Deerhurst and Upleadon

Once in a while we are on route somewhere other than a church and are tempted to squeeze some fonting into the journey. Well if we are passing near to a known site, it seems silly not to visit. Happily the Blue Book makes it easy to find somewhere not ludicrously off course.

One such stop-off was the village of Deerhurst. Luckily for us, it was well signposted as in addition to the village church and the delights therein, it has an extra building of Saxon origin, Odda's Chapel, now cared for by English Heritage. This was apparently built by Earl Odda for his brother Aelfric. Strangely someone had incorporated a farmhouse into one end in Tudor times, which looked rather odd. But the building itself held less interest for me than the contents of the nearby church, St Mary's. The existence of a second Saxon building is quite unusual. So it was not surprising that both are clearly signposted, which saved us our usual trick of hunting down every side road. In fact the church had no end of signs, with one taking us all the way round the building to the "angel" high up on the back wall, another pointing to the toilets (a rare and welcome facility for the travelling fonter) and even an array of labels inside the WC in case you weren't sure how to identify a hand dryer. But it was a joy to see that someone evidently welcomed and expected visitors.

Inside the church (diligently being cleaned by someone) we were greeted with a wonderful sight. You may think you have seen something already when you have seen a photograph, but it does not beat seeing it for real. Deerhurst's font is one of very few surviving Anglo Saxon fonts... if indeed there are any. We bought a pamphlet (one of many) on the Anglo Saxon features of the church and it suggested that Deerhurst is the best example, if it is indeed a font, which the author thought it was. It seems to fit the dimensions of the fonts we have seen, and the base, if it is the original base for a font, has the same intricate spiral/scroll pattern which decorates the top bowl. It is an elaborate pattern which suggests that it must have been an important place to have such a lovely font. We sat ready to draw. R went to look for lights to that area of the church. To my sheer amazement, sensitively done floor lights came on all around the base of the font and lit it up so you could best appreciate the carving. I have never seen a font so well appreciated and cared for by its parish and being as fond as I am of them, it felt like the pinnacle of font appreciation - if only every beautiful font could be appreciated and valued in this way. Some cost and consideration had gone into presenting this font and it is so nice to know it will be looked after.  Unlike in times gone by when it was found being used as a drinking vessel in a farmyard and rescued by a bishop.

Drawing the pattern proved more difficult. We would have needed a lot more time than we had to make any decent attempt and mine was more of a rough representation. It turned out that the swirls were quite complicated and not all the same and it made your eyes go funny looking at them for too long.

The church also has beast heads, two wonderful ones by the main door, with fangs, pointy ears and a prominent snout, not so much dragons but a cross between wolves and something else, and two at the back of the church, which according to the pamphlet, could have been adorned with paint and jewels for eyes in their time, one of which looked like a hippo to me.

Upleadon
Upleadon is not far from Deerhurst and provided a good stop-off point on our return journey. However, it was not so well signposted, as usual, so we found ourselves in familiar territory driving into the village and then having to go back on ourselves, ask a stranger and then keep our eyes peeled. It was a little way out of the main village next to a large house and farm. It is very unusual with a tower of brick and timber. This one boasts a rather fine tympanum over the main door, with nothing less than a Lamb of God, complete with jaunty foot, and flanked by two "lion-like" creatures, with the requisite tails curling up under their bodies. It was not unlike the design at Pen Selwood, a thought we both had, cheeringly - we are now a walking resource on these things.  I loved it - it had a pleasing simplicity but with some unusual details such as the rather attractive circle around the lamb, which was a plain and a beaded band intertwined. As I drew it, mine seemed to go a bit haphazard and I think the carver found the same difficulty.  The animals had rather humanoid features.

There was another creature on the left hand capital of the door, with an interesting tail, and a design on the right hand one.

It may have been out of the way and harder to find than Deerhurst but it was equally pleasing and quite a peaceful spot.

Dictionary entry

to go fonting  verb. intransitive. To visit places to see Romanesque carvings, ie of Norman or Saxon origin, primarily churches.  Note carvings include tympanums, corbels, capitals, columns etc as well as fonts.  Note that other words cannot be used in a similar way, i.e. you cannot say "to go tympanuming" as, a) it is too difficult and b) it is not a phrase.

Romsey

When asked what I wanted to do for my birthday, the answer was simple. Yes, animals are always a good option but fonts (or rather, Romanesque carving) won. As a special treat we went that bit further to Romsey Abbey, near Southampton. And it really proved to be the sort of special treat you want for a special birthday, as mine was.

Before we even got inside, we were delighted to find wonderful Norman corbels high up around the outside walls. Most were of faces of people or animals and some distinctly different to those we have seen before; some faces had things inside their wide open mouths such as figures of people. There were also a number of pairs of heads. The garden outside was a lovely spot to stuff our faces so we admired the corbels as we ate.

Around the corner from the main entrance was a figure of Jesus, on his cross, not unlike the one at Langford. Over this one was a hand of God. The Jesus was next to a rather fine door, I'm not sure how much of it had been touched up as it seemed in remarkably good nick.  Then more corbels (it was a bit overwhelming) and then we finally made it to the front entrance.

Inside you are struck by the high walls and lofty ceilings of the building. It has many treasures and they are keen for you not to miss any of them, as a detailed map was given to us by an interested guide (although this was once we had been round the abbey already). We were both soon going from one thing to another, doing the usual thing of "look!" and then finding something even more exciting around the next corner. In terms of Norman carvings, the place is a real gem. Towards the back of the abbey, every column seems to be topped with a carved capital - and all seem different. You have the foliage design, reminiscent of Knook, and some more unusual ones of people and animals. The abbey had provided a drawing of some of the more complicated ones, suggesting what was being depicted, but cynical and questioning as we are, we did not take everything as gospel (despite being in a church). The only problem was that all the capitals were hard to see for two reasons: the main one being the height - it was impossible to crane your neck back and to see anything in detail with them being so high above your head. And secondly, each was lit with a bulb that shone down into your eyes so you could not see very well anyway. It was a real shame and we considered writing to the abbey to see if we could get a ladder or platform from which to view them all close up, under the guise of wanting to produce a book on them.

see how high they are

The back of the abbey is just one carved capital after another and then you come across the far right hand corner, where there is a Saxon rood. Thankfully you can have a proper look at this one. The figure of Jesus on the cross and the people around him stood out from a darker coloured backgro
und... which on closer inspection appeared to have been painted in bronze enamel paint, which had been applied quite carelessly. We almost began hyperventilating at this - clearly someone had done this in the recent history of this ancient carving. I just hope the offending paint can be removed without any damage.

Luckily there were plenty more carved capitals around the corner to distract us, including a rather cute one of animals biting each other. It is just a shame we could not draw anything because we could not see it in enough detail at that distance.  Unsurprisingly, many people going round were not looking up and so were walking past, in our opinions, the best bits.

So to fully appreciate the abbey we need to return with ladders and permission to shin up them, although even then I don't think I'd be able to draw at such heady heights. But even without drawing it was the perfect place for a birthday.

Who did this!?

Escape to the New Forest

No, not escape from the EU, but from the awful result of the referendum. We took off for the day to a new area of the country for me, the New Forest and very pretty it is too.  It was relaxing to be driven through the leafy lanes and to see the ponies. There are a lot of posh houses and we had the chance to see many as I inexpertly misdirected my sister several times and gave us a longer-than-necessary tour around the villages.

It was a weird sort of day, of course, but the pocket of green helped calm us after a few rants, and being out fonting was the perfect thing to do.  Four villages had been chosen, first of all Minstead, which proved tricky to get into. We drove down a lane that said Road Closed and indeed it was closed, so we chose to walk through and look for the church on foot. We tried using our sixth sense but after wandering down several roads and also asking some passers by, we realised the church was miles off and that we needed the car. So we stopped for a sandwich, under a tree, in a peaceful spot.

The church itself was quite weird, looking more like a house than a church. It was a bit unusual inside as well but the font was a cracker and reminded me slightly of Steeple Langford as it had four rectangular sides each with its own picture. But the pictures were more elaborate here and harder to make out on two sides. One, described by the church as Jesus's baptism, was three figures - but very hard to see who they were or what they were doing. One looked like it was holding a hammer, or was it holding a person? One looked like an alien. One was possibly an angel with wings. A second side had strange designs too, hard to make out. A third had a rather appealing animal, with two bodies and one head, which is not unlike other animals we have seen. The head looked very like the Cheshire cat, with a grinning mouth.  The fourth side was sadly hard to see as it was too close to a wall. It was, to our delight, a long-bodied but appealing Lamb of God, holding the requisite staff in one foot.

"Are you doing the flowers?" asked a woman who came in, who somehow reminded me of Samantha Cameron. I ignored her because it was such a stupid question,  but she repeated it and we both answered no. Obviously not as the flowers were done and sitting on top of the font. It became an amusing line to ask each other in the other churches we visited during the day.

Second stop was Landford, which also proved awkward to find, giving the day an edge of weirdness. We stopped for a lemonade at a carvery inhabited by only 2 men at the bar and the landlady, and I dared to ask where the church was. The older bloke kindly told us but neither of us really understood what he said. I thought he said something about Royal Gibraltar, the referendum still on my mind, but knew he couldn't have done. After much driving around we chanced upon an Indian restaurant, the Royal Jaipur, on the main road and I was quite chuffed I wasn't going completely mad. The church itself was away from the village and sadly locked, but there were two nice Norman capitals either side of the door, which we drew.

We moved on to Breamore, just outside the New Forest, again stumped as to the whereabouts of the church (I was just using the road map which let's face it, is useless for finding churches). We found this one through a mixture of luck and sense, as there was a "Breamore House" on the map and often posh houses are near the church and luckily there it was. It was a sweet Saxon church with tall windows, and a lovely Saxon archway inside with some writing over the top. Sadly my drawing of it was less than accurate so it looked very odd. There was some fine "ropework" carving as well.

Final stop was Damerham, north east of Fordingbridge. The church was on its own again, stuck down a lane. In the porchway was a rather wonderful tympanum of a horse and knight, vanquishing some poor soul down on the ground. We agreed the carver must have liked horses or certainly observed them well as the horse was accurately depicted. We particularly liked the way its hoof rested on the person lying down, who appeared to be holding an axe. There was attention to detail, as the horse had some decoration and the people's clothes did too. Rather pleasingly my own interpretation of it came out well.

Michael Corbidge workshop

The Time is Now has been quiet of late, as there has been nothing uplifting to report (aside from some fonting which I have not yet blogged). However, I am pleased to say that one such day has put some of the zing back.

As part of the ALPs production of The Taming of the Shrew (18 to 21 May), we were lucky enough to have a workshop given by voice and text coach to the RSC, Michael Corbidge. I had made the mistake of looking at clips online and it worried me that we would be made to run around the room and do things outside my comfort zone. But I was wrong and the clips were misleading. Mr Corbidge was a wonderfully down to earth, humorous man who we all warmed to. He has worked with loads of famous actors but he never once mentioned this and I didn't like to ask. He was passionate about what he did and his enthusiasm was infectious. He made no apologies for it and this made it easy to throw yourself into it all and not feel self conscious.

We began with a warm-up which involved warming up your body and voice. Possibly actors resist doing this but in fact we could feel the benefit once we had done it. It helps to throw off the worries and thoughts of the day, or yesterday, and then you can be focussed on what you are doing. We stood in a circle and did various movements and made various sounds but none of it felt silly as everyone was doing it and there was a purpose, plus it was as if we had been given permission to do these things so there was no need to feel daft. I quite enjoyed it anyway and afterwards it did help you to feel positive. Michael focussed on posture and the best way for your body to be for speaking - head up, eyes forward, jaw relaxed, and standing on the balls of your feet, the middle point, rather than leaning back or slouching in our normal habits. There was the image of being pulled up by a golden rope through the top of your head.

It was a full and intense day so don't expect me to remember everything but I will try to give you a flavour of what we did. We covered many things such as how words convey their meaning - for example try saying "plain Kate" and making plain sound exciting or interesting. Plain conveys its meaning in the sounds. Michael connected us to the language - something that made a huge difference to me - by saying don't be shy of enjoying the words, enjoy saying them - their consonants, their vowels. And actually, when you start to say every word clearly instead of swallowing it or hurrying it, you start to enjoy it. Shakespeare's language is great and that is one reason the plays have endured - and I'd forgotten that. I know that sounds mad. I have to confess I wasn't really feeling my parts as a servant and a fruit seller, and I wasn't feeling enthused about the humour of the play. But Michael brought me back in touch with what I have always loved at school and beyond: language. Words. And actually for me (maybe hormonal who can tell) it was quite emotional to reconnect.

It is amazing how much he helped us achieve in one day. He had various techniques to help people say their speeches, so the key characters in the play such as Kate and Petruchio, Gremio, Biondello, Lucentio and Tranio, all had a go at saying their speeches. Michael would suggest small changes and ask them to say it again. And then again, with another change, and so on. By the third or fourth time, the speech had been transformed into something much clearer, more engaging, more exciting. Michael helped us to think about the meaning of the words and to bring out the important words, like people's names or places in the opening speech of Lucentio, and the importance of pronouns - I, my, you, your etc. He did exercises to help people respond to what was being said, rather than just saying their line back. He also helped people to say things in a much more natural way - this was through doing something else at the same time, so Kate had to put on a huge pile of jumpers while she was speaking and we all had to give Gremio an item to hold when he was listing his riches. It was a surprisingly effective method: suddenly the speaker had two things to concentrate on and they began to speak in a more natural way so it did not sound like a recited speech. Gremio (Jules) was saying how his brain had been concentrating on the second thing so he was not worrying about the words so much.

There were so many things he touched on, like thinking about the way you say monosyllabic words, or polysyllabic words. And turning things on their head, like getting Petruchio and Kate to have their war of words but to be meaning "I love you" when they were saying it. And softening voices so that you had somewhere to go - higher and louder and more exciting, instead of coming in like that with nowhere to take it. How you have to respond to someone immediately (start thinking of it four or five words before rather than taking a breath and having a pause after their line), how to stop breathing out between lines but perhaps to use sound with breath instead. How not to be afraid of sounds or words.  Someone in his past had advised him to think of a blind person, a deaf person and a foreign person sitting up in the gods and he had to make sure they understood the play, so you have to use visuals as well as your voice. A bit like TEFL teaching in fact where you use every means of communication.

Biondello had a long list of things to report which are supposed to be funny, but half the problem is the language now is things we don't understand, about horses and clothing. So he asked Marc to imagine he was a stand up comic live at the Apollo, to tell a funny story, and to put the speech into his own words. He then progressed to miming the story he was telling and it didn't matter that the words were strange because you got the sense from what he was doing. It was perfect for Marc because he never stops telling jokes - I had them all through Season's Greetings where he was my stage husband. So it was great to see him in this role - good casting.

So it was a very productive and positive day. Everyone enjoyed it and got something out of it. I am sure it is going to lift the rehearsals and the production.  So do come along. I have now got a small role as a prostitute in one scene as well as fruit seller and servant. (It was bound to happen). For me, he came along just at the right time, after feeling rather demoralised about the job hunting. It gave me a lift and reminded me about what I love and what is important. Sometimes a person crosses your path who is full of enthusiasm and life and energy and it's infectious and they remind you of all the good things and give you a bit of zing back again and you remember actually you must never lose that passion, whatever it is you are passionate about. Fonts, chickens, language, whatever. And he keeps chickens, so what more do you need to know.

Learning is fun

I can't remember what we did before the internet, I suppose we went to libraries, but it certainly is easy to learn about things now with information at your fingertips. I suppose I sound ancient now. But I have been enjoying my composer and country duo, I am up to the letter "I" now. For H, the country was Honduras, and I must say I was horrified to discover the state of this central American country. It somehow sounds exotic and like a holiday destination, Honduras, but it has the highest murder rate in the world and is far from a holiday hotspot. I had no idea but the cities are full of opposing gangs and terrible violence and everyone is getting killed including small children. If you look at google images, the gang members are identified by having lots of tattoos across their whole bodies, including faces - this might remind you of an advert. Honduras is where Kenco coffee are helping give people a future by training them to grow coffee, rather than become part of gangs. I was horrified at what I saw and read and felt very sad that it is in such a bad state. The country itself sounds lovely, with a rich diversity of wildlife, and so many bats! Bat paradise.

A similar thirst for knowledge - (and general thirst. I seem so dehydrated, don't know what that's about) - has taken hold of me at certain times. I was watching the last episode in series 2 of the Young Montalbano - who thought that anyone could replace Luca Zingaretti, but they have all done a good job.  Montalbano was supposed to be joining his girlfriend on the mainland, but we all knew he wouldn't. It wasn't surprising to hear the characters saying to Salvo, "But won't you miss Sicily?" Everyone in Sicily was obsessed with it and couldn't envisage leaving (except one unusual student). But Salvo was all ready to go, and was driving to the airport, when you saw him stop at the turning and drive back to the town. When he got there, the streets were strangely empty, no one was about, but you could hear a radio or tv news report. It was the true story of when the judge Falcone was murdered by the mafia, by a bomb outside Palermo.  All the characters were frozen, watching the news, in shock.  It was a very powerful ending to the series and got me wanting to know more.  I had heard about another judge, Borsellino, who worked with Falcone and was killed by the mafia just 57 days later. Why were they killed, because they opposed the mafia. Because they had put so many of them behind bars. I decided to read more about it all....  I read about many names who had worked against the mafia, either in the law or journalism, or whatever. Every sentence after someone's name went on to say "so and so was killed..." Everyone who had opposed the mafia had been murdered by them. Falcone and Borsellino's murders were a turning point and the people became angry that not enough was being done.
You may wonder why I didn't know all this before; I did read about them before, I am sure of it, but perhaps I didn't take it all in. But no one in Sicily would talk about the subject, not at all, so we stayed off it. I can see why now and I can understand why they're so insular and close ranks. The whole thing seems terribly complicated, of course and I'd not appreciated the links to New York before. But I was rather chilled to see a photo of one of the top bosses who is now in jail, who had that definite Sicilian look, whose eyes were so much like the eyes of my favourite student while I was out there. It was a bit weird; someone so vile reminding me of someone I'd liked so much.
What I don't like is how the mafia has been glamourised as if it is somehow cool; it is not. I could never understand at the time some of my fellow acquaintances' take on some of the people we came into contact with. All rather unpleasant.

Composters and countries

Not been updating regularly which is very slack, given I have the time. A flurry of interviews has been and gone; some jobs don't turn out quite how you envisage them. I like to think that the right job is out there, but in fact any job might be quite good now just for some stability and routine (how exciting that sounds!) I enjoyed my temping with the Orders of St John Care Trust, it was such a mouthful for answering the phone, I had to read it off the letterhead every time. It wasn't exciting work but the people were lovely and it made the difference.  I am now applying for another job I have seen with them.

Today I spent all the day to-ing and fro-ing asking a man for a person specification which the job guidelines said you must refer to when applying, but he said there wasn't one, so how are you supposed to write an application without really knowing what they are looking for. I guessed. It's the same stuff all the time anyway.

Each day (or so) I am looking up a new composer and country. Except I keep googling "composters" which comes up with links to B&Q.  So far I've done Bach and Angola, Berlioz and Bolivia (looks stunning), Copland and Croatia (1000 islands!), Debussy (nice) and Dominica (fab parrot flag). Today was Elgar and El Salvador. Elgar, I didn't realise, lived near Worcester, went to Birmingham a lot, and ended up in the Malverns. All those times I was there, didn't even know. Suppose it doesn't matter.  El Salvador doesn't sound like a good place to visit just yet: high number of volcanoes, earthquakes and high murder rate.  It is interesting and I think it is high time I broadened my education.

That is it; no other news. I need to update the blog with our latest trip into Somerset, which was one of the weirder trips we have been on, but perseverance and determination finally paid off when we encountered a truly delightful wonky font, which has rapidly become one of my favourites (partly from the sheer relief of finding it after several false starts).

bits and pieces

Having not blogged for a while there should be lots to catch you up on, but in fact pretty much the same things have been going on. I have been doing my life modelling (fine, but standing in the same position is not easy after a while and it's surprising how your arm or whatever starts shaking). I have also been temping, which has been fine because the people in the office have been laid back and pleasant, which makes all the difference. I've had some interviews and this has helped me focus on what it is I want to do and what I don't want to do. I want, as far as I can, to find something which interests me and that does not include going back to what I purposefully left behind. Although it is tricky when you have to eat, etc.
I spoke to a very nice woman about becoming a volunteer for adults who need help with reading, so that would be good if I can start doing that. The idea is I can see if it suits me and if I really do want to continue working towards becoming a basic skills teacher. If so, I can investigate the course which starts in September. I was contacted by a TEFL school who said they had adult teaching but have offered me teens - not exactly what I was after so we will see.
In other news, the next ALPs production is under way, and this time I am taking a back seat as one of the ensemble, a fruit seller and was recently also given a couple of lines as a servant. So although I will not be needed in many rehearsals it is a way of keeping in touch with it all.
I have been writing a little bit about the churches we visit for Wiltshire Life magazine and hope this could be the start to many more such things. It reminded me how much fun we have going to these places and discovering the delights within. I hope the weather picks up soon so we can start going on Trips again and finding more of them, as there's nothing quite so good, really.

Artistic leanings

Generally I hate New Year's Eve and New Year as I think, it's just another day, there's no real difference, but in fact it's a good point to take stock and to make plans for the future. As good a point as any. And in fact I feel quite positive coming into 2016. Even numbered years always sit better with me for some reason. But the main thing is to focus on the now, to keep the mindfulness spirit (which I will be able to do even better thanks to a cool Christmas present) and to continue to be nice to people and other creatures.

Today I began a role at Wiltshire College as a life model - needs must, you see, but in fact it wasn't as bad as you might think. The students are 16 and 17, taking a BTEC in art and design, so they are all keen and they were quite talented (despite the usual lack of confidence in your own work). I was made to feel at ease and despite feeling awkward initially in stripping off my robe, once I was up on my plinth it wasn't unlike being on stage. There was a little bit of the "look at me" thing going on and I must have an exhibitionist side that only comes out occasionally. They were mostly girls, only one boy and he seemed to cope with it fine. The thing is, they are all concentrating on their artwork so they're not even thinking about anything else. I had to stand in several poses for 5 minutes (just long enough for a raised arm to begin to get a bit pins and needly) and then two for 10 minutes, (basically just standing, although I swear I was wobbling a bit) and then got to lay down for 20 minutes, draped over a cushion concoction. This was fine by me.  In all of them I tried to focus on the mindfulness breathing, which helped me to concentrate. I also liked listening to the different sounds of the materials on paper - charcoal, chalk, pen. It was soothing.

I wasn't perfectly still, I know, but I suppose wobbling a bit doesn't really affect what they were doing. I had a look at their drawings in between and I think they did a good job - no one made me look too fat (haha) and many of them were really good. It was interesting to see their interpretations of me. You could tell it was me. And I know how hard it is to draw (even stationary things) so I recognise their frustrations. The teacher was encouraging and it was interesting to hear what he was saying. It also felt useful to be helping them with their art. So despite maybe getting a little cold at the end, (although I did have heaters) I quite enjoyed myself.  The most boring bit is the bus journey.

I realised I have little body awareness as the teacher shows me a slide of a pose and I really don't know if I'm adopting it or not - I can't convert that pose into what I do with my body. So I'm hoping I might become more aware of how I stand as time progresses. The last one was probably quite a sexily draped look but who knows.