Landscapes Of Your Soul Blog Tour

Today I have the great pleasure of being host for day 7 of the Virtual Blog Tour, for Landscapes of Your Soul, a beautiful and inspirational e book created by Essence of Wild.
Blog tours are not really a thing that I've participated in much, (only two previous) but I felt I wanted to be part of this one, as 'our connection' to the earth which Jackie Stewart and Jason Smalley are encouraging, is something I would like all people to feel.
Yesterday the blog tour visited Karina's Inner Space  Please go and visit if you have the time.

Do you know the landscape of your soul?

I've always loved the outdoors. I grew up playing in fields that sloped down to a winding stream. A fallen willow was our bridge to the other side. We built cabins (dens) and swung on homemade swings attached to huge dying elms. Our meeting place was the lightening tree. We wandered in woods, peeped into birds nests, jumped across the old weir, filled carrier bags to the brim with hazelnuts and strung bunches of primroses and violets with wool on a stick to carry home. We cooked outside on fires that we made ourselves and came in at dark with charred remains of jacket potato in our teeth. We were chased by the farmer for climbing on haystacks and building palaces with the bales. We grew up with the seasons, collected conkers, picked blackberries, mushrooms, and gooseberries that grew wild in the hedge. We walked with cats, dog and a goat. We climbed trees and came in late our clothes mud stained and grass stained. We rolled down hills, sledged down slopes, fell in stinging nettles, rubbed the stings with dock leaves and played on. This was the landscape of my childhood and it's woven into my soul. A landscape that has helped mold me into who I am today.
                                                                      ~*~
  'To touch the earth is to have harmony with nature'~ Sioux
                                                       
I believe our soul landscape goes deeper than childhood. It is our very connection to the Earth. Sometimes when we walk in ancient, and wild places we experience a strange feeling, a pull to something that we can't quite explain. Sometimes on nights when the wind howls and the rain lashes down, there is a stirring of feeling of something that has been lost. Something forgotten. Have you ever felt it? When you are still and quiet in nature, listen, it is there..... it is ancient. A golden thread entwined with our heart strings. An energy, an earth magic that resides in all of us. You know this, because you have felt it pull. You and it are stitched together. It surrounds your soul with a wise embrace that feels like home.
 At this time on Earth, when often things look dark and bleak, it's more important than ever to have this connection. It encourages wonder, appreciation, love, respect, and compassion of everything that we share this planet with.
                                                                    ***
If you would like to deepen your connection with the landscapes of YOUR soul. Landscapes of your Soul is available to buy as an instant download here.  It includes the most gorgeous guided meditation  journey that I'm sure you will enjoy as much as I did.

                                                      And while I stood there
                                                     I saw more than I can tell,
                                            And I understood more than I saw;
                                              For I was seeing in a sacred manner
                                                the shapes of things in the spirit,
                                         and the shapes of all shapes as they must
                                                       live together as one being.
                                                                      ~
                                                   Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks

Butterflies And Enchanted Forests

I always knew there was an advantage to not cleaning your windows very often. Look what has decided to attach itself to the frame.

There are 3 of them, and I think they will probably emerge as cabbage white butterflies? I love cabbage whites. How wonderful!
But, there was a problem.... Painters are due to arrive any day to scrape woodwork down and give everything a lick of paint before winter. Our landlord has a rota and it gets done every three years.  So, emergency 'rescue cabbage white pods' was launched. Very delicately with a small paintbrush, I removed them from the window frame. It was quite difficult as the sticky stuff that they attach themselves with is surprisingly strong. It seemed quite similar to spiders thread.  Anyway I successfully removed all three and have them here now.

 I'm keeping them on a cool windowsill and hopefully they will be ok and hatch in the spring?
                                                                       ~*~
The weather has turned and Autumn is making her presence known. The mornings have been misty and the days drizzly. Last week though I captured this beauty showing off for me on the ivy.

What a gorgeous creature the red admiral.

They absolutely love ivy. I also spotted a comma and masses of other insects. Please remember to leave some in your garden, it's brilliant for wildlife.
                                                                      ***
The sketches that I shared with you have been turned into paintings now. Here they are....
'The Light Between' and 'The Path'

  And 'Theatre In the Woods'               

I painted these for the  'Enchanted Forests Exhibition' at The Green Tree Gallery in West Sussex.
If you live nearby do go a long and see. It runs from the 13th October until the 4th November.

 Here they are, framed and all ready to go.

                                                       Have a good week! x

Valtari Mystery Film Experiment

I always love to listen to music when I paint. Recently while listening to Sigur Ros, I stumbled across their  Valtari Mystery Film Experiment. In their words....
 'Sigur rós have given a dozen film makers the same modest budget and asked them to create whatever comes into their head when they listen to songs from the band's new album valtari. the idea is to bypass the usual artistic approval process and allow people utmost creative freedom'
What a brilliant idea!
Short film making, always fascinates me. One day I will get around to having a go. ;)  Anyway I thought you might like to see.  Below are my two favourites. Gorgeous music by Sigur Ros from their new album (there is a link to buy on my side bar)  and magical films. Beautiful, poetic, touching, sad....
                 
Sigur Rós - Ekki múkk from Sigur Rós Valtari Mystery Films on Vimeo.

                 
Sigur Rós - Varúð from Sigur Rós Valtari Mystery Films on Vimeo.

Finishing Touches

I've been busy. I was going to say like a bee, but sadly bees don't seem to have been busy at all this year. Has anyone else noticed the severe lack of honeybees? I've watched this garden for the past 14 years, since we moved here and this year has got me worried.  There have been so few, I spotted this one on the window sill the other day.

 I'm just putting finishing touches to the book illustrations now. Here's a glimpse of some...

  And then I'll be turning these into paintings  for 'The Enchanted Forests' Exhibition at The Green Tree Gallery in West Sussex. 

 Autumn in my little studio, is cosy. I had a tidy up and hung up a twiggy chandelier. 

Here's some more pics from inside ...

Hope you are enjoying Autumn?
  x

Six Nights Away

Do you have a list in a forgotten notebook somewhere of places you want to visit and things you want to see? Are you ticking them off gradually? I hope so.  Some people call them bucket lists. I prefer to call them wish lists. This last week I got to tick one of mine off. ...A visit to Wistmans Wood.

Wistmans Wood  has been on my list of places to visit since I saw the wonderful documentary 'Earth Pilgrim' several years ago by Satish Kumar. 

Ancient stone and twisted oak trees are clothed in moss. Ferns grow from branches their spores snugly taken root in the deep green.

Lichen adorns the twiggy arms like sleeves on a mottled coat. Some look like hair growing or little nests.

The only noise here is the noise of nature. Water, wind, earth, animal, and us as we move. Snap of twig, scuff of shoe on stone.
Do you see the tree pointing?  I see a crone. Wise old woman of the wood?

There are many tales and legends about the wood to read. Too many to tell here, but here is a good place to visit if you want to know more. 

Just below the wood is the west dart river. Picturesque and tolkienesque. 

And here are my two hobbits or Orcs!  blending in with the landscape, well sort of.  ;)  

A beautiful rowan tree on the edge of the wood. I think this tree will get to be a star in a painting shortly...

I would have liked to have stayed longer and visited more of Dartmoor but this was just a quick passing visit on our way down to Cornwall. We camped for one night in Princetown and as night fell a heavy mist descended and the wind made the tree's leaves sing and rain pounded our tent all through the night. The wild weather had disappeared by the morning and the sun shone on our journey over the border into Cornwall and to the Atlantic.

Was it really a whole year ago that my feet were indulged in sea water foot baths in sparkly rockpools?

We camped right by the sand dunes which were filled with these beautiful day flying burnet moths.

 Every where you looked on the grass stems, were the empty pods/cocoons that they had hatched from.

Sometimes I wandered and found jewels while everyone else rode the waves.

On the night of the blue moon we were back in the woods.

This time Tehidy woods, to see the Rogue Theatre. When we saw them last year we enjoyed it so much, that we just couldn't miss this year's 'King Arthur And The Wild Hunt'

An evening filled with fire, mist and magic. If you get the chance to see them, then do. I think they tour, so keep eyes peeled.
On our last night camping, we saw a gloworm. What a special end to a great six days.

Now back here at home, I'm busy finishing off the illustrations for the book that I'm working on and some new paintings in the pipeline, for an exhibition that I'm participating in. There will be  more on that later....

 In the mean time, enjoy your weekend.

 x

Some Colour To Share

It was so very warm last weekend and humid! I'm sure it felt the same as the tropical house in the Eden project!  When it's hot like that it is almost too hot to do anything I always feel. I'm not complaining, I love sunshine in summer, but being born in December I am a winter ice child at heart . ;)
My son was practicing on the church organ, so I went along to listen. The quiet of the church and the coolness inside it's old 12th century stone walls was  wonderful away from the heat outside. I wandered around and took some photo's whilst he played Bach's toccata and fugue.
Colours and patterns to inspire..

 Did you notice the little spider in the picture above?

Sadly the stained glass windows have a grille covering them outside, which spoils the photographs a little. A necessary and permanent addition now though, as last year they were all vandalised and damaged by stone throwing.

Afterwards I walked home and my daughter had been baking cakes. The glitter on top reminded me of the stained glass colour shining. 

 Very pretty, very sweet, and just what was needed with a cup of tea. 

Today the temperature is back to normal.

And I found more colour. This time my favourite kind.