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

A grey sky day.

The first Monday in October and the skies have turned grey and the rain is falling gently. I'm inside at the computer today doing the boring jobs as I call them, but of course very necessary.  Reordering envelopes, paper, and restocking the shop, tidying away and filing receipts and such like. I find it hard to concentrate if I'm surrounded by chaos. I know some Artists thrive in an organised mess, but I'm not really one of them.
Outside the window the holly tree is alive with activity. The berries are red and ready for a blackbird and thrushes feast. Blackberries have clawed their way up through the branches and are in fruit at the top of the tree. Shiny black caviar against the earthy red of the holly. Sparrows flit between the juicy fruit and blue tit hover against the window frame tap tapping the glass with their beaks, feasting on the spiders and other insects that are caught in the webs on the window frame. I do love the advantages of not cleaning your windows regularly. Who needs to, when the birds do it for you. ;)

Luckily the weather here was totally different last week when we had the Blood moon lunar eclipse. I stayed up to watch and the skies here were just perfect. Clear as a bell and filled with starlight. I tried to capture on my camera. They aren't brilliant as I only have a bridging camera not a proper DSLR. But all in all I am quite happy with them and I shall definitely have to add this eerie orange moon into a painting at some point soon.

The other day I was in London.  (My daughter has reached that age when it is time to go visiting open days for Uni's etc)  The last time I was there was a year ago to see Kate Bush, so it was quite nice to visit. Being a country mouse I can just about manage a once a year trip! Although this year I feel it will be many more as we are off up there again already it seems just next week! Anyway, I will stop waffling on and show you what I saw.

Aurora the huge wonderful Greenpeace polar bear puppet, standing outside of the Shell oil building, her head moving and roaring... I was aware that she had been there, as had signed the petition many months ago, to stop drilling in the Arctic and my name was one of the many thousands attached to her.  But what a wonderful surprise to stumble across her unexpectedly on route. Of course London is filled with so many exciting things to see, but she was what made my day! And then even better, was the fantastic news announced just a few days later that Shell had made a decision to pull out of drilling in the Arctic. So now Aurora is on the move and is travelling to Paris and I feel so lucky to have had the chance to see her.  You can read more about the story here.

Back here at home, I've been working on some wooden hangers which are all going into my Etsy shop this evening at 8pm UK time. Just a heads up for those of you that don't have Facebbok and Instagram. Although a bit short notice, so I do apologise for that.

I will leave you with the trailer to Max Richters 'Sleep' An eight hour long piece of music written to be slept through which is just what I did, when it was played live on Radio 3 on the night of September 26th. A wonderful relaxing sleep it was too. Beautiful and ethereal music...

The days are getting lighter

The days are getting lighter here but they are still as cold as stone.  February was welcomed in with fire.

Sparks danced beneath the moon.  Alive, on a journey, heading off into a clear dark night.

Later when it had burned down, I lay in bed watching the moon from my window and wondered if the fox that has been calling each night these past few weeks had come to visit. I hoped it stayed awhile by the warm embers on such a cold night.
                                                                         ~*~
A start has been made on getting the garden up together. A task that has been put off the last few years. I love this area wild and it's filled with oregano, which the bees love in the summer. But the time has come to give it a good clear up. Too many brambles and hawthorn have begun to grow and couch grass has been smothering the masses of primroses and bluebells that live here.  So begins the long process of digging things out and putting back in. And the path of stones that surround this whole area will be revealed once more.

There is a lot of moss (which I love) but some of it has to be taken out too.  I have a cracked leaky birdbath which needs mending/waterproofing somehow. Meanwhile the birds aren't at all bothered about the plastic dish.

The snowdrops are looking pretty beneath the apple trees and the hazel has a good show of catkins this year despite the windy weather a few weeks ago.

This week we had to have a couple of trees cut because they were touching electricity wires.  I don't like seeing this happen at the best of time, but it was someone else's decision not ours. We will make the best use of the wood. I have my eye on some of the larger pieces to cut up as slices for some paintings. I would love to incorporate the sycamore tree in one of the paintings.  Of course it will all need to season first.

Since last here, these small paintings below have been brought to life. I will be mounting/matting them, then shall add them as originals to my shop next week.

I shall leave you with some wise words from my tea. Enjoy your Valentine's weekend. x