Plas Tan y Bwlch 2

Our happy textile group SerenTex enjoying a chat after one of Plas Tan y Bwlch's famous meals. This link should take you to their Facebook page.

I'm just about recovering over a week later as we all try to cram all we can when we stay here each year around this time. Sketching, painting, stitching. taking photos of all my favourite things once more and walking. But this time I'd bought a new laptop and spent a lot of time setting it up the way I wanted it and sorting out all the little things that can go wrong when you transfer everything to a new device.
I spent some time choosing and bought an Envy HP which can be converted in a few seconds into a Tablet which can be very useful.

The view from my bedroom window was wonderful as usual and here is a small part of what I could see. This is the river Dwyfor which meanders in front of the house. 

The village of Maentwrog.

The view to the left of my window looked towards Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Plas Tan y Bwlch 1

Plas Ty Bwlch is one of my favourite places in the whole world and I look forward to staying there two oan r three times  a year. I love taking photos each time I go and most of them are repeats of the same things. This is a photo of the house. You can read it's interesting history on the website linked to Plas Tan y Bwlch.

And here it is while the family lived in it 

This is the view from my bedroom.

Reflections in the lake (Llyn Mair)

Conwy Bridges

Here are the three bridges that cross the river at Conwy. I read a very interesting article by a local historian  Llew Groom explaining how the first bridge came to be built. This is very interesting reading.

Wikipaedia Conwy Castle (Welsh: Castell Conwy, English: Conway Castle) is a medieval fortification in Conwy, on the north coast of Wales. It was built by Edward I, during his conquest of Wales, between 1283 and 1289. Constructed as part of a wider project to create the walled town of Conwy, the combined defences cost around £15,000, a huge sum for the period. Over the next few centuries, the castle played an important part in several wars. It withstood the siege of Madog ap Llywelyn in the winter of 1294–95, acted as a temporary haven for Richard II in 1399 and was held for several months by forces loyal to Owain Glyndŵr in 1401.

                                    

This bridge was designed by the famous Thomas Telford and the work was started in 1822 and opened in 1826. I remember traveling over this bridge a few times when I was a child. These days it's just a footbridge.

This is the Tubular Bridge and was designed by Robert Stephenson and built 1846-49 for train journeys to Holyhead and the train also passes through the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits also designed by Robert Stevenson. 

This is the bridge built in 1958 but I cannot find out who designed this one unfortunately.

There is a fourth crossing which is The A55 Road Tunnel opened by the Queen in 1991. This goes under the river Conwy

                                      

A Bit Rusty

Conwy Quay is a magical place for a mad photographer! I took 273 photos and most of them of rusty chains and implements.

I wonder if anyone knows what these are? I had no idea until I saw them and here is a clue. They are huge.

 

These are just bits and bobs and chains which are everywhere.

They look striking with the turquoise ropes entangled.

There seems to be a bit of turquoise everywhere and the contrast with the rust is inspiring.

These are anchors used to keep the lobster pots in place I would imagine.

The Sun and the Moon

Last night's sunset

and the moon at 4am this morning.

Sunlight in the lounge.

Behind the fence

My colours have changed slightly from what I started off with and I've come to the conclusion that I'm not the sort of person to have favourite colours. My colour schemes seem to change with my mood. So the colours I started off with have changed already. I think this one has turned out to be a garden.

I have learned two things from my playing. the stencils I made from the cereal packet cardboard are too thick for using with a roller. I've always used the special stencil brush up to now and I've also been stamping more than stenciling. So from now on I must use plastic sheets for my stencils. 

The second thing I learnt was that I need more fluid paint  for stenciling than for stamping.

I'm still very pleased with them especially how the colours have developed.

Testing my Golden paints

 These were my first paint strokes with my Goldens and I knew immediately that I should have listened to my friends advice and not save them for a special project. I bought them a few years ago and haven't taken them out of the box. I don't remember how I made the original in my sketchbook, but all the wavy lines were white and I painted them red and they just went where I wanted them in one stroke, so smoothly. So friends,I'm converted. no cheap paints for me again. I will finish those I have though.

 This one used Golden paints and a stencil I designed and cut on my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine. I like the cropped bit below. 

These two both use stencils I've designed and cut using the Cameo; The top one used thin plastic which I found in a Llandudno craft shop, but they don't seem to have it now. It worked perfectly as a template. The stencil below was made from cereal packaging and the outline is blurred by the paint. Both use Granger distress inks and paints.

Developing colour

I've made a start at developing my digital designs using paint but did not get the colours quite right this time. I'll have another go tomorrow as I've done quite a few other things that have needed doing for some time and I have also almost finished my stitched folder. Yes, the one that has been waiting 17 years. So all in all quite a satisfying day.

More colour

I think these could become my new favourite colours. They are a little harsh as they are here, but if I use paints and tone them down a little they could be very pleasing. My favourite way of relaxing as always is playing with a paint programme on my laptop.










 Polka dots

Colourful

This set of table and benches outside the Kingdom Crafts in Llandudno have been painted in beautiful colours.

 Spidermen on the castle walls.

Pick me and eat me in Conwy and the strawberries are ripe for picking.