Land 7 - " Open Field "

This is the 7th painting in my series inspired by the land here where I live - the others have all been entered in this blog. This one started with drawing onto the canvas the shapes that I saw up in the middle of our top field last summer.  The canvas waited quietly in the studio for some months,  then I put a photo of it onto my ipad, & drawing over that created this 1st version :-

Then last week I finally came to painting it -  well I didnt want just to repeat myself,  & also I worked in acrylics ,  unlike the preceding oil paintings,  so it changed .. I enjoyed the different pace,  no long careful mixing of colours,  the limitation/ attraction of paint drying quickly..  And some surprises as always. The painting travels round the edges of the canvas,  as with most of my paintings.


The title both reminds me of the literal place,  & also that I have experienced shamanic ceremonial work up there, when I and the place have been open to other levels of activity that often remain unseen..
So all blessings  & thanks to the place and the Spirits.

Write a love letter to the Earth ..

This ipad drawing is called  SUN EARTH LIGHT LOVE
I drew it in response to thinking of that moment at dawn when the Sun arrives over the horizon & HITS you with it's light,  with its love & energy...


I have submitted it to the website of a wonderful campaign gathering images for illustrations to get people to write Love Letters to the Earth,  not just cos it is Valentine's day today,  but to express how much each of us cares for the Earth in the run up to the next Earth Summit in Rio.  This is highlighting & raising awareness about inspiring work being done by a wonderful barrister called Polly Higgins  to get the United Nations to recognise Ecocide as the 5th crime against Peace. 


I recommend having a look at all the artists' work from all over the world  there,  & writing a letter ..

http://eradicatingecocide.createsend1.com/t/r/l/dlidurt/njiykthty/w/

go for it !! 

LISTEN TO THE TREES...

The full title of this painting is actually written through the canvas ..  whereby hangs a story..  I thought myself really stuck with this one,  it was hanging in my studio for ages & I knew it wasn't right & yet couldn't see what it needed.  The answer came in a conversation with someone else who commented on sitting in our conservatory last summer  & enjoying hearing the trees.   Mmmm  ... HEARING them... why ..?..      The penny dropped very soon after & made a link  for me which became the title - 


LISTEN TO THE TREES,  THEY HOLD OUR DREAMS


So I painted the text into the painting,  each word in a different place.  here are a couple of close-ups 

iPAD suggests new drawings / paintings ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!  BLESSINGS ALL ..    Its been a while ..  and yes I have joined the ranks of ipad owners. Its quite a surprise,  since I have not been attracted to pursuing my art digitally before,  but when I asked my Spirit helpers last autumn for guidance about my artwork,  they were unequivocal - use an ipad. 
Well I am enjoying it.  I haven't moved beyond the classic 'brushes' app yet,  I know which ones I want to explore next,  but there is so much to try out just within the permutations of this one app for the time being.  As you can see below,  I am very absorbed in building up textures , as well as the playfulness the instantaneous  palette of lovely colours brings.  There are things I cant do with it,  of course,  but having to work within certain constrictions is often inspiring ..
So thank you,  Spirits, this technology has given my drawing a much needed  shot in the arm,  as well as being an interesting way to try things out for actual paintings.


Here are 5 examples, I don't really know whether to call them drawings or paintings.  I would love to know what anyone thinks who reads this - see my email address  at the side of this blog,  or leave a comment..

From a friend's comment this is called "Woolly Jumpers & Celandines"
It came in the doing..

"Riverbank 2" - In this one I was thinking back to walking in a valley in the Cairngorms last autumn

"Stone Movement " - These textures & patterns came from sitting with a stone,  a palm sized pebble,  which sits comfortably in my hand.  It called out to me on a local beach where lots of water was pouring over the sands to reach the sea.  It is teaching me a lot.

"Arriving / Leaving"  -   This one is an image of the feeling of energy leaving me during shamanic work ..  some is leaving,  & other energy is arriving..

"Revealed "  -   A young tree which is teaching me a lot at the moment  was suddenly caught in my torch beam on a dark cloudy night recently.  Our ongoing  conversation is private,  but perhaps this drawing conveys something of that moment of communication.

SEACHANGE

Its been a while since i posted here,  & i find more options,  like writing in these colours ..  in fact I like this one even better.   Especially as I want to share a short sequence of photos I took with my mobile down on the beach yesterday,  these blues feel right.  
October brought rich changes & deep ceremony  to us here.  Blessing the shamanic work we do,  & the place,  the ripples continue to spread.  
 Then a change of gear - happy time with family in Oxford including outstanding music at the Oxford Lieder festival.  A recital by Thomas Allen being one of the musical highlights of my life - quite exceptional - deep, moving, exilerating, funny, being in the presence of a master .
And now November..  after some of those fluey achy days I'm finding my way back to the level of excercise I enjoy,  no steep walks yet,  but that nourishing from pottering at the edge of the sea.
How life changes us,  yet trusting my Spirit Helpers reconnects me  again & again .  May we each  find our right way to allow our hearts to keep opening to receive & give light,  again & again. 

down among the wild flowers

This painting is another in my Land series which I have been posting up here from time to time.

I started it early in the summer 2010, but only finished it earlier this year. It came from spending many visits sitting in amongst the bluebells & greater stitchworts that grow in a bank created by the remains of an iron age hill fort on this land. The weather was kind at that stage of 2010, and I sat out there many times drawing in a little sketchbook - not directly on the canvas that time. The sketchbook then inspired the little drawings drawn onto the flower shapes in the painting. During my series of visits out there the flowers began going over, becoming seed heads, & the next plants in nature's cycle were thrusting up past them - grasses, sorrells & the bracken which eventually dominates that area for the rest of the summer.

I wanted to convey the feeling of the layers of teeming life & colour there being drawn up from the earth by the sun. At that point it was a place to go & rest & recharge my batteries, which I was very grateful for. Looking at it now brings back the sense of that place.

TAKE CARE OF THE LITTLE ONES..

I took these photos on my mobile on a recent holiday with my partner on the beautiful Lleyn peninsular in North Wales. We were sitting at the back of the beach on our 1st afternoon there, & looking around me I saw so many little feathers, & I felt a gut need to do something in response..

So I found myself gathering some & standing them in the sand, totally engrossed in following my intuition..

As this little place took shape, I kept hearing in my head " TAKE CARE OF THE LITTLE ONES " .

As I finished it, putting the seaweed round the edge to mark the boundary of this little place, I understood that it was a little shrine. A little marker , tucked up at the back of the beach, just below high tide mark ; a message for me, a message for anyone who might explore there too in the next hours while the sea crept its way back up the long sands. The tide was big that day, there was plenty of time.

And so I share it with you - TAKE CARE OF THE LITTLE ONES - whoever they are around you today. Little people, little plants, little trees, little crawling, walking, climbing, flying ones, small or young or old ones, take that extra moment to take care. Let them touch your heart & teach you, as these little feathers did me.

And I thank all the Spirits who love us, who are just waiting to take care of us, each time we ask for their help.