Well it seems once more despite all hopes that weeks are fleeing by without me picking up a pencil or a brush, so I have no artwork to post here yet for now... but I know that all the imagery and scents and sounds of recent weeks are storing up in a quiet corner of my mind, waiting to flow outwards again... I'm still not sure why or what I am waiting for, but I know that if I sit worrying over a blank page chewing a pencil it will do no good. Time WILL come to just sit quietly and let the words and images that wait, quicken and unravel...
But here and now is the small infinately delicate treasure I found today on our walk through the woods, light as breath, frail perfect sanctum that nourished a flickering wonder of coiled life-spark. That from something so fragile comes the brief bright-wing spirit to sing under rain laden leaves and brush the sky with its small heart... how can that not inspire!
The foxgloves also are all reaching tall in my parents garden despite the stormy winds and rain we've had... I love their speckled-ness. I even managed to catch a bee or two in my photos...
I have a vivid childhood memory, perhaps aged about six, of watching a bee go into a foxglove flower, and for some unfathomable impulse of curiosity I had pinched the petals gently shut. The bee inside of course was furious, bizz-buzzing away angrily inside... and I was so horrified I was too scared to let go! I think mum came to the rescue luckily for me and the bee...!
Harebells too, the colour of summer skies...
Later we went to our local Castle a couple of miles down the lane in Nunney, with the particular purpose of photographing our daughters for a competition at school - a bit of fun, for a picture of people reading in unusual places... so Elora being in love with Dragonkind at the moment posed like this...
Here's a bit more of the castle, its a nice place to have on the doorstep...
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| These ruined turrets rising through the trees remind me of Gormenghast a little... |
And here's Elswyth's photos reading Robin Hood of course!
I will leave you for now with some gorgeous little prickly babies...
Our neighbour is a volunteer at a nearby animal hospitol and is currently nursing this lovely family of Fuzzypegs back to health until they are strong enough to be released into the wild. A well meaning but sadly ignorant family were keeping them in a rabbit run and feeding them milk and bread so they were really malnourished and sickly, one of them even had a plastic ring from a beer can around its middle. Thankfully they have all survived and have grown a lot in the last week now they are eating meatier food.
The children have been lucky enough to see them up close a couple of times now. Beautiful creatures indeed!
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| Huge gloves for little hands but necessary! |
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| Beautiful heart shaped faces |
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| This one almost reminds me of a little old woman swathed in cloak and shawl... |
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Hope you enjoyed these little prickle-pins... I will let you know how they get on when they are ready to be released! Bye bye for now...
How lovely to have that castle just "down the lane"! Great premise for a school competition. Elora in the castle is just brilliant. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHope the Fuzzypeg family are doing well.
The Fuzzypeg family are growing every time we see them, its so nice to see them thriving and lively!
DeleteLove the pics of Elora, and what a great competition, I think I shall suggest something like that at my girls' school, anything that gets a few more noses in books has to be a good thing! I know what you mean about waiting for something to come and trying NOT to worry and just let it come in its own time. I feel at the moment that I'm waiting for a great lot of 'loose threads' of ideas and art themes to come together, and I feel like the 'answer' is floating just out of reach and it's SO frustrating. But wait I must as it won't come if I chase after it.
ReplyDeleteAnd oh, those little hedgehogs are gorgeous...I even had my husband cooing over my shoulder at them!
I'm looking forward to seeing the other entries at school, a great bit of fun!
DeleteI think my own loose threads are starting to come together... I feel like I've been gathering them to me and now it just needs untangling and weaving together... I'm sure when you capture those elusive trailing ones, something beautiful will emerge - I am always inspired by your art, words and music...
And I challenge anyone not to coo at those hedgehog babies!!
Ooooh I went to Nunney Castle a few years ago and nearly fell in the moat trying to take a photo! Happy Days!
ReplyDeleteElora looks right at home there, and the photos of your children with the fuzzypeg are wonderful; what a great treat, even if they do have to wear oversized gloves to handle them!
Its a pretty little castle isn't it... I always used to worry about my little ones falling in the moat when they were younger!
DeleteWhat a great post! Love reading in the castle... what fun - and those little hedgehogs are just too cute! I met one once when I lived in Greece, a brief encounter in an outdoor taverna. We have the comparitively quite enormous porcupine here, I love them, too. Like little alien gnomes waddling around mumbling to themselves, really!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure when whatever is incubating inside you is ready to hatch, you'll catch it, you always do...
Oh I love your description of alien gnome porcupines mumbling away... makes me think of some of Brian Froud's forest folk... fantastic!
DeleteBeautiful creatures hedgehogs. We haven't seen any here for a while. They are on the endangered list I believe now. It's great to see them being well looked after. :)
ReplyDeleteNunney castle. My boy used to love visiting there when he was small and we did quite often as sister used to live in Frome. Great to see you're girls enjoying too. x
Isn't it a small world - the web is so unimaginably vast and yet quite often closer than you think!
DeleteThe hedgehogs are doing great now they are in such knowledgeable and caring hands. Its quite likely my neighbour will let my girls see other rescued creatures too when he is called upon. They do love it!
A blog friend (in Somerset, I think) has a garden full of slugs. She'd be delighted to give the tiggywinkles a home when they are ready.
ReplyDeleteWOL that's really kind, though I think he's got a place sorted for them already this time... I'm afraid the slugs might rule the kingdom a while longer yet!
DeleteCarrie,
ReplyDeleteThis is such a treat for me, a reader from Saskatchewan, Canada to see, and read.
What a wonderful place you live, and how fortunate to visit castles!
The pictures of your girls reading at the castle are lovely!
Good luck with your art, I think you're right that as you enjoy the beauty around you, such as the fragile egg, and the gorgeous flowers, and the lovely times you are spending with your family, that you are recharging, and with time your art will return.
Oh, and these dear, sweet hedgehogs - it's good that they were rescued by your neighbour, and are thriving.
The pictures are beautiful.
I enjoyed reading this so much!
Brenda
aaawwwwwwww
ReplyDeleteI so understand that storing of images & sounds etc, and you are so right worrying over a blank page really does no good. the inspiration & ideas will come when they are ready. I have just come through a fallow time & am now ready to go again. I think our busy minds sometimes need that. LOve the wee hedgehogs, I have yet to see one here in our garden but i do love their snuffling. Wonderful photos x
ReplyDeleteHi Ruthie,
Deleteyes, its a funny thing isn't it the creative spark...
I sat down to try and work on one story in progress last night, and instead an entirely new one sprang up onto the page - one that was very insistent that THIS was what must be written now even though the other is still half way through!