Moments

There have been lots of moments when I had an idea to do something.

I was staying in Wales with my friend and as we walked in her field I discovered all the beautiful Elderberry trees growing in the hedgerow. They were laden with branches of ripe elderberries. This was one of those moments.

My friend knows me and she understands me. So two huge bags of berries later and armed with her biggest pan my idea is well and truly in motion. I am making some ink. They were the best berries I had ever seen and hours later I had made my ink. Some Stained fingers and a lot of mess but I had a huge jar of this richly coloured liquid. I made a little colour chart of the ink when I returned home and tried it for the first time.

I used the ink and a dip in pen to draw an oak leaf. The ink worked so well.

I recorded it all in my sketch book. The lovely poppy seed head I collected from my garden was a perfect subject for my new ink as I experimented using it to both draw and write with.

I am enjoying watching my three hyacinths grow in the bulb jars. Watching each day the moments they put down their roots into the water. After a few weeks I will see the buds form, then eventually the scented flowers of this much loved spring flower.

They remind me of a day wandering along an empty shore. It was a foggy day and I stumbled across a huge jelly fish. I examined this strange creature with long jelly like legs, now abandoned by the sea and what a strange curious creature it is.

It was such a silent place, surrounded by the sea fog on this empty beach. I collected shells, feathers and pieces of pottery, anything that caught my eye.

Treasures that all came home with me. They haven't made it into a drawing yet but they remind me of the day. Listening to the soft wavy line of the water as it crept onto the sand out of the fog.

I loved this leaf stuck in the sand, the shape and colours. A moment of beauty, perfect in my eyes.

I have closed my book documenting the time line of the Lords and Ladies plant. Maybe I will add more next year. I so enjoyed doing this little project and I learnt so much collecting my samples and recording them in all their details.

I am working on a little arrangement of my tiger moth and some other objects I have collected. I never get fed up with oak leaves. I have brought some home this afternoon I found on my walk.

Just the finishing touches and it will be complete. It feels like me, gathering beautiful natural objects together and arranging them and then challenging myself to capture them.

So it is time to leave you with a couple of moments I photographed. A grey watery world as the full moon brings in a huge tide which covers the shore.

Then, the colourful sunset when clouds turn pink.

And I have to mention all the rain water we have witnessed over the last few days which has caused the terrible flooding in my county of Cumbria. My thoughts go out to all the people who are suffering at this time.

This view from my home changes each and every day. I see something like this and I am just stunned by the beauty and so inspired. And I want to share it with you.

Hope you are all warm and cosy, happy and creative. Hope you too have some wonderful moments in your day....... Millyx

Sometimes

Sometimes you watch a stone thrown into the water.

First the splash. Then the circle as the ripples grow and grow.

 

Then moments later it is gone. I have ideas like that, an idea to do something and it grows and grows and then it is gone because I never found the time to follow it through.

I have been busy in the garden. It is Autumn and there are lots of jobs that need doing. Just as I was finishing off , tidying away the tools and sweeping up I saw this pale moth creep out of the leaves. I thought I must draw it, because sometimes that is how it works, a gift from nature. I captured it with a dip in pen and used my own homemade oak gall ink that I made last year or the year before.

 

I like moths. I like my pincushion, carved in soft Lino and printed on linen and stuffed with sheep wool I collected off the shore.

 

One evening we walked on the shore and sat down by the waters edge. The sky was so pretty, pastel colours and it was so peaceful and still. The sheep were on the other side of the tidal river and as they walked along I captured their reflections in the water.

 

And the pink clouds. It was a magical evening.

 

I could have stayed there for ever watching the clouds.

 

As we wandered back to the railway station the moon was out.

 

 

So many things I see and find on this shore inspire me. Each and Every striped feather I collect is beautiful. I have been carving an egg in the Lino and printing myself another New tea towel. I made it completely from start to finish. First I cut and sewed the natural linen into a teatowels, then printed six eggs in a row with my carved eggs, all printed by hand with fabric paint. It worked out beautifully.

Sometimes it takes me a long while to get around to capturing my finds. Meanwhile nature carries on changing and decomposing and the snails helped as they ate the berries too. So sometimes it all adds to a more interesting subject.

 

And let's put them together as they were captured on the same day in the same homemade ink. A postcard of the Moth and the eaten Lords and lady red berries. Sometimes things just seem to work on the same page, a memory of my day.

 

Each time I create I start with an idea and fill an empty space with something new and made by me. A bit like the Sky that evening, shapes magically formed to fill the space ....right over the top of my house.

Miles away from each other yet sharing the same things like the moon. Lately it surprised me in the early morning.

 

And now as I press "post" my blog will ripple around the world . I hope you enjoyed seeing a little more of my world.

Sometimes I just have to capture the sunset and share it with everyone else. I hope everyone is well and enjoying this time of the year as much as I am.

Thank you for your comments, I love to read them, and appreciate you taking the time to write. See you soon. Millyx

 

 

Walking

Today I went walking. A slow walk as I noticed all that was around me. The sky was so blue and white fluffy clouds floated by while the hills were topped with a thick layer of clouds like whipped cream. I love this time of the year as the red berries hang from tiny threads and seem to dance along the length of the branches. I couldn't resist, I picked a few.

The hen come wandering over as she thinks I have come to feed her and looks up at me. Perhaps she remembers all that bread I threw over the wall the other day. I smile as I think of the ducks and hens running this way and that way racing to be first to gobble it down the moment each piece of bread hit the ground.

I kneel to capture the cow parsley seed heads against the sky. The sheep are all busy eating the grass and just ignore me.

 

 

I spy the farm in the distance which is along my way, I am on a mission to find more reds today.

There are lovely leaves.

 

I really like this one.

Rose hips catch my eye hanging over the stone wall from someone's garden.

Still more red berries but not the ones I am looking for.

After a long walk I arrive by the edge of the wood and this what I came for, it is the place where the lords and ladies are growing. Since I was last here they have all fallen so I feel it is okay to collect some. They are going into my book recording this stage of the life cycle. I have been tracking the story for months in my drawings and it is getting near to the end. The red berries are formed. Sadly the stalks are collapsing and the berries are falling off and this story is almost at its end.

I just finished this one so needed some new subjects.

I have so enjoyed this project, watching them form, change shapes and colours and I have learnt so much a more about this plant.

These two were recorded recently.

 

My tiger moth sits on the table, completed in between the red berry paintings. I captured my lovely Moth on a watercolour postcard size paper using my inks and a fine paintbrush and dip in pen.

 

 

As I have been Slowly working away, autumn has also been slowly creeping in. With such Cooler evenings we have been lighting a fire to take away the chill. The mornings bring the fog as it too creeps across the hills and over the estuary. One morning I was lucky enough to witness this scene.

 

Each sunset brings such beautiful colours to admire.

I am walking each day and I feel like I am surrounded by treasures, As every moment I see such beautiful things and realise how lucky I am to live here. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the things that inspired me today. As I wander through this countryside I always feel so calm and contented.

 

Wishing you all some quiet peaceful time. See you soon Millyx