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

A veil as thin as smoke

Days are quiet here now. My son has returned to university and daughter is back at school. September has returned and in the garden the flowers are still blooming, holding on as long as they can while the sun is still warm. There seems to be a lot of purple around. Here below is Verbena bonariensis one of my favourite plants. It's so pretty, the bees and butterflies love it, and it's quite a tough cookie.  Standing tall and very rarely falling over even in the heaviest of rains and wind.

This year, sadly there has been a distinct absence of butterflies here. No where near as many as we normally have.  Here though below is a blue butterfly enjoying the Oregano that I spotted the other day.

It's been a good year for the apples and the blackberries which are are abundant in the hedgerow.    

When the days have been warm  and dry, I've been sat with the doors open and re positioned my chair by the door for maximum daylight.

I wasn't alone, there is always company just a few feet away

This is what's been on the easel.  An A3 sized painting on wood. Here are some progress stages.

And the finished piece. 'A veil as thin as smoke' the colours are slightly different here. In reality the original is probably somewhere in between. Prints are available here for anyone interested.

Now I'm busy painting toadstools and the odd bee.