Forever filled with magic may this place be.

In my last post I shared a sketch that I had done. Since then I have gone ahead and turned it into a painting. I thought it might be interesting to share the process in stages, as I haven't done that in a while. From sketched out beginnings on wood.

To stirrings of life, aided by of copious mugs of tea and many hours of music.

Until you reach that moment when you stop and say it's done. 

The colours are looking slightly different between these last two images. I think the true colour is somewhere between the two. 

This painting is now available to buy as a print here in my shop.

~*~

A few days ago, I was out early to capture the morning's beauty. 

Fire was rising from the horizon as I walked down and looked across the garden path. 

Ice intricately covered each and every stem. Not a branch, seedpod or faded leaf had been missed. The Winter King is very thorough. I had just a few special minutes in this strange magical half light before it disappeared. A small window in time. I felt as if I was witnessing something ancient that so many from long ago saw when they worshipped the sun. 

 Walking on, the sun watched me, peeping through branches like an eye.  

 Then in no time at all the eye had disappeared, the light diffused and a dragon rose to greet the day.

   It didn't stay long but metamorphosed into another golden being of light. 

In the corner of the field I encountered a golden portal.

I didn't step into it that morning as I had art work to come back to and be getting on with. ;)  But, rest assured next time, I will most certainly step inside.  Who knows where it will lead to?  After all I have asked my little friend to show me the old magic.  I think he is doing a good job so far.  

By the time I walked back home for a cup of hot chocolate, the sky was the colour of a summer flower. 

There And Back Again

I feel sure I walked in Middle Earth this weekend?

North Wales. Land of mountains, lakes, rock, greenest moss, twisted oak, foxglove edged. Where giants and dragons sleep and dream of  Elders, Princes, Queens and gold.  

 Where idyllic mountain streams and waterfalls burst through beautiful breathtaking valleys.
 Hmmm...did I glimpse an elf out of the corner of my eye just then? 

Or Tom Bombadil behind the wall?

In unexpected places, it seems that hobbits had left their mark.

"Far over the misty mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away ere break of day

To seek the pale enchanted gold"  

 ~ JRR Tolkien

We followed the path up into the mountains into stillness. Just the distant sound of water falling against ancient stone. No sound of cars or noise of the modern world. A gold more precious than the metal kind.

Higher, until, I could no longer use my camera as the rain and wind blew. 

No burden of magic ring did I carry, but at certain times it did feel a little like we were climbing Mount Doom not Mount Snowdon. ;-) High up in the clouds at the summit, icy rain stung skin, but a hot chocolate reward before the climb back down was much enjoyed.  

~*~

North Wales is filled with legend and myth. It's not surprising really that I felt I was in JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth.

Oh and... sssssh!....I think I found a dragon!? 

There it was, washed up on the beach among the drift wood waiting to be found.

A dragon wizard's staff? 

And.... I also found

this strange wooden magic ring.

Who knows, they  may unlock a secret doorway into a mountain? But that I'm afraid we may never know as I brought them home with me to my shire.