"My" Moorhens

"There's your Moorhen!" "I saw a moorhen the other day and thought about you"
I found it so sweet that everybody seems to think of me when they see a moorhen!



Trials on coloured paper inspired by some wildlife artists.



They are eating Blackberries these days.

ウナギの島

I spent half a day in Ely and joined Cambridge Bird Club's evening walk.



While sketching this I saw something moving in a Blackberry bush. At first I thought it was a Blackbird eating berries but It was round, had hair and long thin tail. Checking the Internet, I think, it was a Water Vole!



カンムリカイツブリが水の鏡に線を引く

Dinner Table

My friend kindly let me try her pastel pencils. They were so nice! And I suddenly felt like painting a scene with pastel based on the sketch of the beautiful dinner table at Hever Castle, that I peeped after the baby went to sleep soundly. There is a bit of basic drawing problem in this picture...but it was fun drawing lights on the dark paper!

At the Nursery

I'm working!!



Both girls and boys love this huge teddy bear and often sit in its arms. And that is one of the best time to draw them.

　

　

ice cream

I finally decided to work hard on drawing kids and started observation module again.

　

Children keep moving and moving maybe more than birds. I am amazed by their energy.

　

They were playing in the outdoor swimming pool in this cool weather! The pool is about 30 cm deep. So even their small body can not be soaked in the water. They are really strong!



I found that the best time to draw them is while they are eating ice cream! Although I have to withstand temptation to get one by myself...

Hever Castle

I stayed a night in Hever Castle in Kent! My friend kindly took me to the trip as a baby-sitter during the dinner party.



Having drinks at the Music Room.



I couldn't help getting up early in the morning. I went out of my room opening heavy wooden door, which made a creaking noise in the very quiet corridor. The light coming in from the side through the windows was beautiful.

I wish I knew a lot more of British history. I learned a little in high school but I forgot most of them. And also the input of historical knowledge was in Japanese so that it was difficult for me to associate my knowledge and the explanation in English. I won't say that we should have learned history in English like Indian schools but we should have remembered proper pronunciation of names of people and facts! Anne Boleyn, for example, sounded very different from how we pronounce in Japanese and I didn't get it in the beginning.

Long for the Sea

I feel as if the summer is ending although we still have another two months. The amazing long days with bright sky until ten o'clock in the evening are becoming things of the past and now days are getting shorter and shorter. In Britain the peak of the summer is actually the summer solstitial but not August.


When we get to half way through something, we start to think about the end and the latter half always pass faster just like sliding down a slope. And we are hardly proof against the component of the force parallel to the slope...

予定のない日

Moorhen （バン）
To create something, we need time to do nothing particular or time to try and experiment. I really appreciate this long long summer holidays without any schedules.

白亜の海岸

「誰だって夏海岸へ遊びに行きたいと思はない人があるでせうか。殊にも行けたら、そしてさらはれて紡績工場などへ売られてあんまりひどい目にあはないなら、フランスかイギリスか、さう云ふ遠い所へ行きたいと誰も思ふのです。」　宮沢賢治"イギリス海岸"より
ドーバー海峡に面してこそいないけれど、スワネッジ近くの白亜の海岸の上を歩いた。"さう云う遠い所"が足下にある夏。



Isle of Purbeck
The white cliff in this painting is drawn with the actual chalks that I picked up there!
Isle of Purbeckと呼ばれるスワネッジがある半島は、地質が非常におもしろい地域だ。様々な地層が海岸に対して垂直に走っていて、海岸沿いを歩くうちに地質がどんどん変わるのがわかる。Purbeck Hillsは石灰岩で出来ており、海に突き出た部分がこの景色だ。
この地域の地質の違いによる植生変化を学んだらとてもおもしろそうだけれど、まだ論文検索までは手が出せていない。

Weather Forecast

The weather forecast said it would be heavy rain and thunder for whole three days when I was planning to visit a family living by the sea. But I knew that even the forecast said something depressing, it would be better than I had expected from that. In Japan if the weather report announce that it is going to be a rainy day, it will really rain for whole day. But British rain often last only for a few hours and we always have some chances to see the sun and blue sky...if we wish and pray for it, I believe.



Black-headed Gull
So on Saturday afternoon and Sunday it cleared up!



Swanage
People always talk about the weather here because it changes a lot within a day or even in an hour. And yet it is also true that they don't care much about it and go out without an umbrella in pouring rain!
British weather seems to be synonymous with bad weather but now it is far better than 38-degree sauna in Japan. I am still wearing my rain wear (actually spring ski jacket) all the time in the middle of July.

Thank you for letting me join the nice trip!