Rydal Retreat

Whilst I did not get to do the work I had planned whilst at Rydal Hall I did start a small concertina book about my visit.  This is 'Work in Progress' I am afraid and I have lots of ideas of further pieces to include in the blank spaces.

I started off by bringing in some leaves and moss from the sculpture trail with felted work by Dianne Standen which was to the side of the Hall.  I then made a couple of drawn and painted leaves from part of the watercolour paper I had cut off when joining an extra sheet to the book.  The real leaves were pressed and then glued and stitched onto the pages.

The yurts in the grounds inspired me to cut a hole through one of the pages behind which I pasted a piece of an OS map showing the location of Rydal Hall.

A surprise on the other side of the yurt cut out were the pine needles I had slashed into the paper with my craft knife.  A quick sketch of one of the eco pods with my new water soluble graphite pencils filled a small gap on the next page.

Members of the group were asked to suggest words that reflected their stay at Rydal Hall.  Those who know me will know why 'Wot-Sits' got on there.  It probably should have been joined by 'Thingamybobs' too.  I ripped up a free tourist map of Grasmere to use the trees depicted on it.

A walk to Grasmere influenced the cut out piece about Heaton Cooper, showing lots of running water.  The sketches of cones were done from the pocket full I brought in from the woods when we visited the Rydal Hall sculpture trail.

Finally, the last page has a wrapper from the fantastic ice cream two of us enjoyed prior to setting off back on the walk from Grasmere to Rydal Hall along the Coffin Path.  The flavour had some wonderous name which I cannot recall at the moment, but had cinder toffee in it.  The receipt is for the map I bought to chop up and use in the book.