30/06/2010 by James.

I think its a queen buff tailed bumble bee, but I could be wrong… http://www.plantpress.com/wildlife/o441-bufftailedbumblebee.php

(Have to remember to take my camera not just my phone to the studio next time)

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14/12/2009 by James.

A beautiful cold day yesterday up in the Pewsey Downs NNR. Lovely to get back up above everything and breathe in the wide open spaces.

Taken into the low bright sun, I like the way that the phone photos distort, blur and change the colour slightly, taking on a more painterly, dreamlike feel, with the tonal quality of an old faded postcard.

There’s more info on Adams Grave longbarrow on Walkers Hill and the surrounding area on the Natural England website - http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designatedareas/nnr/1006120.aspx

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22/09/2009 by James.

I went to Fyfield Down again recently. Set up above Avebury, I used to walk there sometimes when we were living Marlborough.

It is a much more wild and windswept feeling place than most of Wiltshire, and the Sarsen boulders lying along the hillsides really give it the feel of an upland moor in Wales or Cornwall, rather than a patch of the Wiltshire countryside.

The visit linked in well with the work that I’m doing around Stonehenge, with its huge Sarsens from this area and the smaller Bluestones from west Wales.

www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/wiltshire/boscombe/bowmen/stonehenge_bluestones.html

This time we walked along the Ridgeway to get there, on a misty and drizzly morning. Very atmospheric and pretty soggy… here’s a few photos from my phone.

For info on how to get there, see…

www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designatedareas/nnr/1006057.aspx

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14/07/2009 by James.

There is such a wealth of life and beauty all around me at this time of year… insects flying and crawling on every surface, plants growing up and exposing flowers; the details in the landscape that mix, meet and flow.

Sometimes its enough to notice things, to pay attention to the amazingly intricate world that we depend on, to watch and wonder - to me that is as much of being an artist as any making, paid work or exhibition.

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03/07/2009 by James.

giving twitter a bit of a go if you fancy looking me up… jamesaldridge4

and if you wonder why… so did I but I thought I’d try it and see. Let me know if you’re on there too.

image from British Museum

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24/04/2009 by James.

I took a walk around the village yesterday and took some photos of the different drains, manholes and signs that are dotted around the road sides and surfaces.

I am attracted to the combination of the ‘man-made’ imagery and the worn and corroded surfaces, which link with the appropriated natural history imagery and cut/stitched/distressed materials in my work… a link between the image and object, man-made and natural.

For me these things are an expression of ‘one-ness’ and highlight the beauty to be found in the everyday.

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10/03/2009 by James.

I think my work has always aimed to gather together seemingly disparate elements… crossing perceptual barriers and making connections. The way I make artwork echoes this and the way I have come to see the landscape does too… fragments linking together to create a whole that we are too often taught not to see.

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23/10/2008 by James.

If you have any thoughts on the role of art in encouraging environmental awareness, on my work in particular, or want to share something related with the other readers of the blog, please add a comment below any of the postings… just click where it currently says ‘no comments’ and add yours there.
Thanks, James.

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24/07/2008 by James.

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30/05/2008 by James.

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