Last days of Winter (Day 41 - 50)

Officially these are the last 10 days of winter but forgive me it I don't put away my warmer clothes just yet, last years snow at the end of March is still fresh in my memory!  I don't seem to have got quite as wet in the last few days and have managed to time my dog walks quite well.

Day 41 - Swans at Lamlash

The swans at Lamlash seem to grown in number and can usually be found around the pier. Up close these really are huge birds with an average wingspan of 7 foot. They are very strong birds but not aggressive, however they will vigorously defend their territory and nests! Being a coward, I tend to give them a lot of room.

Day 42 - Dyemill footbridge (one of 3)

A few minutes from my house is the Dyemill Forestry area.  I spend quite a lot of time walking this area and can go miles along the tracks.  So it becomes the 'usual' dog walk and as such I tend to take it for granted. In fact it is one of the prettiest walks around with several waterfalls and footbridges, along with a large variety of flora.  It has already provided several photo opportunities for this project and I'm sure that will continue.

Day 43 - Part of the Crozier Sculpture

On another walk, this one near Brodick, a selection of sculptures by Tim Pomeroy can be found along the trail.  At the moment parts of the walk are cordoned off due to the high winds and loose branches above the path, but other areas have been opened up as restrictions on a plant disease have been lifted. Winter is a great time to find and view the sculptures as the plants have died back so they are easy to view.  This one is called 'Crozier' and was inspired from newly unfolding fern and bishops crooks.

Day 44 - Hazel Catkins

On Saturday I noticed some catkins - they actually looked like they had been there a while.  Tree identification is not my strongest subject, but I think this could be Hazel as the catkins tend to be out between January and March. Catkins are often called 'lambs tails' and I don't think this needs any explanation.

Day 45 - Fun on a quad bike

Sunday it turned out nice so I went off on a longer walk and met several people along the way.  It's good to see the Forestry Commission tracks being used for recreation and these included, walkers, dog walkers, horse riders and a small group of quad bikers.  I know some people don't like the quad bikers being on the tracks, but I like to see young people out and about and on the tracks they are not churning up less robust paths.  This group were well aware of me and my dogs and passed with care.

Day 46 - View from the Dougarie Estate office

Most folk don't enjoy Monday mornings - something to do with going to work - but I have a lovely drive to an office with a view.  My hours are flexible as I work for several different businesses as well as my own - but I try to keep people in regular slots (keeps my brain less cluttered) and Monday every hour is booked and I know it's a long day.

Day 47 - Tulip stems

Oh dear, one of those days.  I'd reset my camera and formatted the card, and clicked off a quick shot to test a new setting then went out and left the camera behind (It happens to the best of us)! So ended up using the test shot of tulip stems.

Day 48 - Dogs on Sannox beach

A quick walk on the sandy beach at Sannox before a meeting and we were joined by a lovely dog that lived nearby and belongs to one of my photographic students so is well used to posing for a camera.

Day 49 - River Iorsa low level walk

On the west side of the island a range of low level walks can be found.  One of these is along the River Iorsa, along a rough track, crossing fords, right up to a boat house at Loch Iorsa. As the ford was very high we only went as far as that before turning round and enjoying the sunshine and views on the way back.

Day 50 - Rhododendron leaves 

And yesterday, day 50, I took a walk from Cladach through the woodland and Cnocan Gorge.  The giant rhododendron are starting to flower in huge swathes of pink and purple and I was totally distracted by the amount of colour around, rusty orange, vibrant greens and fresh pinks dominated the walk, all made better by sheens of rainwater and the odd glimpse of sunlight!

To and from photographs

A few weeks ago I posted an article on photographing smoke not realising how this would go on to influence a totally new experience that I was going to undertake.  I regularly try to do something new, just for fun so I had booked a weekend with Brodick Castle rangers to have a go at wood carving. Never having picked up a wood chisel before it could be amusing (if not dangerous!).

The beginning 

The two day course was run by Marvin  Elliott who lives and works on Arran and has work in both public and private collections around the world.  His little studio sits opposite the harbour in the lovely village of Corrie.

Marvin's studio

The weekend started with a short talk before heading off into the forest, chainsaw in hand (that’s the professional hand of a ranger!) to pick a piece of wood to carve. And this is where the influence of the previous photography started to take effect.  In the wood I looked at, I could envisage the wonderful swirls of smoke and hidden patterns and had a perfect picture in my head of a finished wood carving!

 

Work in progress

Needless to say my skill lacked sadly behind.  I had never tried to carve wood before and I happened to pick a well seasoned piece of beech – a piece of concrete would have been easier to chip at! But I did persevere with pictures of smoke roses, periwinkles, hands and general swirls in my head.  These were modified as the day went on and I envisaged drafts destroying my smoke images as the chisel when where it wanted and wood split and refused to bend to my will.

The end result was not quite how I had imagined it but undeterred I went on to carve a sea serpent, on a slightly softer green piece of wood, which now sits proudly in my garden.

 

Sea serpent in the making

Now resident in my garden

Whereas my inspiration came directly from taking a photograph, I found it fascinating to listen to Alex Boyd this week, whose inspiration led to a whole series of photographs.  Alex is an internationally recognised photography, most known for his Sonnets series see some on this link which features a character called Henning who features in all the images, wearing a white shirt and braces, in remote / iconic locations around Scotland.  Alex was on Arran and gave us an interesting talk on how he developed the idea to take this series, along with the trials and tribulations along the way!  His love of photographic and art history, and influenced by people such as Caspar David Friedrich and Anselm Kiefer, motivated him to take a fresh look at locations around Scotland.  The resulting enigmatic photographs often have a dark hidden message.   Alex is currently exhibiting at the Douglas Hotel – worth popping in for a look. 

Sign outside Marvin's studio