a little art from Rydal

Rydal - hmmm - at first I thought it was a town out of Deliverance. 6 houses, a catholic church, a library which opens on Saturdays between the hours of 10 til 12, where internet access is free and books are loaned out with a promise of returning them when you have finished. A hotel where the locals look at you as if you just arrived from another planet. An oval, that when you go and jog, the kangaroos hop along with you (well they actually hopped away from me). But hidden in this historical town is the Sculptors Garden. I investigated...... one man sitting on the verandah strumming his guitar (at first I thought it was a ukelele and I had a giggle) - ' I haven't any money on me' I said - 'ahh' he said ' burn your money at the gate, come on in and enjoy yourself' - immediately I thought to myself, gawd, no one knows I am here..... so I went on in, dogs jumping all over me & barking - and I met Anthony - the artist (not the man strumming the guitar, he was a friend) . Anthony was sitting sketching another friend - who had a long beard and red eyes and he kept staring at me, which made me decidedly uncomfortable. But I summoned the angels and felt protected. At first, I thought Anthony was a little bit of a nutter. But he gave me a map to his garden and sat himself back down to sketch. So I wandered through this gate:

and this is what I found:

a bronzed cast bust of the greek Goddess Demeter - this was amazing. I loved it! I started to rethink what I had thought of Anthony in the first place. then I saw this:

a concrete bust which he had personalized with a bit of plaster and some paint. magnificent!

but I knew he was a man after my heart when I saw this in his casting shed:

Quite excitedly, I told Anthony that I loved his Sacred Heart over his door ~ I am sure he was beginning to think I was a nutter! He told me that he bought it years ago to protect him as he made his castings. You see, it is a very dangerous thing to be doing & he wanted to be sure that someone was looking after him. 20 years on and no accidents at all! So he was most definately being looked after. I told him that he must leave that sacred heart there forever. Never to take it down and he nodded.

and as I went past the house on my way out I saw this:

a plaster byzantium goddess ~ this really inspired me ~ I am going to have a go at making one for my own garden.


I am absolutely positively sure there were fairies in the garden ~ you could feel them!

if you want to see more of the sculptors garden go here:
travelling with miss*R