Greenwoods

I stepped away from the Oracle Deck for a couple of weeks, because another painting was calling out to be worked.

I had intended this to be a rich and earthy green painting, but the paint had other ideas, and as I laid down the rock face behind the figure, the flowing watercolour chose ethereal pink tones instead.

 

 

Frustrating as watercolour can be at times,  I love the way it runs and granulates, layering colour, surprising you just when you think you know your paints well enough to predict their actions.

 

Lifting out bramble tendrils.

 

And putting in fabric patterns.

 

Small details, which disappear in the big picture, but are seen clearly close up.

 

 

 

'Guardian of the Greenwood'

The woods truly are greening here, bursting into life over the may day weekend.

( I forgot to take my camera to the Jack in the Green celebration, but I'm sure you will see the pictures on the blogs of others in our community)

Seething with life - quite literally - this is a giant wood ant's nest, over a metre high, the surface of which is constantly changing as thousands of ants go about their business.

Winter doings

It's been a busy winter.  Ordinary tasks seem to take over in Winter - feeding and caring for the horses, walking dogs in the rain, and just keeping the family fed and looked after. I'm an unsociable bod, and when the days are short and the nights long, I am impossible to drag out from the fireside of an evening.

Although I am always happy to be out walking these bleak and beautiful hills in the daylight hours.

I love the way that you can feel them responding to the light returning, in the same way that I feel myself respond, and by Imbolc you know for sure that life is springing again. Even if it there are no visible signs, you can almost hear the energy just below the surface of the soil, the sap rising in the trees.

Here, in our mossy cloaked valleys, there is green even in the deepest winter.

 

Although the moors themselves are bleached bare, bones exposed.

Such harsh beauty.

 

However, winter does mean I get much more painting done than I manage in summer! I've been working my socks off, and am well on  the way through the Oracle Deck project. 12 of the 13 Moons are  completed. (I introduced them here: Thirteen Moons project  )

And all 8 of the wheel cards.

As well as that, I've had work published in the new Earth Earth Pathways Diary diary (my favourite ever diary!)

and I have had a couple of book covers published. You may remember , a few years ago, I painted a little picture of Beltane Hare ? Well, that has become the book cover for Moon Song, a brilliant and magical novel by Elen Sentier. There is an excellent review by June Kent, and purchase links for it HERE

And then I went on to paint the cover for Following The Deer Trods, also by Elen. This is a sequel to her book in the Shaman Pathways series, Elen of the Ways. Elen Of The Ways 'fell into my lap' a couple of years ago,  in the way that fate has of giving you just what you need, when you need it! It is a fascinating, well researched and insightful view into our own native spiritual heritage, and it led me to meet and subsequently go on to work with Elen Sentier.

Now, I've got several exciting projects and collaborations in the pipeline, but nothing I can share yet. In the meantime, I've got seeds to plant, and ponies to ride, and a pack saddle project to finish!

 

Of Bears and other Beasts

Fairytales are everywhere I turn at the moment. There is wild magic in the air, the raging winds which buffet my little house make us want to curl up and retreat into imaginary worlds. We lit the fire, and watched a film - The Secret of Moonacre, which I somehow overlooked when it was released at the cinema. It was a beautiful, enchanting tale of the dangers of pride, redeemed by the ultimate act of self- sacrifice. It had my daughters and I mesmerised!( and it made us cry a tiny bit!)

See the trailer here

And this song - Beasts by Slow Moving Millie, is the perfect song for a night of fairytales.
(Yes, it's THAT song from the Virgin advert)

I have been re- reading East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and reminding myself how much I am in love with Kay Nielsen's illustrations. His polar bear is hauntingly beautiful.

There are polar bears everywhere I turn at the moment. Tomorrow night we are attending the Fire and Ice Dinner, at Castle Drogo, which is fundraising for the Ice Bear Project. It promises to be a great evening, in a spectacular setting, with talks from Mark Coreth( sculptor), Nick Baker (wildlife expert and TV presenter) and arctic explorer Pen Haddow. There are still a few tickets left if anybody wants to come!

And here is a glance at the rough sketches for my latest project.
More on this later ;)