The Little Ghost, A poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)
irish Landscapes
Kilcooley estate
County Tipperary
Nigel Borrington
The Little Ghost, A poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)
I knew her for a little ghost
That in my garden walked;
The wall is high — higher than most —
And the green gate was locked.
And yet I did not think of that
Till after she was gone —
I knew her by the broad white hat,
All ruffled, she had on.
By the dear ruffles round her feet,
By her small hands that hung
In their lace mitts, austere and sweet,
Her gown’s white folds among.
I watched to see if she would stay,
What she would do — and oh!
She looked as if she liked the way
I let my garden grow!
She bent above my favourite mint
With conscious garden grace,
She smiled and smiled — there was no hint
Of sadness in her face.
Irish Landscape photography, a few miles from home
The Mountain of Slievenamon
County Tipperary
Ireland
Nigel Borrington
The Train to Santa Marinella
On a recent holiday to Italy we took a train from Rome to the coastal town of Santa Marinella. From Termini station in Rome this is about a 45min trip through the country north west of the capital city.
The train Station at Santa Marinella is located in the side streets of the town but you only have to walk out of the station and turn right and you are looking down the street towards the beach.
As you can see from the pictures I took around the beach area it’s is a very well kept town and beaches, this was a winters day in December 2015 so there was very few people around however because its close to Rome I can imaging in the summer it would be much busier.
If you are in Rome for a Holiday and want to get out of the city for a while then this is a great place to visit, for lunch and coffee with a view of a sea front.
Snowy mountain peaks, Nire Valley, Co.Waterford
Following on from my last two posts relating to getting to know a pc Art based application called mypaint, I spent yesterday evening working on some quick landscape sketches of the Nire Valley in county Waterford
I am starting to feel a little more confident with the available brushes, learning just how best to make use of some of them along with using layers to help build up a painting. As with any method of producing art work, I guess the best way to learn is to keep producing image’s, so I hope to keep working on as many paintings as possible.
Irish Landscapes – Mount Juliet Estate, Co.Kilkenny
Irish Landscapes
Mount Juliet Estate
county Kilkenny
Nigel Borrington
Mount Juliet was built in 1757 by the Earl of Carrick in compliment to his wife, Lady Juliana (Juliet). This estate has very strong Norman associations and in particular with the great Butler family.
The estate was originally two separate estates called Walton’s Grove and Ballylinch. The Waltons were the owners until 1653 when they were dispossessed by Oliver Cromwell. It later fell into the hands of King James II. It was then sold to a Mr Sweet, followed by a Mr Kendal who changed it’s name to ‘Kendal’s Grove’ in 1719. Mr Kendal left the entire property to the local Rev. Bushe who retrieved an important portfolio for him after being ‘mugged’ by a highway!
Rev. Bushe was wildly extravagant, ran up enormous debts and eventually sold the estate to his neighbour, the Earl of Carrick. It remained in this family from the 1750s until 1914, when the present Earl sold the estate to the McCalmont family who lived here until quite recently.
The Sheep Under the Snow by William Henry Gill
The Sheep Under the Snow
by William Henry Gill
Irish Landscapes
Nigel Borrington
The Sheep Under the Snow
by William Henry Gill
The snow’s on the mountains,
The snow’s in the gill,
My sheep they have wandered
All over the hill;
Uprise then, my shepherds,
With haste let us go
Where my sheep are all buried
Deep under the snow.
The dogs in the haggard
Are barking aloud,
At the moon, as she struggles
From under the cloud.
Uprise then, my shepherds,
With haste let us go
Where my sheep are all buried
Deep under the snow.
Take staves, and take lanterns,
Put on your carranes;
We’ll hunt on the mountains,
We’ll hunt in the plains.
Uprise then, my shepherds,
With haste let us go
Where my sheep are all buried
Deep under the snow.
Then up rose those shepherds,
With haste they did go
Where the sheep lay all buried
Deep under the snow;
They sought them with sorrow,
They sought them with dread,
And they found them at last;—
But the sheep were all dead!
Painted Skys – MyPaint
Painting Skys – MyPaint
Earlier this week I posted about MyPaint a Windows and Linux application used to produce ( Art work , digital Paintings and Graphic Designs)
Since then I have been able to spend a little time using this application to paint some sky’s using some photographs as source material. I feel that its always a good idea to practice areas of a painting and sky’s are great fun to work on by themselves.
MyPaint has a full selection of artists brushes available that are capable of reproducing such painting styles as (oil, Acrilic and watercolour), I have found the watercolour brushes and tools such as the sponge very flexible, especially when you want to blend areas of a painting together and produce some soft area.
Another area I have worked with is the colour palettes, there are many great palettes available as standard in MyPaint, I am however more use to working with artist colours from a tube and wanted to recreate some of these colours digitally.
So by downloading the Winsor & Newton Artists colours palette as a tiff file and then creating my own palette by using the colour eye proper selection tool and the tiff file I have now produced a palette that matches the one I am a little more use to working with. This palette is only a starting point and I can ether edit or added to it as needed.
As for mixing colours using this palette as a starting point, I am experimenting with the available scratch pad window along with the palette knife and smudge tools to see just how well colours can be mixed.
When President Kennedy visited Ireland in 1963 – Kennedy Homestead, Co.Wexford
Kennedy Homestead
Co, Wexford
Nigel Borrington
This very modest and humble farm yard and surrounding buildings, Located at ( Dunganstown, New Ross, Co. Wexford, Ireland ) is the birthplace of President John F. Kennedy’s great-grandfather Patrick Kennedy.
So it was that back in June 1963, the President of the USA decided that it was high time to take a visit to his grandfathers home. The Presidents visit to Ireland included these very key moments, in the visit to the family Homestead, drinking a cup of tea and enjoying some sandwiches with his Irish cousins.
In the years that followed his visit the family home has been turned into an equally modest but great exhibition centre, with a new building that contains many great photos and films relating to JFK and his family history.
It is hard to escape the ironic fact that while this was a very successful attempt to catch up with his own family and its history, by taking a few moments here – that he himself described as “The best moments of his life”, the visit took place only weeks before his own death in Dallas on the 22nd of November 1963.
His parting words to his Irish cousins, related to the fact that he understood very well that they may have found it very disruptive, the worlds media arriving in their small farm yard, so while he made a promised to revisit, he also promised that it would only be every ten years or so, clearly however this was to be his first and very last visit with them ……
Gallery
Glacier, A poem by Christos Andreas Kourtis Nov 30, 2013
Killary Harbour/An Caoláire Rua
Irish Landscape
Nigel Borrington
Killary Harbour/An Caoláire Rua is a fjord located in the west of Ireland in the heart of Connemara which forms a natural border between counties Galway and Mayo. It is 16 kilometres long and in the centre over 45 metres deep. It is one of three glacial fjards that exist in Ireland, the others being Lough Swilly and Carlingford Lough.[1]
On its northern shore lies the mountain of Mweelrea, Connacht’s highest mountain, rising to 814 metres. To the south rise the Maumturk Mountains and the Twelve Bens. The area contains some of Ireland’s most awe-inspiring and dramatic scenery.
I visit the Fjord back in January and captures these images, I felt that Christos Andreas Kourtis poem “Glacier” matched the amazing atmosphere here perfectly …..
Glacier
Christos Andreas Kourtis
Nov 30, 2013
Slowly it slides on sub zero waters
trying to find a pathway to the sea
sheet of pure blue and heaven white
lumbers discreetly for aquiline is quite
From the top of the world
frozen fingers reach down
claws frantic on solid ground
No religion no sage
no saviour just age
and the relentless pull of gravity
will take it from mountain to the sea
This sculptress of valleys and dales
and fjords that can be seen for miles
travels without sound
onward bound
By Christos Andreas Kourtis
Digital painting and artwork with mydraw
During the weekend, I started to use an application called (my-paint), to help with some of the art work that I am starting to work on again.
I first used this application last year and along with a Wacom tablet , I have its great fun to work with.
I love the drawing control the tablet can give, almost as good as using a real pencil or brush and this combined with the pens and brushes available in my-paint, you can make a great start learning line control and layering of both tone and colour.
Viking Dawn – The Boarding Party, a Poem
The Boarding Party
Their boat turned in towards us
ready to board our vessel
to take us to their island,
a fastness, craggy, bleak, timeless place.
To winter peat fires, gales, darkness,
weird northern tales of gods and trolls,
black nights seared by bright light curtains,
a violent Viking heritage.
A place where cold sea and ocean
overturn the crippled sea stacks,
our lives in the boarding party’s
hands and our skilful pilot.
County Kilkenny, Landscapes images from a cycle
Cycling Kilkenny
As the new year began in full, I made the decision to get my cycle back on the road for 2016, I have owned this bike for about 18 years and during that time made some great use of it. Over the last few years however I had been using it less and less, so I guess its time to start some new adventures on it.
I finished getting everything back to a good condition, with a service about two weeks ago and have been taking local trips as often as possible during January.
I feel already that it is great to be out on the open road and its good to be able to just stop where you like and take out the camera to get some images, no need for finding a place to park up and you can stop the moment you see something, anything, you want a picture of.
Monday Poetry : The Rise Of The Blue Swan – andy fardell
The Rise Of The Blue Swan
Nature Photography
Nigel Borrington
The Rise Of The Blue Swan
He hid in the shadows of his life
For the world hurt him and all that he wanted
A mind shattered into the shards of hurt that burned
His skin at the merest thought
The blue swan laid low
Like a sunset hidden in the midday sun
Or a full moon ready in the depths of the darkest hollow
His time would come
The blossom would break and his beating wings would soon rise
For he was the blue swan
His pen ready yet she was hidden in the clouds of his uncleared mind
A mate for his remainder
Their love
His way
Swan so blue please wake from your bitter
Shine like the kindred spirit you had before the storm
Swan of the day
Love of the night
Your future is waiting
So bright is your fire
The day has come for the blue swan to fly
So beat like the earth on the run
Rise to the mountains
Shout to the sky
Fly
Blue
Fly ..
andy fardell
Feb 23, 2014
Spring in January ?
Spring In January ?
This Morning when I opened our blinds I noticed our first Flowers of Spring but In January ?
The weather this winter has been very wet and warm and many people have been saying they have spring flowers already, these are the first in our own garden.
January and some thoughts about Molly
January , Thoughts on Molly
Molly was our much loved friend and companion for over twelve years, she featured many times here and visited most if not all of the locations that I have posted about.
She sadly passed away at the start of December but she had a great life with a walk everyday and she must have visited Ireland from the top to the bottom of the island during her time.
The places she loved the most always had water for her to swim in, as she loved fetching stones and sticks from the bottom of rivers, bringing them back as a present> she could stay doing this all day if we at some point did not want to move on.
Here I just wanted to share two of the many images I have of her , looking very please with the moments she was enjoying 🙂
A January walk along the Hedgerow
January in the Hedgerow
Nigel Borrington
January can seem so quite in the Irish Hedgerows, very little is moving or growing, yet there is still signs of life to be found in the remains of last years summer season.
I took these images at lunch-time while out on a walk, I feel that there is still much to see and capture, even so long after these flowers would have been at their colourful best …..
A reminder of the cycle of life …….
A Poem for an Archer
A target pinned and solid-seeming
but mine is all in motion
I draw the bowstring back
and farther back
Were I to let it fly would it sink deep?
But now my muscles shake
fingers torn against the string
velocity all poorly aimed
I cannot decipher which target is my own
Can I split this arrow with the force of my own wishes,
shower the sky with a quivering flight,
live out each peculiar path?
Or must I choose now
release my hold
wide-eyed or blindfolded
poised or confused
Images of Ireland, The Connemara Mountains Galway
Connemara mountains
Irish Landscapes
Nigel Borrington
At the end of last week I visited the Connemara Mountains in County Galway, one of Ireland most beautiful landscape areas.
The weather was just amazing, changing every ten minutes with heavy showers moving very quickly across the mountains and lakes.
I just love this part of Ireland, the mountains here contain the following ranges ….
Mountains in County Galway
Twelve Bens
The Twelve Bens or Twelve Pins (Irish Na Beanna Beola) is a mountain range in Connemara. Dedicated hill climbers can hike all twelve in a single day. The twelve Bens are a group of small mountains that are the dominant feature of the Connemara countryside. They are easily accessible from the N59 or from the villages of Letterfrack or Recess.
Mweelrea Mountains
Mweelrea rising from the northern shores of Killary Harbour, is one of the finest mountain massifs in Ireland. It may be climbed from Delphi following the ridges to the fjord.
Maamturk Mountains
Mammturk Mountains are a picturesque mountain range in North Connemara. They are less well known than their more famous neighbours, the Twelve Bens on the other side of the Inagh Valley. They are not very big (max 667m) but a pleasant climb in fine weather, with superb views and no congestion.
Mount Gable
Mount Gable (1370 feet) is one of the most beautiful and scenic mountain walks in Ireland. It dominates the isthmus between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask and guards one of the major routes into Connemara from the east. The starting point for a walk is approximately 2km from the village of Clonbur.
Slieve Aughty Mountains
The Slieve Aughty Mountains are a mountain range spread over both County Galway and County Clare. The highest peak in the Slieve Aughty Mountains is Maghera in Clare which rises to 400m (1,314ft). The mountain range consists of two ridges divided by the Owendallaigh river which flows west into Lough Cutra.
Friday Poetry : The Colosseum, Brian Harris
Ten million stones recall
Ten thousand Souls whose anguished cries
Of victory arose from this arena.
For such contempt that man had shown
He trod the path of pain
surmounting human weakness yet again.
He led the way through just such vales
And with two thousand years now gone
We dwell upon such Grace.
Brian Harris
Moments in Rome – Belief : Believe… – Poem by Steven Piz.
Moments in Rome
Belief
Nigel Borrington
Believe… – Poem by Steven Piz.
I believe
I believe in a lot
I believe in music
I believe in writing
I believe in listing
I believe in mankind
I believe in work
I believe in love
I believe in laughing
I believe in paradise
I believe in safety
I believe in light
I believe in entertainment
I believe in history
I believe in time
I believe in survival
I believe in change
I believe in luck
What do you believe in?
To tell the truth…
Are any of us promised tomorrow
Live your life as if the last.
Believe
Circus Maximus, Rome
Circus Maximus
Rome
Nigel Borrington
During the Christmas and New year holidays we visited Rome, taking time to revisit some of this great cities history.
The Circus Maximus is just one of these many locations, today it has become one of Romes many city parks as much as a sports Stadium. However talking a walk around it’s still existing race track you can clearly imagine what it was like here some two thousand years ago with all the spectators, horse and chariot racers.
Circus Maximus, Rome
The Circus Maximus (Latin for greatest or largest circus, in Italian Circo Massimo) is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy. Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire. It measured 621 m (2,037 ft) in length and 118 m (387 ft) in width and could accommodate over 150,000 spectators.[1] In its fully developed form, it became the model for circuses throughout the Roman Empire. The site is now a public park.
As evening falls
Irish Landscapes
Kilkenny
Nigel Borrington
As evening falls,
Beauty of nature she calls
A warm orange glow does surround us
Casting a magical light all around
The sky like a fire does glow
Rippling water like flames do flow
Then as the sun dips behind the trees
And daylight reluctantly flees
Night does now appear
Yet its darkness do not fear
For in the inky dark sky
A new beauty is up high
The moon glows its mysterious light
While stars glisten and twinkle in the night.
Nigel Borrington 
Irish landscapes – Kilkenny , an evening in early springtime
Irish Landscapes
Early Springtime
Kilkenny
Nigel Borrington
The last of today’s sunlight was just perfect ….
This evening I took a walk along some of our local lanes , up in the hills near the village of Windgap, Kilkenny. The sun hung low in the sky an hour before sunset and filled the fields with vivid greens and long shadows from the hedgerow trees, just such a wonderful sense of early springtime which is just around the corner now, you can feel it just waiting to burst through…..
This is the best time of year with so many great months ahead of us ……
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February 23, 2016 | Categories: Comment, Gallery, Kilkenny Landscape images, Landscape, Nature and Wildlife, The Celtic year | Tags: Ireland, Irish Landscapes, Kilkenny, Landscape Photography, Nature, Nigel Borrington, Springtime, sunset, Windgap | Leave a comment