Blowing The Cobwebs Away

A few days spent in rainy Penzance staying with my sister, helped to blow away some of the Autumn cobwebs in my mind.
And of course, lots of fun was had with cousins!





Now back home and its Halloween.
Few braved our long dark garden path to the sweet treats that were waiting.

Ghosts with wings

Superstition and Magic surround owls like a velvet cloak. Their call on a moonlit night can send chilly shivers up a spine.
There are far too many tales to tell relating them to macabre predictions and witches and wizards. I love to hear all the tales and half forgotton beliefs, but just as a lover of all birds the owl holds a special place in my heart.
I particularly love the barn owl, with its distinctive ghost like appearance, it was described as a bird of death by William Wordsworth, and gave rise to legends of will o the wisp and jack o lantern which both spirited away travellers and children.
With the 'spooky' time of year just around the corner, I decided to make this barn owl hanger......


Adorned with jingly bells and an antique cut glass crystal to make magical rainbows. It will be flying over to Etsy. SOLD

Sadly barn owls are in decline due to loss of habitat. If you would like to help or find out more, then pay a visit to The barn Owl Trust a charity dedicated to conserving barn owls.

Lost in the midst of mist

Yes, more drawing, cutting and sanding!
Three, dare I say it..Christmas... (ssshh) commissions and orders of Polar bears, magpies, owls, reindeers.......



Inside my head it is foggy. Obscured by clouds of wood dust. And yes, could this be the reason for a somewhat blurry photograph? ;)

Wooden animals are following me into sleep, where I run through misty forests......

But in the garden this morning everything is bright.
Yesterdays raindrops sparkle in the sun, treasures of a fairies jewel box.



Time for a mug of hot chocolate me thinks!... then back to more sanding!.....

Bonkers for Conkers

We love conkers! or if we call them by their proper name, Horse chestnuts. Even though the children are getting older, they still want to go and collect conkers and get excited about finding them, especially the one's that are still enclosed but just beginning to peep out of their green spiky shells, which I think look like elf hats. I love the colour of them and their rich waxed wood appearance. We went to collect "just a few to string up around the porch" but came home with a basket and carrier bag full! ( this is NOT all of them in the picture)
I asked " What are we going to do with them all??"
The reply I got was "Plant them" :)
I think we will be giving away young Horse Chestnut trees from our garden gate in the near future. About 300 or more!!

The Autumn sunshine brought us a visitor........

When we had searched for him back in the holidays by the river, he was no where to be seen! And now here he was, glittering lace wings displayed, almost on our front doorstep!

And finally a sample of some of the finished hangers that I have been working on. Some will find their way to Etsy, others to a little local shop.

Sugary

For Illustration Friday.
Just sketching sat on the doorstep in the sun, and this character sprang to life.
A bit late, but never mind.

A beautiful day

What a beautiful day it has been today! Blue skies, warm sun on my arms, and bees and butterflies, enjoying the last of the lavender and michelmas daisies. One thing that I always look forward to this time of year, is the sun low enough in the sky to shine through the crystals that are hanging at my window and decorate the room with little dancing rainbow lights.
I have collected old chandelier crystals for many years. All of them were bought from car boot sales for next to nothing. They are strung up on fishing line at two windows and I've still an old cigar box full that have yet to be added.


As winter approaches, there is even more of a show. Today, just a few rainbows.


If you gently move them, they dance around the room. Many crystals have been chipped over the years by little hands wanting to see the 'fairy rainbows'. But that doesn't matter, as they are still beautiful.

Prints for sale on Etsy!

I've finally got around to putting some prints for sale on Etsy. Something I've been meaning to do for a wee while.

Its been a bit of a frustrating last week, not being able to settle finishing things off as fast as I would have liked. We have had workmen in and out, fitting us a new central heating system. It still isn't finished and the Electrician is coming back on Tuesday. (Groan) Still, must not grumble, hopefully we will be all snug and cosy this winter.

In between interruptions, the wooden creatures have gradually been coming to life.





Some of these will also be finding their way over to Etsy very shortly.

Monday, A Wood Day

Turned out a good day!
Now its time to fetch my Hobbits! :)

Hawthorn And Other Worlds

One of my favourite trees has to be the Hawthorn. From its frothy may day abundant scented blossoms, to Autumns jewelled clusters of red berries. I love its familiarity in the landscape and all the superstition and myth that surround it.
The hawthorn was a holy tree in pagan and christian legend alike and many conflicting traditions have gathered around it. The crown of thorns is said to have been made from it. It is believed to hold healing powers and to protect any house nearby from lightening. It has a strong association with faerie lore, so never sit under one on special days such as May day, Midsummers eve or Halloween! One of my favourite connections to hawthorn, since a child, is the holy thorn of Glastonbury.
It is believed St Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury and thrust his staff into the ground on Wearyall hill. It took root and grew and every year from then on blossomed at midnight on Christmas eve. It is said that the tree was destroyed in the seventeenth century by a puritan soldier, but not before many cuttings had been taken and planted elsewhere. One such daughter tree is in the grounds of Glastonbury abbey. It continues to bloom to this day although flowering now is more usually upon old Christmas eve (5th January)
A few years ago, on an icy January morning. I was lucky enough to see it in flower and feel the magic and mystery that surrounds it.
The hawthorn in my garden may not be a relative of the Glastonbury thorn, but it does have plentiful supply of berries to feed the birds through winter.


I have taken a while to settle back into my routine after my little break away. Autumn always makes me want to line my nest, prepare the house for winter nights, forage and squirrel. I have filled the freezer with bags of blackberries, surplus runner beans and sweetcorn. It was while on a blackberry picking expedition that I came home with treasure!
I rescued it from the long grass, a lovely piece of twisted ivy wood. The branch it used to wind itself around, had competely rotted away. I don't know where I shall put it yet. Its just propped up by my front door for the photo.

Finally I sat at my desk, sitting still, being transported to other worlds through a story.


I have been listening to an audio book. The magical 'I , Coriander' by Sally Gardener and whilst doing so, through the hawthorn branches a little white bird appeared.........

Doors And Memories

I have always held a fascination with doors and doorways.
An entrance, a beginning, an ending, a close.
Locked doors with giant sized rusty keys, tiny doors with silver fairy keys, doors ajar, glimpses of light beneath. The secrets and expectations of whats behind them. Other worlds, a frosted moonlit garden, the milky way, a beaded veiled bedroom fit for a princess, a staircase, or maybe something more sinister. Doors feed my imagination.
I sometimes picture my own mind as an endless labyrinth of passages filled with doors of all shapes and sizes. The rooms or worlds behind them are filled with treasures of my memories.
Back home again and as the rain continues to endlessly fall, the island of Jersey has found a room of its own.
The floor is a carpet of fine white sand from Portelet bay, scattered with fairy sized shells from St Ouen's sand dunes.

There are Jersey cows, a speckled seagull that we seemed sure was following us from place to place.

Mont Orgueil Castle's wonderful wooden soldiers dwell here too, along with Kings and Queens.

A fairy bluebird, Lemurs and lots of other amazing sadly endangered creatures we were lucky to be able to get so close to at Durrell Wildlife. The 50p mugs of Bovril on sale at Rozel bay, along with my daughters squeals of delight as she won £75 at the camp site bingo.
And most definitely echoes and images of war time German occupied Jersey, at the War Tunnels.

With memories safely stored, its time to move on and look forward to the new one's that Autumn will bring? Crackling bonfires, baked potatoes, toasted marshmallows?
I love Autumn!

Odds And Ends

Time has ticked and tocked away so fast. The apples are nearly ripe, and School holidays almost at a close. Between endless raindrops, hammerings of hail and forks of lightening, we've splashed about getting up to this and that.
We found treasures.

Followed paths.

And discovered wonderful art created by Maggie Taylor!

Had to take a couple of trinkets home of course! ( see below)
I am not going to be around next week. Instead will be sailing off to the island of Jersey. Hopefully the sun will come out from its long hibernation and much sea, sand and ice cream will be enjoyed!
Hmmm?!Fingers crossed! x

Awards

A couple of weeks ago I was kindly given the Arte y Pico award! Thankyou so much Ciara at Milkmoon!

So, now I believe I pass it on to other lovely creative blogs...

The rules :

1. Choose 5 blogs that you believe deserve it for creativity, design, interesting material, contributing to the blogger community no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the the author and a link to his or her blog.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given the award to them.

4. Awarded blogs and the person who gives the award should show the link to Art y Pico blog, so everyone will know the Award origin.

5. To show the rules.

My 5 chosen blogs are: Acorn moon, monsterologist, Rima, darklingwoods , Jess,


Many Many Thanks also to Kathy hare for this other award. I apologise for not passing this one on, but I'm truly not the speediest of typers. I think I would be sat here another hour or more!! :)

Sail

My submission for Illustration Friday this week is a card I did for the design company Roger la Borde a few years back now. I felt the image was appropriate, and as its the school holidays, my time is scarce for creating new things.

On A Dragonfly Hunt

Across green fields we walked, down to the river in search of dragonflies.

An amazing one had been spotted the day before near the garden, but the camera wasn't close at hand.

Peace, quiet, a swan, ducks and minnows, but alas no dragonfly!

So we wandered back home and found that nothing had changed since we left!

The bumble bees were busy

So we got busy too!

Hobbits And Lions

Now the school holidays are in full swing, I have been enjoying spending time with my two little Hobbits of the Shire! Mind you the eldest now 13 is not going to be a Hobbit for much longer as he is almost as tall as me . Yesterday we had an enjoyable day out at Bowood House near Calne.
Hobbits love it here as there is a great adventure playground, high rope walks and death slide. We did all that, then took a walk around the house and garden and found these wonderful stone statues.



















Oh how I'd love these lions in my garden, especially the sleeping one. We had some fun making stories up about what these statues did at midnight, how they probably came to life and wandered down to the lake to drink in the moonlight??





























My smallest hobbit couldn't resist getting in this last photo.