Easter Moments

As Easter weekend draws to a close now and the sun sets on what has been yet another glorious sunshiney filled day. I thought I'd share a few moments of ours.

                                                     Waiting for lunch...

A giant Easter bunny and some other magical moments to treasure at 'Secret World' Wildlife Rescue. 

                                  Baby owl

And another adorable little chap just 3 weeks old....

 Sweetest fox cub. :-)

And then on Easter sunday another magical moment!

One of the chrysalis's hatched! (See last post) I believe it to be a lime hawk moth? What an amazing stunning creature and how appropriate to re-emerge on Easter Sunday.

I freed it soon after to a place very near to where I found the cocoon.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend however which way you spent it?
x
 

Sunshine,Sea, Slow Worms And Waiting For Moths

The other day we drove some miles across the border to Dorset and spent an afternoon by the sea.

The sky was clear, not a hint of a breeze blew, unusual for the coast. The sun warmed the sand like a summers day but the smell was spring. Gorse flowers perfumed the dunes with scent of coconut.

The landscape on the dunes is so different to home. You can almost imagine you are in distant lands with the large ants crawling around on the sand beneath my toes and the trees and grass reminded me of Zimbabwe my husbands homeland.

Back in the garden primroses and cowslips.

And slowworm in one of the compost heaps enjoying the warmth. Haven't seen any grass snakes yet?

I'm sure these two have though?....

                                                         (Mummy hen with one of her two son's that were born last year)

So what else have I been doing? Quietly working away on small bits and pieces. 

Oh and I found these when I was tidying the greenhouse....

 Can't wait to see what type of moths they turn into?

Any ideas anyone?  x

An Interview With Dpi Magazine

Several weeks ago I was kindly asked to do an interview with the Taiwan magazine dpi. Dpi stands for (Design Popular Imagination) It's a lovely monthly magazine by the looks and I'm really happy with the spread they have done. I'm in this months issue, so thought I'd share it with you.   

 Here is the interview as it's to small to read on the pictures......
 

What kind of material, tool and technique do you use for your creation?

 I work very traditionally in acrylic paint on canvas, wood or watercolour paper. Sometimes I might use coloured pencils on paper alongside the paint. I occasionally add metallic paint and gold and silver leaf.

It feels peaceful to your artworks, and how do you describe your creating style?

Yes, alot of people have told me that my work has a calming effect or sense of peace to it. I'm really happy about this as hopefully it means I'm achieving a little part of what I've set out to do? Much of my work is about connection. The connection between humans and animals, plants trees, nature in general. I often feel that there is a disconnection between us and nature /animals. We as humans have separated ourselves from it, living in cities or submerged in our material worlds. Sadly we exploit it and have in some areas lost all respect for it. In my work I try to show that the connection is still there if you look for it. A special magic, wisdom a spark, a deep respect that was once lost can be re-found, relit and reconnected. I use imagery with stars alot to potray this magic and my colours are often centred around blue which is a very calming colour. I hope the peace that people see in my work is maybe that connection showing itself?
Other pictures of mine can be more whimsical and light hearted and are painted with a specific piece of writing in mind.

What's your inspiration from? Is there anything can inspire you from daily life?

Nature, stories myths, folk and fairy tales and a single word can spark an idea. A piece of music an image, film or an old object found can open rusty locks to creative doors in my head. I'm inspired by many things.I love notebooks and am always  filling them with sentences that often come to me in the midnight hours. These often lead to a painting. At my desk on a daily basis I'm inspired by what's going on outside my window. The trees, their skeletal form in winter. The birds rooks and jackdaws that live in them. The light, how it falls , the constant changing of the sky, the windsong on the leaves.

 

It looks that your artworks contain a lot of animals, such as owl, fox and dogs. Why do you like to draw animals in your artworks? Would you share your design conception with us?

I use animals in a symbolic way. I've always been interested in stories using animals. Fairytales and superstitions relating to them. I use them as the inbetween link between us and the earth or ethereal world I suppose? 

The owl sat amid the starlit forest in my painting  'The Keeper Of Time' for instance is just that an owl, but is also reminding us of wisdom and the passing of time. Or a wisdom lost over time. 

The fox in my picture 'Wearing A Robe Of Gold ' is to me a prince in the landscape. He turns to glance at the light. I used the light to symbolise hope of things to change and the elephant hawk moth that has just hatched from it's sleep represents new beginnings.

  

Would you talk about your works “the hare” and “thrush”? What’s your design conception of these two images and why do you want to put people and animal in the image? 

I use people and animals together to emphasise a bond. The Thrush picture or 'Nest' is about  similarities. Reminding ourselves that we too are animals How we both have the same instinct watching over our offspring.The hare and woman is again about connection something passing between them. Unspoken, a feeling, a knowing between them. 'A Secret'

The image of “Magic Toyshop” looks has different design conception with other artworks. Would you share the creating idea with us?

The Magic Toyshop painting is an old work of mine. My palette and subject matter was much darker at this point in time. It was work I did at college and based on Angela Carters book of the same title. I won first prize as student Illustrator with it at the Benson And Hedges Gold Awards. 

Will you try another creating style in the future? Moreover, do you have any latest artworks now?

At the moment I'm happy with my style of working. Although I would like to learn more about digital work. I would also like to do some much larger paintings and more book Illustration work. I'm working on preliminary ideas at the moment for my next painting about the circle and dance of Spring.

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Now to the Novica giveaway!  Before I announce the winner I have a little good news. Instead of one voucher for $75, I got things a little mixed up and actually have two!  So.. that means two winners!  

I asked my son and daughter to choose two numbers and they chose numbers 11 and 12.

         So the winners are.... 'Deborah Long'  and 'Bunnits'

Congratulations! Email me and I'll send you the vouchers! :-)