The amazing tunnel entrance

Last week I showed the Autumn photographs I had taken on our trip to Westonbirt Arboretum.  I included a photo of a tunnel entrance and Mary W from Florida commented: That tunnel is amazing - do you know the story behind it? How old it is? It stirs up many questions!

If you have followed my blog for any length of time you will know that Roger & I love to walk alongside canals.  I love them because on the whole the path is flat.  There are occasional ups and downs alongside the locks but unless it's a whole flight of locks the rise and fall is very little. In addition we are trying to walk the full length of all the canals in the West Midlands although we don't restrict ourselves to just that area.

We were very surprised to find this canal as we hadn't known it existed.

However a little investigation on the map showed that there had been a canal at one time.  And then we did some more research.  It was built in  the late 18th century and was part of a 36 mile inland waterway connecting the River Severn to the River Thames.  At the time it was a really successful Canal.

The tunnel face is most unusual.   It is known as the Coates Portal (the nearby village is called Coates).  It is one end of the Sapperton Tunnel.  It was restored in the early 1970s having fallen into disrepair.  The canal was abandoned in 1910-11 but there are plans for volunteers to restore and reopen the canal.  Sadly the inside of the tunnel is in such a bad state that this may never happen.

The Canal and River Trust look after most of the canals in Britain and they have a great website detailing the history of the canals.

Thanks Mary for asking about the tunnel and the canal.  It has been really interesting to find out more.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Who has influenced my mixed media art?

Over the last few years I have attended lots of workshops and signed up for so may online classes that I've lost count.   I thought I would share with you some of the shops and people who have helped me and taught me over that time.

Art from the Heart is an excellent bricks & mortar shop with a very stong online presence.  I have attended many workshops there.   My credit card groans whenever I go to Harrogate to a class.  I'm going there next weekend for 3 days of workshops with Seth Apter.

Dyan Reaveley is now well known as a Ranger Signature Designer.  However I met her first at Art from the Heart when I went to my first ever workshop there.   She has a distinctive style.  I interviewed her for my series on Celebrating UK Artists.   You can watch her videos on the Ranger YouTube Channel.

Dina Wakely has been a guest tutor at Art from the Heart and I have loved the workshops I've attended.   Several of the classes have involved making books which I love.  She also introduced me to the idea of having white space on mixed media pages.  This really appeals to me.   You can also find Dina on the Ranger YouTube Channel.

Artist Trading Post started as an online business with workshop space and then moved to a b&m shop and has now returned to its online roots.  I love the variety of products that Jamie stocks.  My credit card used to groan when I visited for workshops there too.

Wanderlust is a new year long venture from Jamie and Kasia Krzyminska (aka czekoczyna).  There will be videos& PDFs on techniques but the thing that got me interested is that "Wanderlust will give you an in-depth knowledge about products, media and tools".  Of course I signed up - won't you join me?

Anneliese Bates introduced me to various mixed media techniques.  She held these workshops in Derbyshire which was great for me because it was so much nearer to my house than Harrogate.  I love Anneliese's style and enjoyed her workshops immensely.  I was really disappointed when she gave up hosting them but I am thrilled that her new venture Fox & Bear is doing so well.

Michelle Ward produces amazing stencils both for StencilGirl and for her own website Green Pepper Press.  I have just invested in a whole lot of her stencils for my Venice project.

Carolyn Dube produces the best teaching videos on the internet (in my opinion).  She is so generous with what she shares for free on her blog and YouTube channel.  She also has fee-based classes that are such value for money.  I particularly liked the Stencil Play class.  You really should check them out if you like mixed media art.

And last but definitely not least, Valerie Sjodin.  Her art blows me away.  Valerie is another tutor who is very generous with the skills and information she shares.  I love her online classes but sadly don't give enough time to practice so my art hardly ever looks like hers.

I've really enjoyed looking back to see what and who has influenced me over the years.  What are your favourite shops, favourite artists or online courses?  Please share them in the comments below.
 
Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

From the land down under

Welcome to day 8 of my blogging challenge and the third post about my trip to Australia.  I was planning there would only be 3 but there's so much to share with you that there will definitely be another travelogue post about the Blue Mountains. 

On the Sunday after we returned to Sydney from Tasmania, we walked down to King's Cross where my all time favourite fountain sits in the middle of a small square.  Apparently it was the first ever dandelion fountain.  It's was built as a war memorial to commemorate the Battle of El Alamein.  It's different every time you see it depending on the light.

I took this photo the previous week on my phone.

Andy suggested we went for a walk.  We drove to Maroubra and took a bus to Coogee.  The five us walked back to Maroubra and had a late lunch.  Obviously the baby didn't walk - he was carried!

We spent Monday morning with the family and then whilst Andy worked, Roger & I walked into the city centre via the Botanical Gardens.

We were watching a dolphin play in the harbour when these two massive cruise liners left Sydney.

We walked around to Circular Quay and up into the CDB and eventually found what I was looking for.  Angel Place and these bird cages.

We met up with Andy & Naomi later to go to the Street Food Market that was being held in Hyde Park.

Roger & I got up very early on Tuesday to go to the fishmarket.  We got there at 8am but sadly the auction was over which was what Roger had wanted to see.  We walked round the retail fish shops and I took lots of photos of the amazing arrangements of the fish.

We walked a long way back into the city and I was very taken with this on a building site fencing.

We walked through the new park that has been built at Headland Point which gave us this view of the bridge.  I'm going to share the photos of the park in a separate blog post because there was the most amazing pieces of sandstone.

It looked like the weather was going to deteriorate so we got on the ferry to Parramatta where we had lunch.  And it didn't rain.  I rather liked these tools as a scultpure on a roof.

When we got back to Circular Quay we met up with Beth who I have known on Facebook for a while.  I love her photographs and it was great to meet up with an online friend.

On Wednesday after breakfast with Andy & Naomi at a cafe gloriously called The Rusty Rabbit, Roger & I went to the Museum of Sydney.

We took a ferry to Watson's Bay.  You may have noticed the mention of ferries quite often in our travels in Sydney.   They are such a great way to travel.  It's like going on a mini harbour cruise.

We walked round the headland to the lighthouse and back for a seafood lunch.

A different view of the Opera House from the ferry.

We went to the Pylon Lookout on the Harbour Bridge which gave us some different views of the bridge.

And of Circular Quay.

This has been a long post so I will stop now.  We spent the next three days in the Blue Mountains which I will tell you about another day.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice