Inspired Naturally

Hi everybody! I’m rather excited about this post because I am officially announcing I am now taking on fine-art commissions alongside my mixed-media commissions! As you may have seen in earlier posts, I have recently completed a painting of my beloved cat Smudge and lots of people have asked if I’d consider painting other people’s pets…

So here it is, I am offering to paint your favourite animal addition to your family! It will be on a first come – first serve basis as the nature of these types of paintings require lots of time and dedication to be the best they possibly can. I am more than happy to discuss time frames, sizing, costs and anything else you would like to ask, just send me an email and I’ll get right back to you!

Of course, if you haven’t got a furry friend, but know someone who has who might like a portrait please forward this message along to them! (thanks!)

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Bye for now  

I’d hoped to blog again sooner than this but the following photos had to wait be taken in between torrential rain and the like! I have been wanting to show you the new bags I  have available (including an extra tote bag design) but I now have Craft/Peg bags too! (I have only ever had one design of these available before) and I’m now pleased to offer 3 more designs to choose from! Here are 2 of the 4 new Craft/Peg Bags:

The new Hedgehog Craft/Peg Bag:

 The new Frog Craft/Peg Bag:

I love these bags because they are made from thick,durable cotton and just the right size for putting either small craft items like pens,pencils,wool,ribbon,knitting things etc or pegs to be used as a clothes peg bag. Similar to my tote bags, they can be machine washed on a cold setting after it has been hand washed the first couple of times. They have a braid handle measuring approx 100cm (approx 30 cm drop when carried) The bags themselves measure approx 34cm x 31cm. They are super affordable and lovely as a gift or a treat for yourslef!

And here is the new hedgehog tote bag:

To take a proper look at my new bags (and the easiest way to view them all) is to click on my ‘shop’ tab and choose either Folksy or Etsy, depending on where you are in the world!

In other news I signed up today to take part in Susannah Conway’s ‘Unravelling’ e-course - I am so excited about it and can’t wait to get started! If you haven’t already found Susannah and her fantastic work head over to her website – you are in for a treat!

It’s been a while since I have updated you about my tomatoes, chillis and peppers so I thought today I would share with you their progress. I have to say, growing these fruit and vegetables from scratch has been one of the most rewarding things I have done. There is something so satisfying about nuturing something very small and watching it grow and produce things you can eat! It’s also a comfort to know exactly where they have come from and how they’ve been looked after. As you can see, my beefeater tomatoes are coming on extremely well. They are getting quite heavy now and I’ve had to give some of them extra support with additional stakes! 

 The Scotch Bonnet peppers (below) are starting to pop up everywhere on their plant. These little ones haven’t got much longer before they’ll be ready to pick!

 The red pepper below has been the only pepper on this plant for some time and then when I was watering the plant yesterday I noticed at least 7 smaller peppers starting to appear from their flowers. So I’m very pleased I will be getting some more of these.

 Finally, my other tomatoes are coming on brilliantly. I have two of these plants and there are dozens of tomatoes, all of varying sizes, on both f them. I am enjoying watching their growth and am hoping it won’t be too much longer until they start to turn red!

Have any of you been growing your own fruit and veg? Is it your first time? This is my first attempt, and I have had them outside ever since the last frost in May. I was a little aprehensive about whether or not I would be successful with growing my own food but if you just take time to water and care for them daily it’s very easy to do! If you haven’t yet and are thinking about it I would definitely give it a go next growing time!

As promised, more photos from Scotland! The bottlenose dolphins were the main reason for us going to the Black Isle and they didn’t disappoint! They are one of my favourite animals and I was eager to see them in their natural habitat. Chanonry Point was the place to be to see them, about an hour and a half after low tide, when they come into the bay to catch the salmon. I managed to get quite a lot of dorsel fin shots (like the one above!) but also some ones with them breaching, which was fantastic to see.

The photo below was taken when the dolphins were quite a distance away, probably a mile or more away from the shoreline. It was still fantastic to see and through my camera’s lense and the binoculars you didn’t miss any of their spectacular displays! There were times when all you saw were dorsal fins and then suddenly, out of nowhere, they would jump and leap about for a few minutes, giving us all a great show and (hopfeully) a good photographic opportunity!

In my next post I will show you some of the photos I took of the birds of prey at the falconry display at Dunrobin Castle.

I’m back from Scotland with lots of stories and photos to share and updates from the garden. The Black Isle was wonderful, with lots to see and do. It was a break I very much needed!

However, since getting back, for reasons out of my control, Archie, the kitten I was due to have didn’t work out so the last few days have been very upsetting for me. I thought I’d briefly mention it because I know a few of you have seen photos and knew I was due to collect him soon. It will take a while to feel better about it but I have lots to distract me with work etc, and I often think things happen for a reason – so back to the rest of the post!

I would like to share photos of all of the different parts of my holiday – we visited lots of different places so I think I will organise them into these visits/days etc and show you something different over a few posts.

One morning was spent at Dunrobin Castle, 50 miles north of Inverness. It  was a very impressive Scottish Castle and they have daily falconry shows, which I will share photos of once I’ve got round to sorting through them!

The castle had some very impressive fireplaces and armour on the walls – it felt like you were stepping back in time.

The grounds were also impressive, with lots of smaller gardens and hidden areas. The falconry displays took place here, on one of the many lawned areas. (What you can’t see from the photo below is that the sea is literally just on the other side of the gardens!)

Another favourite trip of mine during the holiday was to probably the most famous of all the lochs……Loch Ness! It is the first time I have been and it was stunning.

We drove around the entire stretch of it, stopping off at one point to walk down a tiny path to it’s edge. It was like a hidden beach and had more beautiful views. It was also very quiet, except for the odd boat or canooist – I’m not sure whether I’d be happy ontop of the water for fear of what might be lurking underneath!

 I’ll post more pictures next time and some of those will be a selection of the best dolphin photos we took – the highlight of the whole trip for me! Until then, take care everybody!

It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it – this last weekend we decided to tackle a large area of a sad-looking flower bed. Firstly, as the picture below shows, we dug into the soil, breaking up huge lumps of hard dirt and bits of dead plants/tree trunks etc.

Then after a trip to our favourite garden centre, we planted a whole bunch of new plants and the magnolia tree and climbing clematis we brought with us from the old house. It’s looking so much happier now and hopefully the foxgloves will self sow some more plants ready for the following year.

Here’s one of my favourite of the new plant (the name of which I can’t remember) the blue colour is so vivid – absolutely gorgeous!

The hydrangea below my bedroom window is also in full bloom – the garden is really coming alive and it’s fun to start noticing different things each day – something a new and unfamiliar garden does well I guess!

And finally, here’s my completed painting of Smudge – I have to admit I am very pleased with it and it’s a lovely memory of my cat. I am considering painting his brother Fudge, who is still alive and well at my parent’s house. I’ll have to wait and see if I can choose a photo I like!

I’m off to Scotland again tomorrow, this time on the East Coast to the Black Isle to see the dolphins. I’m hoping to be able to share lots of photos when I get back! If I have time before I leave tomorrow (which is going to be hectic because we’re setting off late in the evening after our friend’s wedding) I will try to update you with my fruit and veg plants – they are growing so well now.

Until next time, take care!

I’m almost there in more ways than one, life has been quite hectic of late. I naively thought as soon as we’d moved that I’d have time to update my blog as often as I liked. However, unpacking has taken much longer, finding new homes for things has taken longer than I thought etc etc. Anyhow, enough of the excuses as to why I have been absent here and more about this post! I have very nearly finished unpacking and sorting things AND I have nearly finished the painting of my cat Smudge:

As you can see he now has an eye! I have got to mute it down and add the highlight. The whiskers still need to be done and a few tweaks to the fur in places but the end is in sight! I thought it would be interesting if I showed you a progress sheet of the painting so far. After each of my painting sessions I scanned the image so I could look back and see how it evolved. It is the first time I have done this religiously – many people ask to see my paintings progression and how long they take. So here it is, an image showing you this painting on its journey from the first brushstrokes to almost finished piece:

So far this has taken me about 10 hours to do – not too bad really

I have really been enjoying my new home, photos to come when I find the time organise them but here’s a few iPhone photos of my fruit and veg progress and new kitten to leave you with:

My pepper (more are starting to grow now)

My plum tomotoes – I’ve counted about 20 so far

And here’s Archie (finally decided on a name!) at the breeder’s home – not long now until we can bring him home!

That’s all for now, take care

Hello everybody, I’m back! I think I’d temporarily forgotten how long and tiring moving house is! We have literally not stopped since the end of last week and, even now, we have a few boxes left to unpack. However, the new house is fantastic: situated in a beautifully rural village, open countryside around us and very friendly neighbours. What more could you ask for?! The photo above (sorry about the poor lighting) shows the new wooden sign and clay birds I bought especially for the new house. The sign is from this lovely Etsy shop and the birds from here. I’m hoping things will start to settle down soon so I can dedicate more time to writing posts and also to my artwork. I feel I have been neglecting actually making art and this isn’t a good feeling!

Whilst moving here, as we went in search for food during the unpacking of everything, we came across a little market town a few minutes away with a beautiful vintage furniture/accessories shop, an antiques shop and a FANTASTIC French restaurant (so much so that we’re taking some friends there this weekend) I can’t quite believe it’s all on my doorstep – I hope to take some pictures the next time we go so I can share them with you.

 It looks like I’m going to have my work cut out over the next few days – until my next post have a great rest of the week!

In between packing my weekend looked like this:

 It has been so hot and sunny here this weekend, it would have been wrong not to have enjoyed it a little bit! After tea, we enjoyed a lovely drive into Ashbourne and I couldn’t resist taking some photos. Image 1: Bunting up for a local fete - Image 2: A friendly cow we passed on the way to our walk by the river – Image 3: The river Dove – Image 4: A beautiful rose in a garden we passed.

I also spent some time tending to my vegetables in the garden and thought I’d update you on their progress: 

Image 1: The Jalapeno chilli peppers are getting bigger – Image 2: There is only one green pepper so far but it’s doing well! – Image 3: Ornamental thistle bought at the Gardener’s World Show last week – Image 4: A pretty flower we’ve had a while that reminds me of the old fashioned hard-boiled sweets!

As far as my Life List’s progress, I’m well on my way to beginning to learn how to grow my own fruit and veg. There are also a few tomatoes beginning to come, photos when they are a little bigger! Once I’ve moved, I will be planning out the vegetable patch with the help of this book. It has great allotment plans and info on how to grow every fruit and veg imaginable. It is full of beautiful photography which always grabs my attention!

Hello there! I thought I’d update you again with my cat painting’s progress. As you can see, the changes are subtle: I have added more shapes in the background and begun completing the hairs on the edge of his head – this has really made it stand out from page.

You may be wondering what my ‘new addition is?!’ Well, ever since losing Smudge I have wanted another cat………..

Please say hello to my new kitten who I will be bringing home at the beginning of August:

He’s a real sweetie and already very photogenic! He is a Maine Coon, a breed originating from North America. I am very excited about bringing him home and have already begun looking for things for him! I’m sure when he arrives I’ll be posting many more photos of him!

In other news, I’m busy packing ready for moving next week….I’d forgotten how much stuff we have!

Until the next post I’ll leave you with another photo of my new kitten (still deciding on a name!)