Shooting Stars of Paint and Wood and a Lacewing as an Assistant.

After lots of rain, the leaves on the ground are beginning to dry a little again. Yesterday the wind was whipping them up, the small gusts encouraged them to dance on my way to the post office. Garden wind chimes hanging in trees came alive with the brisk breeze, they sang in their sweet fae voice and told the birds to hurry, hurry. The  birds seemed somehow excited, flying from tree to tree feeding hastily on the abundance of berries. The village streets smelled of  wind and woodsmoke and sweet coffee, coming from the pub. A large crow sat on its roof looking down at me as I walked past. For a moment I thought I was in a Harry Potter film. Really I think it was enjoying the smell of coffee too? 

This leaf has said its goodbyes to the branch now, most have. Looking at the bare branches of the garden and lack of places to hide I can't help but worry about my little feathered friend. There is lots of ivy though, so I  hope he will find shelter on cold windy days.

 This was last week before all the heavy rain and wind. 

Since my last post I've been extremely busy creating new work  for the next shop update which will be next Tuesday 29th November at 8pm (uk time)

The little lacewing below was my personal assistant for a short while, until I decided he may be hungry and set him free outside. 

Anyway... the new work, there is rather a lot to share so I shall stop waffling on and just share the images. All are acrylic paintings on wood with words if they have them, by me. 

'Imagine if each shooting star that fell was a new soul coming to Earth to spread magic'

~*~

 'Imagine if each star that fell, had a message of magic from the heavens to tell...'

~*~

'A star to break the spell. To wake the dreaming hearts of those who sleep'

'All the birds of the forest and hills brought gifts for those who had forgotten'

I returned to the Finland theme here similar to the painting and pendants that I completed earlier in the year

And back to an older design, the toadstool again.  There are three at the moment but I am still working on two more so if they are finished in time and photographed then I shall add them too. 

Now to get to on with draft listing them all to the shop. I shall need copious amounts of tea to accompany the job. ;)
Have a super weekend!

Karen 
X

The Alchemy of Autumn

 I sit on the stone ledge by the front door. A place I often sit in all seasons. The place to take my cup of tea or coffee and look at the garden. It is the afternoon and I have come outside to take a break and feel the last warmth of the early Autumn sun. Sunlight catches a cobweb, it's almost invisible thread stretches  from the rusted doorbell to the valerian plant below. A home connected to a home. 

A dragonfly darts about the garden, a shining fairy in disguise and the ivy flowers on the old shed are singing with a choir of honeybees. Sharing this feast are red admirals. Six of them. The red and white on their wings contrast against the bluest of sky, jewels of the garden, small treasures from heaven.

The Alchemy of Autumn has begun. It is visible of course all around us, but it is also a feeling felt in the stillness, the slowing down and in the bird song. A sensing of different energy and magic in the air, which to me is felt most strongly from now through to Winter.
The Autumn Equinox has passed and now the days begin to get shorter. It's time to get and do, what I call the the 'cosy things' or the hip or trendy term now seems to be 'hygge'  ;-)  Cosy socks, woolly tights, spiced tea, hot chocolate and soup. Time to light the fire inside or out, dig your hat and scarf out of the cupboard for long walks to look for mushrooms and toadstools. Time to light more candles now the evenings are darker and retrieve that half finished crochet that you begun last year. 

It's a time to gather and harvest and brew potions and wine, jams and jellies.  

 Have your ingredients ready, in this case blackberries. The other items are to help the spell. A magic wand comes in very handy if you are not so good at making Jam. Mine is made by a very talented young friend of mine and it's relatively new, so I wanted to test it and check it worked. ;-) (You can see more of her beautiful wands here)

Say the magic words and wave the wand.

Then.....'ta- dah'!  Blackberry Jam! ;-)

All there is to do now, is make a pretty label and pop it in your cupboard. 

                                                                               ~***~

'Alchemist: A person who transforms or creates something through a seemingly magical process'

On my desk a little Alchemy has been taking place.

Tiny paintings, treasures of Nature. I have used real gold to symbolise treasure and show that their importance is of equal value in the grand scheme of life. After all gold is 'nature's' treasure too, but we put so much more value on it than a flower or an animal and even water. (which I find scary sometimes)

                                                                'Between the Space of Golden Light

'Midnight's Treasure'

'Metamorphosis'

'I see the Golden Light that Surrounds You'

'In the Beginning' #2

'In the Beginning'#1

'Born of Gold'

"Here is all of life, all into one
 In moments such as this, all that lives and breathes under the sun is part of Heaven's kiss"

~ Crimson Skies. The Cinematic Orchestra

More gold on this Hare, this time not the real kind though, just paint. 

'Summer Gold'

'Night and her Magic'

'Night's Treasures'

'Hills of Home'

'Tor and Thorn'

'Tamarisk and Sea Holly'

'Sea Holly'

'Sea Holly Small'

'Magnificent Bee' (Pendants  #1 and #2)

After rather a lot of fiddly small painting I am having an urge to paint something bigger now. :-)

All of the above items will be added to my Etsy shop next Tuesday 27th September at 19.00 (7pm) UK time. 

Enjoy your weekend and fingers crossed the sun stays out for walks and gardening and whatever you are up to. 

Thanks for reading! x

Days of Roses and Honeysuckle and Small Offerings of Light

It was a little budding rose,
Round like a fairy globe,
And shyly did its leaves unclose
Hid in their mossy robe,
But sweet was the slight and spicy smell
It breathed from its heart invisible.

~ Emily Bronte

June is the month for roses. I've been enjoying the ones I'm lucky to have in this garden and stop to smell their heavenly scent each time I walk past. How can you not, when their time is so short? I treated the garden to a new addition when visiting the local garden centre recently. It's a rose that for years I have had my eye on but never got around to ever buying. So the other day when I saw it, I gave in and it came home with me.

 It's a repeat flowering one so I'm looking forward to smelling the roses for a little longer. It also has the most vivid colour petals which I've saved each time that they have dropped, for drying.

This month I've been finding it really hard to concentrate and my mind has been all over the place so  recharging for longer each day outside has been important. Watching the flowers emerge from seeds that have been tended and nurtured, soaking up the scents really help to clear a busy mind.

There are always so many wonders to see! The hornet in the picture below, lost it's way the other day and came in through the window.  We caught it in a beer glass and admired it for a few moments before releasing back outside and on its way. The caterpillars were having a feast on the mullein and one of the roses. The top right hand one is a mullein moth and the bottom impressive green one I'm hoping (fingers crossed) is a humming bird hawk moth? 

In the green house was a stunning tiger moth. Such beauty! 

  Moon daisies (ox eye) are in abundance and the grass snake is back in the compost heap.

With so many distractions it's a wonder I get any work done at all this time of year! Some how I do though. Here are a set of small paintings 'Midnight in the wood' series that I've made into new designs for cards.    

The cards are available here to buy as a pack of four.  The photo of the originals above look much bluer in colour than they are. In reality they are more like the cards below.  It's hard to pick up the colours correctly with a camera sometimes though.

I've also had a little play about with some pendants. The ones that I added to the shop have already sold, but I will be adding more shortly.

Another painting recently done. 'Small Offerings of Light'

Inspired by the photograph that I took not so long ago, of my owl hangers all hanging together.  Here are just a couple of pictures at the moment, as I'm having some camera problems. It will be made available as a print once scanned and ready. 

 ~*~

I hope you all made the most of the longest day if you are this side of the world like myself.  Or the shortest one if you are not. :) It's hard to believe that the Summer Solstice has been and gone now, this year seems to speed up with each day that passes. 

My evening was spent quietly in the garden with a small fire waiting for the beautiful full moon to rise.  It was peaceful and filled with bird evensong and the smell of woodsmoke woven between honeysuckle.