Spring goings on.

Spring has arrived. The past few days has been all sunshine and birdsong. I hadn't meant to leave this blog post so long, (almost a month! oops) especially with it being a giveaway one, but things get in the way sometimes and time ticks on and there seems to be a never ending of 'things to do' this time of year.

So, ......drumroll.....I put the names in my old fallen birds nest, as it was a manageable amount to count this time.

 And the lucky name that was pulled out was...
                                  'Emma Elliott'

Congratulations Emma! Please private message me your address and I will get the print off to you. :)

Thank you so much,  to all of you that took the time to comment and for all of your kind words about this blog. They are much appreciated. Xxx

The garden is filled with wonderful distractions. Each year the primroses spread even more. Soon I will have a primrose lawn. What a wonderful thought. 

This little one below, has become very brave and perches within 12 inches from me to have daily treats upon the wood stump. Mr blackbird is not very happy about this and often chases her off. I'm calling her a 'her',  but in all honesty she could be a 'he' as with song thrushes both sexes like robins, are similar I believe?

Mr handsome here doesn't mind sharing at all, but Mrs Thrush often chases him off. Mr Blackbird always shares with Robin, so I think that he is chasing Mrs Thrush away because she doesn't share nicely with his buddy Robin? Watching them everyday you really do get to see their personalities coming through. It's a little like a little ornithology soap opera. ;-D 

The other day I did a bit of a Simon King/Chris Packham impersonation and hid behind a low hanging tree using it as my wildlife hide. It was interesting and I found out that there are more visitors to the tree stump than previously thought! 

I do love the ice blue eyes of jackdaws. Such magical looking birds. 

Talking of ice, I didn't get around to showing you the other icy art work that I completed a while ago. Again inspiration from Lapland. The title is 'Each breath a Star' and it is available in my shop as a print here.

I am currently working on new wooden items now. Below are some talisman lucky charms in progress. 

I think the Lapland inspiration will stay with me for a little while longer yet. ;)

I have lots of cutting out of wood to be done and gardening this weekend. What are you up to? 

Whatever it is, I hope the sun shines for you.  

Wishing you a magical Spring and Easter time.

From myself and my feathered friends.  X

January you disappeared so soon

So January has gone for another year...
We've said goodbye to early morning tiny frosted fingers on stems and branches. Not that we had many this year at all, with it being so mild.  The month whizzed by and for me (after my wonderful adventure) has been filled with restocking my shop with prints and cards. Re-ordering bits and pieces, doing my tax return, having a sort out, tidying up, with quite a few trips to the charity shop to drop unwanted items off and hibernating  somewhat.

The garden is green and snowdrops are blooming. Even the bluebell leaves are quite advanced and some primroses are in flower. This is good news for any bees that are awake of course. I did see a bee on a snowdrop the other day...

On Sunday I participated in the 'Big Garden Bird Watch' You've probably heard of it. Each year it is run by the RSPB over a weekend and people sit for an hour and record the bird sightings then add them to the database. It's a great help to the RSPB for finding out how our bird numbers are doing and of course is a pleasurable hour spent just sitting quietly watching these beautiful creatures.

My recordings were as follows:

x 2 Robin x 3 Blackbird x 2 Collared Dove x 2 Dunnock x 3 Blue tit x 2 Coal tit x2 Jackdaw x 2 Wood pigeon x 3 Great tit x 1 Long tailed tit x 2 Chaffinch x 1 Magpie x 1 Songthrush.

This picture below was taken on another day. It seems I have a new friend that has figured out that Robin was getting special treatment on the tree stump. I decided to give the mistletoe berries to Mr or Mrs Song thrush  in the hope that Mistletoe berry + Song thrush = bird poo + berry seed = Mistletoe  

Not sure it will work, but all the berries were eaten...

Robin still comes to my hand occasionally but prefers the tree stump most often these days.

Like last year, he has begun to stay further away as he has paired up ready for Spring. Here they are together. 

Mr Blackbird is never far away. 

The kitchen is scented with hyacinth and is a great reminder that Spring is on the way. I'm always so glad that I took the time to plant these back in Autumn, when they finally come into flower.

Some of the new postcards, now in my Etsy shop...

I also managed to finally finish this painting that I began before Christmas, after my visit to Wistmans wood. I have named it  'Journey through Wistmans'  

It will be available as a print, as soon as I get a good scan of it, the next time I go into town. 

I hope your January was a good one?

Karen
 x 

Rooks

Trust the grand and gentle trees,

Never will their welcome fade;
All that lives may lie at ease
In the haven of their shade;
Treasuries of tranquil air
Keep they for the burning days;
And their boughs ascend like prayer,
And their leaves break forth like praise.

Patient are they, for they wait
On the humours of the year;
Noble, for they keep their state
When the winter leaves them sere;
Brave to suffer heat and cold,
And the tempest's war-alarms;
Very tender, for they hold
All bird-babies in their arms.
Where the winter silence hears
No voice louder than a brook's,
There was built for many years
A great city of the rooks;

Excerpt from The lady and the rooks by Menella Bute Smedley 

She loved The Moon so dearly

I woke up and the world outside was dark, all so quiet before the dawn, opened up the door and walked outside, the ground was cold. I walked until I couldn't walk anymore, to a place I'd never been. There was something stirring in the air, in front of me, I could see more than this, more than this, so much more than this. There is something else there ~ Peter Gabriel

November mists have arrived. In the morning when the day is new and filled with promise they linger until the sun finds strength to burn them away. They return quietly when the fires are lit and the blackbird has a belly full from a days feasting on red ripe holly berries. They stay throughout the night, silently softening the edges of the bright moon.

It's at this time of year that I always somehow feel the unknown close. Beyond our vision, somewhere in the in between places the feeling that there is more than this is strong. I saw it in the hundreds of spiders webs caught in the wind, in a field up on the hill. And in the donkey that in the light looked as if it could be a unicorn in disguise. 

I see it in the white sunlight on thin leaves. 

 And in the birds.

                                                                   ~*~
I am having a little break from making wooden hangers now until the Spring and instead will concentrate on paintings. Below is my most recent work, painted on a slice of wood that I had. This idea had been in my sketchbook for a while and the shape and piece of wood suited it perfectly I felt. 

                                          'She loved The Moon so dearly' 

Prints of this piece are available in my Etsy shop here

A Warm Beginning To September

My September began a little differently this year. As the wheel of the year took it's first turn into Autumn, my feet trod warm earth and were washed with gentle clear waves of Aegean Sea.

The first 'September' blackberry was picked amid hedgerows backed by olive groves.

I have travelled to the Greek islands before, many years ago but the smell of the olive groves this time seemed so familiar and comforting to me. An ancient smell of warmth and stone . My husband said it was the Roman blood in me, remembering?

Beautiful twisted, knarled, silvery trees, so old. I always wonder what a tree has seen and what stories it could tell when it can live over 2000 years old?

Across the water the mountains of mainland Greece stretch across the horizon. It's not far to Turkey and Bulgaria from here. Sitting quietly on the beach I'm transported back to the past and wonder about the travellers that have come and gone to this beautiful pine covered green isle, and who also tasted the fruit of these trees.

On this cold grey day here at home today I would love to be back there again.

The warmth on my skin, fennel edged roadsides, the comforting hum of crickets at night, humming bird hawk moths whirring and flitting about tiny pink climbing flowers, tzatziki, so many tomatoes, salty olives and aniseed taste of ouzo on my tongue.

And the sea

the beautiful beautiful sea

 filled with the tiniest sparkles of silver and gold mica.

 I tried to capture them so that you could see.

Glitter for Aegean mermaids.
With the snorkel on, we became part of another world.

A world of small stripy fishes and rich aubergine coloured spiky sea urchins that clung to rock.

Such a wonderful week it was to begin the Autumn.
When we left the gulls accompanied us, bidding us a goodbye as they had bid us a welcome when we arrived. Swooping and diving alongside the boat.

Watching them made me think that I'd quite like to come back as a seagull one day, if I ever had the opportunity. A seagull that lived on Thassos, Greece.  :)

I hope your Autumn has begun well?

I will be back very soon with new work to show.

X