Another Journey Begins

My sleepy winter self is stirring now the days are getting lighter.  I hope you dear readers had a wonderful Christmas time and I wish you all a rather belated Happy New Year!
I will begin by sharing with you a painting that I did in the last quiet days of December.
                                                    'Another Journey begins'

It's a beginning and an ending. As 2017 drew to a close I thought about what the year had brought and wanted to do a little picture to honour my dear feathered friend who I lost that year. 

I've been quietly recharging on these January days. Wandering beneath the apple trees looking for the wind fallen oak moss and collecting kindling to lay the fire at night. Sitting beneath the golden tails of hazel catkins with a mug of hot spiced berry juice and delighting in the snowdrops return. This has been my 2018 so far.

 My sleepy hibernating self is reflected in this recent work.

'The Quiet Sleep Of Stars'

Although quiet I've been quite busy spending some time designing new cards. I re-designed the bee card that I previously used to sell as a hand made card edged with glitter. Now it comes all printed, including the glitter effect.    

The next card, was using the small image Moth Spell that I created last summer.

'Stay wild and enchanted'

And lastly my heart images have also been added to cards in the shop ready for Valentines day.

I finished a little donation piece for the 2018 Twitter art exhibition which this year takes place in Australia. This year all money raised will go to a riding for the disabled charity. in Canberra.

'Origin' 

With the beginnings of a brand new year, my little white hare decided it was time for him to dust off his magical wooden staff and prepare himself for an adventure. The mountains are calling and he longs to see the silver lakes again and to head for the wild wood once more.

"Then something Tookish woke up inside of him and he wished to go and see the great mountains and hear the pine trees and the waterfalls and explore the caves and wear a sword instead of a walking stick."~ JRR Tolkien

Well this hare doesn't need sword, as his walking stick is rather special ;-)
The picture evolved from playing with ink. Once dry I could see a landscape. Forests and distant mountains, silvery lakes in the soft swirls and watery marks. And so the map was born and the continued travels in a Tolkien inspired landscape.

Where he is heading? Well that my dear readers we shall have to wait to find to out?

 'No half heartedness and no worldly fear must turn us aside from following the light unflinchingly'~JRRTolkien

Karen 
x

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