These past couple of days I have felt quiet and wordless. As though a switch has been turned off, or I've been put onto auto pilot. Natures way of reminding us to have a break from the routine, step away, recharge. So I will do just that. We are away to a cosy place among the sand dunes by the sea, soon. A place to let the ocean breeze toss the cobwebs into the atlantic surf. I wonder what the mermaids will do with my old thoughts?
In between I'm going to look for dragonflies and kingfishers, read about belladonna, mandrakes and maybe do some wild swimming?
I have a painting on the easel but it's not quite finished yet so that will have to wait until my return to show you by which time hopefully it will also be professionally scanned and available to buy as a new print.
I will be back in September finger stained from blackberry picking, refreshed and ready for Autumn.
Before I disappear I thought I'd share some new additions. I've always had a 'thing' and been drawn to glass cabinets with treasures inside. Well recently at the local Car boot sale I was lucky enough to pick up this for £20 which I thought was a bargain. My collection of shells fits happily and now do not need to be dusted.
The other new addition sits happily on top of the seashell cabinet. A gorgeous hare. ( large middle one)
My Dad bought me this as a surprise very early birthday present ( he saw it , bought it and couldn't wait until December to give it to me! ;) Thanks Dad xx
My Etsy shop will be closed from 26th August until 5th September.
So until then, I'll leave you with some songs I've been listening to lately. See you soon and make the most of and enjoy the rest of the summer.
x
The garden has taken the path to wild, unruly and untamed.
It's become a little paradise for insects.
The part of me that likes things organised has been put on pause when it comes to the garden. What a difference this little piece of 'wild' has made. There are more insects seen here than anywhere else in the garden. It's a joy to see all the bees, crickets and tiniest of blue butterflies enjoying this little patch.
While the garden gets even more wilder, I've been busy with a new project.
Let me introduce you to my new studio/summer workspace...
After much ummings and ahhings I finally decided to get one of these.
I am so excited about working in here. It's surrounded by hawthorn, hazel, plum, roses,and orange blossom, and I plan to plant foxgloves and honeysuckle and hang bird feeders for my feathered friends.
There is still quite abit of landscaping, digging and planting around it, to turning it into an inspiring wild retreat outside and in. So I will continue with it and hopefully the warm days will continue well into Autumn to enable me to work outside that bit longer.
I will leave you with new chirpy bird designs some of which will be flying over to Etsy shortly.
Oh yes, don't forget to wish upon a shooting star! The Perseid Meteor showers peak on August 12th.
Everything has been running late today and so here I am a little later than expected in the day to let you know who has won the giveaway. Thanks so much for taking part everyone. :-)
I really enjoyed making these pendants so I'm sure I will be making more as there are always snippets of wood left from the larger hangers.
So this time as it is late and there were a lot of comments I used the random number generator thingy and the lucky number to come out was 7.
So who was the 7th comment? .......Drum roll...... Ta da ! It's ...
If you stop, be still and really listen, there are voices, memories and secrets blowing on the wind with the whispering sea of grass.
And when you look closely between the grass, there are jewels to be found.
And when you look above it there are the friendliest of faces.
Today I left my home land for a trip across the border into Gloucestershire, to another equally magical place.
My feet walked pathways that Romans, JRR Tolkien and Dr Who had trod. An enchanted forest.
Follow me and tread the path of Puzzlewood.
Have we have wandered straight into the pages of Middle Earth? All is quiet, the wind is gentle on the leaves but the trees creak. Could they be Ents and will they start moving their rooted feet?..
Everything is clothed in a cloak of moss. Rocks, cold stone, frozen in time.
A Greening place.
Mysterious, magical, A fairy tale land.
The air is clear and the branches are decorated.
A labyrinth of secret passageways. I was careful not to stray from the path.
Do the ferns and spiders webs hide an entrance somewhere to an elven home?
Is it this way?
Or across here?
A storyland of pathways, I could have stayed all day. My photographs do not do this place justice. It is truly another world. You can read more about it here and I found two wonderful film clips on You Tube which capture the essence of the place if you are interested in seeing more.
Now it's time for a little celebration. Lately I've noticed that the numbers of followers have been steadily going up, so to show my appreciation, I think it's time for a little giveaway!
Not wanting to waste anything, recently I've begun using the small scraps of wood and turning them into necklace pendants. This one is forest inspired and will be the giveaway prize.
All you have to do is be a follower and leave a comment. The lucky one picked out on Monday 2nd August will win the necklace.
This week I have been mostly painting wooden hangers to restock my Etsy shop. The week has flown by in a blur, it really is frightening how the time seems to pass so quickly. I really do need a real time turner, or a tardis or something?
Here are a few pictures of hangers that are already or if not, will be listed in the next few days...
I'm waiting for some new varnish, then I will have more to list including some original paintings, so watch this space. :)
It's been tree whispering weather. Blowy, breezy with gentle tinkle of windchime and bell. I'm sure many an angel has recieved wings these past few days.
Some things I've enjoyed this week...
Working late and watching the moths tap tapping at my window. Their eyes shine copper in the light from my desk lamp.
Smelling purple buddleia.
Eating raspberries straight off the bush.
Flower petals
I planted this hollyhock from seed a couple of years ago. This year is the first year it has flowered and I'm really pleased with the colour.
And remember a few months back when I planted bunny tails? Well here they are. Every time I sit on the door step with a cup of tea I have been enjoying feeling and fondling the bunny tails. Yes, I probably look rather strange doing this, but they are so soft, it is hard to resist. :-)
I'll definitely be growing them again next year.
I've also been enjoying music. I always do of course, but sometimes you find a special piece that you just have to keep playing again and again to satisfy your soul. This is that piece for me at the moment. I don't know who it is by and it's only short. It accompanies this beautiful film footage. I hope you enjoy it too. x
As a child like most children I read and re-read fairytales and loved them. As I grew a little older I accepted that in real life if Red Riding Hood's Grandma had been eaten by a wolf then it was very unlikely that the wood cutter would have rescued her still alive from the belly of the slain wolf.
Illustration by Gustave Dore
The same goes for the seven little kid goats (except the clever one hidden in the grandfather clock that is ) saved, alive, bleating and replaced with stones in the stomach of another big bad wolf. I soon realised this too was beyond belief.
Illustrator unknown?
Recently however I had such an obscure encounter of my own it surely seems to have stepped off the very pages of a fairytale. Sadly there are no photographs as I didn't have my camera with me at the time. Oh how I wish I had....
It happened a few weeks ago on the day that our Mother hen had hatched her two eggs. She had to be moved to a safe pen with her newborn chicks. The pen was moved to a new position and it was as we brushed the old sawdust out that a rather long grass snake appeared. It headed straight across to the vegetable bed and quickly became entangled in the strawberry netting that we use as fencing to protect the plants from scratching hens. I soon realised this strawberry netting is lethal to small creatures such as a snake.
I had never held a snake before, but did as I've watched on numerous occasions on television and held it by the back of it's head whilst it lashed about frantically. Poor thing, the more it moved the more it became embedded in the net. My daughter quickly ran to get scissors and we carefully cut the net away from it's scales and thankfully managed to free it. It began to slither away slowly, then stopped and proceeded to regurgitate its lunch, a brown slime covered lump. Not a pretty sight....
The snake then slipped under cover to safety, beneath the blackberry brambles and we had a closer inspection of the brown slime covered lump which we noticed now was moving slightly. Yes, moving! With the aid of a small watering can of water the slime was washed away and low and behold there sat a toad still alive! Once we cleaned him or her off it began to walk slowly. We picked it up and carried he or she in a flower pot to the other side of the land away from the grass snake and set it free.
This is a memory I will now keep with me forever. It was just so surreal...
And before you ask.... No, I didn't kiss the toad.
So who knows, maybe if the wolf had been a giant snake then Grandma and the six baby goats would have survived after all?
I do apologise if I have given you the shivers with this story. My posts don't often contain talk of snakes,slime and Grandmas being eaten. For those of you that don't know, a grass snake is a totally harmless snake and a protected species in this country.And for those of you that use the lethal strawberry netting, please be sure to watch out for wildlife getting caught.
To calm things down now ;) Here is something relaxing to finish with. A little birdsong in my garden.
Things are back to normal here after the excitement of the little tea party. Thank you all for your sweet comments. I really do appreciate anyone taking the time to leave one. :) My daughter did enjoy participating and made a perfect Alice. She loves drama and stories and infact attends a drama group every Saturday.
I 've been enjoying the sun shining, having all the windows open and the magical midsummers moon. Did you see it? Glowing, orange tinted, Mars like, as it rose up over the hill. I did try to capture it on camera, but wasn't very sucessful. Just have to capture with paint instead.
So, here is my latest work to share with you. It's titled 'The Dreaming Company' and is acrylic paint on canvas and roughly A3 size.
The photographs are not that brilliant, but it is too big for my scanner. When I go to town next I'll get an A3 scan done. The Company Of Dreamers you may have noticed includes some of the characters from 'The Moonlit Gathering' That's because it is the follow on painting. I'm planning on doing one more too.
A new painting sits upon the easel and many wooden creatures are waiting to be cut out and brought to life, to stock up the shop. That means it's time to get busy and bid you a sunshiney farewell til next time.
Have a wonderful week. x
It had been a long time,
an age it seemed since the book had been picked up, loved and brought to life.
A light shroud of dust wrapped around it's spine and the pages were beginning to yellow and mottle. There had been at least one instance with a book worm.
It was a day such as any other when the Hatter decided to slip between his story's pages and into the room.
There he saw a girl sat at a table reading.
"Alice!" he shouted excited
.
The girl paid no attention, so he shouted again.
"Alice!"
Again there was no reply.
The Hatter quickly slipped back between the pages and returned with a small bottle and a handful of the reddest berries.
He placed them where the girl would find them and scurried off into the garden chuckling to himself.
"Oh" said the girl out loud when she saw the tiny bottle and the delicious looking berries.
She ate a berry. Red currants, delicious, my favourite.
She soon ate them all.
"Oh do hurry up Alice" called a voice from the garden
The girl followed the voice down the path.
"Where are you, who are you?" questioned the girl.
Some how the garden seemed different. Almost as if it were watching her, listening and whispering.
She felt sure she heard the roses sssh each other when she walked past. And was absolutely certain that the moon daisies had giggled.What a curious day it is turning out, thought the girl.
When she reached the mock orange, she heard more voices.
"Hello.... is there somebody there?" she asked.
She pushed her way through a gap in the hedge and what a surprise she got on the other side.
A tea party. The strangest she ever saw.
"You took your time" said a mouse.
"Your late!" said a white rabbit.
"Three minutes and forty two seconds late, to be precise" continued the white rabbit tutting and tapping his pocket watch.
"But"... replied the girl
"No but's my dear" exclaimed the mouse.
"Come along Alice, oh do sit down" giggled a lion.
"But I'm not Alice" said the girl accepting tea and an iced cake that was offered to to her.
"No buts" said the mouse again.
Then the whole crowd began to laugh and laugh until the rabbit spilled his drink.
"More tea anyone? " spluttered the Hatter.
How very odd thought the girl.
"Don't think but drink tea" said the stone lady " Lavender or mint?"
"Mint please " replied the girl
But when she put the cup to her lips she soon discovered that it was empty.
" Curry biscuit or sugar mouse?" offered the doll.
" Why is a raven like a writing desk?" asked the Hatter.
And they all began to laugh again.
"Silence" shouted the mouse.
The lion snorted and tried to suppress another giggle.
"More tea anyone" said the doll again.
The girl held out her cup and the Hatter poured.
However this time the cup was not empty but instead held a playing card. The queen of hearts.
"Wait a minute...I know this story" announced the girl.
She looked at the book she hadn't realised she had brought with her.
Quite suddenly she felt so tired and her eyes so very heavy.
She yawned and so did the lion.
Then there was a smell of old paper and the girl opened her eyes. She had fallen asleep and was resting her head on the book she had been reading.
There on the table beside her was the fairy sized dish of redcurrants that her Mother had picked for her.
"Hmmm a curious dream indeed!" said the girl ...
********
Thanks for visiting.I hope you enjoyed this little tale.We had lots of fun doing it. A big thanks to my beautiful daughter for starring as the girl :) x and for my son for wearing the mask :) x And more thanks again to Vanessa for organising it. :) x
From January 2021 I decided to give blogging a break. and since then have only been posting videos. I may come back to it at some point, (a new one though, as this site has too many glitches) but in the meantime do come and follow me on Youtube. x
I paint pictures and make creatures with wood.
Earth and animal lover, magic seeker.
Welcome to my place where I share things I am working on, things that inspire and other odds and ends.
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