Swan on Windermere

Swan on Windermere

The Swan

Often a feature in legends and an example of elegance, love and fidelity, I see the swan as a creature of majesty, stunning, proud and not to be messed with. 

A few facts:

• Lifespan between 10 to 20 years
• Form monogamous bonds from as early as 20 months
• Reach sexual maturity between 4 to 7 years
• Mates stay together even in large congregating flocks
• Usually mate for life
• Divorce can happen particularly after a failed nesting
• Nest building and incubation of the eggs is a shared task
• Will find a new mate after the loss of previous mate and then usually mate for life

This felt picture of a Swan on Windermere is being donated to be auctioned in aid of Kyra Women's Projects in York at the Ladies Who... Summer Ball on the 18th July at The Novotel, York.  

http://www.ladies-who.co.uk/Ladies-Who-Charities/

www.kyra.org.uk

www.bridgetbernadettekarn.com

The inspiration behind 'The Old Home'

The inspiration behind

The Old Home

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Mullaghderg Mountain House is the place we called 'Home'.

We lived in Leeds, UK where my Dad and two of his brothers had a business, every Summer of my childhood we went 'Home' for 3 weeks.

Home was where we belonged, where our extended family congregated, where we went fishing, swimming, rock climbing, played card games, told spooky stories, chased chickens, frogs and insects.

Where the people around the area knew more about you and your ancestors than you did, always smiling and waving at you whenever they saw you.

There was no TV but we didn't miss it. The turf fires smelled wonderful, as did the freshly baked soda bread every day.

My father was brought up here, as was his father. It is a well loved place!

Happy New Year! Hurray for Last Year!

Happy New Year!

To celebrate the season of renewal I thought I'd share with you this felt picture I made of the Sheep at Sedburgh - as it will soon be the lambing season again.

This time last year I decided to launch my business as a Felt Artist... 

I exhibited my work in 5 venues, organised 2 Meet the Artist exhibitions, 

exhibited at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, 

Sold original pieces, prints and have established monthly workshops, 

plus I was nominated to take part in the Craft Councils 'Art & Craft Design Awards 2014'

What an amazing year it turned out to be!

I have my first exhibition of 2015 with Creative ID St Ives, Cornwall from 14 February to 15 March - I will be there for the first weekend running a felt picture workshop on the Saturday - if you are in the area, feel free to pop in and say hello!

For my other Workshop dates check out my website www.bridgetbernadettekarn.com

Wool is the New Paint!

 Wool is the New Paint!

Fine art felt artist Bridget Bernadette Karn is on a mission to get wool recognised as an artistic medium. No longer can the world of art say ‘felting is just a weekend craft!’ and dismiss it from their galleries.

Felting has a rich and ancient history, you only have to look at ‘the Pazyryk felt’ wall hanging from 500BC in The Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia to see this.

Bridget’s exhibition of figurative style art demonstrates what an amazing artistic medium wool is, the detail, textures and colours are extraordinary. She challenges you to see the painting and then to recognise that it is a felt.

Bridget Bernadette Karn’s Fine Art Felt exhibition is on at Blossom Street Gallery, Micklegate, York until Sunday 30^th November. She is demonstrating her felt picture technique and answering questions.

If you are interested in learning more, Bridget offers workshops in Felt Picture making, details can be found on her website www.bridgetbernadettekarn.com and vouchers for these are also available if you are looking for gift ideas for the creative people in your life.

All Among the Blooming Heather

All Among the Blooming Heather

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There are some places in this world that are full of hidden treasures and this place is one of them.

As a very young child I played for hours here with my cousins in fairy palaces. 

Later on I heard the story of how my granny before she died wrapped her wedding rings up and buried them somewhere in this vicinity, I can only guess that she couldn't decide who of her 11 children to give them too.

Apparently, there are also some bottles of wine made by my Aunty Ennie buried in there too. I like to think the fairies found the lot and had a wild party!

The real treasures buried here are all the wonderful memories that my family have shared in this amazing place.

Stubb Wood: The Making Of

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to this music 'Lady Marion' by Clannad

An Introduction to felt picture making - 13 hours squashed down to 2 mins!
I decided to make this video for my solo exhibitions to demonstrate briefly how I build my pictures - as it is easier showing through a time lapse video than trying to explain, especially to those who have no experience of felting. www.bridgetbernadettekarn.com www.facebook.com/MyGallerySPACE

Water Lilies

Water Lilies

www.bridgetbernadettekarn.co.uk

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We flew into Amsterdam on a mission to visit as many Art Galleries as we could (for my daughter Erin's GCSE course), experience the amazing place Amsterdam is, architecture, flowers, canals and culture, plus do all this in 4 days!!!

We bought the Amsterdam Card that allows you access into most venues and as much use of the travel facilities as you wish. We planned our days to get as much in as possible. 

By day 3 we were exhausted!!!

So, a change of plan to just go to the Zoo and Horticultural gardens and maybe the Tropen museum was decided upon.

Well, we all fell out with each other in the Zoo and we lost Erin in the horticultural gardens, we found her after 20mins of frantic searching - she'd found somewhere to sit and sketch! 

Feeling the relief I sat myself down to come round and found myself staring into this amazing pond of Water Lilies - a place of total Tranquility, exactly what I needed.....