Glen trool magic . . .

To walk in  Glentrool Forest is to walk in a place
that has the magic to soothe the soul & clear the mind.

Discoveries to be made include the martyr's grave tucked into the woods
with its tale from long ago of 6 Covenanters killed by soldiers
while they were holding a service in Caldoris Wood in January 1685. 
read more here (from pg 399)

Discovering the mist laden hills as they climb above the trees.
Sitting at their feet, beside the stillness of loch trool
simply being and hugging a warm cup of coffee,
was to be enveloped in a sense of peace & wonder

The quiet only broken by the call of geese as they circled overhead
and the breeze as it stirred green branches.
So much beauty, just on our doorstep!

Our walk took us on the circular route around glen trool
three hours later, we returned to the start feeling as though we
had emerged from another time & place and making
promises to return very soon to taste the magic again.

Rebecca Vincent landscapes . . .

 

I do love the work of Northumbrian artist

Rebecca Vincent

Such beautiful pattern and earthy, Autumn colours

They have a wonderful patchwork, textile feel to them.

Find her website here and on Facebook here.

Dumfries & Galloway, home of my heart . . .

I have created a board on Pinterest called 

Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland ~ Home

Home ~ Because it is the place I call home in my heart

Such a wonderful place to live tucked amongst the heather strewn hills
and the ancient forests. 

 Here I shall pin some of my own photos and those of others & interesting links.

Above is my photo of Cairn holy. A magical place to visit. 

For info on the cairns see here

Snowed in & story writing workshops

Hello from our snow surrounded cottage up here on the hill.

What an adventure we had last weekend, so much snow,

we woke to such a wonderland and were snowed in well & truly!

 We had to dig our way out & were snowbound for a few days.

Above you can glimpse the snow to the top of the hedgerows

Mr O is 6ft and it was taller than him, see the digger in the lane!

But oh it was a sight to behold, I spent an age wandering in the woods

and felt such deep peace & awe at the beauty of it all.

It bought a flurry of winged visitors to the garden too

and unveiled tracks of visiting creatures, normally unseen.

Of course i had to play for a while, pleasing my inner child!

My wee unicorn stood tall & proud most of the week.

This wintry weather has been perfect reference for my work

and the Nip Nebs book illustrations are coming along nicely.

A new venture for me this month was the "Daydream Believers" picture book creation workshops, set up with storyteller Susi Woodmass, where we work with children to help them develop words & pictures to create their very own wee books.  (Above~ some of the prompt cards i illustrated to inspire their storytelling)

Earlier this month i had the pleasure of working with Susi on our very first joint workshop at the local school. The imaginations of the children as they created their stories was inspiring indeed and watching them illustrate their work & bring it to life was a pure joy. I can't wait until next time.
 **

So if you  know a group who would love to do one of our workshops do get in touch, you can find more information over here at "The Wee Folk Storytellers" website.
*

ps: you can click on each image to view it larger.

A splash of yellow & inspiration . . .

 The newest touches of Spring are creeping into the air, popping with colour.

snowy drops & glowing gorse or whin bushes as they are called locally.

 

I recently realised my sketching skills are far too rusty, 

I haven't "just" doodled or sketched for the fun of it for ~ ever.

 An inspiring conversation with the lovely Margaret Milligan, 

about the 30 day painting challenge she set herself, set me a thinking.

(You can see here  the wonderful results of Margarets challenge.)

and so with all that in mind, 

I have set myself the task of doing a hal hour sketch a day for 30 days!

and by putting it out here, hopefully I am more prompted to keep to it!
I cant give up if its going badly, (something i am far to guilty of doing normally)
but have to stick at it for the half hour (i nearly gave up this morning to begin with!)
* * * 

So here is sketch number 1 a tiny splash of yellow sunshine on my windowsill.

Oh i did enjoy doing this, roll on day two!