Rock pooling on the beaches of Scotland

As a child we used to visit the North West of Scotland once or twice a year, always going to the same place, Mellon Charles near Aultbea on the shores of Loch Ewe.  It was an incredibly long journey, often tackled in one day with us being pulled from our beds at three in the morning and being bundled into the back of the car, stopping for breakfast much further down the road.  Dad wouldn't be deterred from taking his 'scenic routes' but still it was a brilliant place to go.  The instant we got out of the car our shoulders become less tense and the long trip was forgotten.  Well this past year I have had a longing to return, the last time being fifteen years ago and so we booked ourselves into a little croft on the opposite side of Loch for May half term.

Loch Ewe

 The scenery in this area is stunning and peaceful but the thing that makes it even more attractive for me is the abundance of wildlife that you can see.  Just on a daily basis we were spotting sea birds, not your seagulls but divers, oyster catchers, shags and cormorants.

A rather handsome diver just of the beach of our croft

Two shags at Cove

Nearly four years ago now my Mum died and it was lovely going back up to this area as my memories are so closely linked to spending happy, close times with my Mum and so in a way she was with us.  One of her favourite places and mine too was Mellon Charles beach, a very secluded beach with the most amazing rock pools I have found anywhere.

Mellon Charles Beach

We decided to venture down to the beach a couple of times during our holiday.  We found the most varied selection of creatures here including sea slugs, squirts, star fish, brittle stars, crabs and urchins to name just a few.

Sea slug Flabellina lineata

A type of squirt, an odd creature!

Sea urchin

Brittle star

Amorous crabs!

Mum would have loved the couple of afternoons we spent down on the beach, she'd have been in there with the rest of us revelling in the treasures discovered as we turned over the rocks.  What makes me happy though is that my two children were with me and they were building their childhood memories with me and hopefully a love of nature that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Babs Pease Design

I met Babs a year and a half ago as a newcomer to BCTF.  She too was a newcomer and we were to be neighbours for three days and I'm pleased we were as we couldn't have had a nicer person to chat with in the quiet spells!  What's more, it meant that I could stand and look at her work which is truly lovely.

Babs Pease Design BCTF stand

Bab's lives out in the countryside in Scotland and so her work is often on a rural theme.  She is a painter and illustrator and a very accomplished print maker.  Her prints are lino cuts with such stunning detail in them, I particularly love this one of a sleeping fox...

Lino print fox design

...and this one of the rabbit.

Rabbit lino print

I love the gentle humour in her work too.

Hedge hog lino print

Zebra lino print

These are all examples of her larger art work but she has cunningly adapted her designs for smaller gift items and she has developed ranges of cards...

Babs Pease card range

...notebooks...

Babs Pease notebook range

...and mugs amongst other things!

Babs Pease mugs range

Should you wish to see more of what Babs does you can follow this link to see her Folksy shop or visit her website.

Melanie Tomlinson's Magnificent Menagerie

Melanie Tomlinson is an artist working with illustration and metal.  She creates stunning sculptures and dioramas using techniques she has honed over many years that involve her creating gouache paintings which after being printed on to tin are then formed into beautiful works of art.  I met Melanie at BCTF where she was exhibiting her brooches.

Melanie's stand at BCTF

I have to admit I am a bit of a stalker when it comes to Melanie's work and I am lucky enough to own a butterfly brooch of my own. I also have my eye on the dragonflies with the stunning cut out wings.

I love the wings of these insects, so intricate.

When looking at Melanie's stand two things really grab you, the colour and the detail in each piece.  When the brooches are all displayed together they remind me of beautiful iridescent specimens in Victorian collection trays and they draw me in.

A display reminiscent of Victorian collectors trays

beautiful detail

Her jewellery ranges are not just insect based, she has birds and fish too, all equally as colourful and intricate.  Should you want a closer look at some of Melanie's work you can find her website here .