Tag Archives: Creativity

Artist and printmaker Angela Harding finds inspiration on the Deben

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By Catherine Larner

The intricate, stylised linocut designs of wildlife, rivers and landscapes created by the artist and printmaker Angela Harding are instantly recognisable.

First used widely in greetings cards and magazine illustrations, the images have also featured as distinctive book covers. There was the iconic image for ‘The Salt Path’ by Raynor Winn, the series of PD James crime novels and recently the cover for ‘Blossomise, the new book by poet laureate Simon Armitage, and the illustrated version of ‘Wilding’ by Isabella Tree.

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The Deben in Pastels

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by Leigh Belcham 

It all started with a barbecue on the beach at Ramsholt.

The year was 1996 and Waldringfield Sailing Club was celebrating its 75th anniversary. My wife Jill and I were living in Coventry at the time, but friends had invited us to join them for the weekend of fun and nostalgia. After racing on the Saturday afternoon, we had a gentle sail downriver on their yacht, and watched the sun set over Hemley church while enjoying our sausages and a glass of wine.

The following year I came across a photo I’d taken that evening. Memories came flooding back, not just of our barbecue but of the years I’d spent on the river as a teenager, mainly at Waldringfield. Grabbing some of my son’s pastels, I set to work trying to recreate the scene. I hadn’t drawn or painted anything since my schooldays, so was pleasantly surprised at the result. A year later, when we were back in the area, a walk along the river wall at Felixstowe Ferry inspired me to have another go. Continue reading →

Drawing on Water

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by Claudia Myatt

It’s 3,600 nautical miles from Easter Island to Falkland, and on this day last year I was a long way from the Deben, six days into a voyage that would take 21 days or more. Dutch sailing ship Tecla set sail from Easter Island on 6th December 2019  bound for Cape Horn, our next landfall the southern tip of South America. Our 13 day passage from Galapagos to Easter Island had been in tropical waters alive with flying fish and in calm weather we had a ‘swim stop’, jumping over the side to experience the thrill of swimming in clear sapphire water over 4km deep.  Now, at 30 degrees south, we could feel the tropics slipping away. The nights were chilly and we started to unpack some of the warm clothes we would need in the colder waters of the Southern Ocean. Continue reading →