Well had a rainy Sunday afternoon so that gave me time to finish a few drawings, I seem to be doing more drawing then gardening this summer so far due to the rain we have been getting.

Gathering Moss

Violet The Naturalist

Bee Skep Bear

Having a small heat wave in our part of the woods, so I have moved my little drawing spot either near a window or outside under a tree. Thanks for the great shop update, so now my work is off to some new homes, hope they have a safe trip and will be loved by their new owner. I will have a few more original drawings that are nature inspired to upload today so stay tuned. I have also uploaded and will keep adding pictures and art to my flickr page.

I had to share with you these incredibly cute toys my daughter is collecting, I would have loved these as a kid, well actually I love them now and play with her will she is playing with them!
They are called Calico Critters, I like them because they are sturdy and stand up right, the clothes are well made and cute and the toys themselves represent family and home life, which is lost and forgotten in they toy market today.

Shop Update. I have been enjoying the warm weather and our backyard the past week. While
doing some gardening I found a nice patch of moss near our old maple tree, this moss inspired me to do some drawings while sitting outside listening to the birdsong and the breeze blowing through the trees. Our summer is so short here but well worth the wait, I do enjoy living in a country that has seasons, it seems to regulate my physical and mental self as well.

Here is the drawing called The Moss Bed, I could not resist tucking in these little birds under a blanket of moss.

I have made a few more brass and velvet bow brooches with my artwork cameos available in the shop.

I have been working on a few drawings this week, this is one of a Fox Lady in an elegant Victorian Dress. Since I have watched the movie the Fox and The Child, most of work lately has been of foxes. If you get the opportunity to see this movie I recommend it, I leave it playing on my PC while I am working in my studio, the music and scenery is so wonderful, with lots of nature sounds and sights. I purchased some very nice printmakers paper at the art shop which is what I use now to print my works on. Have a safe and Sunny weekend.

Lately I have been making weekly visits to the library with my daughter, she loves picture books and so do I! I spend lost of time looking through the children's section, I get lots of inspiration from the artwork and illustrations. Here is a copy of Rapunzel that is just so beautiful, the art is such a similar style to French and Italian old masters, I love the fact that this illustrator put a Siamese cat in each of the pictures, fun to look for!

I took a few pictures of some wall arrangements I have played around with, using thrift store frames and white plates, I like the way it looks on my wall.

This was such an amazing vine of star flower clematis I have to take a picture of it, these flowers looked so large and different it was hard to imagine them as real! I spotted this trellis on my dog walk just around the corner from my house. The lady was out in her garden so I asked her what they were! Maybe she uses Miracle Grow!

Here is a few wildflowers that we picked along our trail walk over the weekend, I know one it a Buttercup, not sure about the others.

Had a very nice weekend for outside work around the house, my garden helpers (cats) have been keeping me company while I weed and plant.





I was digging away in my back garden when I hit a stone with my shovel, I thought it was a large rock or something so I dug away and cleaned off the surface and found this circular rock with a sailing ship on it!



Hey they may be a hidden pirates treasure underneath! I will have to get my hubby to lift it up and check, kinda of exciting, my daughter is beside herself with this discovery, fun stuff when you are 6! Not sure where this came from but it is nice and I will leave it where it is, I will have to ask the previous owners of the house about it if I see them sometime.

I have been busy the past week with outside gardening and inside creating in my studio!
Here is a few pics of my front yard little herb garden, I have been adding some found rock in between my plants to keep them from spreading all over, the Lemon Thyme is very large this year so I cut some of and moved it out back, I have Wooley Thyme in there, makes a nice ground cover and smells so good, some Ecinachia, Lavender, and this week I added a small sage plant and cat mint, for the kitties.

I like gardening, I really never thought I would years ago but now I find that being outside and care taking a small area of plants a very meditational process. I have encouraged my daughter to help with planting and tell her about the plants, we got some snapdragons for her to plant, and she really believes that they will open their mouths and bite! We got brave and started a small Vegetable garden in the back yard, nothing like fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, peas and beans! Well the rabbits ate my lettuces! I will try to grow some morning glory vines in the middle of the garden to cover my iron garden fixture.

I added a few new brooches to the shop over the past week, I enjoyed working with the velvet ribbon.