A good opportunity to post some flower pictures.

As if I needed an excuse

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

Dictionary definition:  (of a colour) tinged with grey; pale: dusty pink

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

From 1000 paths to love by David Baird

The Wrestlers depict two heroic male figures, one black, one white, at the peak of athletic prowess pitting their strength and skill against each other. This work presents a multitude of different viewpoints and engages the spectator with the relative positions of the intertwined figures.

This picture of one of the hands shows the minute attention to detail.

This statue is situated at the entrance of Abbey House Gardens and is the work of Ian Rank-Broadley, the same sculptor that produced the statues in a previous PhotoHunt post.  I must admit I had not heard of him until I saw the sculptures at Abbey House Gardens, but it seems I should have done:

Ian Rank-Broadley is one of the foremost sculptors working today. His effigy of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II appears on all UK and Commonwealth coinage since 1998. He has recently completed work on one of the most important war memorials since WWII, the Armed Forces Memorial.

On his website Ian explains why he chose the male nude as a dominant motif:

The choice of the male figure/ nude as a dominant motif was made quite early when I realised that the female nude had, to a large extent, been robbed of its power by the commercial world of advertising, whereas the the male nude still retained a power that could excite, grab attention and shock. The reaction of the spectator to the male figure was stronger, whether out of competition, fear or embarrassment. It proved to be a potent image. For me, the sculptor, this fact reinforced the work with a greater resonance and meaning.

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

Set against the wall behind the house at Abbey House Gardens an unusual surprise awaits the visitors.

Make of it what you will…

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

I leave my heart in an English garden,
Safe where the elm and the oak stand by.
Tho’ the years rise and roll away
Still shall those watchmen stay,
Bold in the blue of an English sky.

Breezes in the long grass ruffling my hair,
Hollyhock and bluebell scenting the air,
Nothing in the world can ever be
Such a sweet memory:
Nothing in the world was ever so fair,

I leave me dreams in an English garden,
Safe where the breezes of England blow,
when highways are dark and drear,
Ill know there’s sunshine here,
Bright where the roses of England grow.

Dawn on the Aegean redd’ning the foam,
Sunset over Cyprus, springtime in Rome,
Lovely are the lands where, I dare say,
I could stay for a day…
But none of them are quite as lovely as home.
By Christopher Hassall