July

Another time warp - July almost over. I know they say that as you get older - time goes more quickly but this is ridiculous! In my defense I have been pre-occupied with a project in July but that is really no excuse. We went to Hastings and walked through beautiful Hastings Country Park to Fairlight Glen where all the little grottos and waterfalls were Victorian attractions. On the way home we made it up Firle Beacon - Finn loved it!

Apart from that I have been walking and photographing as usual, picking raspberries, picnicking in the heather up at Bignor Park, tending my garden.

Picking samphire, swimming in the sea, walking around pagham harbour, watching the starlings and generally making the most of summer.

Evening walk

How lucky am I to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

blown in from afar?

It was crowded at the harbour on Sunday - a beautiful day and excitement because Hurricane Sandy has apparently blown in a Hooded Merganser from North America. I had never heard of one before so I googled it and found this weird looking bird! I hope it is happy in England.

Burst

Burst is the Illustration Friday theme this week. I had drawn the background and was going to put dragonflies as the burst of colour. Then on Saturday I saw a Kingfisher at the harbour - a sudden burst of blue and there he was - magical. I've only seen him once before - last year - so he's very elusive.
© 2012 nicky linzey

Twitcher's paradise

There was a lot of excitement at the harbour on Saturday, all about a tiny bird who should have been in India. The Paddyfield Warbler was spotted thousands of miles off course!
At the top is my first experiment of drawing on an ipad and I'm addicted.
PS They weren't really looking in the wrong direction but I love the thought of the birds watching them instead.

Easter Walk

Wow - 4 days away from my computer has been just what I needed.
These pictures are from exactly the same walk as this one but what a difference in atmosphere between spring and summer. I find it strange that I can take the same route many times but notice totally different things.

Also thanks to Shirley for sending me the Sunshine Award. Check out her blog - her illustrations are just wonderful.

Summer walk

Went on a lovely walk yesterday, then when we got home I made a 'Graham Greene ' cocktail - gin, martini and cassis with crushed ice, lovely but extremely intoxicating. I recently came across this quote from him in 'Ways of Escape'.

'Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear, that is inherent in the human situation'

I can identify with this, mind you the cocktail helps as much as the creativity!

Learning

First taste of Summer

We walked over to the harbour for the first time in ages and picked the first of the season's samphire. Took it home and steamed it, to make my version of Salad Nicoise. Yummy it was delicious.

Fluffy

Ripples

Mud, mud, glorious mud

In the bleak midwinter

The colours of the bare trees this year seem to be more vibrant than usual - winter is not so bleak after all.

Summer's evening walk

I love the summer, mostly because of the light evenings which give me a chance to go for a walk and see this beauty after sitting infront of my computer all day! The harbour when the tide is out.

Foggy

Even in the middle of Summer, a sea mist can roll in over the harbour and completely change the temperature to freezing cold - when only a few miles inland it's still hot and sunny.

For Illustration Friday - 'Foggy'

© Nicky Linzey 2008

Lagoon

It's elderflower cordial time again as the blossom is just coming out, so the other evening we walked to the lagoon to pick some. It was a grey & murky evening but with so much rain the smell was wonderful and green like last time, although it is 3 weeks later this year. The lagoon is a funny place, quite wild and bleak. It used to be full of old railway carriages converted into homes which I loved - unfortunately most of these have been knocked down and replaced with pseudo Spanish bungalows. It is behind these that the lagoon & wilderness exists.

Springtime?

It should be Springtime but the weather is very changeable, one minute warm sunshine the next cold wind & snow. I've just been on a walk with My Jack Russell to the harbour. It is only in the last couple of years that I've really appreciated the landscape here, before I've preferred the lushness of deciduous woodland or dramatic views from clifftop walks. However lately I'm finding the harbour particularly inspiring - especially the colours. Just look at this hawthorn blossom against the rain filled sky. Truly wonderful.

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Nature table 4

Illustration of seed heads, pods and cones collected at Pagham Harbour on Sunday.
I walked through the cemetery today and despite the wintry weather I noticed little green shoots here and there pushing out of the cold sodden earth - amazing what is going on underground.

Nature table 1

Gull's feathers collected at Pagham Harbour © 2007 Nicky Linzey

Do you remember nature tables at Primary school where you could bring in things of interest that you had collected over the weekend? Well my conservatory is resembling this at the moment. It seems I cannot stop collecting things when I'm out walking. I've got stones, shells, a bird's nest, wire, rope, sea urchins, plastic insects, leaves, feathers - I could go on. I draw them and then I cannot bear to throw them away, sometimes they get moved outside to let nature take it's course. I can be ruthless but only when someone's coming for dinner & I need the space.