England

Celebrating Anne Rymer BOOCRAFT – Watercolors Friday

/ inkspeare / 4 Comments

Hello!

Today I am very happy to dedicate our celebration to a very special Artist – Anne Rymer.  Anne is also the owner of BOOCRAFT, and she resides in Cornwall, UK.  I love her paintings and I have acquired some of them.  Her watercolors are full of magic, happy days, and I totally love the unexpected whimsical details in them, as well as the colors she uses.  One of the things I love about her paintings is that there is always movement in her subjects and landscapes – from cats and witches, to country folk, to seaside and rivers … Her inspiration is the rich history of the lovely Cornwall, a place that seems magical.  Her favorite poem is “Warning” by Jenny Joseph.  Instead of me telling you her story, I will share with you what she has to say,

“Cornwall is my inspiration. Through my artist’s eye I try to portray the magical atmosphere of this beautiful part of England.  A lady from America wrote to me that she wished she could live in one of my paintings!  I suppose that is how I feel when I’m being creative, I go into the picture completely and It is an alternative world!

My home is so high up the buzzards fly past level with my window! This is where I paint, in my studio that overlooks the beautiful Tamar valley.  There is an old church in the middle distance and patchworks of fields and ancient woodlands that stretch across the valley. Through this the River Tamar winds its way past Morwellham Quay, this is where the “Edwardian Farm” was filmed last year.

I am forever bringing home hurt little creatures.  I even once had a large raven with a damaged wing, which eventually flew away.  It stayed with me quite happily while it recovered.  I think they must know they can trust folk like us.” – Anne Rymer

I want to share with you pictures of some of the paintings I acquired from the Artist.  If you want to see more of her work, you may visit her shop BOOCRAFT.

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misty2a

I thank Anne Rymer for her time, and for being my guest today.

Happy Watercolors Friday everyone! I hope that you enjoyed today’s celebration, and please, take a little time to view more of her awesome art. – it is mesmerizing 🙂

Note: Anne’s shop will be shut from next Sunday May 5th until Monday May 13th.

My Enchantment with Turkish Delight

/ inkspeare / 12 Comments

I love Turkish Delight; it is my weakness and I will succumb to it just as Edmund did in the movie The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  This is one of my favorite books, too.  If you have not tried this delicacy you are missing on a Treat of the Gods.  My sister gave me a box for Christmas once and since then I have been hooked.  Yesterday, I got a surprise from them – yes, you guessed it, a box of the most tempting and scrumptious Turkish Delight.  Why I love it so much? – well, I guess that since I love powder sugar, gummy bears, nuts, and rose water, it was my dream come true when these ingredients came together as the tantalizing treat that it is.  Of course, there is more to it than that, but I leave it up to you to try it and find out for yourself.

Turkish Delight originated in Istanbul, invented by Bekir Effendi, who opened a confectionary store in 1776.  It is called Lokum, and it was a Briton who got hooked on it (in the 19th century) who gave it the name of Turkish Delight.  The man got boxes of it shipped to England under this name.  I guess it stuck and since then it has been called that.  In Australia is has been known as Tom Bee, since this serviceman, Tom Bradfield, was the one introducing it after the war – another poor soul hooked on it.  It has been called many names around the world, Greek Delight, Delicia Turca, Bala de Goma … and so on.

If you decide to try it, don’t blame me if your soul is captured

English: Plates of turkish delight for sale in...

Image via Wikipedia

by this tantalizing and delicious gooey confection – I warned you.