Belated post - Mandy's Castle page for Carmen.

This is rather out of sequence, but here is the Castle page I made for Carmen back in April.



As my attached letter explains, the picture is based on a photograph I took of my daughters playing in the ruins of Beeston Castle.





This rather wonderful ruin is on the top of a steep hill with magnificent views of the surrounding Cheshire Plain. The site was chosen carefully for its strategic value. Built as it was many centuries ago, it was there to help protect the English from the marauding Welsh. With a cliff to three sides and a steep hill climbing to the remaining side, the castle managed to survive for centuries eventually falling during the English Civil War. It has the benefit of an amazingly deep well, which would have been life-saving for the inhabitants during a seige.
As a family, when my daughters were young we often visited this castle. We learnt a lot about the history surrounding it whilst playing amongst the ruins. There are still regular events, where various societies come to re-enact different periods from the Castles long history.
Thanks Carmen for allowing me to wander very happily down memory lane as I put this piece together.

Windows for Elizabeth.

I was delighted to hear a short time ago, that my page for Elizabeth has just arrived.



The windows page was based on my photographs of this delightful little chapel on a bridge crossing the Great Ouse.



The picturesque town you can glimpse beside the waterfront is called St Ives. I can recommend an exploration of the area, since the town and it's small museum is well worth a visit. More photographs from my trip can be seen here.



It was great fun to interpret one of the glazed windows for Elizabeth. As you can see from the note I sent with the page, I used a number of techniques. The gessoed piece of canvas came from a damaged artists canvas I had taken to pieces. The frame will eventually be used for some screen printing experiments.........



I could not resist putting something behind the window frame.



So the window is hinged using beads, so that it can open to reveal............



Hence the title..............



The back is made using a piece of scrap silk and some mulberry paper.

Castle

I'm afraid my castle page for Carmen is running a little late at the moment. A mere hint above. I love castles, especially one particular castle not too far from here. Built in 1225, it is now a ruin, but much loved by my own family. We spent many happy hours there when my daughters were young.
Unfortunately, that is probably why I ended up running late with this. I just could not decide how to depict this much loved structure.
I shall get this completed and into the post as soon as I can, but apologies for the delay.