Art and Life in the UK

Top image: lapis lazuli, ground, made into watercolor with gum arabic, a bit of honey and tiny amount of water then panned. Lower image: a rainbow of panned watercolors of yellow ochre, red ochre, terre verte unheated and heated to make a darker green, malachite (the paler green), azurite (a beautiful blue), soot black and bone black, plus chalk white. After a brilliant breakfast of home made fruit compote of figs and raisins and flavored with cinnamon stick and orange peel, yogurt, my rolls and coffee - I gathered my things and had my host call for a taxi. Tariff to the station was only 12.10 pounds. Didn't have to wait long for the next train - to Dundee but I get off at Bristol Parkway, change trains for Gloucester. This train is 2 hours so I purchased internet access and with the help of the train ticket checker, he loaned me his phone so I could get the Access code since my phone doesn't work here and I couldn't check my email without Internet access. So that...

Today was my private lesson in making gluten free bread items - 6 different types. I am coming home with a notebook of recipes - white sandwich bread with sesame top; wheat bread - two styles: one with fennel and fig and the other with apricot and coriander; sourdough bread; soda bread with garbanzo flour and onion - great with cheese - had it for lunch with asparagus soup; bread dough that we made into rolls - braided, pretzel shaped, regular round ... topped with sesame seeds and black poppy seeds. If I lived here, I would take them all home and freeze some but will have a sampling tomorrow and take just some so I can eat bread all week. All of the recipes were completely done by me by measuring in grams on a scale that I have to get. We used honey, yogurt, milk, butter, molasses, agave syrup and a variety of flours in different configurations and amounts from chestnut flour, to teff, almond, garbanzo etc. I learned about different leavening agents and things that can be used (or s...

The Treby Arms: " A delightfully rustic Michelin Starred country pub which holds a hidden secret. An exquisite freshly prepared menu designed to tempt and delight anyone looking for fantastic food. Whether it’s an intimate meal for two or a family friendly evening meal there’s something for everyone to enjoy. "The Treby Arms was voted  County Dining Pub of the Year 2017 (gastropub).   The interior of the Treby Arms pub. I sat at the small table in back right in front of the bookcase. At the bar were two guys drinking beer. As soon as I saw the tasting menu for 70 pounds, I figured I was in a very high class place despite its plebian atmosphere. I was given the choice to eat upstairs in the dining room or downstairs in the bar area - choose the cosy bar. While I was tempted to try the tasting menu, reason ruled because there is no way I could eat all that food and secondly, there was no way I should spend $90 or so on a meal even if it was a Michelin winning gastropub...

Of course, I'm excited about posting more about my Alchemy of Pigments and Sacred Geometry some more as soon as I can download my images. My phone doesn't seem to be letting do that today. Hanging out at Barista Brothers in the center of Plymouth town, there is a Mayflower street so it all makes sense. Plymouth is said to have a nice aquarium too.  I'm waiting until 4 pm when I can get a taxi to the Old Home Cottage connected with the Artisanal Bakery for my full day gluten free baking workshop tomorrow. I was talking about my experiences with the Druids this morning at Stonehenge with a three generation Swiss family - son, father and grandfather. I had fun talking to mainly the high school age son who was an exchange student in Bristol to better his English (he spoke very well) but the father understood English as well. I'm mentioning this because of the location I was in and the proximity to Stonehenge, 10 miles away from Salisbury. I've already been twice and...

I stayed in Salisbury for two nights after two train changes leaving East Grinstead. Thankfully, Lily rode the same train as far as Crawley and she pointed me in the right direction to the train that took me to Woking - one stop. Then another train to Salisbury and a 5 pound taxi to the Alabare Guesthouse. As I found out, it is a little hidden away and when they aren't hosting retreats, they operate as a B&B. The cheapest room is 52.50 - a single with shared bathroom. I'm getting to be an expert at the shared bathroom with carefully timed toilet breaks. There was a TV in the room but I haven't watched anything since I have been here. WiFi in the room is another matter and I was grateful for that. So kind of an uneventful Friday night - I bought a sandwich at Woking so no need to go out. I arrived around 830 pm. A real English breakfast the next worning - everything but the sausage and beans along with coffee and muesli (my favorite British cereal). First stop was at...

I'll have to catch up with the blog tomorrow. We were so busy yesterday and today making pigments, panning them etc. Today was spent with Lily who gave us a massive amount of information on colors and their relationship, triadic colors, associatation of colors with night and day, dawn and dusk, mercury and venus, sun and moon. I have a lot of color harmonies to post but have to wait until tomorrow I'm at the Alabare Guesthouse in Salisbury, lying in bed, grateful for wifi in my room. Bathroom is still down the hall but it's on the same floor which is a vast improvement. Still, I loved my time at Emerson College in Forest Row. My workshop colleagues were fantastic - such a wonderful group of talented, spiritual beautiful women who I learned all sorts of things from and links to interesting travel, art, and friendship. This workshop is the main reason I came to the UK this summer - I feel like I regained my soul skin, my mojo, my artistic self. Looking forward to a lovely...

Mercury is associated with quick silver that is so toxic that slaves were employed to grind up the cinnabar imported from the mines in Almaden, Spain. As kids, we found some in the garage and played with it unknown to our parents. It was fascinating stuff that can kill you if heated or ingested. Knowing about its toxcity now, we decided to take sufficient precautions to make vermillion red pigment derived from the rock by covering the mortar with a tea towel as the pestle was emphatically and energetically employed  to fragment the chunk of cinnabar into a finely ground powder. But was that sufficient - nooooo. The powder then had to be mixed with some distilled water into a paste and then poured into a glass jar with distilled water covering it. Then about ten more times after the sediment settled and the water was relatively clear, it was poured off with more distilled water again poured over the cinnabar residue. And again, and again . . .That took all day as did the preparation...