Good Day at the Fair

When I arrived at corporate entrance to the National Botanic Garden of Wales today for the Christmas Gift Fair, I was met by Paxton’s Tower looming out of the mist across the valley. I got a quick pic and went on to set up the StillWalks stall.

The day went well, i.e. it didn’t rain, and subsequently there were visitors. I not only had a lot of interest but also made reasonable sales which is great as I had no high expectations.

I’m looking forward to the 2nd day tomorrow (Sunday) – anyone coming? 😉

Here is Paxton’s Tower and a few other photos I snapped during a quiet moment or two.

paxtons tower

paxtons tower

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Careful placing of the stalls kept most of us gratefully warm on a bright but cold day.

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Gifts for Christmas

It still seems quite early to me for this kind of thing but I know how fast time passes and before you know it, we’ll be running around trying to think of gifts for people at the last minute.

Buy a DVD at the gift fair for just £10. Buy two and get a free gift voucher worth £3.00 – only at the gift fair.

This weekend StillWalks will be at the first of two Christmas Gift Fair weekends. The first is at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in the Great Glass House and runs from Saturday 10th – Sunday 11th November.

We will have DVD Collections 1 and 2, framed and unframed prints from some of the walks plus gift vouchers and greetings cards.

Individual StillWalks, DVD Collections, gift vouchers and prints are always available on the StillWalks website but you’ll only get the gift fair prices and offers at the gift fair.

“My sister bought me one of the StillWalks DVDs and I really enjoy it. I look forward to new collections coming out.” Reg Wadsworth

“Great idea. Have bought 2 DVDs for my sons.” Helen (formerly of Belfast)

Forest Walk

from Forest Walk – Winter

from Forest Walk - Winter

Forest Walk

Giving it Away

Don’t worry, no plot spoilers here 🙂 Just a great StillWalk at it’s full length (5:32 mins) rather than the short clips you get on the website.

Autumn Lakeside Walk is now up on Vimeo. In fact, you’ll find others there as well including those from the Josef Herman Art Foundation residency project.

OK, it’s not entirely free – i.e. it’s only in standard definition and whilst it looks great, the StillWalks videos look fantastic in Full HD. If you want an HD version you’ll have to go to the website and pay all of £2.99 to download it or any of the growing collection . . . and of course you’ll have the advantage of not having to wait for the online version to buffer. You can even transfer them to your mobile device and watch them any time you like – anytime, anywhere.

Autumn Lakeside Walk

from Autumn Lakeside Walk, Gnoll Park, Neath.

Just one more thing – StillWalks will be at the National Botanic Garden of Wales Christmas Gift Fair on 10th and 11th November with DVD Collections 1 and 2 plus printed images from selected StillWalks, (framed and unframed) as well as gift vouchers and cards.

Photos from StillWalks – Autumn

It’s not always obvious that the images used in my StillWalks are from the named season but all photos, just as with the sound recordings are unique to the time and place of the walk.

abertawe walk

from Abertawe Walk – Autumn

woodland river walk

from Woodland River Walk

Images are available to purchase as prints from Photobox/StillWalks. If you would like to buy high or low resolution jpeg downloads, please visit the Prices page of StillWalks Equestrian for instructions and then return to the Photobox/StillWalks to identify the images you would like.

Neptune’s Audience

Last Friday I went down to Blackpill in Swansea Bay to meet a group of people doing Nordic Walking and try it for the first time myself. I wanted to try this for a few months but my prompt to do so was as much to do with the StillWalks project, Sights and Sounds of the Countryside as my personal interest – the project still needs further funding and if anyone is interested in helping out with this, here is the crowd funding link – 7 days to go to the deadline for funding.

The walkers are a group organised through Mentro Allan and I wanted to meet them in order to make first contact with carers in the area. We would like the community group on the Sights and Sounds project to be made up of carers from rural wards in Swansea.

Neptune’s Audience! Arriving early in the bay and having brought my camera, I got a few shots off before others arrived. Here is the reason for the title of this blog post 🙂 Other photos can be seen on Flickr.

oystercatchers

Neptune’s Audience

oystercatchers

Caught on the Hop!

oystercatchers

. . . and on the wing.

 

 

All’s Well in Ludlow

Despite the tension beforehand, all went well with our Meet the Artists event last Friday at Ludlow Assembly Rooms. It was well attended in the evening and it was good to talk with everyone.

Not only that, we also had a very pleasant stay in Ludlow at The Mount guest house and awoke the next morning to another beautiful day.

The exhibition runs until 26th October so there is still time to visit. Exhibition pics  some of Ludlow are below and more will be posted on Facebook over the next couple of weeks.

Finally, on another matter, please check out the StillWalks Crowd Funding pitch and help me help kids and adults enjoy “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside”.

StillWalks exhibition

StillWalks exhibition

StillWalks exhibition

StillWalks exhibition

Jean Duncan Paintings

Jean Duncan Paintings

Evening in Ludlow

Evening in Ludlow

Morning in Ludlow

Morning in Ludlow

Tension Mounting for Meet the Artists event

Last week I delivered my exhibition and my mother’s to Ludlow Assembly Rooms Alastair Duncan (tapestry, prints and StillWalks) and Jean Duncan (painting)

The weather was atrocious and I thought en route, “If I get a puncture, I’ve had it – I can’t unload everything from the car to get to the spare tyre when the weather is like this, it would all be ruined!” Fortunately this did not happen and by the time I reached Ludlow, the rain had dried up 🙂

Our Meet the Artists event has been arranged for 3.30 – 7.30 on Friday 12th October – that’s next week! Neither of us are known in the area and I am concerned that nobody is going to turn up, so the tension is mounting as with all events like this.

Other attractions – Aside from our exhibition, which of course is reason enough to visit Ludlow, there are other attractions as well. The comedian, Marcus Brigstocke, will be playing in the theatre after our event on 12th October and I think there are still some seats available. There are great places to stay overnight and the town itself is a very charming place.

So if your wondering what to do next weekend, that is the place to be. Finish early on Friday and book yourself a visit to Ludlow 🙂

Ludlow

Ludlow

Ludlow Assembly Rooms Arts Centre

Ludlow Assembly Rooms Arts Centre

 

Crowd Funding – Sights and Sounds of the Countryside

StillWalks Sights and Sounds of the Countryside Project – Crowd Funding

The StillWalks Crowdfunder pitch for outstanding funding towards the Sights and Sounds of the Countryside project is now live and looking for sponsors / investors.

This is a brilliant project that I hope, in future, to replicate with many other schools and communities.

Only £10 – Invest anything from as little as £10 and get a reward for your support.

Please take a look at the Crowdfunder pitch and help me promote the project and pitch by passing on this publicity to your network of contacts and friends.

I have personally guaranteed to cover this shortfall if the funds cannot be raised as I feel the project is so important not only to the schools and groups taking part but also to StillWalks and its development to say nothing of our natural environment.

All or Nothing – All the funds required through the Crowdfunder pitch must be raised if anything at all is to go towards the shortfall in the project funding. If the target is not reached in the time allowed (30 days), then you pay nothing and my guarantee comes into play.

All details of the project are on the pitch.

Production Day

Production Day