Random Reflections

at Denbies Wine Estate on 29th September '24

I have paperwork that usually accompanies the print. I'll be exhibiting at Denbies again from 7th to 13th of April, should you be able to visit. When I'm not stewarding I'll leave the paperwork with the artists who are.

Alternatively, I can post the paperwork to you if you are happy to provide your address.

I hope this message finds you!
Diana

I'll be exhibiting from Monday 15th-21st April '24 alongside seven other artists: Anna Clarke, Becca Clegg, Fran McCaskill, John Darnell, Laura Ritchie, Lisa Woolcott, and Rosemary Hufton.

Denbies is an interesting site with plenty to see and do as well as visiting the art exhibitions and having lunch in their excellent restaurant. It can be a very good day out!

I'm thrilled to have been invited by Guildford Arts to participate in their Summer Exhibition this year. It will run from 6th - 21st July, 10-5 Monday to Saturday at:

The Mill Studio,
Yvonne Arnaud Theatre,
Guildford,
GU1 3UX

Entry is free, all works are for sale, and there are two 'Meet the Artist' Saturdays.

I'll be exhibiting alongside 22 other artists, including printmakers, painters, photographers and sculptors. There should be something to please everyone.

After a daunting first time last year, I’m again participating in Surrey Artists’ Open Studios in June alongside nine other artists.

Once again I’ll be joining resident artists Tania Oko and Becca Clegg at OKO:Art Studios in Guildford, alongside returning artist David Dragon.

The remaining six are Julie Barham (Ceramics), Nicola Keelan (Painting), Rebecca King
Photography), Helen Locke (Drawing, Mixed Media, Printmaking), Fran McCaskill (Glass), and Liane Matthews (Jewellery, Ceramics, Sculpture).

The studio will be open 11am to 5pm on the following dates, and I’ll be stewarding (alongside other artists):

Saturday 11th June (11-2)
Sunday 12th June (2-5)
Thursday 16th June (2-5)
Friday 17th June (11-2)
Saturday 18th June (open 11-5 not stewarding)
Sunday 19th June (2-5)
Thursday 23rd June (11-2)
Frida 24th June (open 11-5 not stewarding)
Saturday 25th June (11-2)
Sunday 26th June (2-5) Closes today



Finding the studio: OKO:Art Studios is on a small industrial estate, literally just off the A3.

Put Manor Way (not the postcode) into your satnav. If you are travelling south you’ll be directed off the A3 in the right spot (at 'American Golf').

You can park in Manor Way, or turn immediately right to park in High View Road and walk back down to the A3 to enter the estate. OKO:Art is the last unit.

Note: Please don't drive into the estate as you come off the A3, there’s little or no parking there except perhaps in American Golf.

In your sat. nav. the postcode, GU2 7RZ, may send you to High View Road or the northbound side of A3 so please note the driving/walking instructions.

OKO:Art
Unit 6
A3 Garages
Guildford By-Pass A3
Surrey
GU2 7RZ

The Basingstoke Canal Society are trying to raise money to replace 'Kitty', their now elderly canal boat that takes passengers up and down the canal, providing funds for the Society's maintenance of the canal. The replacement (Kitty II) will be an eco-friendly solar electricity powered boat. One of the things they are doing to raise money is an exhibition at The Lightbox (Woking): Replacing Kitty - An Exhibition of Canal Artwork and they asked me if I'd participate and donate a picture.

‘Flying Ant Day’

I spotted this lone queen ant gazing out from the top of a flower while trying to find a subject away from the hoards that were pouring from beneath our patio slates. It was, what’s come to be known as ‘flying ant day’ – though it’s a bit of a misnomer as this happens in our garden two or three times a year.

It is mating day for the large queens and smaller winged males (drones) who scatter through flight to maximise the chance of mating between different colonies to reduce inbreeding (info courtesy of Natural History Museum).

However, what fascinated me after gazing through the lens at the single queen was the approaching company. She was joined by another queen and, well you can see their behaviour for yourself in the pictures below, as these two queens are about to fly off, find a mate and start a new colony.

There are six photos in sequence which suggest to me a very fond farewell between sisters. What else could it be?

In the last photo you can just make out the second queen making her way down the far side of the flower stem.

After what seems like an eternity of lockdowns and restrictions some easing is finally arriving. It looks as though Surrey Artists’ Open Studios will be taking place after all, just a little later than usual. I’ve been a visitor to open studios in the past, and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience, but this year is particularly exciting as I’ll be swapping sides, becoming a participant alongside seven super artists, in Guildford, Surrey.

I’ll be joining resident artists Tania Oko and Becca Clegg at Art Studios & Gallery at OKO:Art Onslow, alongside fellow photographer Jon McRae, artist David Dragon, sculptors Claire Nelson and Jan Hite, and glass artist Joanna Lloyd.

The studio will be open during June; please see https://surreyopenstudios.org.uk/open-studio/onslow-okoart-studios/ for the days and times we are opening.

Early morning June 20th; I'm wandering around my garden, camera in hand, looking for something to photograph. I lift a nodding harebell flower to check its photogenic properties and discover, to my absolute delight, two bees defying gravity, lying together inside the flower. I'd never seen this before.

As can be seen on this website, I am a nature lover and am entranced by the extraordinary detail I can see in my very small subjects when using a macro lens. Essentially, I’m a nature photographer.

A nature photograph should show the subject in its natural environment, otherwise how would we know what we're looking at, but I like to explore other possibilities too. Still-life photography and composites can be great exercises in composition and light, or in the evocation of another time or place. They can even provide the opportunity to suggest a story, or create meaning. I find this very interesting, and even more so when incorporating a live subject, though I would stress here that I photograph them separately, free and unencumbered in their natural environment before placing them in position, post-processing, in a composite.

Temptation doesn't end there, of course, landscapes and interesting people are already evident here, and are joined now by still-life, composites, and the beauty of patterns.

A short trip to Venice (ostensibly for city/seascape photography) during Carnevale reminded me how much fun it is to photograph people; particularly those who love any excuse to dress-up and step into the magical world of being not only someone else but someone ‘other’ (revealing, perhaps, something of themselves in the process!).

The most memorable were the masque players who clearly thought long and hard about their characters before donning their (metaphorical) masques. They were wonderfully believable and stayed entirely in character. I felt quite paparazzo, which turned out to be relevant as I was informed that these serious players were actors hoping to be noticed by scouts for professional work. It was also the first time I experienced 'photo-bombing' as I was aiming my lens at the Fop (who was in the foreground) and pressing the shutter button as the player in red leapt in front of the camera, amazingly leaving enough of the fop visible for the shot. Great fun!

I first noticed this mayfly (Cloeon dipterum) at rest on my shower screen, having flown in, I supposed, through the open bathroom window. It was tiny but its outline shape caught my eye and prompted me to take a macro photograph to see exactly what it was. I now know it is a Baetidae mayfly, which are among the smallest of mayflies. This one, I would say, was no more than 3-5mm long (excluding the long tails). After photographing it I caught it in a glass and put it out near the pond, thinking (wrongly) this was where it would want to be. The moment I set it free, it disappeared. Returning to the bathroom to collect my camera I saw it had returned, presumably back through the same window! Realising how many predators of small flies there were in the pond (frogs, newts, dragonflies and damselflies to name a few) I decided to leave it where it wanted to be.



I photographed it quite regularly over the next two weeks as it stayed put on the landing (never flying, barely moving at all in fact) until, quite suddenly, it fluttered to be let out at the same window through which it had entered. It looked slightly different now: its eyes (almost entirely white with two narrow brown lines across them, and a tiny black pupil that followed my every move) were now quite black. It left a small mark where it had been stationed on the wall: a spot of dark liquid. The image below shows not only its black eyes as it waits for me to open the window but also, as its head is turned to the camera, its lack of a mouth. Adult mayflies are so ephemeral (most surviving only a day as an adult, others even less than that) they need no sustenance.



On further research it seems likely that this was a female staying away from predators until ready to either lay eggs or give birth. Apparently, the Cloenon dipterum is ovoviviparous, which means (according to Wikipedia) "that the embryos develop into the first larval stage within the eggs while still in the female's oviduct. As a result, the larvae hatch more rapidly, sometimes immediately after egg deposition, and can begin feeding right away."

I suspect, and hope, that she had a short journey, straight down to our pond, and laid them there. What strikes me the most though is what a particularly clever insect this was.

I cannot sate my passion for photographing foxes. They are given a bad press, particularly in the UK where a tiny number of odd people find delight in their torture. And yet, they are truly beautiful animals and so like dogs in their behaviour, mannerisms and facial expressions. This one is a regular visitor, coming in to drink from our pond or to have a safe and peaceful snooze under one of the apple trees.




Evermore battle-scarred, he lives in a wood apparently full of territorial competition and popular with dog walkers. We feel very honoured that he's able to relax in our garden.

Damsels and dragons, like other insects, are alarmed when a camera lens approaches and often dart off before the shutter button can be pressed. Yet they invariably circle round and come back to a very similar position.

I would love to know their reasons. Are they simply holding their ground? Or, could they be as curious about us as we are of them? Perhaps they catch their own reflection in the lens and are intrigued.



Whichever it may be, when I came upon this character I couldn't help wondering who was stalking whom?

Over the last few years I've become quite hooked on macro photography, which means I spend quite a bit of time behaving oddly, usually prostrate in long grass or precariously leaning out over ponds. My prize, if successful, is being able to observe something which despite being common the world over is not easily seen in detail. It's particularly exciting to find, and capture an image of, a creature which is itself acting unexpectedly, such as this strange fellow.



It's a Satellite fly (Leucophora). (A bee predator unfortunately.) A small, hairy, grey-brown fly that has discovered a way of standing out from the crowd! It was difficult to find any information on what was going on here, but I've finally discovered that this is not bubble blowing, but bubble regurgitating behaviour. It is thought that repeated regurgitation of food aids digestion. This makes sense as this tiny fly made several bubbles, none of which burst but were sucked back into its mouth only to emerge again a moment later.