You have to hand it to him......

Amazing, lifelike birds and animals all painted onto the human hand by Guido Daniele.

See more here.

Nature by Numbers

My posts are like buses..... nothing for ages and then three come along all together....

RSPB Garden Birdwatch

This is Billy - affectionately known in this house as Billy No-Mates - the solitary pheasant that has adopted us and keeps tapping on the door for attention. He has gone down on my list for the count we've done today towards the RSPB's Great Garden Birdwatch this year. It's been all over the news so I hope some of you have already logged on and recorded your count. It only requires us to count the maximum number of each species that we see in any one hour over this weekend so there will be time to have a go tomorrow too.

Billy is around for most of the day at the moment and I go out and feed him extra titbits. If he acts true to form he'll soon disappear off to find a mate. In the past his forefathers have done this to us and then descended on us with lots of girls in tow before disappearing until the next winter. It can cost a fortune in bird food but I don't worry about that as I love looking out of my windows and seeing dozens of birds here at any one time. He even has the temerity to tap on the back door in a sort of 'come on, I'm hungry' fashion. Ever felt manipulated?

With a large garden surrounded by fields we are lucky to see a wide variety of species but our count has already highlighted change from last year. Yellowhammer numbers are up which is great news. So too are the numbers of woodpeckers and nuthatches, but, on the downside there are no sparrows about today and it is ages since I've seen a dunnock or a greenfinch - although I recorded one greenfinch today and managed to photograph him too. When we first moved here over ten years ago they were common. Now they are a rarity despite putting out niger seed to attract them to the feeders.

Ten years is not a massive amount of time and when change occurs on your own turf within that time it highlights the value of keeping a record. It doesn't matter whether you see a thousand birds or just a few, all data is important so I hope some of you have a go. Have a great weekend all.

Film for Friday..... the last one....

At the beginning of the year I re-started the modules I'm doing with Aberystwyth Uni for my Foundation. I am doing 'colour exploration' and the workload is heavy so when I realised I had another module to start this week I knew that my tight timetable was going to get tighter! I am now doing two full days one after the other and it is exciting but mentally tiring. If I'm not drawing, I'm painting and if I'm not painting, I'm sleeping. I manage to squeeze my blog time into the early morning hours so I am abandoning this film for Friday malarkey because I seem to be doing nothing else and I don't just want to post films all the time. Somehow the pressure of doing something on the same day every week has stopped me doing normal posts so this is the last one on a Friday but it does have a colour theme as I am obsessed with it......

Film on Friday

I can't believe it is Friday again already. It's been a hectic week and I nearly forgot to post! I noticed this morning that some of the snowdrops are up and the daffodils are coming through the lawn already. They are not as advanced as some of the blooms in this manic little film but it was link enough for me!

Film for Friday

I am going to carry on trying to post a film/animation or whatever every Friday. There won't be a pattern or a theme, just as I pick them at random, dependent on my whim that day. This is a beautifully 'spare' film showing the artist Lizzie Buckmaster-Dove working at home giving new life to old books with lovely sculptural results. There is no central source to see more of Lizzie's work but an image search will send you off in lots of different directions if the film whets your appetite for more.

Little Men

I suddenly realised this morning that a collection of images I'd seen all had a thread running through them . The picture above was in Crafts magazine and it shows the Comedy Carpet pavement that has been created in Blackpool. Over the years Blackpool has been the stage for many well known comedians, each of whom has a catchphrase synonomous with them. All of these catchphrases, using typefaces from old handbills advertising the shows, have been formed into one large mosaic. The website for it is fascinating so please follow the link especially if you love typography and variety memorabilia but it was the scale of the two guys cleaning the mosaic floor that caught my attention. They look like miniature figures placed into a stage set. So do the figures in the photographs of the work of land artist Jim Denevan. Following the link to his website will lead to a short film about how he works making patterns on ice, sand and wherever in such large scale. The tiny - but real - men that inhabit the photos I've selected serve to enhance that sense of scale but there are many more beautiful images to pore over.

This whole 'miniature awareness' thread was started a while ago when I found a link to Lisa Swerling's work in a copy of Selvedge magazine. Lisa places figures in shadow boxes and plays with the scale difference. Have a look here at more of her work. I only picked this image because it linked to my title of Little Men and they have given me an idea for a wedding present. My husband has a model railway collection in a small gauge called n gauge. Amongst his figures there is a bride and groom and a vicar all ready for a wedding bash in some train layout somewhere. I intend to rescue them from this fate and make my own shadow box gift for my friend's daughter when she gets married shortly. I shall incorporate text saying 'dearly beloved' or 'cariad' which is the Welsh for darling or loved one. I hope Lisa won't mind being used as inspiration.

Finally here are some of the photos from photographer Christopher Boffili. Having lived with a model railway fanatic for years I can spot the figures sold for layouts a mile off and believe he has used them here to such wonderful effect. These brought a real smile to my face. Follow the link if you want to see more of his work. The little men are under the 'food' heading and the other photography on show really is great, so enjoy.

Saturday stroll

It is said that no matter where you live in Pembrokeshire, you are never more than 20 miles from the sea or a beach. Well, I'm only about 12 miles from beautiful Barafundle Bay, part of the National Trust's Stackpole Estate and reached by climbing up steps and trawling a mile over fields to get to it. In recent years it has cropped up a couple of times in those '10 best beaches of the world' lists and deservedly so for it is a fabulous place, especially if you can find yourself alone there.

A glimpse of sunshine yesterday after all that rain and howling gales this week sent us off for a bracing walk over the cliffs. This is the gateway that meets you at Barafundle, built by the Cawdor family when the land was theirs. So that the ladies of the gentry could enjoy the beach a path was built all the way down to make it accessible to them.

The path is great until you remember that you have to climb back up it and hike back across the fields and down the steps..... yes, my calves ache today but one of my goals for 2012 is to get away from the laptop and do things that cost nothing but deliver much. As far as yesterday goes I can give that one a tick.

more circus... a film for Friday

I think I might instigate a film for Friday post. That way, all those weird little films I keep storing away in my favourites folder will get an airing just because I want to share them. This isn't a weird little film however, it's a gem from early 1990's television. Real people's real words but out of the mouths of animals. Classic Aardman skill.Just had to continue the elephant and circus theme for an extra day. I promise I'll stop now.

At the Circus

I don't have a thing about elephants, honestly, but I do have a passion for the illustrations of Brian Wildsmith. He is one of my personal favourites for his wonderful imagery, patterns and layer upon layer of colour and texture.

When I went into town yesterday I popped into the charity shop and the lady there who handles the book donations said ' I've got something for you out the back. It came in between Christmas and New Year and I thought of you as soon as I saw it. Would you like it?...' Would I like it!! What a lovely thing for her to do, yet quite typical of the people here. It feels like a belated Christmas present and I just wanted to share some of it.

See what I mean?

Weak by weak

Having a cathartic end of year clear out I found a large number of these small boxes. I think I bought them for an idea I had for Postmans Knock which never came to fruition. Now I never make resolutions at any time of any year usually, mainly because I am a good starter but a poor finisher at anything requiring daily or long term commitment. But, with all my mess around me I thought 'what if I make a load of these little boxes and each week pick one at random and try to follow the suggestion inside?'..... so I made one last night and intend to adopt it as my watchword for the week. There's nothing like starting as you mean to go on!

..... but, as to whether I'll actually go on....well.... don't hold your breath.....