The Slow Dreaming Days of Summer

I often find my words disappear a little in the summertime. There is so much to look at and do, there are no time for words, are there?  Only conversations with flowers, wonderful creatures, oh and the odd human, here and there ;) 

I had meant to write a post in June, but did get distracted with life offline, so I do apologise to anyone that likes to read my little  meanderings here.

I hope you are enjoying the summer wherever you may be, or of course winter if you are in the southern hemisphere. It's been lovely weather here in the south west of England. Currently a little too hot for me, but there have been plenty of visitors to the garden to inspire my paintings. 

Some, unlike these above were just too fast to get pictures of. There was a visit from a humming bird hawk moth on the valerian one day and nine scarlet tiger moths flying about on the hedge. The valerian is a wonderful plant to have as the butterflies love it. I took a cutting of a white one while out and about, which I'm hoping will take, as the plant is great for dry areas. The pond is looking good although the warm weather seems to have taken its toll on one of the plants but I'm hoping it may recover. No sign of Jeremy Fisher yet, although we did have a frog appear in the living room one day when the front door had been left open. So possibly he is visiting the pond secretly?  There have been damselflies stopping by and the birds are using it to drink and bathe in. And, I have even spotted a hedgehog having a drink! As you can imagine that made me very happy!

Another thing that has caused much joy is the lawn.  Here it is a few weeks or so back.

You may remember a couple of years ago we began leaving it wild in the summer time, creating a meadow for insects.  I love to walk around and see what new plants have awoken from their sleepy seeds or have reached up from suppressed roots. 

There was much excitement when a beautiful orchid appeared from nowhere in the shady part beneath the apple tree. 

It made me wonder and imagine what this old garden on its gentle sloping hillside has held throughout the centuries?Vegetables and apple orchards in the shadows of majestic elms. And further back when this old village is mentioned in the Domesday book there was a vineyard. Could it have been on this sunny hillside? Or was this little patch a meadow where the folk sat and rested, contemplating the future while collecting flowers and herbs to flavour their mead? Now, here I am, walking around and photographing maybe (I like to think) some of these same plants for inspiration in my work. Whatever this small patch of earth has seen and heard over the years, all is quiet for now and the orchid has returned.

Summer days here have been filled with moments of dreaming and reading.

Family time and daughter's graduation.

Evening walks where we saw glow worms.

And a partial eclipse of the moon.

Lots of National Trust houses on my list have been ticked off, which I may possibly come back and blog about another time?
The most recent one was Thomas Hardy's cottage in Dorset. Such a beautiful place to have lived. Hardy's great- grandfather built the cottage and Hardy was born and lived here with his parents, grandmother and siblings. It was here that he created some of England's best known literary works and characters. The surrounding heathland with it's ancient roman road nearby, was the inspiration for his imaginary Wessex.

I sat and signed the visitor book in the very same spot where he wrote 'Under The Greenwood Tree' and 'Far from The Madding Crowd' 

Work wise, I've been slowly working away on some hangers.

These were supposed to be ready ages ago, (apologies) but I've just found that I'm working extremely slow and have felt a bit burnt out since Christmas. So I'm taking my time this year and things will be ready when they are ready. I've also been working on the website again and have a shop up and running on there now. It's currently just got a few items in but will have more over time. I hope to sell  originals on there and more expensive pieces which will save some costs from Etsy. I've also set up a beta way of selling wholesale and will see how that pans out? I'm not leaving Etsy, but just want another place to feel secure as it seems many changes are happening there? You can view my web shop here.

Since the last post, these new postcards of paintings done a couple of months back are now for sale in the shop (Etsy shop)

I think that's all for now.

Here's to summer days!

A July filled with Flowers.

With July almost over it had to be time to pop in and say hello to this rather neglected blog.
I've been having a sort of semi creative break for a while, so haven't got anything totally finished in the way of art to share... but I have flowers, so many flowers.  My July has been a July filled with flowers.
Flowers are I believe, a good way to balance the negative news that seems to be happening in the world almost on a daily basis these days...
Lets begin with a walk in Gloucestershire. The Slad valley, home to Laurie Lee. Cider with Rosie country.  A warm but overcast day, quiet except the gentle hum of bees and summer soothing sounds of cricket and grasshopper. Marbled white butterflies flitted from one knapweed bloom to another.  Fields of wildflowers, scabious, clover, orchids, yellow rattle dotted the fields.

We passed an orchard with the prettiest white cows and apple trees laden with mistletoe. 

Through a wood where a faerie had been busy making a home  

And a holloway,  silent yet so full with the whisperings of ghost horses and travellers.

“Bees blew like cake-crumbs through the golden air, white butterflies like sugared wafers"

~Laurie Lee Cider with Rosie

Take my hand, follow me to the purple scented fields of lavender...Somerset Lavender

Now if I had brought with me a discreet blanket and soft pillow then I would have been quite happy just to have laid myself down between these rows and spent a whole day and night here, breathing in this wonderful heavenly scent and soaking in it's energy.  Do you think anyone would have noticed me? ;-) No doubt the bees would have and maybe the hare that has been spotted in the fields on occasion I hear. 

This was my first ever visit to a lavender farm and now I would like to have my own. So I bought two little plants of the favourite variety to start me off on a small scale. :-) 

After browsing the shop filled with all things lavender, I bought some essential oil and then we sat for a while on this bench soaking up the surroundings and eating lavender ice-cream. 

Such a lovely place, if you are in the area then you must definitely pay them a visit. 

There were other  flowers at the farm too. The sweet peas were a joy to behold. The scent took me straight back to working many years ago in a local hotel. The smell of beeswax on old wood, and picking the sweet pea posies for the freshly cleaned cottage rooms. I always loved that simple task of putting a posy of flowers in a guests room to welcome them.  

More memories are stirred seeing  marigolds. Bright and cheerful and the smell and sticky, sappy marigold scent of childhood summers.

“I must have flowers, always, and always.”   

~Claude Monet

And now to home and to the little patch of Earth that I lovingly tend to. Such magic that comes from a tiny seed scattered on bare earth.

“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.” 

~ Iris Murdoch

I am not normally someone that is into bedding type plants or hanging baskets but this year I couldn't resist this petunia which I have just planted on the edge of the border. It is surely made of velvet! The purple black reminds me of a Queen's gown or cloak in a fairytale Or the Queen of the night from the Magic Flute? How wonderful it would be to design a fairytale garden.. . Now there's a thought.  

My rather delicate Tolkien inspired structure that I shared earlier, has survived so far and has sweet peas blooming now and is doing it's job rather well.  

“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in--what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.”

~Victor Hugo -Les Miserables

Flowers give so much pleasure and scent can really lift your mood. So if you are feeling  sad with the world or lonely or just want to lift your spirits, take the time to go out and smell the flowers and if you haven't any nearby then go on, treat yourself and buy a bunch. We need the return of flower power! 

“Find gratitude in the little things and your well of gratitude will never run dry.” 

~ Antonia Montoya

I shall leave you with this little angel that flew inside the other day. A plume moth. Plume moth caterpillars feed on bind weed so please please remember to leave some in your garden for this sweet soul.  Its all in the little things...