I've got mail!

I love to see something in the post with this big gold stamp from the UK on it...

This is the third print I've purchased from an artist whom I've never met

but feel a kindred spirit to...

I spoke the other day of the famous naturalist / botanical artist Anna Maria Sybilla Merian

who was able to bring to life the world around her through her paintings.

I have the same thoughts about Val.

Her way of capturing the natural beauty of the flora and fauna

 of  Britain is stunning and gentle.

Just look at this lovely print I just received of a Thrush...

My photos don't do it justice but believe me, it's even more beautiful in real life.

The colours, the texture, the expression in the birds eye and the light are what call to me...

She's also making beautiful little books and woodcut prints which are all available in her etsy shop .

I have the perfect vintage frame that I'm going to put it in.

Thanks Val!

(p.s she also has a blog you can follow here )

 



Song for Friday...classic!

This morning I was waiting in the dentist office, catching up on all the latest

U.K gossip in 'Hello' magazine.

There on one of the pages was a photo of three music legends.

Paul McCartney, Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart.

They were posing at the wedding of Ronnie Wood to his new 34 year old wife.

He's 66.

Good on ya Ronnie!

Most know him from being part of The RollingStones but

Rod and Ronnie have known each other for 50 years and go way back to

the days of The Small Faces, The Faces and Ronnie Wood

played on the classic Rod Stewart album 'Every Picture Tells a Story', released in 1971.

In fact co wrote this song.

This is one of my 'desert island' albums that I couldn't live without!

So congrats to them all for making it through the crazy world of the music biz.

Have a great weekend all!!





                                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9GaFZw-czY 



Fields of gold...

I've taken you here before...

...just past this tree, down a little trail...

I come here mostly in the summer on bright, warm mornings but today

it's the spring weather that beckons my pal Regina and I with the dogs

down to the Sherringham Point lighthouse...the other post is here

 ...the only lighthouse actually ON Vancouver Island.

All others are on rocky islets off of the main island. 

This morning we are blessed to have spotted a few fields of gold in the distance...

Long ago I imagine the Lighthouse Keepers wife planting these around her house...

...to brighten up her world after a winter of fierce wind and rain

crashing up on these rocky shores...

Sadly the original house is gone now and the dreaded Scotch broom is threatening

to take over the fields.

Years ago Tom and I picnicked in the open here with views of the Juan de Fuca straights

but since a road was put here, the broom has taken hold.

Last year marked the 100th anniversary of this historic place and I only

hope that we can do some broom bashing and try to bring the meadows back

so next spring the daffodils will have room to spread.



Wordless Wednesday...bottoms up at the bird bath!



A true pioneer...

Have you noticed today's Google homepage?

Here in Canada, at least, there is a beautiful naturalist doodle to

celebrate the 366th birthday of this woman...

Her name was Anna Maria Sybilla Merian.

Born in Germany in 1647.

Truth be told I had never heard her name although I've probably seen her work

being a lover of botanical and zoological illustrations.

Not only was she a gifted artist documenting for the first time many creatures and their life cycles...

...but who also travelled to far away lands, living amongst the native people and

even advocating for human rights in the slave populations of South America.

Her work was important enough to be quoted many times by known

naturalist Carl Linnaeus, considered the father of zoological classification.

She travelled as a divorced woman, unheard of in her day, with her daughter to these

strange and wild places to seek out what she had been curious about

since she was a girl and to document the natural world around her in great detail.

Her work is a valued addition not only to science but to admirer's of fine

naturalist art...

I have only posted a few of her pieces and only snippets of her fascinating life but

have a look yourself and read about this extraordinary pioneer woman.



Good morning!

Happy Easter everyone and Happy spring!

It is a glorious sunny morning here on the Island and the

dawn chorus was full on this morning...

...robins, woodpeckers, swallows, sparrows, towhees, hummingbirds

going about the business of spring.

My mom has a cockatiel who, although never had a mate,

continues to lay 'blanks'.

She saves them and gives them to me to decorate some of the

many nests I've found during the winter...

 I don't know how but they never get rotten, they just dry out inside

making them a perfect little prop...

here's a few in a felted 'pea green boat' I made for a project some day...

This glass egg is beautiful with the iridescent light cast through it...

My sister-in-law and I found this abandoned nest one winter full of eggs...

And what would Easter be without a bunny?

Hope you enjoy this day with family and friends and welcome

the new world around you.

p.s

When I came in the house after our walk this morning I heard this song

and had to share it with you...a little song for Sunday...

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06gAdro-62E