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!

May and the Secret Scent Of Angel Flight

I went a 'Maying' to bring inside

 A favourite flower, yet could not decide,

on meadow jewels or hedgerow lace,

Buttercup, sweet golden face,

Bluebell charmed me beneath soft dappled light,

Apple blossom shared the secret scent of angel flight,

All are heavenly treasures, gifts from the Fae

 In the merry merry month of May

    ~ Karen  Davis  May 2018

Feeling very much filled with the joys of Spring on the 1st of  May I  painted this teeny tiny painting. 

The month has been glorious so far and the apple blossom, like something from a fairy tale this year. To just sit and 'be' beneath these boughs is truly a divine gift from above. I know I probably sound a little like Anne Shirley from Green Gables but honestly seriously think that people that are unwell or feeling sad should be prescribed by their doctors to sit beneath blossom. Especially apple blossom. The scent is heavenly and if angels do have secret scents of flight, (I like to imagine that they would) then I'm sure at least one of them would be the scent of the humble apple. Apples themselves are known to have healing properties so there is definite truth to the old saying 'An apple a day keeps the Doctor away' So why not the scent too?

There is a little blossom left, but most is going over now. Hopefully the bees have done their job and we will have a good harvest of fruit later on in the year. That's not the end of the decorated trees in the garden though as the hawthorn is about to burst into bloom. Today it is in tight bud so by tomorrow or the next day, with a good sprinkling of sunshine it will be the star of the garden.

The flowers of the season are definitely being reflected in my work. This little painting was done for fun back on St Georges day (April 23rd)

Whilst sitting on the back door step listening to the blackbird song I noticed this beautiful hawk moth. With the help of Mr Google found out it's an Angles Shades ( Phlogophora meticulousa)

It rested here all day, luckily too close to the house to be under any threat from the birds.

Today there was another one on the watering can. It could of course be the same one still flying about, but looked smaller and darker so think it's a different one? I encouraged him on to my hand where he sat for a while, his wings quivering ready for take off.  Then he flew off towards the shade of the hedge.  So pleased to see moths about.

It was not so pleasing to see that Mr and Mrs Blackbird had abandoned their nest after the last cold spell in April. After noticing it very close to the house, each time walking past could see that no bird was sitting on the eggs. Sadly they were left and then were eaten by something?

But 'hurrah' am now happy to report that they have since got a new nest close by to where the initial one was and are currently feeding chicks! (dear little tweeting sounds are coming from further back  in the hedge)  

And here is proud Daddy stopping by on the bird feeder for snacks.   

Lawn update...
In my last post I shared the primroses taking over the lawn and mentioned that we had decided to let a large area of lawn go wild throughout the summer for the pollinating insects.  So here are a few pictures of what it's looking like and plants that have appeared.
 Forgetmenot, dandelion, cow parsley, dead nettle.

Cowslips in the background, planted two of those, years back and they have seeded beneath the apple trees. Forgot to mention that last time. 

These little mounds of earth on the lawn could be some type of mining bee?  If you know what causes them please comment and let me know. They are different than worm casts.

Sweet simple daisies. 

Bugle and ground ivy

There is also plantain, hawkweed and clover coming up in other areas. The cow parsley in the picture below has been allowed to establish over the last few years. It's one of my favourite spring flowers and I married in May (many years ago) for the specific reason that they could appear at my wedding. :-)

We've mown paths through as you can see which makes it easier to get around the garden when the grass is wet and ties in nicely with the top area which is still mown short around the flower beds. 

That's all for now...

Wishing you the sweet magic of May.

Karen

 x 

Forgetmenots And Daisies. Primroses And Dreams of Imaginary Sea Creatures

What a difference since my last post. Spring is well and truly here now in all her sweet perfumed glory. My old friends the forgetmenots have returned and the gentle daisies  are saying hello upon the lawn with the heavenly primroses.

Such a perfect colour the blue of a forgetmenot don't you think? 

The lawn is coming on nicely not being a lawn. Now our children have grown up we don't need the space for ball games and driving little pedal cars or bikes around, so there is really no need for such a large area.  Each year we have been letting nature paint her masterpiece a little more instead. This year will be the same and we will cut it back accordingly to whats coming up. We have some shorter areas up near the house where we put chairs and such, but the rest of the space the bees and butterflies and all other insects need it more than we do, so I just can't justify a blank green cut space for no purpose. Wasted in my opinion when you can have a much prettier beneficial space such as this. I will share the lawn progress at later stages so you can see what comes up and keep a list this year of everything that grows. I haven't planted anything except, fritillaries years ago and some crocus. Whatever else comes up just seeds itself or has been there hiding all along. Our lawn has always had a lot of moss and not much grass which I've always loved and is good as it seems to give the plants more of a chance and less competition having to compete with tough grass?

Easter came and went in a flash. There was feasting and family and then they were gone again. My chestnut and chocolate meringue sort of collapsed, but was quickly eaten by all. :) 

With the newness of Spring I bought myself a few fresh supplies.  

And after all the cold weather and the long winter I have found myself dreaming of the sea and sand and shells and the magical imaginary creatures that inhabit those salty turquoise waters...

Sea hare: An extremely rare and shy creature that if you are lucky enough to spot will  almost certainly be hiding in empty shells.

Sea Unicorn: You didn't really suppose that all the unicorns had disappeared did you? 

It was lots of fun doing these, so there maybe more creatures in the pipeline? I've made these into greeting cards. Pink! now you don't often see pink in my designs. Maybe it's my age? Maybe as I get older I will become one of those sweet old ladies that wear pink hand knitted cardigans? ;-) Although I don't use it much, I do actually like it and think it is gentle and pretty. 

At the same time I made a couple of my older sea themed designs into cards too. The Selkie and Narwhals designs.

And I also turned the recent notebook designs into cards too, and added another one to the designs. 

All of the cards are available in my shop now in various sets.

Until next time...
Enjoy the sunshine!
x