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Writer's pictureMartin Truefitt-Baker, Art

Spring Swallows

Updated: Mar 31, 2023

This is one of two recent prints I’ve been working on over the past month or so. Hopefully the other one of a pinecone will be finished next week.




This print of swallows has been in my mind since last summer, it seemed to be a good antidote to the problem. A symbol of hope and the turning of the year, spring, summer and better days ahead.

It is a 5 layer reduction print and I've managed to keep an edition of 25 out of the 35 prints I started with. My average for keeping prints and not messing so many up during several layers of printing is improving.

The weathervane in the background is from my local church, St. Gatwgs. This lovely old church was first built in the 11th century. There are always gangs of swallows, swifts and house martins flying round the tower and over the graveyard in the summer.


I've tried to get that dizzying swirling feeling of the birds flying by putting the weathervane at an angle.

These are the first swallows of the spring. They start to fly up this valley (Usk) in April. You can see them diving low over the fields leading down to the river in front of the cottage. The first visitors don't seem to hand around, they must push on further north. We don't seem to get our more settled swallows, martins and swifts until the start of May.

The vane is showing the wind is coming from the south east and the weather is fine. This is usually the direction for the wind when the birds first arrive.




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