Monday 23 March 2009

all about books


This lovely little wren, happily perched on my shelf reminds me of a weekend we spent in Hay-on-Wye a couple of months ago.

Whenever I visit somewhere new it's always a joy to discover a new art or craft gallery and I was delighted to find The Hay Makers. Exactly my kind of place! Full of lino prints and etchings and some totally gorgeous wire sculpture work of birds and animals. We bought the little wren because it had so much character but there were also beautiful hens and hares. Unfortunately I can't find the name of the maker.


Have you ever been to Hay-on-Wye? It's a unique little place on the England/Wales border famous for it's secondhand bookshops... For it's small size there are 30 bookshops to browse your way through!! That's a lot of browsing.


I think it drove Mr P a bit mad when we spent the weekend there a couple of months ago! He seemed a bit happier with a steaming hot chocolate in his hand!

Wishing you a lovely start to the week!

*Edit* A bit of digging around on the internet has revealed the maker of the wren to be
Helen Kahan from Cardiff. I wish she had a website.

10 comments:

nadia said...

sounds like a lovely weekend, a lovely lot of bookshops, lovely hot chocolate and what a lovely little wren!
when i saw it i ran upstairs and dug out my copies of "country living" (one of the only magazines i love!!!) to find the old copy which has an article about the work of another artist who makes birds from scrap metal. it isn't the same lady, this one is called celia smith and her website is www.celia-smith.co.uk
hope you like her work!

nadia said...

p.s. - speaking of amazing work with wire, last year we saw a spectacular exhibition by sophie ryder at the yorkshire sculpture park. her site is www.sophieryder.com

Lesley said...

Thanks Na, I'll go and look up the links right now! :-)

Lesley said...

Blimey, Sophie Ryder's work is incredible! Some of them are enormous! Thanks for the links! And I love Celia Smith's work... I spotted some gorgeous little puffins. I see she does workshops too. Interesting... :-)

ArtShades said...

Hi Lesley, good to see you back.

I too love Hay and you've just reminded me to take another trip there. Your little wren is gorgeous - one of my favourite garden birds. I would have bought it too if I'd been there.

I'm still enjoying your earrings very much!

Hope all is well.
Sarah

Lesley said...

Hi Sarah, it's great to hear from you and really glad you're still pleased with the earrings. Thanks for the welcome back. :-)

Liz said...

Hi Lesley, great to see you back blogging! I love Hay - haven't been for a few years now though... love the wren. I'll have to look out for that lady since she's in Cardiff.

louise said...

Yes I have been to Hay on Wye. I wish the wren maker had a website too. I would buy one without a second thought. I so enjoy watching the tiny wrens for real foraging in my garden. x

MargaretR said...

Ignore the last email. My Bloglines didn't pick up your latest posts for some reason.

Lesley said...

Ooh thanks for all your lovely comments!! It's so nice to be back here. I've missed you all!!! x