Bridget Macdonald

We are just back from a magical weekend away on the Isle of Wight. The sun was out and the sea was sparkling. It is a beautiful landscape - with lovely rolling downs and leafy lanes to cycle along.

We were partly there to go to the opening of an exhibition of our friend Bridget Macdonald. She is a supremely talented painter - her landscapes have such an extraordinary sense of place and atmosphere. The one above is 'Sheepwash Farm' on the Isle of Wight. She was driving past it one day and saw the smoke blowing across the farm from a fire in the yard. I love the movement and tension in it. 

I am also particularly fond of this one of the approach to the Malvern Hills where I spent my teenage years. The river Severn had broken its banks and flooded the water meadows. I love the line of tail lights along the horizon. 

Bridget grew up on the Isle of Wight and has lived for the last few years on the boarders of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The show is a mix of paintings of these two landscapes.

Alongside the oils are a series of beautiful large scale charcoal drawings.

The exhibition is on until the end of August at Quay Arts in Newport on the Isle of Wight.

Tools of the Trade (2) - posted by Eleanor

This is our umbrella swift. It is a beautiful wooden contraption that we use when we are winding washed hanks of yarn back onto cones. It has a very pleasing Heath Robinson feel - specially fixed onto one of our many little 'government surplus' step-stools.

The cone winder itself comes with it's own build in wire hank holders, but the circumference is too big for our hanks - like broad and narrow gauge tracks... We have left the wire winders on the machine though as they are so beautiful. They look like a mad machine for making coat hangers.