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Sunday 26 December 2010

Winter Solstice



december 21st... winter solstice... 
it began with earth moving between sun & moon...
all in alignment...


a time to think about how we are aligned within ourselves...
to evaluate our shadows...
to glow in the light of our own worth...


i was working, so couldn't photograph the sunrise
but the setting solstice sun was a sight to behold...


infusing a golden warmth
over frosted fields...



a totally different vista in the opposite direction... 
of palest pink & blue & violet...
 a surreal pearlescent glow...


what do the solstice skies speak of to you
as the days now begin to lengthen in the northern hemisphere?

can we successfully integrate these vastly different aspects...
of personality... of culture... of humanity...?


the evening solstice moon...
full... potent...
regenerated from the shadow of eclipse...
rising in phoenix colours...


whispering her message to those who will listen...



Friday 10 December 2010

Return From the Wilderness

Well... where do I start? For the last few weeks I've been in an internet black hole... at least on my mobile network. We've been staying close to Leadhills, the second highest village in Scotland... in a valley with rushing stream, wild heather moorland and a fir plantation at one end...


It snowed the night we arrived which added a touch of sparkle to the hills as the sun smiled. In the days to come we would see the clouds roll over these hills, engulfing each one in turn. We couldn't tell what type of weather was coming until it hit us... lashing rain, drizzle, mist and then more snow all made their way over into the valley bottom, clouds either creeping or surging in fascinating patterns...


At the opposite end of the valley, to the west, was the forest that often had trails of mist weaving through it... 


Elsewhere it was tree-less, apart from an occasional stunted little beauty bravely making a statement... Some would say the landscape was bleak.... but I thought of it as Mother Earth with no make-up on. A wild, rugged beauty that I could appreciate as I wandered...


  It felt an honour to be there, to connect with Earth & Sky. Somehow it feels like I have entered a new cycle of my life... everything that has gone before is stripped away, only the most resilient... necessary... parts of me remain to make the next phase of my journey. Like this landscape that may seem barren, the things that grow deserve to be there and are capable of surviving no matter what the conditions...


Light & shadow painted ever-changing patterns and the stream offered a constant musical accompaniment. A rhythm that sang to my heart and an energy that I could feel with every breath...


And so, we're back in North Yorkshire for a few weeks, or maybe more, with tales to tell & thoughts to share. I'll write more as time goes on. 'Tis good to be back, though I have enjoyed the isolation of the last couple of months.

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Little Acorns...

18th july

Back in July acorns began to form,
soft rosettes curious to see the world...

24th july

by the end of the month, cups were toughening up
& the promise of acorns could be seen...

8th august

rapid growth in August...

27th august

baby acorns no more...
most definitely aware that they are the seed of mighty oaks!

7th october

and so the leaves turn...
and acorns fall to earth...

20th october

back to earth... a return... re-turn...
to begin a new cycle...

those that are not eaten will be gradually covered by earth... 
they'll gradually put forth roots and begin to grow...

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow...



 The next Festival of Trees is to be hosted by Arati at 
If you have a post on any tree related subject, just

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Calligraphy Exhibition at Ripon Cathedral

North Yorkshire Calligraphers are holding an exhibition in Ripon Cathedral in North Yorkshire, UK. It runs until 31st October... so if you are nearby or can make the trip you have time to catch it. Going by the standard of previous exhibitions it will be well worth seeing....  the Cathedral is a stunning setting & Ripon is a lovely little town to wander with plenty of places of interest in the vicinity.

This was the group I started off with way back... err, a few(?!) years ago (1992 ish). Some of those people are still involved and some are calligraphers I have taught... the group is thriving and talented.... and I really wish them well with this exhibition x

Monday 18 October 2010

Red Moon, Silver Moon



Just in case you had any doubts
that i am inspired by the moon
a couple more canvasses are over here




and if you didn't know
i seek out her shining glance
over here

Wednesday 13 October 2010

A Magical Place


Behind me, to the south, a magical cobweb pathway & ash trees...


beside me, to the west, a mystical glade of birch & oak,
leading to woodland with ancient trees, 
where all kinds of birds & creatures wander...


in front of me, to the north, rolling fields and meandering river...


to the east, pine trees, marshy ponds and a view of the sea 
with waves breaking just beyond the estuary....


Low cloud with a persistent misty dampness has been the pattern, which has not allowed a glimpse of the new moon & merest glimpse of sun... but i am deliriously happy.  There is a contagious joy to this place and I bask in the kiss of the clouds embracing the the forest. Surrounded by birdsong, the call of crow & buzzard, heron, gull & goose passing overhead... it is peaceful... thankfulness exudes in every direction, above & below... and from me.

Thursday 7 October 2010

Travelling North...

... to Dundee in Scotland. Well, we actually came up from North Yorkshire on Tuesday... it was a lovely day & our route (about 5 1/2 hours) took in the coastline of the North East. We spotted Lindisfarne, or Holy Island as it is known, then crossed the Forth Road Bridge (spectacular), then over the Tay Road Bridge (beautiful view) which brought us into Dundee. No photos as we were pressing on to find our caravan site & get things set up.

Steve is working up here for a while.... don't know whether it's for 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years.... but that is part of the adventure! We quit the house in favour of a caravan 4 years ago now, but have been in one place for almost 2 years, so it's quite exciting to be on the move again. We never get much notice about such moves, so had quite a rush packing & trashing "stuff" that we have accumulated.

early morning sunlight

The day before we left a buzzard circled overhead... the first one I'd seen where we were. I'd always hoped to see one, but they don't have much of a presence in the area... then just after we crossed the border (passport & phrasebook in hand, lol) there were two buzzards flying beside the road; i could hear their distinctive cry and felt that it was a good omen.

I always get a buzz in my stomach around the Scottish Borders... a sense of connection. It's an area that calls to me. Perhaps it's ancestral memories, as both my maternal grandparents and their lineage are from the area... scattered along both sides of the border. Yeddie Jackson is an ancestor, notorious along the borders in his day. This is what my mum found about him....


Yeddie Jackson
The Hunter King

To mention the name of Yeddie Jackson, is to awaken the memory of many a borderer whose hearts were young forty or fifty years ago. He had a threefold capacity as shepherd, host and king. As a shepherd he was known and respected at all the sheep and lamb fairs from Stagshawbank to Lockerbie. Then a host or gudeman of the shepherds shieling, at the Dead Water Well’ where many an invalid found a home and wholesome faring, his memory endures with gratitude in the domestic annals of a thousand homes. His was the only house where lodgings could be had at the time when the Dead Water Well was a resort of invalids, of tourists and of anglers. It is however, as the Hunter King, that Yeddie’s fame is widest spread. Poets have embalmed him in song, and artists have preserved his likeness as the Hunter King. In that capacity, he acted as monarch of all he surveyed. He and his fellow sportsmen followed the fox whereever it was to be found. The sublime and silent vale of Keilder, the gathering ground of North Tyne, the moorland and the marsh of Dead Water, the links and fells of Liddlehead, were each and all, the hunting-ground of Yeddie. His sporting excursions sometimes extended, on the west edge of the Solway, and as far south as the Humber. He kept foxhounds and terriers ready for the field, and the shepherds and the farmers that he summoned to the meet also brought their dogs along with them, so that when they were gathered, horsemen and foots men, hounds and terriers, a motley field they made. James Davidson of Hindlee, the Dandy dinmont of Sir Walter Scott was seldom awanting when Yeddie gave the call. Davidson carried his Dandies in wallets on the pony’s back along with him, but as my informant told me, ‘they were good for naught but howking’. Robson of Keilder Rig was another of Yeddie’s most choicest men, and so was Tom Potts of Burnmouth. The Duke of Northumberland might be almost considered one of the staff, and Lord John Scott was another. In fact men of all ranks, on both sides of the Border, were visitors at the homely fireside of Fairloans. An eyewitness of a lay-on on Thorlieside Fell, says that, ‘when the terriers were purring in the fox den, and the hounds in full music for the outcome of Reynard, Auld Yeddie clapped his hands and shouted ‘glorious, glorious’. His enthusiasm was exuberant and tended to inspire all round. A whole volume might be written about him, and yet he would be no truer hit off than the description given of him by James Telfer, the poetic schoolmaster of Saughtree, and here it is :-



THE HUNTER KING
( Tune -‘ Bonnie Dundee’)

Brave King of the Huntsmen, we’ll sing of thy glory
Old cock of the Border, our praise is thy due;
Thy years may be many, thy locks may be hoary,
But young is the heart that is honest and true.

O still cans’t thou rise, though the weather’s not charming’
Though white are the mountains, and hie thee away;
False Reynard soon hears the halloo so alarming,
That rings the death knell while his dawning is gray.

O where is the Huntsman, in Tyne, or in Teviot,
In England, or Scotland, that’s equal to thee?
Thy fame loudly rings from the Solway to the Cheviot,
Through all the wide border by muirland and lea.

Thy feats are well known on the wastes of the Humber,
Thy shouts have been heard on the banks of the Tweed;
But where is the Tod that can hear them and slumber,
The shouts of the Huntsmen of Liddesdale head?

Long life of thee Yeddie, and fame be attendin’t;
The joys of the chase do thou never forget;
Thou prince of good fellows, thou soul independent
Thou hearty old hero success to the yet.
O long on the mountains where blooms the brown heather,
 By rock, seaur, or fountain or dark lonely glen,
May’st thou sally forth all regardless of weather
And capture the fugitive fox in his den.

And long may the shepherds who live on the Border
Rejoice as they meet you when brightens the sky,
To join the halloo and merry disorder,
When the scenting warm and the hounds are in cry.

Come fill up a bumper, we’ll pledge thee in glory,
The links of green Liddel in echo shall ring,
Thy years may be many, thy lock may be hoary,
O young is thy heart yet,our brave Hunter King.
                                                     (James Telfer)

Although Yeddie retired from the herding and hunting when he had attained the age of four score still his ruling passion reigned supreme until the end of his days. When he left Fairloans he went to Redmoss, near Newcastleton, and stayed with his son John; and there was visited by sportsmen and gentry who had known him in his palmy days, and by others who had heard of his fame. Helen, his worthy wife died at the age of 91, on the 28th December 1849, and old Adam himself expired on the 28th of January 1857 Aged 94 years. The worthy old couple of whom many a story is told, now lie side by side in Castleton Kirkyard. They have left a numerous race behind them to cherish their memory and perpetuate their honoured name. The gude wife rather objected to Yeddie’s portrait being painted, in case people would laugh at him. In the picture of him at Keilder Rig he is lively looking with low crowned hat and blue coat, and is seated on a crag with foxhound and terrier both in leash eager for the fray. The likeness is a most correct one, and is visited by tourists from far and near.

 an upside down rainbow arc-ed above me before we left... 

Going a bit further back down my grandmothers side is gypsy blood... perhaps that goes some way as to why I so enjoy this lifestyle. I have no inclination to settle under bricks & mortar at this time. With Scots & Romany down one side, Irish & Norse the other, I'm quite a mongrel really! I've also just discovered that a great-uncle married an Aborigine girl... so although there is no blood-tie, somewhere I have distant cousins in Australia.... fascinating eh?

a magical, glittering smile!


We'll be moving sites at the weekend, as this one is pants & a total rip-off.... not a good attitude from the owner. So I'm visualising rainbows filling the place before we move on again. I'm looking forward to exploring the area though, once we get somewhere else sorted out... and also some blog time too, which has been distinctly lacking lately!

Wishing you all rainbows in your life.... suzi xx

Friday 10 September 2010

Where did August go?

Nearly 2 weeks into September already!! I'm sure time is speeding up.... and no, i'm not accepting that it's just an age thing, lol. But... I do have a theory on this... I reckon time moves in a spiral and we are moving closer to the centre. As we, and time, get further in we spiral faster. Perhaps when we get to the centre, the spiral will start to spring out again & time will gradually move slower?! Anyway, that was not what I was going to write about.

I didn't do a deep & meaningful new moon 'meet me at the water' ritual... though I was thinking about it all day... just a gentle connection, thinking about 'flow'. I never got a post written for the Festival of Trees, though I thought about it, and will no doubt post my pics & thoughts anyway sometime soon. I haven't done any of the projects set by Caterina in her Transfer Love course... but i have watched 2 of the videos... she gives soooo much information, which i have absorbed & will try... I heartily recommend this course to anyone remotely interested in learning about or improving transfer techniques.

But... I have been working furiously on several other projects simultaneously... a couple more canvasses, reworkings of this & this... backgrounds & lettering to make up some collage packs for crafters, and, inspired by Cat's course, lettering suitable for using in transfers. These are taking a fair chunk of time, scanning & testing & re-working etc, but should have some available for willing volunteers to trial before I launch them... do you know anyone??!!

On the photography front I've been doing a lot of moondreamin' and have been working on an idea to present some of my images for sale... these i will definitely show you soon, now that I think I've figured a way to varnish over them that I'm happy with for what I want to do... I will seek your opinion soon!

I've also felt the need to re-connect with a few people here & there... I do tend to veer between feeling pretty sociable to withdrawing into my own little world where i exist quite happily on my own... it's that old chestnut about balance... and time... and i do agree with the theory that time expands to fit what you have to do... i seem to have put in more hours everywhere in less time somehow. That time spiral I was on about seems to bounce up & down I reckon, stretching & contracting as necessary... cos when i have 'nothing' to do I still don't have 'spare' time, if you know what I mean... boredom is not a feeling I am familiar with, nor do I want to be!

I am thankful for the ideas & inspiration and the opportunities that flow... may you also be inspired & be blessed with opportunities... love suzi x  

Sunday 5 September 2010

Peace, Joy, Give...


Three little words.... run them around in your mind... over and over....
peace... joy... give....


The joy of breathing, creating... friendship,
peace... joy... give....
keep running them around, circling in your mind
joy... give... peace....
imagine you are holding them in your hands...


 peace of mind... peace in your heart... peace in the world...
joy... give... peace....
let them form a circle,
a continuous blessing...
give... peace... joy...
flowing out to the world from your hands...


give a blessing... give love... give friendship...
give... peace... joy...
does your heart swell with joy as you give out peace?
peace... joy... give.... 
does it bring you peace to give out joy? 
joy... give... peace....
can you feel them them circling through your body?
can you feel the energy emanating out to the world?


I could certainly feel the energy in this little bowl
when I held it in my hands...
a gift I am honoured to receive from Barry, of Rust n Stuff
I urge you to go & see the 'stuff' that he does with metal!



"I wanted to do a trifold because of the spiritual significance 
that is often connected to the number 3 and the triangle; "

This is what Barry wrote in this post... I did not know then, 
that I would shortly be holding it in my hands... 
neither did he know that I had thought 'mmm, 
a three-fold one would be nice'!
B... it is so much more than nice.... thankyou x

A Copper Sun...


I've just finished a couple of canvasses with calligraphy, which you can see here if you like!

Thursday 12 August 2010

Of Giveaways....

I love the effect of transfers & Cat at La Dolce Vita is an expert.

art & photo: caterina giglio

She is offering a free place on her transfer techniques course, so if you are interested why not
 pop over there & leave a comment, but hurry, it closes on Sunday 15th!

art & photo: caterina giglio

On second thoughts, don't go, because I will have less chance of winning...
only kidding, I've already won a gorgeous painting lately that I'm feeling very pleased about...

art & photo: patricia ariel

Isn't it gorgeous? This is entitled 'Waterlily' by Patricia Ariel that I won in her Solstice giveaway... I just love her work, and you can see more over at mesmerized by the sirens... 
I am so grateful to have this piece in my home, thankyou patti!

Sunday 8 August 2010

Meet Me At The Water's Edge...


Meet me at the water's edge
and dance to an ancient rhythm
feel the beat of forgotten song
re-discover what time has hidden



ocean dancing, ocean dreaming
with the gentle tidal rhythm
feel the healing waters flow
a soothing song to help us grow
call on water's energy
the power to nourish, nurture & heal
endless potency
ride the tides of ancient truths
meet me at the water's edge
ocean dances, ocean dreams
meet me at the waters edge
and dance to an ancient song
heed the urge to come ocean dancing
will you be carried on an ocean dream
wherever it may lead?

I was already working on this canvas when I discovered Moon Daughter writing about a New Moon healing ritual, started by The Divining Women... they call it 'Meet us at the water'. 

Well, the words 'meet me at the water's edge' just kept creeping in to my mind, so i laid that first phrase down on the canvas I had ready to go & words i had already jotted down followed on naturally. The second part begins with the central spiral & the words just flowed as I wrote... the design took care of itself as I went. One of those "Awen" moments of Divine Inspiration.

New Moon is approaching.... at 04:08, Tuesday 10th August in the UK... so why not why not come to the waters edge & add your thoughts to the stream of energy that is flowing. It doesn't have to be at the exact time of the new moon... the New Moon energies are strong for a day or two either side, so just pick a time that feels right for you. And you only have to visualise being beside the water to be there in spirit... a bowl of water, a photograph or taking a bath can help aid connection. See you there ; )

Dawn...

 ...just in case you're not up at this time of morning ; )


This was Thursday morning...


a beautiful golden dawn...


a lone crow in a tree, which is relevant for me...


and if you click to enlarge, you can just see swallows wheeling in the sky...


and this was friday at sunrise...


i felt a sense of excitement as i greeted the day...
a sense of something to come...


I don't know what, but it seems that energies are moving in exciting ways for me... I can feel it. Things have not been stagnant, but I have been meandering for quite a while, as if preparing for something... now it is like i can smell the ocean not far ahead of me and anticipation is building.

This dawn seems to herald more than a new day... not just on a personal level... it seems much bigger, and I visualise golden rays of dawn light touching all of humanity... bringing light to souls caught in darkness... to awaken & heal... to brighten the path of those just finding their way... to guide & reveal... to warm all our hearts, to nourish & re-vitalise...

Wherever you are, may you have sunshine in your heart!
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