Wednesday 8 August 2012

Beginning to catch up....

Oh Wow :( It's been so long since I had a chance to come here that I had to reset all my passwords in order to even get in here. It's that time of year when there are just not enough hours in the day. I've been caught up in project after project!

 First were the Jubilee Weekend Celebrations. The village school had ambitious plans to stage a performance, which took a week of preparation and practising, organised and choreographed by the talented William Todd-Jones, with puppets devised by my sister Angharad Barlow, made by a team of volunteers and of course, the children. There were the Queen, a Mad Tinner, the 3 tinners hares, rebel punk ponies, dancing cream teas and much more.It might sound crazy here, but all the elements were chosen by the children as being of relevance to our village. (You can see a bit of local history HERE - the 3 hares are the tinners symbol from Chagford when it was once an important Stannary town) I got the prize job - creating a squadron of ravens to fly in formation around the square - the perfect choice for me, and what a fun week it was in school making them!

You can see the fabulous film of the build and performance HERE (be patient - it's a bit slow to load, but it's worth it!)



Celebrations continued through the weekend with a picnic and cider in the park on Sunday and then the famous 'Two Hills Race' on Monday. The Wolf boy ran, despite his sprained ankle - determined to get his medal! He hobbled round, coming in just ahead of the pantomime cow.



You can see the runners snaking up the first of the two hills in the picture below.

And finally the beacons were lit across Dartmoor. This is ours, atop Meldon.
Amongst all this, I have been trying to work on some paintings. Slowly, slowly, this one grew. A deeply personal piece, brought about by a confrontation with someone. Confrontations are totally out of character for me, and this one was unexpected and shook me to the core. However, it caused me to spend a lot of time thinking about the power of words, and the damage they can do. This painting was the result, and really came from my soul. Despite the fact it began with some very negative emotions, it became a very positive thing and I am so pleased with the end result!
I have to say I enjoyed every minute of working on it :)


And here it is, in it's full glory.

'The Fishwife'
 A4 watercolour
For sale direct from here for the princely sum of £200
(there are also prints available in my Etsy shop)
My favourite painting from the last couple of years!

11 comments:

Terra said...

No wonder you've been away, welcome back to blog land. You turned unhappy confrontation into beauty, and the town celebration looks marvelous. I look forward to your pony photos.

Kath said...

how nice to get all your news. SOunds like you have had a very busy and fun filled time.
Your fishwife painting is lovely, the faces are so sensitively drawn.
My favourite is still the hare jumping the moon painting, any plans to offer a larger print of that particular work?

Claire said...

what wonderful pics of what looks an amazing day :)
and i just love the fishwife - brilliant :)

Danielle Barlow said...

Terra - pony pics in the next post :)

Kath - sadly the hare and the moon was only a tiny painting to begin with, and I think it would lose picture quality if enlarged any more :(

Claire: Thankyou x

Em Parkinson said...

What a fabulous painting....I love it. The fish are an inspired choice.

Madeleine said...

Lots of symbolism there. I looked up the symbolism in fish.

A mermaid in the attic said...

Wonderful to have you back in blog land, Danielle, though I can see why you've been too busy! And what a fantabulous community celebration!

Gail H. Ragsdale said...

Always love your updates :)

The fish painting is excellent, the story behind it shows how good comes out of bad. Beautiful creation.

Lunar Hine said...

Love The Fishwife and it's always fun to see my community through someone else's eyes. We were away for the school play and now I see what wonders we missed. Your Courtyard exhibition was inspiring, by the way. Made me think I'll have another go at watercolours.

Virginia said...

Great to have you back! What a wonderful painting Danielle. The depth of feeling in it is so clear! You have done yourself proud. I only wish I had the $$ to buy it! I'm sure it will find the right home. Your community event sounds great. I think those things where there is 'ownership' by those involved benefit a community so greatly. Well done to you all.

Raggle Taggle Gypsy Girl said...

It sounds like you have been really busy........Sorry to hear about your confrontation/conflict, I think most people find that experience quite challenging, but it is great to see something positive come out of it, hope things resolve for you......

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