"The Valley"

l am rather proud of the pathworking I created based on this painting. It is intended to take the viewer on an imaginative trip into the painting. The video is an attempt to recreate the performance I put on as part of my "Dreaming Reality" art exhibition in 1988. The video is nine minutes long with two pauses of about ten seconds (which can be paused for longer if the viewer desires). It takes the viewer from a hot summer's day in the country into a mysterious and restful shaded valley. If you would like to experience it for yourself, try the link below!

''The Valley Pathworking"

My Virtual Exhibition on Facebook

My friend, John Rubery, and I were supposed to have a joint art exhibition at Bangor Carnegie Library in April, to be called "Thomas Spencer and John Rubery Exhibition - The Class of '76" (since we went to Art College together).

Unfortunately, due to fears over the Coronavirus, that had to be cancelled. However, I have decided to create a virtual exhibition on my professional Facebook page, Thomas Spencer Artist, posting pictures with a short explanation about them.

Please visit!

Warbow versus Longbow

Got a new bow from Fairbow, in the Netherlands, as a replacement for a previous bow which, unfortunately, failed. Beautiful bow, hickory with a yew belly. It's a true warbow, tillered to 77lbs@32". In practice, I am finding that it is 75lbs@28" and 80lbs@30", which is my preferred draw length. At the moment, I am only drawing to 28" and I expect it will take several months before I can comfortably draw 30".

Got a nice sequence of 12 arrows at practice yesterday with the new bow. Only shooting at 10 metres, but this would give me an average score of 25 for 3 arrows.

The day before I was practicing with a different, lighter, longbow I bought from traditionalbowshop.com in Hungary. A nice bow, tillered to 62lbs@28", but in practice I am pulling it at 73lbs@30". The comparison between the two is interesting. With the warbow I got 10% really accurate shots touching the inner circle, with the longbow only 7%. However, with the warbow I went wide (outside an 8) 33% of the tIme, whilst with the longbow it was only 18%!

l think that the extra strength of the warbow helps accuracy when I get right, but also makes it more likely that I will strain and get it wrong! It will take time for my muscles to adjust!

Encouraging - my first medal!

Yesterday I took part in a 3D shoot organised by Lough Cuan Bowmen. I was shooting a longbow for the first time in competition. We had good weather and an excellent venue (apart from some mud). A very enjoyable day.

Unlike during the previous competition, I felt relaxed and confident and this showed in the result. I attained a respectable score of 277 and did not lose or break any arrows! The score was sufficient to get me my first gold medal!

I would not claim that this represents something that extraordinary, but it represents a significant personal improvement! I do find that I am much happier shooting a longbow and I much prefer it to my previous horsebow.

Good and not so good!

On Saturday I had a particularly good practise. As normal, I shoot 4 rounds of 25 arrows at 10 metres. 90% were in 8 ring or better, 65% gold, 28% scored 10 and 9% were in or touched the inmost ring.

That made it even more frustrating the next day when I attended the Lough Cuan Bowmen's Ice Breaker Shoot. I didn't shoot that badly, but I just couldn't get the confidence together to shoot really well. Of course, some shots were difficult, longer range, shooting up or down hill, but even on relatively straight forward shots I was trying too hard, not relaxing into it! I guess I need more practise at those trickier situations

What is "normal" ability?

I was shooting at the Lough Cuan Bowmen's weekly meeting when I shot this group at 25 metres with a 70lb horsebow. The frustrating thing is that this should not have been exceptional (which, of course, it was), it should be normal!

I shoot instinctively. My practise at home, at 10 metres, has improved considerably. About 25% are within the inner gold, about 50% score somewhere in the gold generally and above 80% are within the next red ring, scoring 8 or above. However, what is interesting is the difference in the feeling for the various shots. 10% of my shots are really accurate, hitting or touching the tiny inner circle. When I shoot one of these I am totally at ease - then I become aware of what I am doing and the moment is lost! It is not often that I can keep my awareness at bay for three successive shots, as happened yesterday at the Archery club (although I think awareness was creeping back in with the last shot, which went fractionally low)!

For the rest of my news, I got my longbow at the start of last year. Had it break in May, due to a flaw in the outer stave. Under guarantee, but still waiting for its replacement. Got a my present Chinese made horsebow to keep me shooting in the meantime. It has worked out very well. 60lbs at 28inch draw but safe to draw to 31inches. I draw to 30inches, which works out at about 70lbs.