I know a quiet place

I know a quiet place, that I love to go to and walk the dog. If you go at the right time, you can have the place to yourself.You can walk for an hour and not see anyone, which is really how I like it.There is something about the woods that I find very soothing, I feel at home there, no matter what the weather. Right now things are springing up like crazy, the yellow oil seed rape has flowered so brilliantly in just one week. I have sat very still in this place and seen deer cross the path, and watched a hare creep out from the long grass, even with the dog nearby. We have planted a tree in this place, for my nephew, who was killed 2 years ago now, knocked down and run over by a young driver, who lost control on a bend. I go back to check it's doing ok, and there it is, bright green leaves, that stand out amongst the background, it looks wonderful, I hope it grows up big and strong, with lots of conkers on!
So I will let you have a sneaky peak at my lovely quiet place, I hope you enjoy the views, and my little tree.
Happy Easter Everyone, Sun is still shining, hooray!

Screenprinting weekend

I have next weekend booked at the West Yorkshire Print Workshop, to do a screenprinting course with Claire Caulfield. I am really looking forward to this. I hope to be able to create a print, over the weekends course.?(fingers crossed)  I have some ideas of the things I would like to do, with influences from several artists that I admire. I doubt I can do something so wonderful to start with, but it's a start. I bought the book in the photos with my birthday funds, Angie Lewin shows some of her gorgeous work, I love seeing the woodblocks as well.It's interesting to see the sketches she has done alongside the finished prints.
 I took some photos of plants and seed heads last Autumn and I also love the work of Sally Elford. So I hope to do some sketching this weekend, that I might be able to use on the course. Hope you like the ideas, I will update with my sketches etc as I hopefully progress. This is something different for me, and it's quite an exciting diversion!

Walk on the wild side

Hello there, Ive been taking a few days off from working, got the decorating done, Hooray. Also been on some lovely sunny walks, the weather is just amazing right now, it's just my kind of weather, as it's not incredibly hot, but it is lovely. We managed a walk in the Dales on Monday, and I was delighted to hear Skylarks  soaring and singing and lapwings making those lovely warbly sounds that seem so typical of the moorlands. I did record a Skylark, but I can't fathom how to put it on the blog, so There are just a couple of photies instead. If anyone reads this and knows what to do to put a movie on, then do let me know? Hope you have enjoyed the sunshine too.

This is above Starbotton on the way back to Kettlewell.

Sunshiny Day

Well, what a fantastic weekend of weather. It has been so beautiful, and today I actually managed to lie in the sun and watch the clouds drift by. It just couldn't be missed, so I sneaked half an hour, the birds were twittering all around, and those lovely cirrus clouds drifted above. Butterflies fluttered past, and my thoughts turned to lovely sweet treats as you can see in my Illustrations. I do love an ice-cream, after a lovely walk somewhere in the wonderful Yorkshire countryside, what could be better. Hope you like the artwork, I thought I should put more of it on my blog, as I do have Illustration in my title. It also ties in with the theme of this months 'Being Creative' title on Julia Crosslands blog.(Desserts) So I shall post these there too.
Painting of a different kind next week I think, the Decorating beckons. Hopefully it won't take too long! Famous last words.

Bye for now, hope you had a sunshiny day.

Mothers day (a bit late) and Auriculas

Hello again,

I am a little late showing my Mothers Day card, but I was absolutely delighted with this, as I think it's the first year this was totally unprompted. I know the cards children do when they are young, at school etc are so fantastic and are to be treasured forever, but I love this card my son bought for me. He seems to like paperchase and the cards they have, and I'm really pleased with his choice, so being very chuffed I thought I would put it on my blog, to show everyone. Hope you like it.

I am also putting some photos of the tiny little auriculas that have now flowered. I put them on a dark background to show them off. They are the first flowers on plants grown from seed, as I mentioned before. I'm hoping when I pot them on, they may produce stronger flowers next year, but I think they are quite sweet just as they are anyway. I have lots of seedlings too, Hollyhocks, cosmos and scabious, which I'm hoping will bring further delightful blooms later in the year. Talking of delightful blooms, I couldn't resist a photo of these beautiful narcissus, (think that's what they are) they are so sunny and bright, just like the weather at the moment.