The circles - paintings

Circle Paintings

Beauty

The whole idea of paintings involving circles, came from japanese cartoons of geisha girls, with little bobble circle-headed bobs.  Only once I drew the head on the page, the rest of the illustration morphed into something quite different.

The first, was based round flowers,
the second, was butterflies,
the third, (a favourite) was a fox and the full moon,
the forth, a peacock.

Freedom



Mystery

I was very lucky to have the first three painting accepted into a local art gallery exhibition, at 'The Art House' - Southampton.....which was both nerve wracking and an absolute delight too.  Opening night was fantastic, to see all the amazing creative work that people had put together, and of course I had my wonderful family and friends there to support me.

As I progress with the ideas, the pictures and the painting of them, I'm noticing a conveying of myself through painting....in short....I now realise I am painting myself, and strangely that makes it easier and more difficult to paint. 

Wonder

Never the less, the progression through paint is in full flow, abeit minor interuptions through moving house.  I'm still hooked into painting these circles, and as long as the world continues to fascinate me, there will always be a picture ready to be painted.

Exx

New House, new beginnings

I've barely had time for all my usual creative antics....including blogging, and I'm sure much will be the same for at least the next month or so......as I'm moving house!

I'd forgotten the stress that is all involved, but hey I know thats it's all about experiencing what life has to throw at you, and then coming back stronger.  It's also difficult as another child is flying the nest at the same time, I both relish the freedom and find it tough letting go.
The future definately looks good from here though, lots of things have started to take shape, and be more prominent in my life over the past few years, such as creating, and more predominately drawing and painting, not to mention the photography.....I haven't got to worry, and office come craft room is being planned.

Here's some pics of the the place so far, we've been lucky to have the place a month before we move, that way we can try and get some work done to it, before we are in.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wytch/sets/72157631077852090/

There will be more pics to come, I've got a whole front and back garden to plan, build and plant. 
Got the plans already drawn up...summer house, fire pit, wildlife pond, kitchen garden, herb garden, a living willow meditation pod......plus there is room for a little guerilla gardening out the back.

So lots of change, lots of magic, and lots of gratitude for being given this opportunity.

Exx

Seaweed Pressing

Seaweed Pressing

My piece, before pressing

I signed up for this rather interesting sounding workshop, not knowing really what to expect.  I've done a fair amount of flower pressing in my time, but certainly not seaweed.  The only thing I used to do with seaweed, is bring it back home as a child, when we had been to the beach for the day. Why? Well to be able to forecast the weather of course, but I don't remember it ever working!!

The workshop was held at Lepe Country Park, and run by a local artist Jane Cartwright.  In a portacabin classroom we were introduced to the art of seaweed pressing, and shown that just like land plants, seaweed has it's seasons.  Jane had a folder of various pressed seaweeds, and it showed the sorts of seaweeds we could expect to find each month.  The autumn and winter pieces were a lot darker in colour, browns and reds. When you started moving into the spring and summer months, reds, purples and acid greens were in abundance.

So after being given our short introduction we all headed out to the beach, and up onto the spit, thankfully the weather was holding.  Each of us had small containers to collect interesting seaweeds that caught our eye.  Obviously the only seaweed we were allowed to pick was drifting and not attached to anything, or rooted in the seabed.

I was really amazed to find that there were so many different types, shapes, and colours, all within one tiny area of the shallows.  I collected as many different pieces as I could, emptying the pot several times as I went, as often wildlife was hooked up in the seaweed.

So back off then to the classroom, for the art to begin.  No sooner than we all piled in and sat down, did the heavens open, flashes of lightning, claps of thunder, torrential rain and hailstones, I think we timed our foraging venture just perfectly!!

Jane showed us then how to create art from seaweed, just with some simple tools - some small knitting needles, some mesh, a tray, watercolour paper, and a glass jar of seawater.  The mesh was placed over the tray, and watercolour paper on top, then a pipette was used to drop a very small amount of water onto the paper....this would allow you to move the seaweed about on the paper with relative ease.  So that's what happened next, a piece of chosen seaweed was placed on the paper in the water droplets and the knitting needles were used to tease the seaweed into the desired shape, obviously the more natural it looked, the better.  It was explained that seaweed doesn't stay in form for very long, out of the water, and within an hour would start to disintegrate....so you had to work fairly quickly.  Once you had your seaweed placed as you liked, you could drain off the excess water,  into the tray, and it was ready for pressing.  This is where it is exactly like flower pressing.  Some nice thick sheets of blotting paper were used, in the press, and once screwed down it is left for 6 weeks. After which you then have wonderful, underwater art.

I'm looking forward to picking my pieces up, but in the meantime I'm going to have another go at this art.

Exx

Land Art Day

Land Art Day

Don't ask me where I got the idea from....it just popped into my head, the evening before.  A day of land art creating, but doing it on the move, so there was a trail.  I planned a trip to Southampton, but not a direct route and the trail had to be circular. I decided I would walk, bus, then ferry, walk a lot more, and then finally catch a train home....I didn't want to use the same external mode of transport twice, or more. 

So packed my camera bag up and set off in the morning, I started off in my local town and visited 3 different places here.  I created 5 pieces in total in this area before moving on.

No.1 Oak Star - Oak leaves and Ornamental Cherry berries (Eling Rec), this wasn't too difficult to plan and make, as I already had the idea in my head.

No.2 Grass Spiral - Grass on grass (Goatee Field), would have love to make this a lot bigger, but the grass was too spread out!

No.3 Beach Rings - Shingle (Goatee Beach), this was harder than it looked, as the shingle wouldn't stay put! It was difficult to photograph too, as there wasn't much contrast.  I did like this one and would have loved to make it bigger!

No.4 Sticks and Fir - Sticks & Fir (Rum Walk), this was a tricky one to do, I had no plan and the ground, although wet, was still quite solid.  Graced with the presence of a Kingfisher, whilst making this.

No.5 Snaking Leaves on a wall- Leaves (Rum Walk), this was simple to do, and I would have loved to make this more elaborate but, there wasn't the room, and it was tricky to photograph too.

I then took a short bus trip to Hythe to pick up the ferry.

No.6 Rose of Sharon Mandala - Rose of Sharon leaves and flowers (Hythe Marina), this was quite easy as the colours the bush provided, gave me the idea.  This was the first piece of land art create in a BUSY environment, plenty of quizzical looks, appreciative ones too though, I'm glad to say.

I then enjoyed a 10 minute ferry trip to Southampton, the weather and visibility was good, so it was a really nice voyage.

No.7 Geranium, Cherry & Bindweed Mandala - Leaves of all 3 plants (ruins of Holyrood Church, Southampton), this one kind of created itself, and the contrast in colours was good.  The only problem was trying to get it to stay put, as the breeze kept lifting the leaves up.

I then headed for Southampton city parks.

No.8 Stick Pyramid - Sticks (Hogland's Park), this was one of the hardest to create!  There was nothing much in the way of plants in this park, lots of trees, and lots of fallen branches and sticks.  So I set about collecting them, whilst trying to see if I could conjure something up. As they were led out on the ground, Jenga sprang to mind, so I set about building a tower....which soon changed into a pyramid.  I can't tell you how many times I got close to finishing this, and then the whole thing would collapse,  I would have to start all over again.  Still, I made it in the end, standing about 70cm high.

No.9 Pebble Stick - Pebbles (Houndwell Park), this was small compared with the last one, but just as tricky.  This too was made over, and over, and over, until the right points of balance were found.  This stood about 20cm.

No. 10 Daisy Wreath - Daisies & tree debris (Houndwell Park), this was another that made itself.  I tried to fan the tree debris out into a circle, but it was too messy, so I went with the messiness.  I built a nest!! I wasn't sure what to do next, but my eyes were caught by the beautiful daisies all around.  I pick them, and placed them randomly around what was becoming a wreath.  All done and pretty as a picture.

No.11 Yellow Loosestrife Mandala - Yellow Loosestrife and other bedding plants (East Park), this was a hard one to do, because I couldn't visualise it.  I had collected the materials, but it wasn't really saying anything to me.  Managed to accomplish though.

No, 12 Yellow Sunflower - Leaves from a tree (yet unidentified, they looked like Laurel, but it wasn't) (East Park), I loved creating this one, and I think it shows.  Found lots of fallen leaves from a tree, and they were either brown or yellow, so I collected lots of each.  I felt an impulse to create a brown circle, to which I immediately started fanning out the yellow leaves, around the brown, and Voila - a sunflower.  This mandala was about 1m across.

I was well and truly hungry, hot and thirsty by this point, so I took a break and went and had some rather yummy lunch at the Art House.  Refuelled and refreshed I travelled on...only one park left before the train station.

No.13 Lime Tree Mandala - Leaves & flowers of a Lime tree (Watts Park),  this was a nice little mandala to make, as it all came from one tree....yet there was a contrast in colours.  The acid green and yellow leaves and flowers, made this quite a zesty mandala.  Had a Red Amiral butterfly on my arm for a few moments, whilst making this mandala.

No.14 Fuchsia Pentagram - Fuchsia and other bedding plants (Watts Park), this was another difficult one for me.  I tried several different placements with the materials, before giving up trying to make it round.....it obviously didn't want to be round!! It wanted to be a pentagram!  This was the last one made in Southampton.

I headed for the train station, bought my ticket and jumped straight on the train, which was waiting to take me back home.  The ride home gave me the time time reflect on the days events.  After I departed the train and walked the rest of the way home, I realised I had one more piece to make, the piece that would mark the real end of my journey, and also the piece that would make the count 15......I didn't want it to be an even number.

No,15 Mallow, lavender & cotoneaster mandala - Mallow, lavender, cotoneaster and other leaves and flowers (Home - front garden), this was a poignant one to make, because is was the last one, the final piece.  It was possibly the most colourful of them all, due to the fact that I was using garden flowers rather than wild plants......and I join by bees for this one, the colours I guess.

So there it is a rather mad, messy, fun, and challenging day!  I may do it again, but it would have to be a different journey and a different season, I think......

Just before I go....someone in Southampton got in touch and said that they'd seen a little mouse run across and sit dead center of a mini mandala, in Southampton Park.....I wonder if it was one of mine...........
Exx

Summer Moon Lodge

Summer Moon Lodge

Last Sunday's Summer Moon Lodge was beautiful, and so different in feel to the spring one.  It is held in the roundhouse at the Minstead Study Centre, and ran by a good friend, Heidi. 

She opens the circle......a fire is lit inside and we are all sat around it, a circle of women, being led through a beautiful guided visualisation. 

Afterwards we learn about the 'mother' aspect of the goddess, and of the goddesses Isis and Mother Mary and their roles as mothers and nurturers, and we all had a chance to talk about how this aspect effects us...our thoughts and sometimes emotions.  It is always interesting to find that although we are all different, there are a lot of common understandings and feelings between us...linking us.  The fact that all women have the ability to mother whether we can have children or not, for mothering can mean a great many things...like caring for those in a community, nurturing the earth, loving animals etc.  Also that it is important to look after ourselves....to give to others, means we must also give to ourselves! Certainly made me think!

A joined healing session followed, as we stood in a circle holding hands, we sent out love and healing to all.  The feeling inside the roundhouse was amazing, there was an intensity, a generating of power. Afterwards was just as powerful...we were asked to hug a person standing next to us, and see if we were better at giving or receiving.  It was quite an emotional exercise, and most people said that they felt that, 'when you give, you receive also'.....it certainly felt the case for me.

We moved outside for a beautiful chanting session under the slowly setting sun, followed by a hypnotic and rhythmic drumming session. We were taught a Senegalese drumming song and the story behind it.  Each different type drum and drummer had a different beat to play, and when put all together, it was mesmerising.  I could feel my body pulsing with the beats, I just wanted to abandon the drum, and get up and dance, and afterwards I found I wasn't the only one!!!

We broke then for herbal teas and home made biscuits (orange crunch full moons & chewy date and honey flapjacks - made by me).

I did a bit then, on foraging, and what is available now, to eat for free.

Last, but not least was story telling, and we were transported off to the world of myth and magic.  Delighting in the tale of an old midwife, whose good deeds and kindness given to all, were repaid in full and then some, and she was able to out her last years in in comfort.

Before the close of the circle we were treating to some lovely and haunting flute playing, and also some fantastic hang playing too.

The end of the evening came all too quickly and the circle was drawn to a close. 

It was an amazing evening and an interesting journey.  There were lots of laughs and hugs, love and happiness.....and gratitude....gratitude to all who to part, to make the evening what it was, and gratitude to Heidi for making it all happen.

Exx

So looking forward to the next one, in Autumn.

Food for Free

Food for Free

There really is food for free, if you know what you're looking for, and once you do you'll find that there is food everywhere!!
Many of these plants have been used widely over the centuries, for food and their medicinal qualities, but have fallen out of favour in our modern times...giving way to heavily farmed and processed foods.

I've always been lucky enough to live in rural environments, and love surrounding myself with the natural greenery, but I've often wondered what all these wonderful are and how they can help us.

So I decided this afternoon, to explore a short woodland walk, and see just how many plants could be foraged in such a small area.  These are my findings.....

- Elderflowers
- Greater Plantain
- Fat Hen/Lambs Quarters
- Wild Strawberries
- Daisies
- Ox Eye Daisy
- Good King Henry
- Field Poppy
- Dog Rose
- Hedge Mustard
- Dandelion
- Red Clover
- Stinging Nettle
- Sow Thistle
- Herb Bennet
- Comfrey
- Lungwort

18 in all, that's not bad,and only 5 mins from my door..... a lot of these are growing alongside the pavement too.
There are a few surprise ones as well, that I found that I could eat from my garden..

- Campanula Flowers ( Canterbury Bells)
- Fushia Flowers, and the berries when they are ripe and squishy
- Violet, Pansy, Day Lily and Nasturtium flowers.

There are many books and websites with lots of information on this subject, and it's so important to get the right identification, before using.  Lots of these plants look very similar, and choosing the wrong one, could make you very ill.

One of my favourites, which is in abundace at this time of year, is Fat Hen.  It appears practically everywhere, on exposed land, and close to humans.  It has been around since prehistoric times, and the seeds were found in the stomach of  'Tolland Man' (whose perfectly preserved corpse was found in a bog in Denmark).  It is very closely related to spinach and can be used in the same way....last year I made a Fat Hen and cheese tart, it was delicious!!  It contains more iron and protein than either cabbage or spinach, and more vitamin B1 and calcium than raw cabbage.

Another amazing and plentiful plant is Dandelion.
We mostly know this plant as a gardener's nightmare, but it has a great many uses and properties....
All parts of the dandelion are edible, apart from the seeds, though most people only know about eating the leaves.  The plant is rich in vitamins A and C, also high in potassium, as well as high levels of protein, carbohydrates, calcium, iron, manganese, and fibre.  The leaves can be quite bitter unless they are really young, or picked after a hard frost (blanching can alleviate a lot of the bitterness).  The leaves are often used in salads, or in place of salad leaves, in sandwiches.  The root can be picked and dried in an oven, then ground down to a powder, this then is used to make beverages, much like coffee.  Be warned, this plant is also a diuretic.

Dandelion health benefits:
1) Cancer: Dandelion root extract is unique, and is one of the only things found to help with chronic myelomonocytic Leukemia and It is effective in treating Breast Tumors

2) Detoxification of vital organs: Because of the diuretic abilities of dandelion root, it is beneficial for flushing out the Liver, Kidneys and Gallbladder. İt works great to purify the blood and cleanse the system. This also makes it a good herb for Fighting İnfections.
It is also used for Arthritis, Osteoarthritis , Gout and Rheumatism

3) Dandelion tea actively ameliorates disease—it is a potent disease-fighter—and helps the body heal, helps Boost İmmunity and Heart Disease, and age-related Memory Loss.

4) Treating Anemia: Because of the high content of iron in dandelion root, it is beneficial for building red blood cells in the body to treat anemia.

5) Treating Diabetes: Dandelion root has been shown to lower blood sugar levels in patients. In Europe, it's used to treat Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes.

(taken from Organic Gardening web page)
 

These of course are only two examples of nature's abundant larder, free for the taking.  I hope this inspires you to go looking for yourselves....

....as a footnote if you do fancy a little forage
Some DO's and DON'T's

- It's illegal to uproot any wild plant, without authorisation
- It's illegal to disturb or collect plant material around any protected species of plant
- Only take what you need
- Foliage, flowers and fruit are the parts ok to forage
- Respect the environment, leave it as you found it, and do not disturb the wildlife.
- Only forage what you are absolutely sure about, if in doubt...leave it!! There are some very poisoness plants out there.
- Avoid areas and/or plants that are known to have been sprayed with weedkillers or similar
- Only pick from healthy plants, and always wash them.
- Always follow the given, correct information about preparing your foraged finds.  Some plants have to be cooked/prepared before consumption.
- Always try a new food in moderation, you never know whether you might have a reaction to it.

Happy foraging folks!!!

My Solstice Day

3.15am the alarm went off, and in that instant I asked myself 'Was I insane, to be getting up at warp time'? Especially as the weather was stormy!! I wasn't going to let that stop me, so up I got. Quick bit of running around and gathering things up, before I picked up a lift with a really good friend. Seaward we were bound....Calshot Castle, with a view out to the east. We knew there was little chance of seeing an actual sunrise, but that didn't matter, it was the being there.
So windswept and blown about we made our way up to the castle and waited. After a few moments there was a definite brightening on the horizon, in the dark blue and grey sky, a hazy dome was rising up from the sea. The light filtering through the clouds gave a strange half light, making everything look otherworldly. Although there was no visible sun, it was still very beautiful, and felt very powerful. I looked out to sea and watched the choppy waves create shapes and forms, mermaids sprang to mind, and as I watched, I felt I was being watched back. When I spoke to my friend of the mermaids, she was amazed, as she had been thinking the same thing.
As the sun rose the wind dropped and waters calmed. We walked on down the stony beach and made our way out on to a spit, to the most easterly point we could. At the end of the spit we paid our tribute to solar energies, by creating two very distinct stone mandalas on the sandy ground.
After some time of contemplation we slowly made our way back, stopping twice to gather some rather eye catching driftwood.
A picnic breakfast rounded off the morning venture, Yogi teas, wild strawberries, raw balls, and salad wraps....it was the perfect finish. It such a lovely experience, and a very relaxed way to wake up to the day ahead.
Later on that day I created a space in the garden for my driftwood. It reminded me of a totem pole, so of course I had to have it standing. A spot was found, a hole dug, it was a perfect fit. So after filling in, I planted Nigella around it, and covered the topsoil in blue slate....my second creative tribute to the sun.
Once out in the garden, it was hard to stop. So I managed planting out quite a few plants, including two Willows. Tired and hungry, I came back indoors, and finished the day off with a lovely meal.
It was a beautiful and blessed day.