The Colours of Days

Hello Friends!

November sits, suspended midway between the glory days of Autumn and  the bone chilling cold of Winter; a no man's land of dull November grey when all the vibrant leaves of orange, yellow and red have fallen from the trees and branches brown hang down, empty, dull and bare, against a leaden sky where December snow has yet to form.

Light is scarce in the sky, a dull grey gloom wraps itself around the horizon and wild clouds scud across the sky.  Cracks in the clouds let slivers of silver light push through, a reminder of what once was, and a promise of what is yet to come.  Houses, curtains tightly drawn across windows, glow with light, beacons that guide us home.

We have time to stand and stare.  Our harvests are gathered home. We are ready for the winter hibernation that will come.  Let the season of hygge commence!

 

Wrapped up warmly against the chill and bitter wind, wearing our mittens and scarves, woolly hats and chunky Fair Isle socks, we take brisk, invigorating walks out into the Welsh countryside.  

Berry picking time is over. There is nothing left to harvest now other than a scant handful of late fruits that we leave for the wildlife, for the birds, for the squirrels, for the mice.  

If we are lucky, there are piles of leaves dry and crunchy through which we stomp and kick. But in this November gloom the rain has fallen hard. The spent leaves are a squishy squashy mess of muddy brown. Are they not in decay? No!  They are making the food for next year's plants.  The Circle of Life rolls on 

Soon , much sooner than we realise it will be December. The snows will come and all will look different again, dusted in powdery white.

And so the seasons turn.  The days that not so long ago were warm with summer sun, now cold and chill us to the bone with withering winds.  The time has come to withdraw inside. Let us sit by the fire cosy and warm with books and hot chocolate for our companions.  

My friends I have been doing more art. Here is my latest effort by an online course offered twice a year by the renowned Danish artist Ida Anderson Lang, called Wish Upon A Star. 

Until next time

Stay safe. Stay well.

Debbie xx

It Shouldn't Be So!

 

November days have come and gone,

The light of summer spent,

The winter solstice fast approaches

And Christmas, too, is nigh.

 

Well my friends, the weather is atrocious. This first photograph was taken on this week in 2016. What a difference! If it wasn't for the tree being so bare it could be a beautiful summer or spring morning, but no, this was taken in late autumn six years ago. 

Fast forwarding to the present and I cannot state strongly enough how much I am already fed up with the hand dealt to us by the weather this past week.   It's been wild, wet and windy every day, with those dreaded little black circles on the weather map indicating winds constantly well over 45 and 50 miles an hour, torrential downpours, and plenty of hail.  It certainly hasn't been weather for going outside, and the two lovely people who have been helping me with my garden I've had to cancel for it is not fit for man nor beast out there.

 

Appalling weather aside, all is not well in the garden. Things are in bloom and flowering that shouldn't be for a few more months yet, in fact they shouldn't be in flower until May or June.  As for finding strawberries in fruit I think that's unheard of.  this is the price we are paying for climate change.  Everything is out of kilter everywhere.

Here are just four photos of things that should not be in flower now. Violets, Verbena bonariensis, a neighbour's Cordyline palm, and some strawberries.  Madness, utter madness!

On a happier note, the pink camellia seems to be absolutely chock full of blooms, I don't think I've ever seen so many so come January and February I'm hoping it's going to be spectacular!  The buds are plentiful and look healthy and strong.

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well

Debbie xo

Spot the Spider

Hello friends

No, not a game, that's its name, Spot the Spider.  LoL.

Those of you who know the size of the Sycamore seeds will appreciate the miniature size of Spot the Spider who appears in the first photo.

Both of these photos are very pleasing to me because they have that natural bokeh effect which I enjoy and it's all the more rewarding when it occurs naturally as it does in these two images.

My latest online art course is another one hosted by the brilliantly accomplished fine artist, Ida Andersen Lang, from Denmark, who specialises in using watercolour pencils in her art.

I think I'm going to be a little while longer before I finish this piece so I'm sharing a snap of it in progress today. I'll be doing a more detailed blog soon, when it's finished, showing more of the detail and obviously the finished piece. It's a real challenge for me and one of the reasons why it's taking me a lot longer is it's my first A3 piece. 

I have had some very positive feedback on this painting, not only from my peers but also from Ida herself!!! I confess when I read what she said I had a bit of a squee moment!!!

The weather here in the west continues to be abysmal. We are constantly getting winds now of 40 miles an hour and we have had torrential rain, sufficient to mean that a hose pipe ban was lifted on the 25th of October, mind I can't see anyone wanting to use a hose pipe to water their garden at the moment with all the rain we've been getting. It's gone from the sublime to the ridiculous.

To try and keep warm without turning up the thermostat, I have just bought myself one of those oversized hoodies in a teddy bear fleece. It seems to do the job. Last night I actually got warmer than I'd been in a long time. However, the downside is I do look rather like a pink version of Uncle Fester. Then, if you're keeping warm, do you really care what you look like if nobody else can see you? However, before anyone asks, I will take the jump on this and say no, there will not be any photographs.

This morning I had my flu injection so will be taking it easy for the rest of the day and sitting mostly at my painting desk.

Until next time
Stay safe stay well
Debbie xoxo

Pumpkins Galore!

Hello friends!

Warning. If you don't like pumpkins, look away now!!!

Once again, it's Autumn and pumpkin season is upon us. My friend owns a sunflower farm, which at this time of year becomes a pumpkin patch farm. I'll be putting a link in later if you're able to go, but I know for most of you will it will be impossible.  I'm sure you'll find your own wonderful attractions near where you are.

Imagine my delight to be able to photograph some freshly harvested local grown pumpkins on a warm Autumn afternoon. I jumped at the opportunity. Those of you who know me well, know I have a bit of a thing about pumpkins. The more patterns and the gnarlier, the better!!  These are beauties. The varieties here are: Turks Turban, Harvest Moon, Sweet Lightning, Harlequin, Crown Prince, Casparita, and Kabocha.  

Could anything be more versatile? Firstly, you decorate with them. Secondly, in my case, you paint them. And thirdly, you eat them, turning them into delicious soup, stews, breads, pies, risotto. And more. My friend says they make excellent crisps, or chips depending which side of the Atlantic you're on!

Before I forget, here's the link to the Facebook page, which has all the details if you are in the area and wish to visit.  Pembrokeshire Pumpkin Farm.  There's loads of seasonal attractions. A haunted barn. A hay bale trail. And other things to do besides picking out beautiful pumpkins to decorate or eat.

Here are my photos. The first batch are taken with my Panasonic. DMC FZ45. The second batch which follow that are all square are taken on my phone.

Taken with my phone

Well, my friends, I hope you've enjoyed the trip around the pumpkins. I hope to get more photographs again. There are long lasting fruit and it's nice to take advantage of the different levels of sun light at this time of year. Also, they'll be popping up in my seasonal decorations, which I'll share later.

How do you like to use pumpkins? Do you use them just for decorating or purely for culinary purposes? Do you have a favourite recipe? Are you like me? Your pumpkins will be decorating your home from now until the end of November. I'd love to know.

Until next time. 
Stay safe, stay well.

Debbie.

Surprise!

Hello Friends!

Long time no see, but I'm going to give blogging a go again.  Little bit of housekeeping first of all.

1.  I apologise to anyone who has legitimately wanted to comment, but day after endless day I spent far too much time deleting spam.  I know many of you will understand, but it undermined my taking a break.

2.  I had to fiddle with Blogger, didn't I?  In doing so, I may have inadvertently unfollowed rather a lot of you, so if you read this, please leave a short "hello" to help me reconnect.

3.  Update on me.  As some of you who kindly kept in touch know, it's been a long, rough winter as I suffered many weeks of side effects to my medications.  Thankfully, I was over the worst by early February, but I still suffer from extreme tiredness.  Naturally, that is impacting severely on my day to day life.  I find myself experiencing sudden onset of going to sleep.  I sit down for a cup of tea and next thing I'm waking up two hours later.  This is not funny, it is very inconvenient and often I wake up in the arm chair after midnight, shivering with cold.

Onwards!

With low energy I haven't been going out very often.  Also, I have no walking buddy and so until this is resolved my witterings won't include much in the way of new photographs. 

This year, I did take part in the annual ICAD Daisy Yellow art challenge and was honoured to be invited to join a small, online group of sixty members taking part.  It's been my happiest, most productive ICAD experience ever!  It took me a week to find my stride, but then one of the other creative spirits introduced us to Neurographic Art practice and I flew with it!  

Here are my first week of cards, while I was following prompts

ASTERISK

PEONY

LABYRINTH

KEY {KEYSTONE}

FLAMINGO or PINK

DAYDREAM {Wales qualify for the FIFA World Cup}

ROOT

Then, I was introduced to Neurographic Art and took off running.  If you would like to find out more, there's plenty of information and examples on line, but here's my first week of exploring this new to me concept, it's the second week of ICAD.

My very first go

This was done using my non dominant hand, which also has the worst tremors.  You can see the difference, with more jagged edges and less smoothness.  There are some interesting shapes developing to which I can attribute personal meaning.  Consequently I decided not to colour it in, as not everything in my life is black and white now.  I can't go into more detail as it's too raw and personal.

Do you like them?  Do you have a favourite one?  It's no secret that I had the most fun ever this year, and it's the first year I actually completed on time!  I'm now doing another online art challenge, set by Rachel Greig, but more about that another time.  Oh, and I won a seat on Robin Sturis's "Flow and Line" art course too!

One of the last walks I managed to accomplish was a carefully paced stroll around the Cathedral at Easter.  I hadn't been there in two years due to both the pandemic restrictions and being poorly.  However, I wanted to see the Lilies of Remembrance which used to be at Christmas.  The list of names I submit is growing longer each passing year. 

I hope I haven't detained you, and that you've enjoyed my pictures.  I'll share more of ICAD next time!  

Until then, I hope everyone is doing well and life is being as kind to you as it can be in these strange days of continuing Covid, rising prices, and global climate issues.

Debbie xoxo