the little tail a-swishin'
Oct. 9th, 2021 05:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestAnother lovely morning touring some of Norfolk's Open Studios. This time we went North East, and took along an artistic friend.
First was Burnt Fen Alpacas, and it was delightful! The owner has a yurt round the back where she does the weaving, spinning and dyeing of yarn (had a vat of indigo brewing), and several large fields wherein live the alpacas.
We went to a field, she emitted loud, encouraging cries, and a gang of alpacas appeared out of nowhere and thundered up to be fed bits of carrot! Most exciting. All kinds of colours, and they were very friendly boys. (The females were in a further field, with one determined 4-year-old male pacing along the fence next to them with only one thing on his mind.) Each field contains a small mound, and the alpacas like to stand on top of the mound. But, one of them considers this particular mound to be HIS, so he charged right up and into the middle, scattering the others as though playing boules. Most entertaining.
I bought some yarn, a lovely variety blend with fleece from Mr Bond, Snow Apple, Lollipop and Khal Drogo. Should make a very nice hat or scarf.
We spent about an hour there, because ALPACAS! and a very chatty host lady, then went on to a place where there were three artists in residence; one did clay sculpture, one worked with textiles, and the other was... actually rather like me, lots of enthusiasms, but mostly based on acrylic paints and resin. Pictures, jewellery, bowls, etc. I bought two pairs of earrings. The pictures were fun, and I thought they were very much something I might myself produce, but didn't fall in love with anything. Still, the artist was enthusiastic and conversational, and there was much to see.
Next there was the professional artist working with acrylics and resin paint, rather than the enthusiastic hobbyist. This one's paintings were very beautiful and covetable. You don't really get a clear idea of how shiny her work is, from the website, but it was lovely.
We went on towards a textile art place, but drove past a Felting studio and as my passenger does quite a bit of felting herself, decided to back into the drive and have a look. It was actually lovely—they had 'vegetarian sheepskins', ie with a felted back and no actual skin. Very strokeable. There were lots of charming felted objects, some of which must have taken a *very* long time.
The actual textile artist's place was a collection of weird, really. She obviously has no interest in being commercial; most of her stuff was almost certainly made 'to see if she could' or 'to see what happened' but that's fine. Interesting array of materials and methods of combining them, from hoops stretched with old lace hanging in the trees to something in twisted wheatstalks that might have been a costume for Titania.
Anyway, it was a very pleasant morning. Again, I have no very clear idea where we went, as the drive involved a lot of tiny back roads between hedges. Though we did get a glimpse of perfect Norfolk sky outside the acrylics artist's studio, where there was a very flat landscape. It was, happily, a light, cloudless morning.
*
As we had our lunch, we—and Sable—spotted a pheasant in the garden. Sable spotted it from afar and went into hunter mode most convincingly, slid very slowly forward for many yards, all with the pheasant apparently oblivious. Eventually, and after some light interference by a magpie, Sable seemed to realise the pheasant was as big as she, and gave up.
*
Watched the Black Widow movie last night, and rather enjoyed it. Almost Peter Jackson-ish levels of ability to survive falling from great heights, but it was cool to see a superhero movie about the relationships between women and taking steps to stop being manipulated by a heartless man.
First was Burnt Fen Alpacas, and it was delightful! The owner has a yurt round the back where she does the weaving, spinning and dyeing of yarn (had a vat of indigo brewing), and several large fields wherein live the alpacas.
We went to a field, she emitted loud, encouraging cries, and a gang of alpacas appeared out of nowhere and thundered up to be fed bits of carrot! Most exciting. All kinds of colours, and they were very friendly boys. (The females were in a further field, with one determined 4-year-old male pacing along the fence next to them with only one thing on his mind.) Each field contains a small mound, and the alpacas like to stand on top of the mound. But, one of them considers this particular mound to be HIS, so he charged right up and into the middle, scattering the others as though playing boules. Most entertaining.
I bought some yarn, a lovely variety blend with fleece from Mr Bond, Snow Apple, Lollipop and Khal Drogo. Should make a very nice hat or scarf.
We spent about an hour there, because ALPACAS! and a very chatty host lady, then went on to a place where there were three artists in residence; one did clay sculpture, one worked with textiles, and the other was... actually rather like me, lots of enthusiasms, but mostly based on acrylic paints and resin. Pictures, jewellery, bowls, etc. I bought two pairs of earrings. The pictures were fun, and I thought they were very much something I might myself produce, but didn't fall in love with anything. Still, the artist was enthusiastic and conversational, and there was much to see.
Next there was the professional artist working with acrylics and resin paint, rather than the enthusiastic hobbyist. This one's paintings were very beautiful and covetable. You don't really get a clear idea of how shiny her work is, from the website, but it was lovely.
We went on towards a textile art place, but drove past a Felting studio and as my passenger does quite a bit of felting herself, decided to back into the drive and have a look. It was actually lovely—they had 'vegetarian sheepskins', ie with a felted back and no actual skin. Very strokeable. There were lots of charming felted objects, some of which must have taken a *very* long time.
The actual textile artist's place was a collection of weird, really. She obviously has no interest in being commercial; most of her stuff was almost certainly made 'to see if she could' or 'to see what happened' but that's fine. Interesting array of materials and methods of combining them, from hoops stretched with old lace hanging in the trees to something in twisted wheatstalks that might have been a costume for Titania.
Anyway, it was a very pleasant morning. Again, I have no very clear idea where we went, as the drive involved a lot of tiny back roads between hedges. Though we did get a glimpse of perfect Norfolk sky outside the acrylics artist's studio, where there was a very flat landscape. It was, happily, a light, cloudless morning.
*
As we had our lunch, we—and Sable—spotted a pheasant in the garden. Sable spotted it from afar and went into hunter mode most convincingly, slid very slowly forward for many yards, all with the pheasant apparently oblivious. Eventually, and after some light interference by a magpie, Sable seemed to realise the pheasant was as big as she, and gave up.
*
Watched the Black Widow movie last night, and rather enjoyed it. Almost Peter Jackson-ish levels of ability to survive falling from great heights, but it was cool to see a superhero movie about the relationships between women and taking steps to stop being manipulated by a heartless man.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-09 06:51 pm (UTC)Another lovely trip! And I really should make arrangements to see the Black Widow movie...
no subject
Date: 2021-10-10 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-10 10:40 am (UTC)Glad you enjoyed this weekend's studios!
I enjoyed BW too. My great-nephew preferred Shang-Chi.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-10 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-10 05:23 pm (UTC)Side note: I recently watched a 9-1-1 ep with vicious alpacas and I can't stop thinking about it because I didn't know alpacas could get vicious!
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Date: 2021-10-10 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-10 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-10 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-11 04:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-11 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-12 07:22 pm (UTC)Those are some very cool and shiny paintings indeed.
The felting studio sounds fascinating and the textile artist's stuff too!
Sable the not-so-mighty hunter makes me giggle.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-14 02:49 pm (UTC)Sable brought a mouse inside in her jaws on Tuesday evening, but I spoke sternly to her and she took it straight out again. \o/