Nature in our Hand

Recently I read a book which is entitled Naked in Eden. It is a personal account of Robin Easton's time in the rain forest in Australia. I had requested the book as a Christmas present and knew that I was going to settle down to enjoy it over the Christmas period, whilst I had the time to really savour it.
The book is about Robin as young woman who had suffered both health problems and a mild form of autism who was feeling disconnected to the world prior to her time in the forest. The account is of her adventures, her time with nature and her healing.
Her love of nature is phenomenal and her encounters are described in breathtaking detail although, at times I confess to thinking she must be totally "troppo"!
The book is as inspirational as I knew it would be, her accounts and stories made it all vividly real in my mind as only a well written account can do.
I marvelled and smiled, laughed and cried along with her and I recommend it as an inspiring read for anyone who loves nature.

There were a lot of things in there that made me contemplate my own life right now. I know that I am on the brink of some big changes and family health concerns continue to worry me. On the other hand I have a caring supportive man and a wonderful life.
At the beginning of year, I can feel both excited and a trepidation of what is to come. Sometimes, I wish I could write it all out on my blog as some people seem to be able to do really easily. But, one thing that really stayed with me whilst reading this book is that you have to be your own person. My way to deal with difficulties is to go and soak up nature (well apart from sounding Andy's ear) and it helps me sort out my feelings. Inevitably life is all about balance.
Based on many things that Robin writes about, I have my concerns about the inhabitants of our world. I hope that I and others will be able to find solace among the trees, the birds and the butterflies for years to come. It occurred to me that we, as in mankind, currently hold nature in our hand and that balance is very fragile!
So here is my latest piece of art, a robin inspired by Robin!



My thanks also go to Andy for the photographic reference and listening.

Inspiration

It has been a few weeks since I have undertaken any art work at all. But, as it snowed so heavily, the road conditions were awful over the Christmas period so it seemed like a good time to chill out and do a little bit of painting.
I joined Paint My Photo earlier this year but had not had any time to sort out photo's to upload to the site. So, over the few days off, I rectified that and hope that some of my photo's are now providing some material for other artists.
I was rewarded when I also found some wonderful photographs uploaded by others which gave me the inspiration I needed to paint again. Sometimes, it takes something a little different.



I really loved painting this little one in her Grandma's hat. So, as it is nearly the New Year, I wish you all a healthy, inspired 2011.

Merry Christmas

Hello! It has been a little while..........
I have been a little behind with my Christmas preparations this year, I do think Andy was beginning to think I wouldn't quite make it and I confess to having my doubts too!

My Mum has really not been too well of late. Inevitably, it is a worry not just for her but, also my Dad who also does a great job of coping with the difficulties involved. Combined with work, trying to fit in some extra visits here and there and weather conditions hampering travel has all resulted in me being somewhat disorganised. It is also the season for horrible flu bugs and Andy has a nasty dose of "man flu". Thankfully he is a gem who only takes it out on inanimate objects......

However, these issues apart, today I have finally managed to decorate the tree and create a little festive spirit, which was definitely not before time.



My Christmas tree this year has once again been added to which is the norm. However, on this occasion I have not been out buying sparkly pretty's, these arrived yesterday from a fellow blogger all the way from Houston together with a beautiful message. I confess to crying when I opened the package ~ in a wonderful way, I was extremely touched. So my thanks to Diane for making my day yesterday and giving me back the magic of the season. Her blog is here and is full of creativity.

The snow in UK has also created a very traditional scene right now and unusually we had a few inches of it yesterday. With this in mind, I did take a walk up the bank this morning to snap a few shots whilst the sun was out. At least with the roads looking rather impassible, it got me out for a little while, not that I went out for long, the cold is extreme!



I have had very little time to work on any art, although I did have a day earlier in the month where I found a couple of hours. This was a lot different for me, although the swan was from a photograph, I made up the rest of it pretty much and used other media for the stars and twinkles.



Meanwhile, I have also been working on another different project. I decided that for Mum and Dad for Christmas that I would put a small scrapbook together. I chose some of my art and photographs from throughout the year but, because my Mum is very low, I tried to keep the subject matter quite neutral and uplifting. These are a few of the pages, there are twenty in all and the book is 6x6.









They all look different somehow laid out in a book, I quite like the overall effect and hope that they do, although perhaps that will be when things improve a little.

Hopefully I will get chance to upload some more in the next week or so together with a number of snowy images but, in case other issues become priority, I would like to wish all my friends and readers a happy, healthy Christmas or Solstice ~ Chrissy

The Florin Street Band

Well having been out today for our works Christmas lunch, I thought that I would post a very traditonal Christmas song.



Some of you will have seen some of my posts about Blists Hill Victorian Museum in the past and this was filmed there. In fact those of you that recall my artwork of Casey the carthorse may just spot him in the video.

This group are aiming to get this in the charts for Christmas....and as it is very much in the spirit of the season, I just thought that I would share :)

An Advert for Muller?

Every time the Muller dairy yoghurt company show adverts extolling the virtues of Shropshire, I go mad. Don't tell the world, one of the beauties of Shropshire is the fact that there are not too many people here! But, I suppose I do the same in a smaller way ;)
These images just leap out as a Muller advert:








Thank you cows......... LOL

For those of you that have never seen a Muller dairy advert, this is for you and it is not Shropshire!



We have no sea and there are too many tractors, you would hate it!!

Hoar Frost in Shropshire

Once again I have been a little remiss in my posting for the same sort of reasons as last time. However, a break can sometimes be good, I can recall feeling the need to post something almost every day at one time....but, sometimes life's events take precedent and in the run up to Christmas, my days just seem to vanish, poof ~ mid air, haha.

But, some of you that check it out will have seen some photo's on my photography blog that really do fit with the season. I am sure everyone will know by now that us Brits are experiencing very sub - zero temperatures and this week, the combination of frost and moist air brought in freezing fog which made for appalling travelling conditions. However, every cloud has a silver lining ...although in this case it was a silver, sparkling lining when the sun came out.




I must apologise to those of you that follow me on facebook because you are being bombarded by these images but I am still in awe. I know I will look back on these images and be amazed for a long time to come.



As I was taking these photo's so many people who never normally chat, took the time to say how incredible nature can be!



And it was very, very beautiful..............



Andy took some too which are on his blog ~ Hoar Frost
There are also some different images on my wordpress blog ~ Magical Frost