LOVELY ARE THE WOODS IN SPRING ~ THE HIDEOUT

 LOVELY ARE THE WOODS IN SPRING ~ THE HIDEOUT
One month is past, another is begun,
Since merry bells rang out the dying year,
And buds of rarest green began to peer,
As if impatient for a warmer sun;
And though the distant hills are bleak and dun,
The virgin snowdrop, like a lambent fire,
Pierces the cold earth with it's green-streaked spire
And in dark woods, the wandering little one
May find a primrose. Hartley Coleridge
I believe I'm done. 

 

 

 

 

TO CATCH A GHOST

Do Cats See Ghosts? 

Well, I think they do.

Bat and Maggies' New Year's Resolution: To Catch A Ghost and bring it to me. Be it, mouse, bird, bat, or human. : ) 

ANY FRIENDLY GHOST WILL DO, CASPER, GUS, OR MAYBE EVEN THE GHOST OF MR. CHICKEN : ) 🐾🐾.                🐾




👀Remember, these cats have Supernatural Spooktacular Senses: they can hunt anything down, even ghosts!




FOR JANUARY HAPPY CATURDAY THEME: YOUR CATS NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION




HAPPY CATURDAY ❤️🐾🐾          🐾  



Have you seen this movie?

THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN 

HOME ALONE ... I SEE YOU 🙀

Emma set up a camera to watch what the cats do while we are away and when she called him he came to see where she was...no one there
Spooky🙀

WITCHES' BROOM TREE WIP 🧹 OIL PAINTING

I love the trees! 

I love collecting their leaves, their seeds, the conks that I sometimes find on their trunks on my woodland walks and of course taking their photos. 

I also love the illustrations and paintings of trees, particularly the ones done by 19th - century British artists.

The Witch Broom Tree in this painting was inspired by Emily Carr's gorgeous trees of British Columbia.

"In 1818 Constable exhibited a beautiful drawing of elm trees at the Royal Academy. It failed to sell and so it was still in Constable’s possession two decades later, when he added a note on the back to the effect that “This noble Elm … was blown down April 1835.” It was a portrait, in other words, of a particular tree, one whose fortunes he continued to follow, and whose eventual loss he lamented long after he’d moved away from the area." ~ Professor Christiana Payne


And like John Constable, I adore painting them. When I came upon a tree down the road from where I live that looked quite peculiar I took a few photos of the tree for future reference which would come in handy when I went to paint it. At the time I didn't know why the tree was afflicted with such unusual, odd-looking, broom-like distortions but after looking it up online I discovered it was disease trees get and not from witches : )

I suppose the namesake is because it reminds one of a spooky broom belonging to a witch. So I decided to paint the Witch Broom Tree in oil but it was my first time painting entirely in oil and I didn't realize just how long it takes for the painting to dry and cure. This painting is still very wet.

I added a couple of spiders and webs to the tree and eventually would like to add a black cat and create more depth to the scenery before it's complete. Hopefully, in the process, I wouldn't destroy it.

" THE WINDOW INTO THE UNSEEN IS OPENED IN WAKING HOURS " 🎨🖌🖼

Painting Magic? 

Waking from my sleep, the dreams of the night filled my head with lovely, mysterious, secret places to escape to and so I thought I would try to paint some magic.
The trials and tribulations that accompany a wip painting are many, at least for me. I am just an amateur painter who loves art, doesn't and can't produce artwork in minutes or hours and even if I could, I'm too fussy and like to work on the little things that I believe make the painting special. 

This painting has been lingering around for some time now and with everything else that has happened in life in recent weeks, it has been left behind. So this morning I returned to it, didn't like the trees, cat, cottage, cypress, etc and made some changes. Still far from finished but I like the direction it's taking. The cat will return, only a little different.

THE MISSING MARK 🖼

You always hear in the news how someone, somewhere came across a painting at a church sale unsuspecting of its true value. And then it happens, they discover the treasure they brought home is not just a mere treasure for adorning the walls of their home but one which should be in a museum for all to revel in.

Who hasn't had the thought run through their head of discovering an object of crowning value when on a hunt for treasures? I know, I'm one who has and still does but not always, most of the time I'm quite content in discovering something that belonged to someone who's passed on and finding clues in the object that tells me more of their story. The mystery creates the curiosity of which I will never cease to have, I love digging for lost treasures! Dead people's stuff is so interesting to me, it's the kinda of stuff that brings the past into the present and me into the past; a connector to a time long past and forgotten.


Not long ago, a Maud Lewis painting was discovered at a thrift store in southern Ontario and was initially passed off for nothing more than a painting done by a child just because it was painted in the naive style. Don't judge the book by its cover yet how many of us have done exactly that? A mistake easily made when you come across a beautiful book with the most exquisitely detailed gilded artwork you ever laid eyes on. Naturally, we get lost in its beauty and some forget to look inside.
It is the countenance of the book that one must examine thoroughly and not just it's cover, alone; together they are the pieces to the puzzle that make the picture.


So when I discovered this landscape painting many years ago at the Ottawa neighborhood store the serene landscape made me think of The Group of Seven. I think it was the sunset, something Franklin Carmicheal might have painted. I liked its beautiful tranquil setting, I liked it because of its gorgeous sunset, because of the fact that it was an original, because it was painted in oil and because it was painted on a canvas that placed its origin back to England. The artist's identity though was and is a mystery to this day. Maybe the artist was not the boastful kind or perhaps didn't find it important enough to sign it since it was just a study to emulate a famous master or simply, had just forgotten.

The painting with the missing mark, the mark of ownership of who painted the landscape, will never tell its tale of where it's life began. Did the artist give it a name? Was it painted in Plein air or from a photograph taken on a holiday or from the artist's dream? Where was this secret place?
The artist's name missing, adds more of the mystery already attached to the painting. An old, antique painting belonging to an artist whose story I would love to learn more about only the story stops at the mouth of a river with the setting sun shimmering down into its still waters. The forests and hills are a few of the clues where the secret place may be and likely, will never be revealed. This lost and found treasure keeps being forever intriguing. 

The painting now adorns our home, desperately needing a frame, a very old one to complement its scenery would be fitting. I can pretend it was painted by someone famous, wouldn't it be lovely if it really belonged to Franklin Carmicheal?


In the end, I love the painting, famous or not, it does what a great painting should do, it captivates and draws you into its magical landscape and gives you a daydream.

THE SEA WITCH 1846, CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW AND LUCY THE SEA WITCH

I have a secret. I love being alone, once in a while.
And to some I may seem strange but that don't matter.
It is the creative solitude I seek; it feeds my soul.
A quiet space to read, and maybe go over “Gift From the Sea” by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
To listen to music, create art and contemplate on life.
To be awake to my inner soul.

“ Solitude , says the moon shell.”
“ Like an island from the world and the world's life.”
Last year's mother daughter adventure to Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick was the perfect retreat to rejuvenate and we returned back home with many treasures, mostly of which were of profound memories and lessons learned.

So here is another little snippet of our hearth.

The Sea Witch 1846, Captain Jack Sparrow and Lucy the Sea Witch

I love the sea and I have collected many treasures from her over the years.
The treasures that I keep are plentiful and all that you see here were ounce lost and forgotten; some belonging to souls who crossed over to the great beyond. All but two were found at church sales, yard sales, thrift stores and the sea; finds of little monetary value, inexpensive and free.
The Sea Witch Doll and The Skull of Pirate Captain Jack Sparrow were Birthday gifts I received from my husband. Thanks, Stan❤️

The Moon Shell, although I'm not so sure it is, I like to think of it as such, sits under the treasure chests.

“It stares at me, this mysterious single eye - and I stare back. Now it is the moon, now the eye of a cat.”

The Sea Witch Clipper Ship I bought for only $4 dollars, is a replica of the American Clipper Ship used for China Trading back in 1846 and Lucy the Sea Witch was named after her.


Alone time is precious to me and I always get so much back creatively in return.

“Moon shell. You will sit there and fasten your single eye upon me. You will say to me, “solitude,” and you will remind me.” to find time to be still and listen to my soul, finding happiness within, the treasures of the heart. I hope you too, will find the time to do the same.