Hidden in the mountains of Serra Do Açor

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...