from Australia and I visited the second-hand book shop Armchair Books (good photos) which is located at the west end of the Grassmarket in Edinburgh. This shop, with its narrow corridors of books on floor to ceiling shelves, houses a cornucopia of fiction and non-fiction books from around the world. From the huge collection, I picked out a Raymond Chandler novel which I had not read, entitled The Lady in the Lake (Cover photo below). This novel has an intriguing plot and features Chandler’s wise-cracking detective Philip Marlowe, so the reader is not disappointed with the dialogue between Marlowe and the other characters in the book. At the beginning of the story, Marlowe meets Derace Kingsley. When Marlowe introduces himself in a sarcastic way, Kingsley says “I don’t like your manner”. Marlowe replies “That’s all right, I’m not selling it”. Kingsley needs Marlowe to find his wife who claims that she has gone off with a man called Lavery. Marlowe accepts the job – on his financial conditions – and sets out to find Mrs Kingsley. The story goes from Los Angeles to Puma Point in the nearby mountains, where the body of a woman is found in the lake. The plot is neatly planned by Chandler and there are two dramatic twists in the story – no spoilers here.
Chandler is not jut a crime writer but a novelist and presents the reader with some memorable dialogue and descriptions, so the novel is worth reading for its literary merit as well as its crime plot. For example: “.. below me was a small oval lake deep in the trees and rocks and wild grass, like a drop of dew caught in a curled leaf”. “The self-operating elevator was carpeted in a red plush. It had an elderly perfume in it, like three widows drinking tea”. ” .. the beginning of that semi-desert region where the sun is as light and dry as an old sherry in the morning”. So go out and buy this book for yourself or as a festive present for someone you know who appreciates good literature.
The latest exhibition at Waterston House, home of the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC) is a stunning display of wildlife art by Lucy Newton and Liz Myhill. I have featured Lucy Newton’s work three times on the blog, the most recent being in 2019, see here. My thanks once again go to Laura Gressani at SOC That blog post featured Newton’s painting of a curlew, from some distance. This painting – photo below – is a much more up close and personal meeting with the curlew. My sightings of curlews through my scope to the rocks beyond the promenade at the back of our house have been stopped recently, as the curlews have gone into the hills to nest and bring up their young. You can see an excellent video of a real curlew on its nest here. Looking again at this painting – the one in the exhibition is more vivid than this photo below – there is so much to admire about the artist’s skilful depiction of this impressive bird. Newton captures the sharp eye of the curlew and its even sharper beak. This is a graceful and elegant portrait, showing the detail of the bird’s feathers, patterned with many individual shapes. The legs of the curlew perhaps look more fragile and awkward, but when you see a real curlew stepping between slippery rocks in search of food, you realise how strong the legs must be. The rocks and seaweed at the bottom of the painting are more impressionistic but this only highlights the clarity of the bird above. Curlews have an advantage over other shore birds as their long beaks can be poked deep into rock crevices in order to grab hold of food such as crabs. This painting is, like all Lucy Newton’s work, worth revisiting many times.
Curlew by Lucy Newton (Click on all photos to enlarge – recommended)
The second Newton painting – photo below – is entitled “Razor bills on the Isle of May”. You can see a description of razorbills on the Isle of May here (good photos). A follow up (more photos) to the previous site notes that “The broad laterally compressed bill gives the species their English name and as many as 4,166 pairs nest on the Isle of May. This makes it one of the biggest east coast colonies for the species”. The painting captures the sturdy shape of the birds and you can see the beaks – shorter but much more solid than those of the curlew – which are used to catch fish. In the bill of the bird on the left, you can just see a glimpse of red, the bird’s tongue. The shapes and colours of the two adult birds are captured well here and the black and white contrast well with the lighter rockface behind. This is what your eye catches first, but then you see this beautifully detailed painting of the young razorbill, still in its fluffy grey and white. Razorbills often mate for life and produce only a single egg each year. I have seen razorbills nesting amongst guillemots and kittiwakes at St Abbs Head and Newton captures the vertiginous nature of the rocks on which these birds nest very well at the bottom of the painting. You can see – and admire – more of Lucy Newton’s work on her website.
Razorbills by Lucy Newton
Accompanying Lucy Newton at Waterston House are several paintings by landscape and wildlife artist Liz Myhill (examples of her work). I featured Liz Myhill on the blog in 2020, see here. The first example of her work – photo below – features The Arches which are part of the seascape on the Isle of Skye. You firstly get a feel of a very rugged landscape, formed over centuries by wind and sea. The black arches in the painting are complemented by the dark coats of the shags and cormorants on the rocks, and flying about in large numbers above the waves. Below the arches to the left are grey seals, at rest at the foot of the cliffs. At this time of year, we get viewings of seal pups from around Dunbar, particularly off Winterfield promenade. The seals look relaxed in contrast to the energetic flying of the birds to the right. The arches are a natural phenomenon and provide intriguing glimpses of the land behind. At the side of the left arch, you can see groups of nesting birds – maybe razorbills and guillemots – huddled together. There is much to see in this super painting and it is worthwhile taking some time to closely study Myhill’s work.
Afternoon at The Arches by Liz Myhill
The second Liz Myhill painting – photo below – entitled Descent – shows two gannets diving into an ever darkening blue sea, leaving a white wake in their trail. The gannets, with their shining white, angel-like wings look determined in their pursuit of fish, which Myhill omits from the painting. At the exhibition itself, this work stands out and when you see it, you can almost hear the whooooosh of the water as the gannets hurriedly descend into the water. There are many sharp, angular shapes to admire here in the birds’ bodies, which are finely adapted to allow them to enter the water, body tight, and then go quite deep into the water before surfacing. Watching through my scope, I can see the gannet circling and then suddenly close its wings and hurtle down into the sea. You wait a few seconds, then there’s a splash of water and the bird emerges, having digested the fish. This is quickly followed by a flap of the wings and an elegant ascent, before the whole process starts again. You can watch the gannets gracefully dive – in slow motion – on this video taken at the Bass Rock, along the coast from us here in Dunbar. The exhibition runs until 4th June, so get along to see it if you can, to appreciate the exquisite work of these two high quality artists.
Descent by Liz Myhill
I did a blog post mentioning Brock Wood earlier this year. The wood is a reserve run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust ( good photos) and on a recent walk there, I noticed that the extensive mass of wild garlic was about to flower, so I returned ten days later to take photos. The Woodland Trust (good photos) describes wild garlic, which has the scientific name of allium ursinum, thus “A delicious sign of the old, wild garlic is also known as ramsons. Look for them in shady woods where they coat the woodland floor in spring”. The origin of the suffix ursinum relates to the Latin ursus meaning bear and folklore has it that when wild bears emerged from hibernation, they would eat the wild garlic to strengthen their bodies. No bears were spotted on our visit to Brock Wood. The photo below shows the extent of the garlic, which proliferates through the wood and can be seen on both sides of the road – Daniel’s Brae – which dissects the wood. From a fairly dull green before the flowers emerge, the garlic explodes into a mass of white, cotton-style tops and brightness prevails.
Spread of wild garlic in Brock Wood
Taking a close-up view of the wild garlic flowers – photo below – you can see some closed buds, from which emerge this outburst of white flowers, with a yellow centre. There is, as far as we humans can tell – no sound as the flowers open but if there was, it might be like Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary, which you can listen to here. It is a delight to see these dramatically white flowers against the green foliage and the flowers make interesting shadows in the photo. There was a very gentle breeze on the day I took the photos and the flowers seemed to be dancing en masse between the trees. As you walk through the garlic, you get a heady smell, which is even stronger if you reach down close to the flowerhead. The flowers on the wild garlic only last a short time but they are a wonderful sight.
Wild garlic flowers open up at Brock Wood
I took this video while at Brock Wood and this gives you a better idea of the extent of this year’s wild garlic extravaganza.
The current exhibition at Waterston House in Aberlady, home of the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC) is in two parts. Firstly Nature, Prints and Poetry (good photos) which is “A small exhibition in the corridor, organised with the support of the Society of Wood Engravers, presents wood engravings by 13 artists, alongside the poems that inspired them”. The larger exhibition, in the main part of the gallery, is Birds, Botany and John Clare (good photos) by Carry Akroyd (examples of her work). I received permission from SOC for my photos from the first exhibition and from Carry Akroyd to scan and reproduce prints from her book.
I chose two prints from the smaller exhibition – they were all of a very high standard. The print below – much clearer in the exhibition – is by Ray Hedger and is his interpretation of Laurie Lee’s poem April Rise (video reading). The poem’s lines include “While white as water by the lake a girl/ Swims her green hand among the gathered swans”. Hedger’s woodcut shows the girl swimming between the two elegant and graceful swans, with her long hair stretching down into the water, like the smooth back of the swan below her. Above, the other swan is putting on a display for the girl, with the trees at the lakeside spread out like fans. The poem also includes “Weeds of warm light whose every root and rod/ Splutters with soapy green”, demonstrating Lee’s powerful images.
April Rise engraving by Ray Hedger, with poem by Laurie Lee (Click on all photos to enlarge – recommended)
The second wood engraving which caught my eye was The Gray Wagtail by Jim Dunbar (good photos). It appears that the artist has got his spelling wrong as the RSPB calls it a Grey Wagtail. The photo below – taken through glass – shows the sharp edges of the bird’s beak, tail and feet and how the artist has captured the bird’s attentive look forward. The black and white portrayal of the wagtail is enhanced by the white around its eye and the stripes on its rear feathers and tail. This loch-side scene, with the bird standing on a rock with the rippling water behind, the overturned boat outside the shed and the trees, perhaps waving in the wind, gives a feeling of being in the countryside somewhere. The wood engraving is based on the poem by Norman MacCaig and poet also calls it a gray wagtail. The poem captures the movement and the spirit of the grey wagtail. If you see one, it is in constant motion with its head going up and down as it flits from place to place. MacCaig writes “You dip and dip and go on dipping/ your tail,/ then shuttlecock up (death of a fly)/ and parachute down again/ on to your watery stone”.
Gray Wagtail by Jim Dunbar
The wood engravings in the first section of the exhibition are very small, but no less effective for that. As you walk into the main exhibition, you move into a different world, of large, dynamic and colourful paintings by Carry Akroyd, accompanied by whole poems (or extracts from) by John Clare (short biography). Ackroyd’s book “Found in the Fields” is on sale at the exhibition and contains her interpretation of several Clare poems, as well as work she had done over the years. The exhibition is on the Clare poems and these are included in the book, in which each page is not far short of A4 size in width and longer than A4 in height. Thus the reader sees the paintings, monoprints and mixed media works in a fairly large size. At £29.95 it is an absolute bargain, given the quality and quantity of its contents and the high production values from Swallowtail Print.
The first example from the book – see below – is entitled Swifts and the accompanying lines are from Clare’s book Northborough Sonnets. The lines of the poem include “The develing black as coal comes out at night/ & flyes above the village out of sight”. The “black as coal” is an apt description of the swifts which dart unceasingly and you can hear their cries as they speed past you. Carry Akroyd’s lithograph captures the essence of the swifts, both visually and in words “never seem to settle”. The winding river catches your eye, with the swans gliding at the bottom and you follow it through a myriad of fields to the top, as the elegant swifts pass by.
Swifts – hand-drawn lithograph by Carry Akroyd
The second lithograph – photo below – by this artist is entitled Startled and is inspired by John Clare’s poem long poem Autumn. The section relating to the hare, quoted in the book, reads “See! from the rustling scythe the haunted hare/ Scampers circuitous, with startled ears/ Prickt up, then squat, as bye/ She brushes to the woods,/ Where reeded grass, breast-high and undisturbed,/ Forms pleasant clumps, through which the soothing winds/ Soften her rigid fears,/ And lull to calm repose”. Clare’s imagery of the “rustling scythe” and how the hare “scampers circuitous” into the woods makes the poem come alive, as we can imagine the hare desperately escaping the scythe. In the print, we can see how Carry Akroyd has managed to incorporate the motion of the hare running to the woods, with its ears “prickt up” and its determined eye, as it seeks the refuge of the woods. Clare writes “These haunts I have long favoured..” and you can see how the poet would be at home in the countryside portrayed here.
Startled – hand-drawn lithograph by Carry Akroyd
The final example from the book – photo below – features two oil on canvas paintings on page 74. These two works are inspired by John Clare’s poem “Wood pictures in summer” which begins “The one delicious green that now pervades/ The woods and fields in endless lights and shades/ And that deep softness of delicious hues”. Carry Akroyd’s painting includes many “delicious greens” in the rolling countryside on view, but she also incorporates “delicious hues” of blues and yellows in the multiplicity of fields on show. In the nineteenth century, in Clare’s time, fields such as these would have been much smaller than they are today, as there were no tractors to plough or to reap. A view such as this today would be of large fields, maybe the size of four of five of the painting’s fields, with fewer hedgerows and trees. Also, you can imagine Clare wandering through the country lanes as he sought to ease his often-troubled mind.
Green Season and Lane through Green Fields by Carry Akroyd
The photos and scanned pages above do not do full justice to the work of the artists on show at SOC or to the clarity of the prints and paintings in Carry Akroyd’s splendid book. Enlarging the photos will give a much better impression. The exhibition runs until the end of July, so visit it if. you can and buy the book while you are there.
We recently went to Waterston House in Aberlady to see the latest – and very well curated – exhibition which features two artists – Robert Greenhalf and Matt Underwood – and the sculptor Anthony Theakston. Laura Gressani from SOC sent me photos from the exhibition to use here.
The photo below is one of Robert Greenhalf’s eye-catching paintings. It shows three elegant and graceful Bewick’s Swans, which come to the UK from Siberia each winter. The swans are joined by what looks like a lively group of lapwings (good photos) which have the attractive scientific name of Vanellus Vanellus. Greenhalf captures the flow of shapes which make up the swan’s bodies, using blocks of colour – both blue and white – to take our eye up and down the curves. The swans exude calmness – and authority maybe – in contrast to the more excitable lapwings, which are also portrayed blocks of different colours. On closer inspection, you can see the white and orange and black of the lapwings’ tails and this leads you back up to the swan’s white and yellow and black heads. At the bottom of the painting, the reflections of the lapwings and the light on the water complement the display above. This artist was featured on the blog here in 2014.
Bewick’s Swans by Robert Greenhalf (Click on all photos to enlarge – recommended)
The photo below shows Matt Underwood’s woodblock print Thistles and Linnets. There are several examples of Underwood’s prints in the exhibition and the share a common element – a variety of colours and shapes depicting the birds and their environment. One aspect of this artist’s work is that they are not only fine examples of his craft but they are also happy prints, full of attractive colours and sometimes unusual patterns on the birds’ plumage. Here we see reds and blues and purples and yellows and whites in a dazzling display. The thistles are like firework rockets exploding in the sky with the birds looking curiously on. At the bottom of the print is a splendid looking butterfly with a pattern all of its own.
Thistles and Linnets by Matt Underwood
The displays of the two artists would make a fine exhibition in themselves, but the stars of this particular show of artwork are the owl sculptures of Anthony Theakston. The photo below is Theakston’s creation of a barn owl and it is exquisitely sculpted. It is so smooth that you want to touch it and feel how smooth it is. The photo does not do justice to the wonderful texture of the piece that you see when you are standing next to it. This is a piece of sculpture that asks you to look at it in detail – the shapes and the colour. This bird has boomerang eyes, a diamond cutter nose, a head that could be part of Sydney Opera House and a fine, mottled back. This is one of the most outstanding pieces of art that I have seen at Waterson House during my visits over many years.
The second photo shows the owl sculpture in front of Robert Greehhalf’s painting of shelduck and godwits and Laura Gressani’s photo neatly captures the elegant owl, its curvaceous shadow and the colourful shelduck – an excellent combination.
Barn Owl by Anthony TheakstonTheaskston’s owl and Greenhalf’s Shelduck and Godwits
The exhibition has been extended until the middle of January and it is certainly worth visiting. If you cannot get to the exhibition, look out for the work of these artists.
Colson Whitehead‘s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Nickel Boys (review) has been lavishly praised, as you might expect of the winner of the 2020 prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Not all highly praised books live up to their reputation, but this one deserves all the plaudits that it can get. The novel is one that will stay in your memory long after you’ve read it. The book is the story of boys who were sent to a so-called reform school in Florida in the 1960s. It is based on a real school, which revealed its horrors when archaeologists discovered the remains of human bodies in the school grounds. Whitehead’s novel re-imagines the school as The Nickel Academy and its protagonists are two black teenagers, one of whom Elwood Curtis, is wrongly sent to the school as he accepted a lift from a man who had stolen the car.
While the novel portrays the shocking treatment meted out to the boys – black and white – and particularly the black students, in the form of daily harassment and cruel punishments for minor offences, Whitehead’s artistry as a writer also shows us the empathy between the boys themselves. The main character is Elwood Curtis, a bright student who should have gone to college. Elwood has a strong belief in the teachings of Martin Luther King, parts of whose speeches he commits to memory. The school tries to question Elwood’s beliefs e.g. that you should try to love those that beat you and humiliate you and there are times when he is unsure that he can hold on to his beliefs. The other man character is Turner, who might be called a chancer, a rogue or a wide boy, whose cynicism about the system contrasts with Elwood’s hopes. The novelist expertly gives us a portrayal of the boys’ friendship and there is some humour found here.
There is a twist near the end of the book – no spoiler here – but it is subtly done and very believable. The book – via Whitehead’s controlled and sometimes understated prose – carries the reader along as the plot is tight and very tense at times. In the era of Black Lives Matter, this is a novel that shows the deep racism of many parts of the USA in the 1960s but it also implies that the reader should question what is still going on today. This compelling novel is deservedly praised and you should definitely get a copy and read it. You will be hooked from early on and right to the end of this hard-to-put-down book, which is a fine piece of literature.
We visited Waterston House in Aberlady again – the first time for months i.e. before lockdown. The new exhibition there features three artists – Emily Ingrey-Counter, Helen Kennedy and Liz Myhill. Of the artists, it was the work of Liz Myhill that caught my eye and I was sent examples of Ms Myhill’s work by SOC’s exhibitions officer.
The painting below – Nest Ledges, St Abbs – is a portrayal of guillemots which nest in their hundreds at St Abbs Head. The picture is a mixture of the static and the action. On the rocks, the guillemots have a haughty look and seem preoccupied with themselves rather than what is going on around them. At the bottom of the painting, kittiwakes are also nesting. You can see the guillemots crowding on the vertiginous ledges from the footpath at St Abbs and Myhill captures this scene very well. Off the rocks, there is a fury of birds in the air and with simple brushstrokes, the artists gives expression to the aerial movement of the birds.
Liz Myhill painting (Click on all photos to enlarge – recommended)
The next painting below is entitled Pilgrim Haven, Isle of May. Here we have more very steep cliffs above a very active sea below. We can see the Isle of May (good photo) from our house in the distance, just off the Fife Coast. This picture shows the birds nesting on the cliffs and whirling in the air, as the one above did, but here the artists focuses on the dramatic jaggedness and verticality of the dark cliffs. This contrasts with the green of the island itself, the whiteness of the crashing waves and the range of blues in the sea. These cliffs look forbidding and unwelcoming to humans but provide a safe haven for the nesting birds. The scene is a dramatic one and you can almost hear the sound of the onrushing waves and the cries of the circling birds.
Liz Myhill painting
The final painting below – Nightfall on The Merse – has a tendency towards the abstract, although the hills, the sea and the mass gathering of geese are clearly visible. The Merse is a large area on the Scottish borders south of Berwick Upon Tweed (good photos). There is a well captured contrast between the dark of the hill – in the rain – and the geese gathering together and perhaps awaiting the storm – and the seaward side of the painting. The colours get more delicate as you go from right to left in this very atmospheric depiction of a coastal scene. The exhibition is on until the 27th September and is very well worth a visit.
Liz Myhill painting
At the back of Waterston House, there is a pond with a little waterfall flowing into it from the right. At this time of year, the water lilies – fairly dull and flowerless for most of the year – come to life with their delicate, graceful flowers. The photo below – taken on my phone, so not the best quality – shows the water lilies looking like little pink eggs in a nest. It’s a very peaceful scene with only the gentle muttering of the water to be heard. The pond often attracts birds but there were none on display on the day of our visit.
The pond at Waterston House
At the front of Waterston House, there are well designed, well tended and attractive garden plots. The distinctive feature of these mini-gardens is the shale used on the garden, to give a flat rockery effect but there is also – see the photo below – a small piece of shale rock which looks like a miniaturised standing stone. The grey of the shale shows off the greenery of the small trees but it also has an elegance of its own, as it changes colour subtly when the sun fades or it is in shadow. Sitting on the bench and looking out on to the gardens at Waterston House is a very peaceful experience, particularly in a warm and sunny day such as this.
Outside Waterston House
On my way back to the car, I took a photo of this young rowan tree, resplendent with berries in the sun. Rowan trees have long been associated with superstition and mythology. Traditionally e.g. in Scotland and Wales, rowan trees were planted to keep witches away and also to prevent disease from reaching a house. People were more likely to believe the witches story than the disease one. Also, if the poor women suspected of being witches were associated with rowan trees, this was more likely to show their “guilt”. This site lists many other examples of rowan trees being linked to superstition in different cultures. In these (in most ways) more enlightened times, rowan trees are admired for their show of berries.
The delay in posting this has been caused by the very enthusiastic response I have had following the publication of my new book Dunbar in the 1950s (cover below). The book is the result of my research over the last five years into aspects of Dunbar – my home town – in the 1950s. The book’s contents are:
Chapter 1 – The whales at Thorntonloch in 1950 revisited; Chapter 2 – Rationing; Chapter 3 – Housing; and Chapter 4 – Entertainment Chapter 5 – The Store: The Co-operative shops in Dunbar; Chapter 6 – Lipton’s shop; Chapter 7 – George Low & Son: The shop, the businesses and the auctions; Chapter 8 – MJ and B Williamson’s shop; Chapter 9 – AT Smith’s shop; Chapter 10 – Louis Allen’s shop; Chapter 11 – Knox the Newsagent’s shop; Chapter 12 – Carruthers’ shop and restaurant/cafe; Chapter 13 – Conclusion.
This is an oral and social history of some aspects of life in Dunbar in the 1950s. Although the book focuses on one town, most of the book could relate to any small town in the UK in the 1950s and some chapters, such as Rationing, Housing and shops such as The Co-operative or Lipton’s would also be relevant to major cities at the this time. The chapters were chosen according to whether I had access to people to interview and, in the shops’ chapters, could provide me with contemporary photographs. Oral history allows the authentic voices of people from different social strata to be recorded. I am hoping to set up a Dunbar Oral History Archive (DOHA) later this year. Social history allows people who would not normally appear in history books to have their voices heard, particularly working class people. This book features the memories of both working class and middle class people.
My new local history book (Click on all photos to enlarge – recommended)
Many of the photos given to me by my interviewees are quite unique. In the photo below, Jimmy Combe, who has lived all his life in Dunbar, is seen here not long after he joined the Cooperative – known locally as The Store – returning from delivering messages (Scots for shopping) to houses in the West end of Dunbar. The photo was taken by street photographers Robin Hall and Jimmie McGregor who later became famous folk artists. You can see the bike – known as a message bike – in the photo, with East Lothian Co-operative and possibly Dunbar underneath. Jimmy was 14 when joined the Co-operative in 1947 and worked his way up to become a qualified grocer and later store manager.
Jimmy Combe – message boy
The latest exhibition at Waterson House in Aberlady is focused on African Wildlife but I am featuring the previous (still touring) exhibition of the Scottish Nature Photography Awards. As you might expect, there is a very high quality of photographs on display. I was sent the first and second winners by a member of SOC staff and they are presented here with permission. We all have our different opinions about what might or might not win such competitions and in this case, my own vote would have gone to the second prize winner. The magnificent photo below shows a curlew – my favourite bird – with its impressive sounding scientific name numenius arquata, in its full splendour. I have noted before on the blog that I see curlews regularly through my scope on the rocks in front of our house. Only two days ago, I was watching a curlew doing exactly what the photo shows. The bird bends its head to the side and inserts it fully underneath a rock. It only does this for a short time, as it raises its head again to check for danger. On perhaps the third probe, the curlew straightens up with a crab in its beak. At first, I thought that the crab might be too big for this long-beaked hunter, but the curlew nonchalantly tossed the crab into the air, opened its beak fully and devoured the unfortunate crab, which was in the wrong place at the wrong time on this rocky Dunbar shoreline.
This is a very graceful bird, with its flowing feathers, sharp eye and even sharper, penetrative beak. I like the way the photographer has captured the light on the bird, highlighting the patterns on its back, white breast and legs. An enviable talent took this shot.
Eurasian Curlew with Shore Crab by Toby Houlton
The winning photograph is shown below. When you enlarge the photo, you see what I imagine many people might think to be an even more graceful animal. There is no doubt that this is a beautiful shot and possibly unique, as it captures the young roe deer (good photos) with the flowers in its mouth. I like the way the photograph frames the roe kid between the grasses. Your eye is immediately drawn to the deer itself, with the blurry grasses acting as props. The roe kid looks as alert to danger as the curlew always does. So, roe kid or curlew – who would you vote for as winner? If can see this exhibition on its tour, then do take the opportunity to see it, as you will be very well rewarded.
The current (ends on 15 January 2020) exhibition on at Waterston House in Aberlady, home of SOC, is by the renowned wildlife artist Darren Woodhead (video). I reviewed Darren Woodhead’s previous SOC exhibition on the blog here. This new exhibition is no less stunning than the previous one and shows the artist at the height of his powers. Woodhead has a very distinct style and a key feature of this style is shown in the example below. Our eyes are attracted to the sunflowers – the complicated structure of the flower heads and the vivid yellow petals. If you hadn’t seen the title of the work, you might pass on to the next painting without seeing the tiny, almost elusive but very elegant birds. The goldfinches’ yellow, black, brown, white and red patches then catch your eye. So the artist’s skill is in making us look closely at the whole painting. As with all the examples here, the photos of the paintings do not do justice to the actual paintings, many of which are quite large.
Goldfinch on Sunflowers by Darren Woodhead (Click on all photos to enlarge – recommended)
The second example below shows that Darren Woodhead’s range is not confined to birds. This is a different painting altogether, with the strong colours of the butterflies standing out, as opposed to the lighter shades used in the picture above. So this could be seen as a heavier and darker composition, but there is a lightness about the butterflies which appear to be in motion. Anyone who had tried to photograph red admirals will know that they are creatures of almost perpetual motion, stopping only briefly on flowers to feed. As with all his paintings, the artist here captures the variety of colours on display and I like the contrast between the strong blues, oranges and blacks of the butterflies and the lighter purples and yellows of the flower heads. Look at the butterflies and you will see that each one has its own individual – and fascinating – colour scheme.
Red Admiral Butterflies by Darren Woodhead
The third example is the lightest of the three and, like the goldfinches’ painting, is a very delicate portrayal of these small birds. Tree sparrows differ from house sparrows (of which we have an intermittent population nesting in the eaves of our house) in appearance, in that they have ” a solid chestnut-brown head and nape, whilst house sparrows (males at least) have a light grey crown”. Darren Woodhead has captured the solid heads of the birds and he has also shown how well camouflaged these birds can be by showing the similarities in shape and colour of the birds’ plumage and the leaves on the branch where the birds are perched. The two tree sparrows look as if they might be enjoying a warm summer’s day, with the sun showing off the white face of the bird on the right. They look at ease with the day and with each other.
Tree Sparrow Pair by Darren Woodhead
If you can get to see this exhibition or another display by this artist, do not hesitate to go, as you will be in for a visual treat.
We awoke on Xmas Day in Dunbar to a cold, bright, sunny morning with a big Australian sky i.e. cloudless, above us. I went for a walk to the shoreline next to Dunbar Golf Club (good photos), taking my camera with me. I went along the side of the course, where quite a few golfers were out, no doubt trying out their Xmas presents. I then went down on to the little stretch of beach just beyond the 4th green. It was a very still day and the sea was flat calm, with only the gentlest of surf i.e. what Philip Larkin observed, with wonderful onomatopoeia, as “the small hushed waves’ repeated fresh collapse”. It was the colours that enthralled me. The photo below shows a smallish rock pool which reflected the clear blue sky and if you look carefully, you can see the small reflections of the little rocks in the pool.
Blue rock pool to the east of Dunbar
The next photo shows the larger pond, the sea beyond and the sky, which is of a lighter blue than the pond. Not long after I took this photo, a single greylag goose appeared at the far side of the pond. If I had taken my long lens, I could have had a close up shot. I could clearly see its pink beak as it glided nonchalantly across the pond, keeping its distance from me.
Large pool on the shore at Dunbar Golf Club
Looking at the pond reminded me of Paul Simon’s excellent song Dazzling Blue and this superb video shows him singing the song.
Back on the beach, there was a scattering of seaweed of various shapes, textures and colours.The photo below shows an example of the smooth, leathery seaweed which you could imagine might be made into belts. I liked the way the sun caught parts of the shiny surfaces and cast intriguing shadows across the myriad shell sand. It is a natural piece of abstract sculpture abandoned by the sea on the beach and waiting for rescue on the incoming tide.
Seaweed and shadows on the beach
The final photo looks back across the town of Dunbar. If you enlarge the photo, you will see the buildings of the Old Harbour on the right, the top of the modern swimming pool and the multi-chimneyed skyline of the High Street, with the white golf clubhouse on the left and the church behind it. In the foreground are the rocks at low tide and the dazzling blue of the pond taken from the side, half way up from the beach. So an enchanting walk on a dazzling Xmas Day.
We recently visited Lucy Newton‘s superb exhibition of wildlife paintings at Waterston House, Aberlady. The exhibition runs until 16 January and it really is worth a visit. I last reviewed Lucy Newton’s work on the blog in 2017 and I did wonder if this new exhibition could be a as good as the previous one. The new exhibition is not just as good but better than the previous one, with the artist’s intelligence, skills and brilliant technique on show to even greater effect. Lucy Newton kindly sent me examples of her work.
The first portrait below is an exquisite depiction of a curlew – my favourite bird – which I regularly watch through my scope on the rocks near our house. The actual painting is much more effective in terms of the quality of the bird’s features and background, but I do like the way the artist has portrayed the elegance of the curlew with its long beak, strong upright stance and delicate colours in its plumage. There is a slight haughtiness but not arrogance in the curlew – it knows that it is bigger than other birds and can delve further under the rocks than the others also. I recently watched a curlew twist its head and push its beak under a rock. The beak emerged with a good sized crab wriggling in it. The curlew nonchalantly tossed the crab in the air, opened its beak and swallowed the crab whole.
Curlew by Lucy Newton (Click on all photos to enlarge)
The second painting below is of a grey wagtail and again, this reproduction of the work does not do it full justice. The colours of the wagtail immediately catch your eye, the delicate greys and the striking yellow contrasting very well with the more Impressionist depiction of the rocks behind. The detail in the bird’s feathers is very impressive and Lucy Newton captures the tense awareness of the bird – ever alert to what might be happening in its environment. The artist catches the softer elements of the wagtail’s plumage, but also the sharp lines of its beak, legs and tail to very good effect. I looked at this painting for quite a while, forever noticing some new detail.
Grey wagtail by Lucy Newton
The third example from the exhibition is of a red squirrel and here Lucy Newton’s artistry shines out. Look at the bristling tail of the squirrel, its soft ears and nose and very keen eye. Again the sharp portrait of the animal contrasts with the softer background of the tree trunk, with its gnarled features and lichens, which are so softly painted that you feel that if you reached out, they would be delicate to your touch. Few artists have the ability to draw and paint the squirrel’s fur in such beautiful detail, but Lucy Newton has the imagination, skill and remarkable technique to produce such an outstanding piece of art. Get to see this exhibition if you possibly can. Unsurprisingly, many of the paintings had been sold.
Red squirrel by Lucy Newton
In the 2000s, we lived in the New South Wales town of Wagga Wagga for 3 years, when I worked at Charles Sturt University. I then taught from my home in Dunbar for another 6 years, going back to Wagga (as the locals call it) for 6 weeks every year. We returned to see many friends at Wagga Wagga Road Runners on our recent visit to Australia and stayed with our verygood friends Paul and Sonya – superb hosts. The Murrumbidgee River (good photos) flows through Wagga Wagga – designated as an inland city – and there are some lovely walks along the river close to the centre of town. The photo below shows some of the beautiful gum trees along the riverside. The gum trees of course shed their bark, not their leaves and then they reveal smooth trunks. I like the reflections in this photo – of the trees, the riverbank and the cow on the far side.
Gum trees on the Murrumbidgee in Wagga Wagga
One of the remarkable features of the river at dusk is the arrival of very excited and very loud sulphur crested cockatoos – photo below. If you check the link and scroll down to Calls, you will hear the screeching noise these birds make. Imagine the racket you will hear if you go down to the river at dusk and maybe 200 birds arrive to roost, but not before they produce a deafening cacophony. They are attractive looking birds with their distinctive yellow crest and white plumage and will land quite close to you.
Sulphur crested cockatoo
We also made a nostalgic visit to the Pomingalarna Reserve (good photos) to walk around one of the many tracks. When we arrived in Australia we quickly discovered that you cannot run (my wife) nor cycle (me) in most country areas as you can in Scotland, so you need to go to designated areas. The reserve is well known as the home of two mobs of kangaroos and it is unusual for a visitor to the park – runner, cyclist or walker – not to see a kangaroo. We only saw some of these amazing animals from a distance, as the photo below shows, but we did see a large group bounding across the grass and into the forest – a fascinating sight. The second photo is from 2011 and shows the kangaroos on the golf course at the entrance to Pomingalarna. When conditions are very dry, the kangaroos will venture on to the course to find water. Note the flag on the green in the background.
Pomingalarna is a very interesting and attractive part of Wagga Wagga as it features a wide variety of trees, animals and birds, so it is well worth a visit if you are in the vicinity.
The exhibition by the excellent wildlife artist Michael Warren at Waterston House in Aberlady is about to end but his work will be available elsewhere during the year. I featured the artist’s work on the blog in 2012, with a picture of his amazing book on American birds. Over a long career, Michael Warren’s many achievements include designing stamps for the famous Audubon Society in the USA. The current exhibition shows why this artist is so highly regarded, as it demonstrates his high level of technique, his observation of birds in a variety of environments and his mastery of colour. Michael has generously made available some of the paintings for this blog. The first is a painting of a redstart (includes video) which has the fabulous scientific name of Phoenicurus Phoenicurus. What I really appreciated in this painting is the way the artist draws your eye from the impressionist-like leaves on the tree branches at the bottom of the painting up to the bird itself. Once you see the bird, it takes centre stage in your viewing but it is not centre stage in the painting. The larger leaves at the top of the work are clearly delineated and contrast well with the less well-defined leaves at the bottom. You can almost hear the bird’s song ringing out across the forest when you see the painting. It is an exquisite work of art.
Redstart by Michael Warren (Click on all photos to enlarge)
The second painting is of Slavonian grebes (scroll down to audio and video). This is a large painting and the startling colours of the adult grebe immediately catch your eye. I like the lines in this painting – the straight and crooked lines of the reeds and the rivers of white curved lines in the young grebe. This bird has an awkward scientific name podicepa auritus but it is very elegant when seen in the water. In Michael Warren’s portrait of the adult grebe, there is added elegance, shape and colour. The yellow cropped feathers above the grebe’s focused eyes reminded me of Elizabethan ruffs and there is a delicate smoothness in the rest of the bird’s body, which reflects the gentle swell in the surrounding water. This is a painting which rewards close inspection and you cannot fail to appreciate the artist’s talent and skill on display here. Overall, a wonderful exhibition which we visited twice, to very good effect.
Slavonian grebes by Michael Warren
More summer flowers – this time taken after a day of rain, of which we have not had much this long and mainly warm summer. The photo below is a close-up of some sweet William flowers in a hanging basket outside our front door. The rain had barely stopped when I went outside to capture the tiny bubbles of fallen rain on the leaves and flowers. The leaf to the bottom right looks like a frog with hyperthyroid bulging eyes. The raindrops appear to be rolling down or dancing on the leaves and the photographs reveals more detail than you can see with the naked eye.
Sweet William flowers after the rain
The next photo shows a begonia flower which is still holding on to its raindrops and showing off its many contours in the multitude of petals on show. Begonias strike me as very demonstrative, look-at-me flowers and while they are strikingly pretty at times, they can appear gaudy. This is a more delicate specimen, wearing its raindrops like a form of make up.
Begonia flower head after the rain
This photo of geranium leaves has a surreal quality and might be something that Geoff Koons would produce and add to his tulips outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Some of the raindrops appear to be magnified and hollowed out, and they look like craters scattered across a petal shaped planet. The bottom petal/planet appears to have a landmass similar to Australia.
Geranium petals after the rain
Finally, I took this photo of an emerging rosebud and although you can barely see the remnants of the rain on the flower, it struck me as almost a form of perfection in terms of delicate colour and shape.
Rosebud after the rain
For people of a certain age, of course, flowers in the rain can only ever mean this.
As we are off to Dublin next week for a few days, the gap between blog posts will be longer.
The latest exhibition at Waterston House in Aberlady features the work of John Threlfall who is a very well-respected wildlife artist. I included John’s work in a joint exhibition on the blog in 2016. This is another display of the work of a high quality artist and the variety of colours are quite stunning. I contacted John and he kindly sent me some photos of his work in the exhibition. The first example is Summer Finery (shown below) which has a dazzling array of colours on the glittering water, the serene duck and the vegetation. My ceramics teacher sister-in-law thought that John Threlfall’s style could be described as Impressionist or Fauvist. I put this to John and he replied “As to a description of my painting style I have to confess it is not something I ever think about. Others have described it is as Impressionist and as my use of brighter colours develops perhaps Fauvist maybe used increasingly”. I was unfamiliar with the term Fauvist but on looking it up, I discovered that the Tate Gallery defined it as “… the name applied to the work produced by a group of artists (which included Henri Matisse and André Derain) from around 1905 to 1910, which is characterised by strong colours and fierce brushwork”. My eye was attracted to the purples in this painting – in the water and on the duck’s back; and also to the white Sydney Opera House style white water lilies.
Summer Finery by John Threlfall (Click on all photos to enlarge)
The second painting below is Swanlight and I think that this is a very clever title of this classic Impressionist painting. When you look at it, you can indeed see a light emanating from the swan’s plumage, as they huddle together, perhaps for safety or maybe just for a neighbourly get together. There are a number of flows to this painting – in the vertical background and patches of green, but it is the elegant flow across the plumage of the huddled swans that is particularly eye-catching.
Swanlight by John Threlfall
In the exhibition, John Threlfall also includes many paintings of animals such as seals, hares and elephants. The exhibition is open until 23rd May, so get to see it if you can, as it is a superb collection of this most impressive (as well as Impressionist) painter.
In my last post, I noted that this year has produced a very healthy crop of spring flowers, with polyanthus and pansies much bigger and more colourful than in previous years. The daffodils and in particular, the tulips have also been magnificent. Daffodils were originally brought to Britain by the Romans according to this source but were not recognised as a garden flower until the 1600s. This year I have had, like other people I’ve talked to locally, more white daffodils than normal but I do not know why. I do like the great varieties of colours in the daffodils I have, and depending on whether the sun is out or not, the daffodils appear to take on different shades. The photo below is one from a bowl of daffodils given to us by my sister. This flower has elegant shapes, a range of colours and shades of colour and the centre appeared to me like a piece of origami you might see in an exhibition. It gave us continuous pleasure for more than a week.
Yellow and orange hybrid daffodil
While the early stars of the show in the garden were the daffodils, polyanthus and pansies, the tulips are now out in all their magnificent pomp. It’s as if the tulips know that – unlike the pansies and polyanthus that last much longer – their time as the centre of attention is limited. In some parts of the garden, there are only tulips and it is like a fashion show and I liked the elegant, almost aloof look of the three shown below.
Elegant tulips on show in the garden
I took the 3 close-up photos after a heavy rain shower this afternoon. In the first photo, the flowing lines (a la Threlfall) on the petals, with their delicate shades of purple, draw your eye down the flower, which looked to me like hands being held out, perhaps in celebration.
Close-up of a shapely tulip just after the rain
In the 2nd photo, I make the same comment as I did when I last posted on tulips. Can you see the tarantula? There is also as dazzling light coming from the centre – like Threlfall’s swans – and the raindrops are captured on their way down to this hydra-like centre.
Spider-like centre of a tulip after the rain
The 3rd photo is the undoubted individual star of the show this year and this beautiful, multi-petalled tulip has been widely admired by neighbours and visitors. There is a lushness and an abundance in this flower, with its plethora of petals, whose colours are enhanced by the raindrops, which seem to be protecting the centre. When looking at the photo of this tulip, I wonder what an Impressionist/Fauvist painter would produce in making a representation of the flower?
James Herring's c10 Day Blog 