Settling down to Autumn

What a busy Summer that was, the days passed by so fast, and my travels have taken me here and there and everywhere. It has been one of my busiest years in business yet with workshops and exhibitions, Pop Up shops and projects on the go. Trying to keep my feet on the group and remembering to Breathe has been a definite challenge.

 When I first sat down to compose this post  I thought I hadn't done much but as I started to write I see it's no surprise I ended the Summer feeling burnt out. So I'm trying to slow down again and find my own rhythm with of working. Changes need to be made!

 Amid all the rushing about there have been some precious moments, pockets of quiet and calm that I have been much thankful for. At last we finished the summer house (you can see the before picture above in the bottom right hand corner!) it has now become a wee oasis of quiet, somewhere I can retreat to when I need time out. It has a tiny log burner, though it needs some attention as it has been belching out smoke. We decided no electricity, for candlelight and solar lights are all that we need.

I spent my birthday visiting dear friends in the South of France with various members of my family, including my lass and her partner, the honeymooning couple! Such a hidden treasure tucked away up in the hills in the quaint village Embres et Castelmaure. Delicious food, good company, beautiful scenery all did much to help me mend. Then I had a trip to visit my beautiful Granddaughters and my eldest lass and a weekend away with Mr O!

 And so back home and into the studio, with pockets full of lovely memories, easing into this my favourite season of all. Autumn, it feels like a dear old friend, the trees all clothed in their final finery of the year. The colours always inspire and make me want to paint!

I had this snippet of a poem by Thomas Hood waiting in my sketchbook for a long while and at last I finally felt inspired to  work on it.

I built up watercolour washes and finished it with gold and bronze acrylics to give a hint of shimming leaves in the evening light. Beautiful old Autumn. I hope to get prints of this in my Etsy shop very soon. But i'm not quite ready to part with the original yet.
Happy Autumn all x

New beginnings, a move and silver linings . . .

All the best laid plans . . .
Here we are at the very end of April already, Spring has sprung and things are a-changing. New life, new beginnings, new things a-growing.
I had such good intentions this year to make lots more art, to write more, blog more and share my happenings, but you only have to be distracted for a  moment and along come all manner of things to send you off on other paths.

 Sometimes a path can be a little misty and you're not very sure where it will lead, it's an adventure, a little scary, yet intriguing and exciting too.

 As you follow the path, you come across unexpected surprises, some good, some not so, but you keep on going, you don't look back. You wonder what waits around the next corner.

If you look in just the right places along the way, you will discover unlooked for treasures, the silver linings, the pots of gold.  The stars will twinkle and the sun will shine and as the mist begins to clear, you will see a whole new world laid out before you and know that life has taken you off on a completely new adventure. 

I wonder if you guessed? Mr O and I found ourselves on a misty path these past few months, setting off on an adventure, not at all sure where we were heading as we packed up our worldly goods. It turned out we were going over the hills towards the little artist's town of Kirkcudbright, to a new wee hoose. All rather unexpected and very quick, I think in a matter of six weeks we discovered we were to move, we found a new home,  moved out and in again! 

As you can imagine, all is a bit of a blur for now but we will 'coorie doun' and gradually begin to feel settled again as we grow into this, the sweetest wee cottage with it's glorious gardens just a-waiting for us to make our mark on them and nurse them back to life.

It will soon feel like home, things will find their place and I know we will be happy here, I can feel it in my bones.

 We have been surrounded by lovely folk helping out, moving us, feeding us, working to fix up the cottage and the garden, folk sending beautiful flowers, cards and other loveliness and want to send out  a huge thank you to all, we couldn't have done it without you.

Whilst we have been such busy bee's, amidst the un-packing, the planting and the exploring I have squeezed in some sketching here and there for the sketch-a-day challenge, but I am longing to get properly back into making some art.

(The last photo is the magical view from our new wee garden, down across the fields to the sea.)

Settling in and a sketching group

The sun is streaming through the window, and I can hear the birds singing in the garden as I sit looking out from my new wee studio.  I always feel that the setting down of new roots and making fresh memories, the things that make a new place feel like home, take a wee while to happen and need quiet times and pondering times and so I have allowed the moments to tick by here as I have allowed those things to happen.

We have been exploring, wandering through still woods as the sun begins to set and  glimmer through the trees. We have climbing sheep strewn hills to catch  glimpses of sparkling sea, and we are feeling very blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world here in Dumfries & Galloway.

The May blossom has been so late this year, it almost seemed as though it was waiting for us to settle and find time to appreciate it's tiny blooms. But at last the hedgerows are bursting into life all ready for the coming of July.

We can't wait to see what the coming month brings in the garden after all our digging and weeding and planting and a-building of walls. Next stop the vegetable patch!

June saw me run the last of my workshops for a while, so ending a wonderful first half of the year filled with meetings of  lovely folks all getting creative. It has been such a pleasure having the opportunity to share my creativity with so many and watching them spread their wings and start to discover the joys of creative play. Thank you each and everyone for coming along and helping make the workshops such special events. ( How beautiful is the bouquet of flowers I was given by the lovely ladies from Gretna!)

New workshops and happenings will be announced in September.

The 'sketch-a-day' facebook group I set up is going from strength to strength, and what began as a personal challenge to encourage me to stick to the task of sketching for the 365 days has now grown into a group with over 60 members from all around the world. It has proved so popular that numbers have had to be limited as we were overwhelmed with requests of people wanting to join and I really want it to stay small and friendly and manageable.

The group is now run by three sketchers, the lovely Valerie (who has a real eye for detail), one of my nephew's Stu (who always finds a fab and quirky way of representing a topic) and me!  Every day a new topic is posted to be interpreted freely by the groups members and then shared on the page. We have covered really varied topics and each one comes with it's own unique challenge, it makes you tackle subjects you might normally avoid! (sketch topics: Above~ hot air balloon, red and fox. Below: favourite film character, Japanese, self portrait))

I am a little astounded but very happy to announce so far we are up to sketch 173 already!   There is something very inspiring about doing this challenge with a group and there is much  encouragement and sharing of information that goes on too. I have learnt so much already and developed my style in leaps and bounds and look forward to the next 173 days!

My sketches will be on show at the 'Kirkcudbright Art & Craft Trail' from 31st July to 3rd August at my corner of the event at venue 16, the beautiful historic Broughton House.

If you feel up to the challenge of sketching daily topics such as a strawberry, a Hamsa or  some canal art and improving your sketching in the process do get in touch as we do have places to spare!

Summers Passing and a tale or two

 Summer slipped by this year in a flurry of doings as my feet carried me here & there and when I sat down to tell all I didn't quite know where to begin, so this is a tale of my too-ing & fro-ing, its a wee bit long and may well have to come in parts 1 and 2!
(You can click on the images to view larger)

 The beginnings of August saw the annual Kirkcudbright Art & Craft Trail and bought a river of wonderful folk, faces  familiar & new, through the door of our wee exhibition space.  I shared the room with my talented Mom Jean Redden and jewelry maker Eileen Wright and this year we also had the pleasure of live music provided by friends Jon & Jen.  It's so lovely to have a chance to chat to the folk who come to see our work and I want to say a big thank you to all who came a-visiting. 

Without time for a breath we whisked away, Mr O & I, on adventures to the Northern shores of Caithness & Sutherland where we filled our days exploring & relaxing amongst the quiet places there, on our first travels in our wee house on wheels. (I must share with you one day that tale too!)  One of my favourite things to do when we go away is to explore and discover the history of the people and the place and Caithness is certainly filled with history.

We explored the ancient ruins of medieval castle Sinclair Girnigoe, built on the cliff edge, with waves crashing on the rocks below. We got a glimpse through the mist of the stacks of Duncansby that rose majestically to tower 60ft above the sea and we stepped into Smoo cave to marvel at this place where it is said Vikings once hid their boats! There are many legends told of the cave here, my favourite ~ that it was once the abode of spirits who guarded this entrance into the underworld.

The grey cairns of Camster were a site worth seeing, Neolithic chambered cairns that sat low and timeless on the hill.  As I clambered inside I was in awe of the work of those folk from long ago who built such a place, the largest is 69 metres long! Then it was on to the Hill 'O Many Stanes, the site of about 200 wee stones all no higher than my waist. Why were they set there and by who? There is no sure answer to this only a perhaps that t'was a way of recording lunar movements.

 We came across museums overflowing with beautifully carved Celtic crosses, strange winged angels, beasts and symbols with long forgotten meanings.

(Clockwise from top left) We saw intricately carved bone combs found at a settlement in Freswick, read about the awful treatment of the Forfar witches and saw the horrific Forfar Branks, a metal device that was placed around the head of the accused with a metal spike that went into the mouth, last used near the end of the 17th C. We wondered at charm stones and carved stone balls, found a pair of the wooden clogs worn by the herring fishwives in ports such as Scrabster and Wick and came across a wonderful exhibition telling the stories of their hard lives and the sad demise of the once flourishing fishing industry, made more fascinating still as we are in the process of researching Mr O's ancestors and believe some of them came from Caithness!

I wondered at the quaint slate walls we saw dividing some of the fields and discovered the story of how the beautifully coloured slate was quarried at the Castelhill. We went hunting for fossils at Achanarras and found (bottom left and middle) a fern and a fish, such an awe inspiring feeling to hold in you hands and be the one to expose something after  thousands of years have passed.

A visit to Castle Mey  (one on the cosiest & homely castles I have ever come across) and the wonderful gardens left me filled with lots of ideas for our own garden.

 We walked under huge skies, listening to the call of the sea birds and the crashing of the waves, it was music to sooth our souls, unspoilt, peaceful and perfect.

 We caught an incredible sunset and stood mesmerised at the waters edge as the sun slowly sank into the sea casting ever changing myriad colours across the sand.

I felt the healing power of nature as the days passed, felt myself slowly unwinding and my mind filling with inspiration once again, and thinking how very lucky we were.

A vardo adventure & childhood dreams . . .

Autumn crept up on silent feet whilst i was distracted elsewhere, I turned around and found a landscape beginning to glow with fiery colours.  Autumn, with its rich hues & smoky scents,  the  season I was born into and to which I feel most deeply connected. It is a  time for  looking back over the disappearing Summer and savouring the memories.

And I have so much to savour from those summer months,  such an adventure I had.

Since childhood I had held onto a dream to stay under canvas in an old gypsy vardo.

This Summer my dream came true and I found myself whisked away down South to spend nights curled up in a deep feathery bed  being  lulled to sleep by  the song of owls hooting in the forest and the gentle rock of a wee house on wheels or reading quietly whilst rain pattering on the old felt roof of a gypsy caravan that had once travelled the roads.



 Evenings we spent sat upon the steps of the sweetest Summer house watching a tiny kitten playing amongst the flowers, the heron coming in to land or the deer grazing at the edge of the forest.   Quiet times, healing times, memories to cherish.





 Our days were spent re-visiting places filled for me with childhood memories, the  Cornish lanes & byways of Tavistock, Calstock & Bude. Places I travelled to as a child on long Summery holidays staying with my Grandparents. Days spent with my siblings ploshing in the streams, building dams, hunting for jewelled caddis fly cases or evenings spent exploring the fields for plants & flowers, Grandad teaching us their names & the old country uses. Nights spent listening to old folk songs & stories that fired my childish imagination.  Visiting these places was such a lovely, very emotional trip down memory lane.



All to soon it was time to head home, filled with the new experiences & remembering old ones. On our way back we collected my daughter & granddaughter & they came to stay.  Three whole weeks for gathering the clan, my three children all home together & at times all four generations of us  catching up and getting to know our precious  new little addition to the family.  Making new memories. 

I sit here now on  this Autumn tinged evening and see this Summer was filled with childhood hopes & dreams & memories.  Where do the years go to I wonder? It seems moments ago I sat and listened to my Grandmother singing, only moments since I sang to my own children and now here I am a Grandmother singing those very same lullabies again.

So another season begins, life moves on and I cherish all the golden edged moments for they have left me with a  heart filled with love & a head filled with the memories.

 

a wee hoose on wheels project . .

I've ever loved the idea of a life trundling along on the open road,

 pulling up in the gloaming in a quiet spot to sit and eat supper whilst listening to hooting owls.

So with such excitement may I present our new wee project . . .

 

A wee hoose on wheels (top pics).

Our little caravan was a steal at £75, big thank u's to Mr B for that find! 

It was neglected and sad, but im going to turn it into a sumptuous bohemian get away 

(bottom pics = inspiration)

My aim to do it on the smallest budget possible, so its a make & mend & find project.

Perfect cause I do love a challenge, such exciting stuff!

A sparkle of magic in the air . . .

Things have been very busy around & about here lately,

so not a great deal of art has been made, but instead

lots of waitings & ponderings & travelling!

  

We drove down South and spent a few happy days pottering about,

climbing steps of the Glastonbury Tor,  & soaking up its magic.

Some say it is the home of the faerie King  "Gwyn ap Nudd"

 You  can feel the essence of folk who have walked there before you

We marvelled at the view, it was so windy up there, I nearly flew away!

 We meandered around the beautiful Chalice Well gardens

where flowers in full bloom danced in shaded corners

and people gathered to feel the peace of this ancient place.

We were enthralled by so many magical items on display

in the wonderfully named shops in the high street

such as "The Speaking Tree" &  "The Goddess & Green Man"

and we sat & had delicious coffee & homemade cake in street cafes 

whilst we happily pondered some wonderful news & happenings. . .

 

because at last, after all  those months of waiting

we got to hold our brand new, tiny Grandaughter Freya in our arms

Mr O & I are very proud Grandparents indeed.

Oh the wonders of falling in love with a tiny brand new being!

x x x

Train travel & Glastonbury carnival

I love long train journeys, flying past hedges & houses, fields & forests. 

no distractions, time to think, to sit and read or just watch the world go by. 

Glimpses of inspiration, this time around all shrouded in mist. 

Time spent travelling far away from my quiet country lanes 

down to the bustling south for precious time with my lass. 

Time for catching up, planning Christmas days & get togethers.

We even squeezed in a visit to Glastonbury annual Carnival

 After tea, cake & a wander around the lovely town (with a vow to return)
we waited with 100's of others lining the streets, not knowing what to expect!
What a treat was in store, what sights met our eyes, well worth the wait.
 The largest illuminated parade of its kind in the UK and Europe.
 Entries from local businesses & folk from all around the region,

A spectacular parade of huge illuminated floats & wagons

decked with mechanical moving parts, amazing sets & piping music as they went

 fantastic costumes, mysterious creatures & such enthusastic people on board

  It was bright & bold & noisy & not my usual cup of tea at all.

But I loved it, so much to see & take in & every entry had a different theme.

An awful lot of hours and hard work had gone into everything.

 Themes ranged from Sweeney Todd to the Polar Bear Queen!
But my most favourite of all was  the "Dickens Christmas!

Huge moving characters and wonderful choreography.
Such an amazing effort, very magical & moving too.  
I think over 100 entries in total that took over two hours to pass by.

I had to share my wee video althought the quality is rather poor
I do hope you get a feel of the size of the puppets & the atmosphere created.
Very worth the trip to Glastonbury to see!
(If you click on the images above you can have a closer peep)
ps: A big hello to all my new followers too x 

More images from the parade can be found here