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

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 

Still here.

Hello! I'm still here if you were wondering where I had got to?... Time really ran away with me this last month and I can't believe I haven't got around to posting on here since February. I haven't really felt talkative to be honest, no reason, just that sometimes there seems so much talk, gossip and babble going on in the world that sometimes you feel silenced, need to step back, be quiet and get away from it all online. I'm sure others feel the same?
Spring has arrived here in Wiltshire. The snowdrops have said their goodbyes and now the banks are dotted with the sunshine coloured faces of shining celandines. Primroses are popping up everywhere in the garden.

Thy smiles I note, sweet early flower,
That peeping from thy rustic bower
The festive news to earth dost bring
A fragrant messenger of Spring. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Birds in the garden are busy with nesting although some do have time for afternoon snacks of sultanas. 

I haven't seen my Robin friend in a while. I last saw him a few weeks back with another robin, he came very close but wouldn't come onto my hand. He was very noisy chirping a lot at me. I like to think he was telling me he was very busy and explaining that if he got on my hand I don't think his partner would be very happy. I'm hoping he may return after nesting season is over but if he doesn't then I feel grateful that I had some wonderful special moments with him. 

                                                                         ~*~

I've been working on a commission which will be used as a dvd cover for a very talented irish lady that dances. I'm sure she has magical feet.  Here's some snippets of the painting to show you.   

I'll share more about the dvd when it's out and for sale at a later date. 

Another painting that has recently been finished is 'I am Earth'

 I was playing around with designs for my wooden hare hangers and these words popped up. I didn't want to wait to put them on a wooden hanger so painted them into a picture instead. I shall be making this available as a print to buy in my shop very shortly. 

Enjoy the sunshine! :)