Sunday, August 5, 2012

A bibs and bobs weekend

We are experiencing the most stunning winter weather at the moment: cool-cold mornings with crisp, clear blue skies and loads of sunshine. Very welcome after the first half of the year's rainy, misty days.

So we were out in the yard a lot, and in the studio a bit.  Yesterday was the first real test of Barry's return to fitness when we decided to move the wood around. We have lots of lovely pieces of timber, old fence posts, great big blocks of wood and many lengths of the posts that built our house.  The time had come to tidy up and put them all together - over where an old water tank had lived.  We lifted, carried, towed, trolleyed and dolly-ed the timber all around and up some slopes and as a result I slept the sleep of the righteous last night!

Anyhow what I meant to say was that the best part of it was discovering this whimsical landscape on one of the timbers. All the work of Nature - yet looking remarkably like a sketched tree, and rolling earth, or rocks or a dried creek bed even.





 

And here you can see it as we found it.


Oh and then there was the continuation of the great potato hunt. I still love how potatoes offer you a treasure hunt every time you go to collect them!


And in between I started to get my indoor Flags for Peace flags underway. Here I have run out of red ribbon; but have five of the seven sets up and hanging.  These ones will hang indoors around International Peace Day (September 21) as they are just printed onto tracing paper in rainbow colours spelling PEACE and they might run if it rains.  My outdoor ones are still in my imagination...

Please hop over to the Flags for Peace 2012 blog and if you'd like to be part - just send me an email and I'll get you started!


I also managed some studio time - more on that later.

12 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hi Ronnie - Barry and I just kept coming back to look at it and think - it really is fantastic! And of course then had to clomp to the house in our work boots to try and get a camera...

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  2. Sometimes, often actually, when gifted such beautiful marks in nature I wonder why we bother trying to make our own.
    Well spotted and thankfully, recorded. x

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  3. Hi Susan - it was truly remarkable wasn't it? I could hardly believe the almost perfect composition and colours. I'm so glad we spotted it and could capture it ...I wonder now how it will fade/disappear?

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  4. perhaps the best kind of sleep there is -
    i love your indoor peace flags - they have a celebratory feel to them which i find unique and inspiring...
    and what an incredible find with the marks on the wood - it is amazing what treasures abound if we are only paying attention... thank you so much for sharing the images... how could you even resist recording the find?!

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    1. Hi MJ - yes the flags almost feel like a festival of peace inside our house! Great joy. And yes the timber find was a wonder.

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  5. Mother Nature just can't be beat, can She? What a delight to find 'neath everything. Love your indoor peace flags and can't wait to see the outdoor ones. Will they be the same?

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    1. I was in awe of Nature with this one I must say - I couldn't have drawn/sketched/painted that if I tried. The indoor flags feel very festive and positive - the outdoor ones will be different - altho the mode keeps changing!

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  6. Nature is such an accomplished artist - and inspires us all. Love the look of your potatoes - yum! Your peace flags look great - I am looking forward to seeing the ones you make for outside...

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    1. Thanks Stregata - there is so much artistry in this isn't there? The potatoes are fabulous and the flags festive and full of positive energy. I hope the outdoor ones feel just as good. Go well.

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  7. Proof, if proof were needed, that it's all about observation and looking for the smallest wonders. The photos of nature's drawing are wonderful but I'm as envious of your potatoes Fiona! Too much rain here to give much of a crop this year. Our fruit and veg have been a disaster but I hope you enjoyed yours !

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  8. Sorry to be so slow Lesley. We were worried about our potatoes too - but they survived somehow. Things appear to be drying up again now, so we'll be watering things in soon, rather than than trying to dry them off!

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