Winding down

Tags

autumn, nature, seasons, video, weather

Rainy grey day today, a reminder that soon, soon, I’ll want to stay indoors for days on end, playing rotisserie in front of the wood stove, rushing through and not around the outside of the barn to get to my studio upstairs. Thinking in muted tones and drinking buckets of tea, layering up in wool sweaters and socks.

Only a week ago I was in the hammock on a beautiful warm, quiet day with that certain something in the air that is no longer summer – not the least an unusual gathering of birdies doing acrobatics over the garden. It took me a long while to realize that I had brought my phone for a change and that it does in fact make videos (because forget taking a still photo of the little speedsters).

Loosen up your painting style

Tags

creativity, inspiration, link love, relax, video

New class by Tara Leaver – check it out if you want to get more playful with your art.

I’ve participated in another of her courses and keep returning for inspiration, as you have unlimited access once you buy it. The Charcoal class is on my list too! Well, right now I’m just waffling through life, but eventually I hope/expect to find a way back to myself and the studio.

Whazzup?

Tags

art, creativity, health, intention, knitting, Painting, relax, seasons, video, weather, winter

Hey there. Once again my sincere apologies for lack of content – I do in fact have some linky things lined up, but thought it would be nicer to spread them out a little in between actual posts.

Inspirations 10

Tags

art, crafts, creativity, inspiration, link love, video

It’s been a while since we had one of these posts! In fact this has been sitting as a draft for a year today exactly. So I’ll release it into the wild with one newly found link as well as the ones I found last year.

Quirky woven baskets

and

Quirky New Chalk Characters

Plastered plants with a How To

Surreal creatures

Japanese spinning tops

A score and a start

Tags

equipment, tools, video, yarn

Thrift shop find: Hand mangle. Lacking its roller, as they often do, because people have used them for wall decorations. So I need to find a longish dowel or pipe at least 5 cm (2″) in diameter to be able to try it out, but for a couple of bucks I thought I just had to get it. And a horse! I don’t know if it’s old or just a copy either, but it’s the first time I see one out of a museum.

A day in the life of

Tags

country life, garden, life, nature, quiet, relax, seasons, spider, summer, tranquility, video, weather, wildlife, wordy wednesday

I’m blogging you today from my garden office, as we’ve suddenly been gifted with summer weather. So much of it in fact that I realize in a minute I’ll have to step inside for shorts and a lighter t-shirt!

Nettle harvest

Tags

country life, crafts, mad science, nature, nettle-along, nettles, plants, ramie, video, weaving

Welcome to the next installment in our nettle-along.

This is what I managed to harvest in July, and it’s time for the next batch. I saved some of the leaves instead of feeding them to the horses, because while I don’t have time for a separate study of how to use the stalks for paper making, I do want to try to make paper and thought, why not add the dry leaves to my mixed materials bin? I’m drying my stalks inside because of the wet weather, I don’t know it that’s really necessary, but I didn’t want them to mold.

Some days I do miss…

Tags

heste, horsemanship, horses, life, relax, video

…working with horses. (My geriatric ponies just want the cookies, tricks are boring.)

Thanks to Katy for this link! To all of us who don’t ride as much as we “should”

Getting on

Tags

blogging, cotton, health, intention, kitten, life, video, winter, wool

I’ve contemplated renaming the blog “Trivialities of common life” or some such, because everything has slowed down so much even my thoughts are frozen.

And I’m beginning to realize that I can’t keep postponing all of my projects until I have space to do them unhindered, because that studio thing is going to take forever and ever to be done. So long that I’m beginning to suspect I won’t be needing it anymore, because I’ll have come to a complete creative standstill, my last remnants of intelligence content to ponder the laundry…

Or I can begin to kick start myself again and try to ignore that the kittens destroy everything I touch. 😉 Oh well, it was worth a shot to minimize house cleaning, but I guess I found out the price is boredom. Time to get messy.

White

Tags

frost, horses, pony, seasons, snow, video, winter

I’ve long been waiting to do some overexposed snow photos, but when we finally had two whole days of the stuff, the flesh just wasn’t willing and with that goes my creativity. The costochondritis aspires to yet higher levels of pain whenever I think I can move around like any other person. Or just out of spite even when I don’t.

Nevertheless, I did promise you a wind free video and this is how long it took me to have another go, so my technical skills haven’t exactly improved yet. 😉 It’s not very interesting, but I felt that just photos were lacking that delightful squeak and crunch of frosty new snow.