Thursday, April 20, 2017

March blew away with the Dancing Daffodils

And  all of a sudden the frothy blooms of Spring arrived...
While outside the greening is in the midst of it's merrie dance, I have been busy working my way through my 2017 list of things to do. Most of March was taken up with making a new website. A job that had been years overdue and one I felt I could put off no longer. It's strange how days just float past you and merge into one another while you are so wrapped up in doing something. Before I knew it March had blown away along with the dancing daffodils. But with moments of my temper rising along with the sap outside I finally emerged from the other side and have a brand new website. The biggest change was the renaming. So instead of the old Karen Davis site, I am now officially
'Moonlight and Hares' It seemed a natural progression as many customers tell me they look for me under that name. So here it is... www.moonlightandhares.co.uk

It isn't completely finished yet, for instance I still have a shop to add. For now the shop button takes you to the Etsy shop but I do plan to get a separate one on the website as well.
Now April is here and the hedgerows are busy with birds feeding their young in secret nests. The apple blossom's divine fragrance perfumes the garden. New life is everywhere and the earth feels warm in the mild weather we have had.
The snakes head fritillaries and the sweet white violets have waved their sleepy nodding heads goodbye and now the cowslips and forgetmenots have arrived. The bugle is stretching up through the moss and ground ivy, lily of the valley, cow parsley and red campion are already blooming.
Over the Easter weekend we visited our local bluebell wood. A step into Faerie land...
It's so peaceful, no distant hum of car, just a blackbirds clear voice across the hazel tops, gentle woo wooing of wood pigeon and my own boots on last years beech leaves. Then the quiet is suddenly broken with the bark of a muntjac deer and we see it scamper lower down in the woods and a startled pheasant escapes into a clearing, fearful of who we are. The ransoms are beginning to come out. I take some leaves for a garlicky pesto for tea. In the meadow beyond there are cuckoo flower dotted in the damp patches.
Back in the garden I think I had a fleeting glimpse of a white hare, his two big long back legs showing as he leaped through the hedge. I believe he left me this... ;)
 My paint brushes haven't seen as much action this past month but I did do a couple of paintings.              'Replenishment'
A small canvas on the theme of recharging by starlight and moonlight. And...

'The Quiet Glade'

A unicorn for 'National Unicorn Day' a little while back.  Both of these images are available now as prints in the shop

Back in March whilst working on the website, I also did a little designing with my images for a set of magical nature notebooks which should be ready and in the shop quite soon.  I do love notebooks myself and have bit of a mild obsession with them and often can't resist buying another small book that I probably won't use for another year or so as I still haven't filled up my other collection of notebooks! 
It was fun designing these and I am already planning another set. 
That's all, I think, for now... I shall leave you with some raindrops on apple blossom and Mr Blackbird with his children's supper.

Don't forget for more updates in between blogposts you can find me on Facebook and Instagram. :) 

X

11 comments:

  1. So happy to find a new post from you today. It's so beautiful where you live - it makes me almost giddy with delight.
    The notebooks are wonderful! I also have a bit of an obsession with notebooks and these are fueling the fire!
    Could you tell us about the lovely cup in the photo with the new notebooks? Love it!
    Mary

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    1. Hi Mary, glad you enjoyed the post. It is so beautiful here and everything looks it's very best at the moment. The countryside is wearing it's Sunday best as they say. ;) The little cup in the picture with the butterfly on, is a handmade item. Not made by myself, but something I picked up at a car boot sale many years ago. It looks like someone made it at school or in a pottery class. I've always loved it.

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  2. Beautiful post...love the note books, and in your first photo, in the distance is that a Fox?
    Maura xx

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    1. Thanks Maura, it isn't a fox but actually my ginger cat. He is quite a big boy, though so could be mistaken for one sometimes. :D

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  3. THANK YOU so much for this lovely post ...
    I adore Bluebells !!!
    (have some cultivated in my garden ;-) !)

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    1. You're most welcome, me too they are one of my very favourites x

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  4. WOW. Oh, WOW. And who knew a bird could hog worms like that? LOL.

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    1. Haha I know right! And this was just one trip he was back for more numerous times. :D

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  5. I love your Replenishment painting.It's like me at night,😁 I stand out the back looking at the moon and the stars, feeling part of this enormous universe. The unicorn is rather special too!
    Have a lovely week Karen! Jess xx

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    1. Thanks Jess , I do the same and when it gets warm enough sometimes take the camp bed out into the garden and spend the night out there, falling asleep looking up at the stars. :)
      Have a great weekend xx

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