some thumbnails of my illustrations

some thumbnails of my illustrations
Please click on the links below to view my portfolio ........ Images copyright of Carrie Osborne

Sunday 25 March 2012

Oaks and iron... and the new moon in the arms of the old.


It was a beautiful spring day today, and although I had planned on a good stint of drawing the day meandered into food shop, picnics and playgrounds and some lovely happy time with the children. Even better it was all four of us together - Tony had been gigging last night which meant no band practice today and as we both work six days a week, these opportunities don't happen too often so we made the most of it!
So late on in the afternoon I managed to hop over the garden wall into the field with a bag full of charcoal and ink, over to the row of Oaks that have been calling for me to draw them ever since we moved in.
I only managed the one ink and dip pen sketch, a bit rough and ready with a clogged up nib, but I really enjoyed just becoming absorbed in the looking and mark making sitting in the spring sun. It seems a long long time since I last put pencil to paper and eye to hand. Good to break the deadlock.
One after the other the children clambered over the wall to join me for a few drawings of their own before scampering back across the field to the house. After tea we all decided there was just enough time before bed for a walk, especially with the extra hours daylight.


The sun was already going down and we were aware as we crossed the rickety Troll Bridge to the sunken wooded lane that the badgers would be emerging soon, so we went cautiously. At the edge of the old laneway someone had recently left a campfire, the embers still glowing in the circle of stones. The drifting woodsmoke would probebly deter the badgers I expect, but further up the track in the bank of the lane there was a whole neighbourhood of very freshly dug badger sets, so with twilight falling we crept softly past.
Not much farther along Elora stopped to study some animal tracks in the mud we thought were probebly fresh badger prints, and just there we found a very old horse shoe - a good omen for our new home... and up in the field I found a chunky old hand forged nail, that as I carried along feeling the rough weight of it in my hand made me think of charms of iron against precocious faery folk. Upside down it looks like Thor's Hammer, perhaps I should bind some leather around it and wear it...
Two iron charms found at the turning of light to dark...

Walking on home in the deepening dusk the still leafless arms of the many oaks writhed upwards, black powerful gestures against the fading sunset, and a beautiful delicate eldritch moon rose which Elswyth said was a banana thrown into the sky!


The horseshoe slither of Moon was dancing with Venus and Jupiter making a lovely triad of light in the west, and the Moon was clothed in a ghostly earthshine. A friend tonight described it as 'the new moon in the arms of the old' which I love.

(Sorry about my rubbish pictures!)

Ever since I saw that beautiful spectral glow on the Moon tonight I've had the song 'Earthshine' by Rush in my head, one of my favourite bands. So I will leave you for now with this song... I love it, hope you enjoy it!

Friday 23 March 2012

Old house New house - and another chapter begins...


Hello folks! It seems a long while and a lot of big changes ago since I last wrote here...
We have moved house after nearly eight years, the longest we've been settled anywhere in the eighteen odd years we've been a couple, so for me at least it was a big deal!
I had to talk myself into the move pretty hard, though now I can't believe we've been here in the new cottage for over three weeks already... where did that go! Apparently the new tenants moved into our old house today which feels a bit weird, I hope they will like it there.

The first thing we did when we finally got here was to arrange our hearth and straight away it felt more like our home again and I knew it would all be fine. It felt like a bit of a ritual, building the heart of the home and a new fire, all it needs now is our Green man to watch over it and us (which involves getting the drill out when we get chance.)

I was very attached to our old place (though very glad indeed to be rid of THAT landlord!) and there is a lot I will miss, the soft summer evenings out in the owlsong and fox-bark dark, the huge sunset filled victorian windows, the quiet wooded lane, the Raven pair and especially the garden. But so far I'm not missing it as much as I thought, with new walks to discover and new rooms to make our own.

The fox bark dark one summer's night

Our old garden in the early bloom of summer

It feels like a new phase now the children are a bit older (they are loving it) and I have so many cherished memories tied up in the old place of their baby and toddlerhood, a really special time. We moved there when our first baby Elora was two months old, she took her first steps there...

Then two and a half years later Elswyth arrived...


Then these guys...


Our mother cat eventually left home, but we still have Griffin who seems to have settled quite well so far...

I am anxious to get painting again as soon as possible, very conscious of the time ever slipping away and away as ever... though as it happens as a result of moving to a smaller place, paradoxically I will end up with an entire self contained studio in the stone outbuilding attached to the cottage!
Our fantastic new landlord has put in a new double glazed window and we just need to get time to plasterboard and put in a floating floor and voila - a beautiful big light studio for me! I'm hoping to get it done by the summer, and I will try to do some progress shots for you as and when it gets going...
I have plans to finally crack open a sketchbook on Sunday and start to draw again - its about time too!
Bye for now, back soon...
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