Merry Christmas

 Thank you for visiting the Fine Line and the Studio Blog, in what has been a remarkable and difficult year for us all. I hope that you all have as good a Christmas  as possible and that 2021 brings all the good things that you wish for. 

Stay Safe

Ian

A lane in Hampshire

 "I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion."

(Henry David Thoreau)

"No spring or summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face."

(John Donne)

Burnham Beeches

"When great trees fall,

rocks on distant hills shudder,

lions hunker down

in tall grasses,

and even elephants

lumber after safety."

(Mayer Angelou)

"Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year."

(Chad Sugg)

Trees

"Who else goes to the woods to find peace only to discover themselves in the process? I find forests uncluttered the mind with each breath the trees afford me."

(Michael Poeltl)

" Like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one."

(Suzy Kassem)

Dr Syn

"A pious and proud minded cleric, with a great taste for good Virginia tobacco and a glass of something hot as for the penning of long sermons which sent everyone to sleep on Sundays."

(Russell Thorndike)

"A tall, slender, charismatic man with a commanding presence. Dr Syn was a man who would have succeeded in any career."

(Mathew Baugh)

 

Dymchurch

"Draw Lines. Draw lots of Lines."

( Ingres)

"The process of drawing is, before all else, the process of putting the visual intelligence into action, the very mechanics of visual thought."

(Michael Ayerton)

Turners House

"I have no secret but hard work. This is the secret that many never learn, and they don't succeed because they don't learn it. Labour is the genius that changes the world from ugliness to beauty, and the great curse to a great blessing."

(J M W Turner)

"If I could find anything blacker than black, I'd use it."

( J M W Turner)

Dungeness

"I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a lighthouse. They were built only to serve."

(George Bernard Shaw)

It might have been the lighthouse spark

Some sailor, rowing in the dark,

Had importuned to see!

(Emily Dickinson)

Willows Old Romney

He took some of the seed of your land and put it in fertile soil. He planted it like a willow by abundant water.

(Ezekiel 17:5)

We Say of the oak. How grand of Girth! Of the willow we say, How slender! And yet to the soft grass clothing the earth. How slight the praise we render.

(Edgar Fawcett)

Florence

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there is an invincible summer."

(Albert Camus)

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's learning about dancing in the rain."

(Viviane Greene)

The Garden

" Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labour of man. When tillage begins other arts follow. The farmers , therefore are the founders of civilisation." 

(Daniel Webster)

"The lesson I have thoroughly learnt, and wish to pass on to others, is to know the enduring happiness that the love of a garden gives."

(Gertrude Jekyll)

The Studio

"The only thing I know is that if I get to the studio, that means I am alive today."

(Robert Farber)

"Never Apologise for your Studio."

(Denise Bezanson)

Canada Geese

"If you want to save a species, simply decide to eat it. Then it will be managed- like chickens' like turkeys, like deer, like canada geese."

(Ted Nugent)

" If you feel the urge, don't be afraid to go on a wild goose chase. What do you think geese are for anyway?"

(Will Rogers)

The New Forest

"Trees're always a relief after people."

(David Mitchell)

"How humans love to plunder the forest, like spoiled children with their parents ATM card and no concept of moderation."

(Paul Rosolie)

Allotments

"Gardening adds years to your life and life to your years."

(Unknown)

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in."

(Greek Proverb)

Bubble Boy

"There are no bad drawings. Drawings are experiences. The more you draw, the more experienced you'll get."

(Danny Gregory)

"To spend time observing,without drawing, thinking, without drawing, or feeling, without drawing, is the misfortune of the non-artist."

(Nick Meglin)