The sun was shining yesterday at Horsey Gap. I have a love affair with shadows, and those tiny tender moments that are very easy to miss. I often leave my camera behind but I was with a friend who also photographs, so here are a few small shadows.

Been back at uni for a week now, we have a lovely studio space, light and warm, with windows looking out onto the river right next to it. There's been so much to take in my eyes feel like they are going round in circles, but I'd like to stay grounded and quiet inside, so I'm really trying to hold my centre. 

Last year we didn't really have individual desks which meant our studio often got untidy and difficult to work in. This year we have been given plenty of space and a desk each and the mood is more upbeat, I think, as a result.

I am using British Butterflies and Moths as the starting point for my project work this year and spent several delightful days at the Castle Museum study centre http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/Visit_Us/Norwich_Castle/index.htm, drawing and photographing butterflies and moths.

The collections I have been drawing from date back to the beginning-middle of the last century. I think that historical context is important to me. I Have also been looking at some beautiful photographs of living butterflies published on the internet, on sites such as http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/index.php and http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/.

Yesterday, I spent a gentle day, learning to make an A-line skirt. I have no dressmaking skills and I'm not really competent on a sewing machine, so it was quite challenging. The day workshop began with cutting a pattern, adapted from pre-made blocks to fit our measurements. I've never done anything like this, but always wanted to, and it is difficult learning a new skill, but the teachers Sue Maton who runs the Mercerie http://themercerie.net/  and Pat were patient and very helpful, and we all went home with a skirt that needed not much more than finishing touches to be ready to wear. I feel that although I am far from being able to make my own clothes, I have begun to make tracks along that way, and I am looking forward to attending the next workshop with Pat and Sue. 

And lastly september seeds and berries from the Shropshire hedgerows. Hawthorn, rosehips, snowberries, a sloe and a rose gall. And willowherb and scabious seeds. 

Lovely rolling Shropshire countryside.

Summer is drawing to a close. The air is just a little nippy at nights, and the hedgerows are full of seeds and berries. The cornfields are mostly gathered in and baled. And the schools and colleges and universities are back in business. 
I've just spent a last summer holiday in Shropshire, which I've not visited before. The countryside was beautiful, rolling hills and fields, bathed in light, and quiet, but for the birds and insects, and farm animals, cows and sheep mainly.

Saw so many buzzards they almost became common place, their call was the sound of the week, haunting, ethereal, wonderful.

I saw Breakfast at Tiffany's for the first time last week, and now I can't get this song out of my head, lovely.