Hidden in the mountains of Serra Do Açor

50cmx60cm - SOLD                                                               

 

 The stone piece decides the paintings... This is one of many Owls i have had the pleasure of painting... It stands roughly 2 feet tall, and 2 feet in the longest part of length..   It is for sale, although most of my art hasn't got time to stick around and collect dust before it gets sold. This Peacock has been painted on 1.5 feet by 2 feet slate stone... This peacock has already been sold, a day after it was created.. All my paintings on stone have been applied using Gouache watercolour paints. I hope you enjoy the many more I have waiting within my paint brushes.. Watch this space to see what will be next.. Thank you

 The North wind has been blowing in, leaving us to cope with the cold without warning.  We had a storm on Thursday night leading into Friday all day, which i have been becoming more and more fond of. I used to have severe anxiety attacks during the long nights of storms, I would stay up sitting in my sewing chair all night, by my children bedrooms, hoping the roof wouldn't fall in. We have had a few good storms since then, and each time they are becoming less scary. The farm has been put into winter mode, and I have planted many turnip seeds and sweetheart cabbage seeds. We have still yet to unload the goat barn of lovely gold manure. My art has been doing well, and I have sold a few paintings.  A friend who helped me get noticed in Lisbon in an art shop, has loved my idea of painting birds on flat slate. The other day I painted an owl, and I'm currently finishing a big stone with a peacock on.  It seems the peacock's are very desirable. With the current state of the...

 Dearest friends, hasn't it been hot this summer.  It certainly has been a weird summer in terms of heat and long lasting sun.  I can feel a slight change now though, especially as the 100kilo of potatoes is almost out of the ground, and the mountain of tomatoes are yet to be processed. Rain is due tomorrow, 14th september, we'l see if the weather company get it right. Today I harvested the black beans and the flageolet beans. I have also processed some of the tomatoes in salt water waiting to ferment.  Fermenting is my new thing.  I have been making fermented tomato salsa, fermented cabbage/sauerkraut, fermented whole tomatoes, anything I can get in a jar with salt I will try to ferment.  Its so quick and easy, rather than cooking up the tomatoes, and then canning them. In my house canning requires lighting the fire oven all day, and in this heat, its like a sauna all through my home.  Which i dont mind at all, but the other members of my family cant ...

Every Saturday in Soito, Gois area, we gather at the forno to enjoy a lovely stone baked pizza, the local bar is open, the view for sunset is perfect. Food is served from 6pm, get in early to avoid disappointment, closing at 11pm. Please respect the village by wearing a mask, thank you

I have been busy making face masks. If you would like to place an order, send me a message. This one is the mint, Large. Navy blue, Large, triple lined. Portuguese Blue, Large. Elephant, Large. Small, medium and large paisley. All are 2.50 each, plus a euro for post and packaging. Send me a message to order yours...

I am pleased to inform you all that the first of three paintings of the collection of "Birds in water" has been completed.  I was fascinated to try my hand at using movement in my art. What better way than to work with water. I love using a wide colour scale, and exploring the depth and shadows within colour. After all birds are one of my favourite things to paint.  This was such a joy to paint water, bubbles and learn how to combine air and water, and emphasise the story of hunting ad survival.   I hope you Enjoy... This will be for sale, once the whole collection is complete. 

To understand something you must delve deep. Pull from beneath the essence of what it feels like to know something. It can rattle so loudly amongst the raining view. It can be something and then change before you knew, it was possible to taste.   Until we drag up from the depths and mould it into form we cannot truly admire the guts and truth from where it came. Every graphite mark on a page tells a story of another tale, and then that leads us to the comparison of another thing. Each stroke can relate, or not, to what is there and what has yet to come.  Through discovery, you open the small surface into a sea of wonder, the possibilities are endless. But only through form can we make sense of the feeling the drop in the ocean can bring.   I compare my mark to a stroke of soft and hard, to try to make sense of the world my head fits into. Eventually we are given a base for what we can understand, from there it can only grow, understanding is never ending, it is mere...

During this peace time, i have been very busy composing some art from the gift i received from a dear friend.  She has been my rock and guide with word of encouragement and gifts of love to help me begin and release my inner passion using art as my expression. Im grateful too, for my step-mother Winnie, she bought me some oils also to help me start my journey into my greatest soul desire.. ART.   With the help of these two vital people, i have been feeling so deep and have been able to express my inner destiny to portray myself in my art.   It is a place i go when all my service of the day has been done.  My jobs completed, my children fed, educated, content, the garden de-weeded, the house clean and tidy, my husband content...  I travel upstairs to my little magic place where the sun kisses the walls through the glass see-through tiles, up high in my mountain casa, with the sounds of birds and lizards creeping through the roof vegas.  ...

I absolutely love this weather... The garden gets a good soaking, naturally, one less job from my husband and i. There is no wind to speak of, just thick heavy falling rain.. The sky is rumbling for miles, the odd streak of lightning across the sky and my neighbour insists that my husband helps him to chop some of his wood for the small sum of ten euro's. Which my husband would do so for free, to help the old guy out, but not to be rude, he accepted the offer. In the rain, lightning and thunder, with the usual watchers holding umbrellas. Meanwhile the neighbour is building a miniature sized castle to shelter from the hot sun. No chance of that sun appearing today. It was my daughters birthday the other day and we took the opportunity to take some flower girl photos. A Sunday of movies and painting and finishing off my portrait of Florence, from Florence and the machine. Good day to one and all.....

It has been a busy few days here on the farm. I have been in the garden, planting out the beans, the tall ones and the bush beans. I have been up to the woodland area today to collect ferns of those that i use as mulch and carefully detach each leaf cluster and place it at the base of each plant. Which, as you can guess took some time.   I have been planting out more tomatoes. When some of them that were small were put in too early, those ones have withered in the heat of the day and i have replanted out bigger and more stronger ones. Today my daughter and i cleared the woods and took some of the small sproutlings that died in the fire back 2 years ago, that hadn't been cleared. So i took it upon myself to do that today.   Using the thin but tall tree sprouts as bean poles i tried to hold up the tomatoes once they are fully grown. The year i have to patches, each will have a different design to hold the plant from snapping from too much weight from the fruit. One patch ...

As work is few and far between, and my pizza job doesn't start up again until July, funds are nearing an all time low.  My husband has managed to grab a few jobs here and there, but some things just need paying for. I have spent many days fixing and darning socks from the boys, and made quite a lovely job, also, using wool it had made the sock stronger and last longer.  I also tried my hand at making girls panties and soon will use old clothes to make undies for me. I also have made socks from old jumpers and they turned out looking like pixie shoes, much to my younger daughters delight. So today, I'm going to delve into the world of soap making again. i have been collecting hard wood ash, non resinous, ash, and today will be leaching the ash in rain water, to yield a softer soap. Once the ash and water has mixed for 24 hours and has settled in a non-aluminium pot, bucket, the water is separated using an old T-shirt. Now its time to cook the water and be...

If you put your mind, body and soul into something, you can create anything. Im a firm believer of that mantra. I have been one of those souls whom hasn't always had the best turn out in life, but i feel i made my way by truly believing in myself.  Yes there are times of dread, when you think its all a waste of time.  Sadness approaches and even despair slips in, but at the end of the day, things find their way into the right place.  The days of dread pile upon each other, and the earth just seems to swallow you up, and before you know it, there is no hope and you just want to give up. There is a glint of hope though, and you know it, and that knowing is what pushes back the dirt and the sky becomes that little bit brighter, and then you push on..  and before you know it... your on top of your goals and ready to fight another day. It could be something to do with the skies, the stars, fate, destiny, or sometimes even the weather. Your attitud...

Here are a few things i have in my stash of things i made, they are for sale, if anyone is interested let me know and i can send you prices. Any purchases would be of great help to me right now. An additional cost of 2 euro for post and packaging... The first item... Size 10 pink/purple skirt with frills and leaves. Recycled from an old pair of trousers. Small brown corduroy bag lined with button. Small purple wool stripy lined bag with zip Cloth waller with button Inside the cloth wallet Brown hand gloves

I know its a little too late to wish you all a wonderful Beltaine. But, i thought, it's better late than never i always say. Beltaine is a Gaelic festival that has been celebrated for hundreds of years. On May day, usually the first of May, people gather to welcome in the gods and goddesses of summer. Even though old,  it still has a firm hold on some people in this modern world and how it is celebrated. Beltaine is the celebration of fertility, and joy.  Some celebrate this day as the fire and solar festival to the "god of fire", or the "bright one".  Others believe it is a festival of lovers, which is why it has been so well known as the fertility festival. It is said to unite and represent the Goddess May Queen, and the God that is the green man, bringing the balance of male and female together in the dance life.   I spent part of this magickal day sitting in the sun and shadows of the hawthorn tree, one of my most favoure...

                   I thought i should post up some new wild edible weeds, as i myself have been foraging a lot lately and grateful for the rain, its made all the weeds go mad.   So in my daily salad bowl i usually pick chick weed, dandelion leaves, borage heads, calendula petals, parsley and chicory. Chicory:   Chicory is vital for your digestive system, containing inulin, a powerful prebiotic. Prebiotic is a type of bacteria tapped to aid the host, instead of laying ground for disease. FEMS Microbiology Ecology reports, inulin is used for acid reflux, indigestion, heartburn, and helps to reduce acidity of the system inside your body. Chicory is so beneficial to you digestion causing ease. Chicory is found all over Europe, in fields, grasslands, by rivers in your garden. Look out for the blue purple flower. Wild Lettuce:    This weed is not only a lovely addition to your sala...

I ran out of potatoes today, in a bid to make a Sunday roast dinner for the family, one we haven't had for a while.  I thought id try my luck in the garden with some ingredients, so out i went in search for the biggest potato plant i could find.  These potato plants were growing wild in my garden from last year, the potatoes i didn't manage to find in the last harvest, for a number of reasons.  One reason mainly being that some were too small and got lost in amongst the soil and debris and also my rush to pack them all away and into the store cupboard. The first big plant i came to i dug up and found a heap of huge potatoes, just the right amount for our roast potatoes today, into my grape vine basket they went. They do rather look like a basket full of chocolate easter eggs, if only. This was what i did after a morning foraging the wilderness looking for dry wood for to build a fire to cook lunch today.  Up on the mountain scr...