Friday 10 June 2022

A Tale of Restoration and Happy Mooching...

Hello there

I'm back now from a little break away from work and oh, can totally recommend it if you're feeling a need to re-charge.

Anyway, thought would use this post as a first little catch-up on what I got up to. First off, not *everyone* in London was knee-deep in Jubilee celebrations last week. The Computer Man and I know this, because whilst we were scoffing yummy bagels at the newly re-opened Camley Street Natural Park, so were quite a few other people. 

(Massive thanks to the Computer Man for so much, but especially in this case, this lovely photo...)

Photo of a Poppy and Bee, by Jim Fernbank
Photo by Jim Fernbank

The Camley Street Natural Park is amazing, not least because it spent a century or so as a coal drop storage yard, sandwiched as it is between  King's Cross and St Pancras railway stations (both originally built in the 19th century.

Yup, you read that right. You can now even enjoy a wildlife pond, woodland, and a just-beginning-to-bloom wildflower meadow, complete with bees and beautiful flowers like the one above, within shouting distance of  the Eurostar.

According to the park's  info-signs, several centuries ago, the area was once part of the ancient forest of Middlesex. And it absolutely gives me tingles to think of even a tiny part of that being re-forested and  renewed...If this place can be restored, anywhere can.


And the next step was inevitable...

And so, of course, after all of that,  the next step was inevitable.  A memento was needed. Which of course meant drawing that flower... (Yes, that meant digitally drawing in Krita. Clearly there's a big part of me that, mysteriously, doesn't perceive drawing on the computer to be something that interrupts a break...).

 I think the flower in question was  a poppy, though it was more beautifully exotic and "ruffly" than any poppy I've ever seen before. It started like this...
Exotic poppy sketch in digital pen, by Clare Walker


progressed into this...


Ruffly Crimson Poppy 1, By Clare Walker


and may or may not finish up like this, at least for now:

"Ruffly Poppy and Bee," by Clare Walker, Bounding Squirrel




I've absolutely no idea if it will turn into anything, and am kind of liking the sketch more than the colour at the moment.

And there was more...

And I discovered more-a lot more when there was actually time to browse around and do things for fun again. But as this post is getting looooong, I'll save that for another time.

Thanks for reading down this far-and have a lovely weekend.

More soon.