Frosty days and yule.

These past days have been a mixture of frosty days and other times it has rained and rained creating the usually tranquil streams and quiet rivers to flood into the fields. We have so many floods here in the UK now. Today I have heard there are 500 flood warnings.
I am wishing for snow so we all can have that yule time and Christmas magic.  Whether floods or snow the roads are difficult to pass so we may as well have our sledges and have some fun.
The widened rivers have at least brought a few egrets close and they are a beautiful sight!

Walking in a frosty woodland, gathering ideas for how to decorate inside my home for yule and christmas.

Inspiration for new paintings.  The way the grasses look as empty stalks and the seeds as empty shells. Trees catching the light of an early frosty morning.  Bright stars against a deep inky night sky.  The blues, indigos, muted greens and greys.

Nature looks like it is frozen in time.    Ice making everything sparkle in the soft sunlight.  The time of year to celebrate the re-birth of the sun and after the 25th December, the days start to get longer.

Cosy and warm by the fireside with trinkets and stars and the feel of fairytale magic in the air and a new year ready to begin, carrying within it's wings, hope, love and joy.  I remember these magical days as a child and hold the memories close to my heart.

Wishing you all a wonder-filled Yule, Christmas and New Year and may all your dreams and wishes come true.    Lots of love.

A Free Greeting Card with Every Art Print Ordered.

Here is just a little note saying that until the 22rd December 2012, I will be giving away a yule greeting card with every print ordered from my etsy shop.......and a great big thank you for everyone for supporting my dream work with art and illustrations and the beautiful work of fairytale!

You can now find me on pinterest. Come join me here and on facebook.   Much love to you all.

Fairytale Landscapes

   Since my last post, time has moved along so quickly and it  has been a wonderfully busy few months for me. I have been painting new 'Fairytale Landscapes', selling original paintings, prints and greeting cards and I haven't had much time to spare to write on my blog page or finish the book I have half created.  After this busy season, I shall return to writing and illustrating again.
Thank you to all you friends and followers, and people who have kept me busy making and packing for the etsy sales of prints and cards.  You will soon have new prints to see.
Here are a few paintings I have been working on lately. 

'Sky of Angels' by Amanda Clark

 Inspiration for this painting comes from the incredible weather we have been having lately and  I was watching late one night, clouds moving so fast across the sky, it seemed as if they were flying to peoples aid.  They resembled 'Sky Angels'.  In the U.K, we have had so many floods.  Europe, America and other places near and far having terrible storms.   There is a story for children in my heart that I would love to write one day. A tale of our beautiful mother earth. Tales like these may be myths of our time one day.

A collection of new paintings.

A shop order for greeting cards.

Last weekend I shared a art and craft stall with my friends, Amanda Sheldrake and Sarah Turpin (Amber Caspian Art).

While I was there, I worked on three paintings so people could see how I added glazes and layers of colour for the back grounds and then the detail.

By Amanda Clark 

There is talk of snow here for next week.  We will see!

A Mysterious Tale

This autumn, I'm starting illustrations and a tale based on the mysterious harbour of Whitby, England. This beautiful harbour has boatfuls of folklore and tales of goblins, vampires and other ghostly stories, but my tale has a blue crow, an elemental Queen, a hob (goblin), a mermaid and a prince.  I'm not sure if I will ever have this book published but I'm making another hand made book especially for these illustrated pages.
Here are a few illustrations that may appear with this story.

The cover of this book will be hand painted but first I have a few other illustrations to sketch in pencil to finish this story.

I can think of many other harbours and coastal villages around this island that I would love to create a mysterious tale or two!

New herbal spirit dolls

Try as I might, I cannot just paint pictures. So I have been making new spirit dolls with herbs inside such as dried rose buds and lavender.
These ooak dolls look lovely standing among plants at an altar.

I love hand sewing. I do have a sewing machine, for I find hand sewing is so therapeutic and peaceful.

So back to the goddess and mermaid world to sew on crystal chips and gorgeous beads.

Some of these are in my etsy shop and I'm working on the beginnings of another workshop for September.

Magical summer days at last!

Finally the summer is here and the garden has suddenly been filled with a rainbow of colours.  All those rain clouds have gone for now and the water butts are full. From the second week of July the much needed sunshine has brought out the flowers and butterflies and the honeybees have been having a party on their much loved Angelica. Their queen waiting for the harvest and the happy workers to come home for the night.

While I'm tip-toeing between the delicate blooms, I catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye, fluttering wings of the little 'flower angels' floating from lavender to rose and marigold to lily.

Inspired by the patterns, spirals and colours of the garden this year, I have painted a few pieces of art for outside. Not my usual paintings....

...a little more abstract and I'm not used to painting these at all. I loved creating these though.

The unicorn-fish was an idea from a project I was making up one day for my children, called 'The Strange and Wonderful Creatures Hiding in your Garden.  We made stories and details of how these creatures would live and how you would find them.  I hope to share with you one day.

In a few days we will be away at 'The Green Gathering' and I've painted a colourful sign for the Fairy Glade space they are having there.

Nolan and I designed and made some tables for under the huge old oak tree. Some are still in need of log legs but the table tops are painted and varnished.  I think these would look great at home on my veranda or in a conservatory.  When we are back home I will show you photos of the tables at the festival.

So, after this post we will be packing and gathering what we have made for the festival and I'm bringing along my prints and art cards to sell on a blanket pitch.  Reeling in our kiddies from the woods and park and then travelling to the other side of the country to Wales. I'll show you the magic when I get back home.