Art and Automata

I went to the Lion Gallery viewing on Saturday afternoon, to see the paintings and pencil drawings of Bryan Smith. There was a little boy there, very seriously giving his considered opinion of the pictures. "I like that one best."
"Why's that?" asked mum.
"Because of all the trees."
One of the paintings is very dark, with a couple of sheep at the bottom, and at first I wasn't too impressed - but then I found my eyes kept being drawn back to it, and it really does have a lot more depth and interest than I initially thought. What really leapt off the wall at me, though, was round the corner - a picture of wild flowers by Dylan Lloyd, which has a very dark background, then a layer of out of focus flowers, with some well defined flowers at the front of the picture. The chap who runs the gallery explained enthusiastically about dry brushing and feathering, but I'm afraid it was a bit technical for me!
He was also keen for people to try out the little automata that were on display, which move when you wind a little handle at the base. There are flying horses, and a mermaid, and hearts with wings that jig up and down. He said that this sort of thing is very popular in Germany, where they take such things far more seriously than we do in the UK.
I also very much liked the seascapes by Ray Wilkinson - you can almost feel the sea spray!