Saturday 25 December 2021

 A Selection of 2021

January:  
No snow but icicles on Angel's pond's water feature. She's also put lots of solar and mains timer LEDs round the garden. It's lovely having our own set of illuminations  as you wander around the garden. This spot, where the chair is, is a lovely contemplative place to sit and Angel will often get "Pippin'd" or "Merry'd" sitting here (it's when the cat has settled on you and you can't move off!).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

May: 
 One of our regular visitors. We've tried so-called Squirrel-Proof feeders. We already knew there was no such thing, but it's nice to have these furry visitors (quite often even to my upstairs office window).














Merry loves sitting watching and chittering at them.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
June: 
We decided to up our masking game.Shame about my glasses but I'm stuck with them! I've always been a Motórhead fan, since I was 12 or 13. Motórhead (yes I know it's the wrong o) was the first gig I went to. June 1980 - "The Heavy Metal Barn Dance". I'm 14 and my first gig is one that goes down in rock history as THE ultimate NWOBHM experience (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal). It was a hellava baptism into live music - in a time where they didn't worry like they do now about sound levels. Damn it was a loud - I SAID DAMN IT WAS LOUD!
 

 



July:
One of Angel's old friends - who now lives in Glasgow - came to stay with us for a fortnight (their second visit and I guess they'll be back next year as well. Which is great as her husband is a professional chef!). They camped in our large tent. They have two kids that are about the same age as my nieces (who are currently 10 & 5). Natalia is literally a little monkey, always up to mischief.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And she can have a really confident attitude. BTW that's the paddling pool from my portable shower & pop-up cubicle that I used when I drove down to spain in late 2019;


















Still July:
The fourth "rebuild" of my current tank. And although I've now got the hang of growing some plants it's hard work to keep it nice looking. The important thing though is that the environment is really well balanced and the fish are generally really healthy. I still have the catfish we bought in Belgium in 2002 though she's not in that picture as she likes to stay reasonably hidden.
Ah, found a picture of the old girl.

September:
My outdoor gym is about 80% complete here and Amelia, Basia & Natalia are helping with the second layer of stones. There's drainage pipes in the ground covered in about 7cm of small chippings under the fabric layer. And the pebbles are being spread out here. There's now a thick layer topped with blue shredded rubber tyres to act as a surface with a lot of give to drop down on. The "port holes" now have lights in but I've yet to finish the climbing wall. Things you might recognise? Trampoline of course but with the added net (means we have to keep less of an eye on the girls or other visiting kids) and just at the back you can see the green leather chair which is now a garden chair in another meditating zone!
Still September:
On a weekend bike trip up to Snowdonia with WHAM (Worcester & Hereford Advanced Motorcyclists) I realised we were staying near the "hairy cafe" so got up very early to get over to take this.


November:
One of Angel's series of "Celestial Animals" (my title). I love losing myself in this one.
































October:
An incredible morning - I just happened to be up early, can't remember why, and managed to catch a really intense sunrise.

Still October:

I've started entering various off-road-ish bike events. This was in Kielder Forest and shows my bike in the environment it really should be. A muddy campground in this case!


 

This was my first and very brief visit to Hadrian's Wall. Damn it looks well made!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To finish off October here's "Mad Uncle Will" helping Amelia out with Halloween Cupcakes.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December:

Just going to finish this off with a couple of gig pics. I/We (with Angel, & also old school friends) have managed to get to quite a few gigs. I've just got to have live music in my life even if I don't play much myself these days. This is our Christmas Amish look at the Thunder Christmas Party. Maybe it was "Covid risky" but it was well worth it as a way to end the year.

And c'mon, who doesn't love an inflatable penguin?



 

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Friday 5 September 2014

#hArtFilm2014 - Ready for the Off

So, Last Chance, Which Vehicle to Take?

As I head out on my filming adventure I have one last chance to asses which vehicle to take. Pickup truck or motorcycle?

I hope to raise some money for The Clock Tower Fund to support our local Herefordshire regiment, a sort of Help for (Local) Heroes - www.everyclick.com/hart2014


 Simples!


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#hArtFilm2014 - Flyer

I'm going to look quite curious dashing about with bike gear a LOTS of film-making equipment and unfortunately I WON'T have the time to do what I love - stop and talk to folk. So, I made up a flyer to thrust into a hand as I shout through my helmet "Sorry, no time, this will explain!". BTW Please donate!
http://everyclick.com/hart2014

#hArtFilm2014

 Herefordshire Art Week - 9 days, 104 venues, 250 Artists, 1 guy, 1 bike, 667 miles, 1 film


Herefordshire Art Week, known as h.Art, is now in it's 14th year. During that time it has grown from 55 artists to this year's 250 artists and with so many artists exhibiting right across the county and running for just 9 days one surely needs to be selective about which venues to visit? Well, whilst I was chatting with an organiser of one of the venues where my partner Angel is exhibiting, it struck me how difficult it is for artists to visit other artists and venues when they have their own to manage.
So, to kick-start a change of career, from software development into video production, I am setting myself the challenge of visiting every venue, recording something from each artist & venue and creating a piece to capture and celebrate the essence of h.Art;

I will be visiting 10-12 venues a day, travelling the planned 667 miles on my video gear adapted motorbike. With between 20-45 mins for each venue, depending on the day's route, I will have to work extremely quickly and efficiently to unload whatever camera gear I will be using, take my shots and reload before riding on to the next venue. And don’t forget I have to eat and, err relieve myself within that timeframe!


In keeping with the Herefordshire theme, I am also hoping to raise some money for The Clock Tower Fund. Not a well-known charity, it supports individuals and families of injured or fallen members of the local Herefordshire Regiment a sort of Help For (Local) Heroes. An opportunity for giving something back to those of whom we ask so much and whose world leading capabilities we often simply take for granted. I realise that military charities can be controversial however if you feel able to make a donation of whatever size, then thank you.

For the record, I have no association with the regiment in question, just –  as many of us do – know some of those who have served, are serving or have been affected by the loss of a loved one. Donations can be made at http://www.everyclick.com/hart2014 or I will have a collecting tin strapped somewhere to my bike if I find the room!
Thank you for your interest,
Will Hopkins
will@moonrisemedia.co.uk


For more information see;

https://www.h-art.herefordshire.brightstripe.co.uk/profiles/86/
http://www.everyclick.com/hart2014
or search #hartfilm2014
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#hArtFilm 2014 - Itinerary

Planning the Routes

I completely under-estimated the time it would take me to work out the route logistics for this project but I'm finally there. This is a little about that process.
I hope to raise some money for The Clock Tower Fund to support our local Herefordshire regiment, a sort of Help for (Local) Heroes - www.everyclick.com/hart2014

Grouping

h.Art itself is sort of split into four geographical areas;
  • North
  • West
  • South
  • East
But I needed to split things up into the nine days. So first thing I did was grab a marker and draw on the h.Art map.

 Routing

Using the ubiquitous Google Maps I went from postcode to postcode (BTW I found out that it only allows 10 specific destinations - I have 12 venues on some days so this complicated things.) dragged things about a bit and ended up with routings that would give me an idea of the travelling time and the distances involved.

Itinerary

Working on a 9:00-17:00 day I took the total Google Maps travel time between venues, approximately doubled it to allow for getting off & on the bike with my gear, helmet, gloves, etc. Subtracted that from the 8 hour day and divided what was left by the number of venues to give me a rough time per venue and averaged time between venues. Then starting at 9:00 I created my itinerary with expected arrival times and expected departure times (so I know when I REALLY DO HAVE TO LEAVE by!). I couldn't work out how to create spreadsheet-like formulae in Word to do this for me (given more head space I would probably have done it in Excel and brought it in to Word - Oh Well), so I did it all by hand, in tables with the venue name and postcodes. I decided NOT to pre-program my routes in my Garmin, I'll simply enter each postcode as it comes up and then rely on the Pink h.Art signs.

BooBoo

I tweeted my first twit earlier in the week and browsing for #hArtHfd came across a tweet from @Caro announcing she would be opening early for h.Art.
10:30? Earlier? Huh? Then I remembered that the default "required" opening times are 11:00-17:00. All my itineraries were too early! I would never make it if I had to wait until 11:00 each day!
Fortunately with some checking through the brochure and a little jiggling around, lots of phone calls and shifting most start times to about 9:30 I've been able to just about cover it and not cause fellow artists too much bother. A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for accommodating me and my mad idea!

So, the itinerary is below (Some of the Google Maps links may not work or now be slightly out of date!)

Friday 5th (Preview Evenings)

A limited list since as well as being able to capture some flavour of the evening’s entertainment I’d also like to be able to get to Angel’s preview evening to give her at least some support, but I will have the luxury of easing into this gently with a more generous time allowance per  venue.
Venue “Name”
Venue No.
Postcode
E.T.A. (approx.)
E.T.D. (approx.)
Colva Artists
77
HR5 3RA
17:00
17:50
Manu Song
60
HR2 0SN
18:30
19:20
Westhide Artists
25
HR1 3RQ
20:00
20:50
Gallery 25
2
HR1 2LR
21:10
… Late’ish
Google Maps link, Friday 5th

Saturday 6th (Home Patch i.e. South East)

I live in Brockhampton, so this route is pretty much my home turf – I’m starting off gentle!
Venue “Name”
Venue No.
Postcode
E.T.A. (approx.)
E.T.D. (approx.)
Caple Forge
44
HR1 4TF
09:30
09:50
Jenny Leigh
46
GL18 1NY
10:30
10:50
Wobage Makers
45
HR9 7QP
11:10
11:30
Bridget Drakeford
43
HR1 4PU
11:50
12:20
Sculpture on the Farm
42
HR1 4PT
11:40
12:00
Steve Brooks
41
HR1 4NJ
12:40
13:00
Warehouse 701
40
HR2 6NS
13:20
13:40
H’ford Cathedral
101
HR1 2NG
14:00
14:20
H’ford Young Open
1
HR1 2DL
14:40
15:00
Apple Store Gallery
3
HR1 2UA
15:20
15:40
Karl Hamilton-Cox
39
HR1 4BX
16:00
16:20
Westhide Artists
25
HR1 3RQ
16:40
…
20 mins travel, 20 mins venue.
Google Maps link, Saturday  7th

Sunday 7th (Ledbury)

There’s a nice cluster in Ledbury and on a Sunday I’m expecting there’ll likely be quite a few visitors. Visitors are good since I’m trying to capture “the essence of h.Art”.
Venue “Name”
Venue No.
Postcode
E.T.A. (approx.)
E.T.D. (approx.)
Belatrova, Houghtons
29, 30, 31
HR8 2DR
10:00
10:30
Sunny Todd
34
HR8 1DS
10:40
11:10
Tilley Printing
36
HR8 1DS
11:20
11:50
Guild of Herefordshire Craftpeeps
38
HR8 1DS
12:00
12:30
Angie & Jeanette
35
HR8 1BP
12:40
13:10
Weavers Gallery
33
HR8 1DW
13:20
13:50
Valerie McLean
37
HR8 1BQ
14:00
14:30
Nigel Street
32
HR8 2QZ
14:40
15:10
Trumpet Corner
28
HR8 2RA
15:20
15:50
Contemporary Ills, UoG
104
HR8 2RQ
16:00
…
10 mins travel, 30 mins venue   
Google Maps link, Sunday 8th

Monday 8th (North Central/Leominster)

I should be into my stride by now, fingers crossed!
Venue “Name”
Venue No.
Postcode
E.T.A. (approx.)
E.T.D. (approx.)
Stockton Bury Gardens
73
HR6 0HB
09:30
10:00
The Lion Gallery
71
HR6 8BT
10:15
10:45
Pictures & Pots
70
HR6 8JB
11:00
11:30
Jenny Crisp
72
HR6 8QS
11:45
12:15
Kingsland Church
74
HR6 9QW
12:30
13:00
Eardisland Art Group 7
76
HR6 9BP
13:15
13:45
Old Chapel Gallery
75
HR6 9HB
14:00
14:30
Canon Pyon
69
HR4 8NY
14:50
15:25
Lisel Walker
68
HR4 8BP
15:45
16:20
Ginn & Gill @ Till
67
HR4 8LW
16:35
…
15 mins travel, 30 mins venue
Google Maps link, Monday 8th

Tuesday 9th (North West)

Now I’ve to remember to say “Hi” from my mum to Tom – or “Mrs Hopkins” as you remember her!
Venue “Name”
Venue No.
Postcode
E.T.A. (approx.)
E.T.D. (approx.)
James Burnett-Stuart
78
HR5 3EN
09:45
10:15
Peter Horrocks
79
HR5 3BA
10:30
11:00
Tom P & Sidney Nolan Trust
82, 80
LD8 2LL
11:15
11:45
The Workhouse Gallery
81
LD8 2UF
12:00
12:30
Discoed Art Show
83
LD8 2NW
12:45
13:15
The Old School Arts
84
LD7 1EN
13:30
14:00
Knighton Fine Art
86
LD7 1BL
14:15
14:45
Paul Caton
88
SY7 0EE
15:00
15:30
Yen Robinson
87
SY7 0DY
15:45
16:15
Kim and Maggie
85
SY7 0DY
16:30
…
15 mins travel, 30 mins venue
Google Maps link, Tuesday 9th

Wednesday 10th (South)

My longest overall time between venues today at around 1:42 as the Google flies – Ledbury being the shortest at around 0:20 atGf. However, an easier day with only 10 venues. Ah, but hang on, I picked up a Llangarron leaflet in Pengethley Farm Shop on Saturday – there’s a lot to see there!
Venue “Name”
Venue No.
Postcode
E.T.A. (approx.)
E.T.D. (approx.)
Kathy Priddis
50
HR96QJ
09:30
10:00
Andy Watts
51
HR2 8AU
10:20
10:45
Nick Helme +…
49
HR96LJ
11:05
11:35
Hazel Pickering
48
HR9 6JB
11:55
12:25
The Garden Café
47
GL17 9NN
12:45
13:30
Sculpture @ LLangarron
102
HR9 6PH
13:50
14:20
Garron Centre
103
HR9 6NJ
14:30
15:20
Trad Craft Letterpress
53
HR2 0DL
16:10
16:30
Edward Ardizzone
54
HR2 0DY
16:45
17:05
Temple Bar
52
HR2 0EU
17:30
… Late’ish
15/20 mins (50 mins Llangarron – Trad Craft) travel, 20/30 mins/venue (1:00 Garron Centre), evening Temple Bar)
Google Maps link, Wednesday 8th

Thursday 11th (North)

The biggest daily distance for me this one at a smidgen over 100 miles, including getting there and back and with 12 venues a pretty quick-fire day.
Venue “Name”
Venue No.
Postcode
E.T.A. (approx.)
E.T.D. (approx.)
Peter Bishop
100
SY8 3JH
09:30
09:50
Chapel (Jonathan Adams)
99
SY8 4BX
10:10
10:30
Tania Pearson
98
SY8 4EX
10:50
11:10
Andrea McLean
97
HR6 0BD
11:30
11:50
Brontë Woodruf
96
HR6 9TP
12:10
12:30
Ivan Jones and Mary Simpson
95
HR6 9US
12:50
13:10
Alison MacGregor Grimley
91
SY7 0JT
13:30
13:50
Garry Jones Makes You Smile
92
SY7 0JT
14:10
14:30
Aardvark Books
90
SY7 0DH
14:50
15:10
Brampton Bryan Arts and Crafts
89
SY7 0DH
15:30
15:50
Mary Campbell
94
SY7 0LB
16:10
16:30
Jane Wells
93
SY7 0LL
16:50
…
20 mins travel, 20 mins venue
Google Maps link, Thursday 11th

Friday 12th (West)

Second longest travelling times today (01:36 atGf) however at least there’ll be a nice musical end to the day today. Jazz, hmmm, nice. (The Fast Show?)
Venue “Name”
Venue No.
Postcode
E.T.A. (approx.)
E.T.D. (approx.)
A Family Affair
61
HR3 5NP
09:00
09:20
Treasure Hidden on Offa’s Dyke
62
HR3 5AJ
09:45
10:05
Véronique, Ellie & Martina
63
HR3 5HQ
10:30
10:50
Maureen Richardson
65
HR3 6HE
11:15
11:35
Great Oak Studio
66
HR3 6LX
12:00
12:20
A Joint Effort
64
HR3 5HB
12:55
13:15
Liz, Rob & Georgina
58
HR2 9LP
13:40
14:00
The Print Shed
59
HR2 9JD
14:25
14:55
Vanessa Pomeroy
57
HR2 9QE
15:20
15:40
The Valletts
56
HR2 9SB
16:05
16:25
Clehonger Church &
Jazz Club (Pray While You Sway)
55
HR2 9SD
16:50
… late’ish, nice.
25 mins travel, 20 mins venue
Google Maps link, Friday 12th

Saturday 13th (Bromyard’ish)

There be dragons in the gardens today!
Venue “Name”
Venue No.
Postcode
E.T.A. (approx.)
E.T.D. (approx.)
Lit Smith and Kate Betty Smith
10
WR6 5QW
09:30
10:00
The Linton Brook Collective
7
WR6 5TR
10:15
10:45
Whitbourne Ceramics
9
WR6 5SE
11:00
11:30
Whitbourne Artists
8
WR6 5SG
11:45
12:15
Ralph Court Gardens
4
HR7 4LU
12:30
13:00
Jewels Williams Peplow
5
HR7 4TF
13:15
13:45
Annabelle Oppenheimer
6
HR7 4SH
14:00
14:30
Colin Simmonds
20
HR7 4HJ
14:45
15:15
Ironwork in the Garden
22
HR7 4HJ
15:30
16:00
Nigel Montandon
23
HR7 4HJ
16:15
16:45
Studios de la Torre
21
HR7 4HH
17:00
…
15 mins travel, 30 mins venue
Google Maps link, Saturday 13th

Sunday 14th (East)

Is this really the last day?
Venue “Name”
Venue No.
Postcode
E.T.A. (approx.)
E.T.D. (approx.)
The Timber Store Gallery
16
HR8 2TF
09:30
10:00
Jenny Pearce & Sarah Walker
26
HR8 2TG
10:15
10:35
Alex Wilkins
24
HR8 2TP
10:50
11:15
Jonathan and Amanda Cooper
18
WR6 5BT
11:30
11:55
GreenStage Gallery
19
WR6 5BT
12:10
12:35
Mike and Tamsin Abbott
17
WR6 5AS
12:50
13:15
Bradley’s and Rachel Bridgen
27
HR8 1JX
13:30
13:55
blue-ginger Gallery
15
WR13 5NW
14:10
14:35
Dora Williams and Sue Firmin
14
WR14 3HD
14:50
15:15
Pat Handley
11
WR13 5DW
15:30
15:55
Makers 8 at the Fold
12
WR6 5JB
16:10
16:35
Caro Sweet
13
WR6 5JN
16:50
…
15 mins travel, 25 mins venue
Google Maps link, Sunday 14th
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