Welsh Journals

old magpie's home only about 12 feet up. In the confmed space my back-swing caught a branch, and with a swish an angry female kestrel dived off her eggs and flew down the hedge. When later it rained, I went inside the old tin hut. There was a rustle and a flutter, and a barn owl came off three eggs, round and white, laid on the ground in the corner under a heap of sheep hurdles-after a frantic flight in circles round the roof it found a hole and disappeared. It is questionable which of the two parties to this incident had the bigger shock! There is always something here to enthral those who love watching birds-any birds-for their own sake. For birds are beautiful any- where-but birds in a unique and charming setting such as the Irfon valley are quite enchanting. The art of Ceri Richards and Welsh painters in the London scene MERVYN LEVY FEW PAINTERS can have been haunted by such tantalising visions as those which from time to time have engaged the vigorous imagination of Ceri Richards. His best work has always been produced in relation to a passionately absorbing theme. His method is to select some demon subject with an inherent dynamic urge, then to ride it bareback through the paddocks of as many canvases as he needs to break it from the wild- cat vigour of the first breakneck tearaway, to that moment of ultimate refinement, when the subject, emptied at length of its multiple energies, is quietly driven out to graze in peace. This superb single-mindedness, supported by the exercise of an in- tense nervous energy, and a technical facility unmatched by any living painter of distinction, excepting Picasso, is the source of his unique power. There is no dissipation of strength, no uncertainty of intention. The aim is always shiningly clear; to distil from the chosen subject every vestige of emotive character. The rhythms and tensions of form and colour are subtly analysed, gradually broken down in a series of studies, each manifesting a more incisive and revealing appreciation of the ulti- mate nature of the subject, both as an objective phenomenon, and as a