Fleeting thought #3 {new growth, adventures & creating my Wildspace}

On By ArtyMissKIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Welcome back to another edition of my random ramblings…how are ya?! 

One of my favourite quotes in life is from The Secret Garden which reads;

If you look the right way, you can see the whole world is a garden.

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Incase I haven’t mentioned it before, I love being outside in nature and gardening is so soothing for the soul.

Anyway, this is the third Fleeting Thought, it’s been like three months since the last one (where have those months gone!!) and I’ve written a haiku about new leaves- you’ve been warned!

So here goes…

I’ve finally taken the plunge into organised gardening (it’s been one of my life goals since forever!) it seems to create much more work than my regular type of gardening which has always generally consisted of one of two simple methods (1) open seed packets and scatter at will or (b) buy plant, dig hole for plant, plant plant.

Actively trying to ‘plan’ it is actually quite difficult and I take my hat off to those clever enough to design entire gardens. I love flowers and nature – but not weed killer, so my garden is never gonna be as well tamed as a Wimbledon tennis court.

Something I wanted to have a go at was properly designing my very own pollinator Wildspace for bees, butterflies and creepy crawlies. I’ve been making notes of different butterfly friendly plants so that I can try to entice as many of them as possible into the garden. Save Butterflies is running an initiative to try and create 100,000 Wild-spaces be they meadows or a few pots on a balcony, so this is my input to create a little slice of bug heaven. My aim isn’t for it to be perfect – there are just a few specific points I wanted in the design (mainly that the tall things went at the back!). A lot of inspiration has come from adventuring through the local woodlands and country walks, seeing all the different types of plants springing up at random is lovely and there’s so much colour.

Just to put it out there, digging a flowerbed that’s 4 feet wide and 24 feet long isn’t fun…and took forever!!!

My plan (to use the term loosely – I don’t have it written down anywhere) includes trying to create a ‘base’ plant range of perennials that I can just plant and leave to it and have sections were I can add ‘every year’ things like corn flowers, marigolds and poppies. It’s definitely a long game because it all looks so insignificant and probably won’t be flowering in all its glory until next summer (or maybe even the one after that!).

Some of my included perennial plants are Lady’s smock for Orange tip butterflies, Thistle for Painted Ladies, Birds foot trefoil for ones like Clouded Yellow and Common Blue and violets for some of the Fritillary types. I’m hoping that it will eventually look pretty and support a little slice of nature.

I’ve also left in situ a batch of nettles for some of the UK’s most common butterflies the Small tortoiseshell and Red admiral and have purposely planted cabbages for the Cabbage butterflies (because why not).

So now for the poem…

Little striving leaves

reaching up towards the sun

life is new and bright.

Watching the new growth as little green leaves pop through the dirt weirdly fills me with a great sense of achievement (even though I’m not really doing anything) nature is truly miraculous like that.

Hopefully it will end up looking how it does in my head, but if not then I’m sure it will still look and smell great.

So I think that pretty much wraps things up for this week, as always thank you so much for reading my friends, and have a lovely week!

Ps. Next week I’m hoping to post some exciting bug photography!

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Bug Art #1 The bee and Ladybird {Art}

On By ArtyMissKIn Art6 Comments

Hello my friends! 

One of my favourite things in life is listening to the bees buzz and watching the ladybirds zip across the garden. So seeing as I haven’t posted a drawing or painting for a while I thought I’d share two little pencil drawings with you, that I’ve been working on while sitting in the sun enjoying being part of nature.

I’ve drawn a very fluffy bumblebee and a seven spot ladybird beetle, two of the most recognisable bugs in the world – both are postcard size 300gsm paper and are only 13x18cm. They are drawn free hand and created using Arteza pencils.

It’s odd but I don’t often sit down and actually work with colouring pencils too often, but it’s been nice to change things up a bit. Also they’re definitely better than using paint while sitting in the sun.

Seven spot ladybird beetles are particularly beautiful, I love the way they bustle about in the grass and I love having the chance to create some really bright and nature inspired art.

I’m so pleased with this bumblebee, I think I captured the fluffiness of him pretty well, actually I drew one similar back in 2021 and its really cool to see how my style/technique has improved and developed over the last couple of years.

Thank you so much for stopping by to check out my art…I hope you like it! Do you have any suggestions of other bugs I could draw? I wish you a truly wonder filed week ahead…next weeks post is shaping up to be the third of my Fleeting Thoughts.

Ps. If you wanna check out my 2021 bumblebee its HERE!

© ArtyMissK 2023

A Sycamore in Spring {One frame}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello my Friends!

Can you believe it, we’re already sneaking up on the end of May?! Its finally stopped raining long enough to get some proper gardening done and I’m totally loving being outdoors!

Anyway, its been about a month since I posted my last One Frame and I’ve got a new shot of some beautiful green leaves to share with you this week. When I moved into my home in I totally fell in love with the huge tree at the bottom of the garden and have had to wait for months to identify it.

I did try guessing, but was way off!

According to the National Trust its a Sycamore scientifically named Acer pseudoplatanus (no I didn’t just key board smash that’s a real word!) its considered a broadleaf tree, can live up to 400 years and grow to be 35m tall! 

At the beginning of April I actually thought it was dead, it came into bud so late! But now the flowers sort of look like soft, fluffy spikes – almost like lilac flowers. It’s amazing how much life is supported by this single tree. On a side note tomorrow (20/5) is World Bee Day and the noise of the bees collecting pollen during the day is like a jet engine. I’m hoping to get a photo of a bee on the flowers and am even trying to photograph the birds that visit the garden (which is taking a little practice) I’m not sure what kind of camera I’d even need to get sharp clear photos of something the size of a blue tit (which is so tiny) from say 30 feet away and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I can’t wait to watch this tree develop its fruits in the autumn, they’re called Samaras – but I’ve always called them helicopters. I can’t believe how blessed I am to be the temporary custodian of such a beautiful thing!

I hope you like this little slice of leafy paradise as much as I do because it fills me a great amount of positivity and happiness. Is there anything you feel particularly blessed to be part of? 

Thank you so much for reading this post, and have a lovely, peace filled week!

Orange tip {Embroidered Butterfly}

On By ArtyMissKIn Art, Needlework Bugs2 Comments

Hello my friends! 

How ya doing?

I’ve got a new butterfly embroidery to share this week. I recently got the chance to be the adoptive parent of some Orange tip butterfly pupae – I did a post on them a couple of weeks ago (links at the bottom incase you fancy giving it a read!)

So this is #2 on my Embroidered Butterfly challenge. According to Butterfly Conservation there are 59 types of butterflies in the UK.

Unlike the Small tortoiseshell (that kicked off my project) you can easily distinguish between the two sexes of Orange tip butterflies. The males are unmistakable little white butterflies with bright orange wingtips and the females are white with black wingtips. 

I thought it would be fun to create both a male and female and have decided to call them Gary and Gladys (I have no idea why) size wise this lovely little pair are both about 8cm across. The body of each one has a crocodile clip sewn on so that I can attach the butterflies to plants, my intention is to fill the house with them…

I’m also starting a hashtag for them so my butterflies will be tagged with #ArtymisskButterflies on here and my other socials.

Creating these butterflies always starts with sketching the basic butterfly shapes, I only focus on one upper and lower wing and then copy it in reverse, the Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland by Richard Lewington is full of these amazing sketches and facts about each type of butterfly. Once I’m happy with the design I then transfer my sketch onto calico and colour them in with the closest matching threads I have – actually picking a colour for the veins is tricky with a white wing so in the end I went for a pale grey.

Well that’s it for this week…what do you think? I’d love some feedback on this piece and I’m hoping that you’ll stay with me on my butterfly creating adventure. Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!

Ps. My Orange tip butterfly post is HERE and if you want to have a look at butterfly #1 its HERE!

©️ ArtyMissK (2023)

Coronation Biscuits {Recipe}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography3 Comments

Hello my friends! 

Have ya had a good week? I thought I’d try something a little different from usual and share one of my go to recipes with you…quick and easy Coronation Biscuits!

Incase you haven’t heard tomorrow, May 6th 2023 is the Coronation of King Charles III, the 40th sovereign of the United Kingdom! The bunting is up, the flags are out and the majority of the country is supporting a red, white and blue colour scheme!!

Its quite exciting that this will be the first coronation any living member of my family will have seen – a first for the whole family isn’t something that happens too often! 

So over the weekend our new king will be crowned (at about 12pm GMT on the 6th) and a weekend of celebrations gets underway…there’s the ceremony itself (which I have no doubt will be amazing) a pop concert at Windsor Castle, the Big Lunch – an opportunity to get together with the local community through street parties and finally the Big Help Out – which is all about volunteering and doing something new.

With that in mind I thought I’d share my favourite biscuit recipe (us Brits love a biccy!) its a super simple recipe that contains no egg or dairy (making it vegan friendly!) and is made from things that are easy to get hold of.

Ready? 

Lets bake…

Coronation Biscuits – makes 16.

For the biscuits –

175 grams self raising flour

50 grams sugar

100 grams butter/spread (I use a plant based one*)

Vanilla extract to taste (I like a super vanilla biccy!!)

For decorating – 

2-3 tbsp Milk (I use oat*)

70 grams Icing suger

Party sprinkles (these funky red, white and blue ones are from M&S)

*You can of course use regular milk and butter if that’s your thing!*

The method –

Start by pre-heating your oven to 180 degrees and place baking paper onto your baking tray ready for your biscuits.

Weigh and add the flour and sugar to a clean, dry mixing bowl and mix together.

Add the desired amount of vanilla flavouring.

Add the butter and knead the ingredients together by hand until all of the flour/sugar has combined to the butter creating a lovely dough!

Roll out the biscuit dough to about 0.5-ish cm thickness and using a cookie cutter (I used a round one but shapes would work too) cut out your biscuits and place on the baking tray.

Bake ‘em on the middle self for about 7 minutes or until just beginning to colour on the edges.

Leave those beauties to cool!

For the icing mix 70 grams of icing sugar with 3 tablespoons of milk and pipe (or spread) onto your cooled biscuits – the icing should be a thick ribbon consistency (so that it doesn’t slide off of your biscuits) and will begin to start setting quickly, so its best not to mix it up until you’re ready to decorate!

*Piping bag wise I tend to put my icing into a sandwich bag and snip off a corner.*

Get fancy with the sprinkles and voilà celebratory Coronation biscuits! 

All in all these take about 30 minuets to prep, bake and decorate (plus a little extra allowing them too cool in between).

Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Tasty, simple and satisfying to make, what more could you want?! I really quite enjoyed writing this – one of my quirks is how much I love baking, would you be interested in some of my other recipes? 

Thanks so much for checking this out and I wish you a happy and glorious Coronation weekend!

Amongst the Spring Wildflowers {Photography}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello friends!

Aren’t flowers just one of life’s loveliest things? 

My inner fairy just wants to be set free and sit amongst them. I recently went on a nature hike and the woods are filled with some of the prettiest wildflowers I’ve ever seen. A thing I love about hiking in the wilds here is that although its hours before you see another human being, the most amazing birdsong fills the air.

I wanted to take you guys along with me so you can enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and pretty flowers too! I hope these photos bring as much joy to your day as much as they did mine.

Ready?

Let’s go!

I think these are Forget-me-nots, although I’m not 100% on that but these little blue wildflowers are so pretty. 

At the moment yellow Primroses are carpeting the banks along the roads and hedgerows, to me these flowers always remind me of my nan. 

Aren’t the colour of bluebells so vibrant against the green? I think these are a hybrid bluebell, not the native British one but I love how they start opening from the bottom and are just such a joyous looking flower.

I even saw my first Large White (Cabbage) butterfly of the year, she was just rest among some long grass, warming up in the morning sunshine – I love cabbage butterflies and always try to grow brassicas (even in my flower beds).

This patch of white wild flowers was so haphazard I kinda fell in love with them…they obviously taste good because it looks like something (probably a snail) had munched on a few of them.

The whole area has erupted in these amazingly beautiful little pink flowers – even my garden has loads of them growing. They’re called Lady’s Smock or Cardamine pratensis if you’re feeling scientific and they are the favoured host food plant of Orange tip butterfly caterpillars!

This part of the world is definitely wildflower country they grow in their hundreds along banks and by the roadsides. These ones are cow parsley (I think!) I love the asymmetric flowers, its my favourite photograph of the day with the soft background and all focus solely on the plant, I think the effect is quite romantic.

So that’s it for this week…I really hope this post bought you a little slice of outdoorsy happiness. Do you have a favourite photo? As always thank you so much for reading my friends, and have a lovely week!

ps. I haven’t used any post processing on these photos the natural light was enough – the light in Cornwall is amazing.

Psps. If you know the names of any of the plants I’ve got wrong please let me know!

Fledgling Blackbird {One frame}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography4 Comments

Hello friends!

Seeing as spring has definitely sprung I thought I’d post a little nature filled one frame this week, I was out for a walk the other day and met a recently fledged juvenile blackbird!

Isn’t he beautiful?! At least I think its male because of the really dark wing feathers. Something I didn’t know is that baby blackbirds usually leave the nest before they can actually fly and scramble their way around trees and bushes, while hoping not to be eaten! 

Blackbirds are actually a member of the Thrush family and are one of the UK’s most common birds they also have the prettiest of birdsong.

When I took this photo it was a bit nippy but the light was amazing and he was quite happy for me to take his photo. With my camera (which is a bit of a relic) anything at a distance gets a little bit blurry, but this little fella was only about a foot away so I was able to capture his details and I’m super happy with the final image.

So that’s it for this week, one lovely blackbird photographed for this post. I hope you like it. Do you have a favourite wild bird? They are wonderful creatures and I love watching them. As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!

Raising Orange Tip Butterflies {Photography}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello my friends!

Nature is magical isn’t it?!

This weeks post is a butterfly centred photography collection. 

I recently had to have a bit of a clear out in my new garden, for many reasons but mainly that (1) it was full of some seriously dead plants and (B)  there was a little section of fencing that connected to the dry stone wall (I mean its literally one of my life goals to have a garden with a dry stone wall) that meant my dog could get out. I felt so bad for having to take away some of the dead plants but needed to make it safe for my pooch.

While I was having this clear out I found four Orange tip butterfly pupae! Being a towny I’ve never really seen these before and the pupae themselves were tiny, but being the bug freak that I am I brought them inside and created an environment for them to finish their transformation and wanted to share the photos with you.

I’ve raised butterflies before (but not this type) basically I bought a pop-up mesh enclosure from that online place named after the rainforest and laid an unused microfibre dish cloth on the bottom and very carefully put the pupae on it.

I then gently sprayed the cloth (not the pupae) with a plant mister until it was damp – you have to keep the pupae hydrated or else they won’t finish the cycle, but you also have to watch out that you don’t drown them and I’ve found this method works. I know that you can glue them into hanging positions but don’t like that idea in case it burns them.

It took about a week for the first one to emerge, a male with gorgeous wing patterns.

I missed the actual emerging bit but got a decent picture of him before his wings spread out.

Something I’m doing this year is designing a new pollinator garden, using plants that bees love and different types of butterfly need as their larval food plant. These chaps like Cuckoo flower and Honesty (which is this beautiful purple flowering plant) so I’m growing plenty of them.

I love to be out in nature so creating a garden of wildflowers is something that makes my heart soar, and if I can help to improve the lives of our pollinators I will.

Fun fact – Orange tip butterflies are scientifically called Anthocharis cardamines and are considered a medium sized butterfly with a wing span of up to 5cm. They like to live near meadows, woodland and hedgerows all of which can be found close by.

Aren’t the undersides of the wings are just beautiful? The amazing green markings are so tiny and perfect. I was so pleased to get a shot with both the upper and lower wings! Isn’t it amazing how fluffy the edges are!

One of the pupae ‘coloured up’ differently to the others and turned out it was female – with the males you can really easily see the orange part of the upper wing as the females don’t have this marking and are just black and white its easy to tell what sex they are before they emerge.

I even managed to get all four of them in a photo together.

Its super exciting that all four of them successfully emerged and I ended up as the adoptive parent of 3 males and a female! I gave them a slice of orange to pep them up before releasing them into the big wild world.

Even if this one wanted to stay on my t-shirt!

Two of the males flew off quickly but the last male stayed with the female and I got some great shots of them on some dandelions!

It makes me feel so happy that although I accidentally disturbed these little creatures I was then able to give them a safe space to complete their life cycle and have been able to release them back into the wild, hopefully they’ll mate and create more Orange tips!

Maybe their dependents will come back and visit my wild space garden in the future.

This is my favourite image from the set as you can really see the butterflies features – he has such big green eyes and is so fluffy!

So that’s it for this week…I really hope you enjoyed a little slice of nature! It felt really rather magical to be around these creatures and I feel super privileged to have been able to watch them up close. Do you have a favourite picture? As always thank you so much for reading this post and have a great weekend!

p.s the photos were taken with my Nikon camera.

Bag End and Beyond {Art}

On By ArtyMissKIn ArtLeave a comment

Hello my friends!

Lets travel back a couple of weeks…

Incase you didn’t know March 25th was chosen by Tolkien as the date on which The One Ring was destroyed, defeating Sauron forever and finishing Frodo’s quest!

It’s known among fans of the author as Tolkien Reading Day. As I’ve mentioned before J.R.R Tolkien is one of my two favourite authors (the other being Terry Pratchett). Celebrating the 25th and Middle Earth can be as simple as picking up a book and reading or creating a piece of art, writing some poetry or just watching the movies…I know some of my fellow nerds who spend the day in their awesomely recreated costumes!

Tolkien Ready Day has a theme each year set be the Tolkien Society, 2023 was themed Travel and adventure. So I drew a quick little postcard sized pencil sketch of Bag End and the Wide World Beyond as I love to draw new places I’ve been to when I’m out adventuring and painted it with my watercolours.

I don’t often paint landscapes but its been nice to change things up a bit.

Tolkien himself was a really good illustrator and actually illustrated the early versions of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, his line drawings are amazing. If you’ve never seen them I defiantly recommend having a look – The Art of Tolkien is a great book filled with his drawings and sketches. 

Well that’s about it for me! Is there anywhere in particular you’d love to adventure to? As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week filled with excitement and adventure!

Small tortoiseshell {Embroidered Butterfly}

On By ArtyMissKIn Art, needlework, Needlework Bugs10 Comments

Hello friends! 

I’ve got a new butterfly embroidery to share this week. I’m really happy with the Small tortoiseshell photograph (that I posted last week!) I particularly love this type of butterfly, they always seem so happy – don’t get me wrong all butterflies seem happy, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t like/was scared of them (not that there’s anything wrong in that of course).

So now I’ve created a few of these I have decided to give myself a bit of a challenge…I’m gonna have a go at creating all 59 types of British butterflies…in scale with each other!

Obviously not actual life-size scale  – they’ll still be larger than normal, ones like the Chequered skipper or the Small blue are tiny and would be so fiddly to do, I’m going to use the Large white that I made last year as the starting point for the sizes I’m using because its one of the biggest butterflies we get here.

So, first up is one of my favourites – the Small tortoiseshell, they have a wingspan average of 4-ish cm and are one of the first butterflies to be seen in spring after hibernating over the winter in adult form, amazingly these butterflies can live for up to a year! They lay their eggs on Stinging nettles which grow into spiky green and black caterpillars.

Now, this little fella is only 8 centimetres across and I’ve tried to make the body seem as fluffy as the photograph (my plan is to make them twice their normal size!) Ain’t he cute? 

Size wise my Large white is about 4 inches across – there are only a few bigger than this, one is the Swallowtail another is the Purple emperor. The body of the butterfly has a crocodile clip sewn on so that I can attach the butterflies to plants around the house or even wear them in my hair!

I start by sketching the basic butterfly shapes out on paper, I’ve gone and bought the Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland by Richard Lewington which is super helpful. Once I’m happy I then transfer my sketch onto calico and colour it in with the closest matching threads I have and when finished I attach the wings to the body and create a backing canvas with the butterflies name in an embroidery hoop with plain calico.

Each one takes roughly a week to do so I’m expecting this to be a long haul hobby!

Well that’s it for this week…what do you think? I’d love some feedback on this piece and I’m hoping that you’ll stay with me on my butterfly creating adventure. Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!

©️ ArtyMissK (2023)

Small tortoiseshell Butterfly {One frame}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello my friends!

I hope life has been treating you well.

Its been 4 or 5 weeks since my last One Frame and I’ve got a new one to share with you!

Recently I found a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly sunbathing on some really over grown stinging nettles and got a few really good photos of the wee beastie without disturbing it!! Doesn’t it just have the most fluffiest body ever!? And I love how much detail I managed to capture – its eyes are amazing.

The Small tortoiseshell is one of the most well-known butterflies we have in Britain, they are quite possibly my favourite and like a fairly wide range of nectar heavy flowers – this year I’m gonna start creating my own butterfly garden for all pollinators to try and do a little bit extra for nature. Hopefully I’ll find lots of other butterflies to photograph.

The natural light was so good that this image taken with my Nikon in macro mode, and only brightened a little in post prod.

Well that’s pretty much it, one photo of one butterfly, I hope you like it. Do you have a favourite bug? They are wonderful little creatures that run our world and make no fuss whatsoever. I’m thinking about creating an embroidered Small tortoiseshell similar to my others (hopefully you’ll come back to see it next week!)

As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!

Mothers Day World Turtle {Art}

On By ArtyMissKIn Art, World Turtles9 Comments

Hello friends! 

This coming Sunday is Mothers Day (in the UK) and one of the things I’ve always done is make something for my mum, I decided a while back that I wanted to paint her something which evolved into a new World Turtle illustration, that I want to share with you. 

This is the fifth World Turtle and my growing collection now contains Spring, Autumn, Winter and Valentines illustrations and now I can add a Mothers day one too!!!

So this painting features not one, but three World Turtles – a mummy and two hatchlings! As its a mothers day themed painting I wanted there to be a lot of pink and flowers – so its kinda incorporating all the colours you’d find in a bouquet. Foliage wise the trees and bushes are in bright shades of green.

Continue reading “Mothers Day World Turtle {Art}” →

A Woodland Walk {Photography}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography4 Comments

Hello friends!

Who doesn’t feel at home in a woodland? 

My inner elf just wants to be set free and run through the trees barefoot. I’ve taken a break from decorating this week and given myself a little chance to explore my new surround – a brilliant mix of woodland and fields (filled with sheep!) I can even hear them baa-ing from my bedroom which is amazing!!

The village I’ve moved to is only a mile across and you can walk for miles before you see another human being.

There’s even a 400 year old church and the bell still tolls the hour, which is rather quaint. 

The woods are filled with some of the prettiest snowdrops and foliage ever, its so relaxing to be out in the wild – something I wasn’t prepared for was how quiet it is, the bird song at dawn and dusk is incredible and I haven’t heard a plane since I moved! 

I wanted to take you guys along with me so you could enjoy the relaxing and calming atmosphere too! I hope these photos bring as much peace to your day as much as they did mine.

Ready?

Let’s go!

Snowdrops are pretty much one of if not my favourite flower. The way they burst out in February showing winter that its time is over for the year while everything else hibernates.

Continue reading “A Woodland Walk {Photography}” →

I would rather spend one lifetime with you {Art}

On By ArtyMissKIn ArtLeave a comment

Hello friends! Welcome back…unless this is first time you’ve read one of my posts, then, hey! How ya doing and most importantly welcome!! 

I’ve got a new piece of hand lettering art to share with you this week. I would rather spend one lifetime with you, than face all the ages of this world alone is a quote from Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings. Tolkien’s works are filled with many a wonderful quote…although I’m pretty sure this isn’t one of them.

**I did check the books but couldn’t find it so I assume it was made up for the movies.**

Something I’m trying to improve with my hand lettering is allowing the words to flow together and get in each others space as opposed to just being in straight lines. Although I like the cleanness of using straight lines if its quite a long quote for these shorter ones letting the words nestle into one another looks way more interesting…but it takes a little practice.

Continue reading “I would rather spend one lifetime with you {Art}” →

Fleeting thought #2 {Sandcastles, poetry & childhood memories}

On By ArtyMissKIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Hello friends, I hope you had a good week!

Today I wanted to share my second Fleeting Thought with you. If you’re reading one of my blog posts for the first time (hi/friendly wave) and if your back and happy to read more of my ramblings (massive hug and a beaming smile!!). 

For the uninitiated Fleeting Thought is something I’ve come up with while trying to post more of my feelings and be a bit more blog-ish, these wordy posts might sometimes include stories or poetry or maybe be a place were I can put photos/doodles that are a bit random and wouldn’t get a full post.  

Now, I’ve also written a haiku – you’ve been warned!

Ready here we go!

Have you ever watched someone create something and thought Yeah, I’ll take a whack at that, it doesn’t look too hard!

Well, I came across sand sculpting online when I discovered that Cornwall hold a few sandcastle competitions in the summer and couldn’t resist having a go on a recent trip to the beach…even though its February and at the very most 13 degrees! 

Was I the only lunatic playing in the sand, whilst wearing a wooly jumper…absolutely.

I haven’t built a sandcastle since I was little – one of my favourite childhood memories is my mum, sister and I used to build a boat when on the beach that had a bucket steering wheel, and we’d sail it on various adventures. I thought sand sculpting might be fun to try…it is very much enjoyable, but is much harder than it looks! So on that note I thought I’d share my first (and only) sand sculpting effort.

Also, while I personally love the idea that the human fascination with sandcastles began when mankind first stepped on a beach, there’s an eternal mystery in not knowing who built the first one.

Now for the grand reveal…

Ta-da!

Continue reading “Fleeting thought #2 {Sandcastles, poetry & childhood memories}” →

Magical cove {One frame}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography6 Comments

Hello my Friends!

Can you believe it, we’re already halfway through February?! Winter has been so cold and wet this year that it feels like spring is taking an age to get here, so I’ve been taking advantage of every moment of nice weather I can get.

Anyway, its been about a month since I posted my last One Frame and I’ve got a new landscape shot to share this week. The coast of Cornwall is magical and this photo was taken on Perranporth beach where there are some amazing caves/coves, this one is one of my favourites, its not so much a cave but an archway and has so many colours and textures in its stones.

In a weird way it reminds me of a Hag Stone, just on a much bigger scale.

The water that has been trapped until the tide comes back to claim it is super clear but Freezing cold and so much deeper than it looks! 

I kinda feel this particular spot might be a portal to Narnia or some other fairytale realm, with how the sun is shining on the cliff behind the arch. One day I might even be brave enough to swim through it…

That’s it for this week, I hope you like the little slice of beachy paradise. How is the weather where you are? Next weeks post is either gonna be the second Fleeting Thought or more art. 

Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!

Valentines World Turtles {Art}

On By ArtyMissKIn Art, World Turtles8 Comments

Hello friends! 

This coming Tuesday is Valentines day and I decided a while back that I wanted to create some love themed art so this week I wanted to share a new illustration with you. My growing collection of World Turtles now contains Spring, Autumn and Winter illustrations and I thought why not create a Valentines day one too!!!

So this painting features two World Turtles – As its a love themed I wanted the colours to reflect the theme of love – using lots of reds and pinks. Foliage wise the trees in vibrant shades of green and help to create a heart in the negative space between the turtles.

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All We Have to Decide {Art}

On By ArtyMissKIn Art2 Comments

Hello my friends!

This week I thought I’d share my first hand lettering post of 2023. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us is a quote from J.R.R Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring. Professor Tolkien’s books are an endless supply of wise and beautiful phrases, that I really love turning into art.

**spoilers ahead** 

This particular line is said by Gandalf the Grey while the fellowship are in Moria in the movies, but actually it takes place in Chapter 2 of FOTR: The Shadows of the past in a conversation between the wizard and Frodo Baggins before Sam gets caught eavesdropping and the hobbits leave the Shire.

**okay no more spoilers**

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Fleeting thought #1 {Hag stones, short stories, folklore & feelings}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography4 Comments

Hello my friends, 

Bear with me, I thought I’d try something a little different this week!!

I kinda feel I should maybe do a few more ‘written’ posts, expressing my feelings/thoughts not just loads of pretty(-ish) photographs and my art. I used to keep a journal and I even wrote a few short stories…but on my blog I’ve never really felt confident enough to post that kinda thing.

So here goes…I’ve come up with Fleeting Thought which I’m hoping will become wordy posts, sometimes containing stories or poetry or maybe just getting my feelings out there (and hopefully someone will read it) but they might also be a place were I can put all different groups of photos that wouldn’t get a full post on there own.

Back at the beginning of the month I mentioned that I recently moved house – which in and of itself is probably one of the stressful things I’ve ever done in life! But that’s not the point of this post. I happened to move from a city landscape to a picturesque one which is awesome, and in my new garden I found a Hag Stone! It’s small enough to sit on the palm of my hand, and is such an amazing shape…I think its made of flint.

Now, I’ve written a 200 word super short story (I think they call it a double drabble) about my hag stone! I haven’t written a story for ages!

But first a little bit of folklore,

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Magnificent Swan {One frame}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello my friends!

I hope life has treated you well this week.

Last year I that I realised that I had taken quite a lot of of photographs of wild birds – particularly mute swans (I even did a long post on them) but I’ve recently been through all the images on my camera in an attempt to clear some space on my memory card and found this one. 

Mute swans are actually very friendly and the wild ones I’ve photographed always seem so chilled out about the camera. I always assumed this was because I normally fed them, but I liked the idea of being a swan whisperer!

There’s something truly magical about swans and this one is almost looking directly into the camera. I love the way its sort of quizzically leaning, as if its sizing me up! Unfortunately the pristine whiteness of the swan shows just how dirty the river water is, but somehow that makes the swan all the more beautiful.

It’s a shame that as a country we’ve let our waterways become so polluted.

Well that’s it for this week, one lovely swan photographed for this post. I hope you like it. Do you have a favourite wild bird? They are wonderful creatures and I love watching them – and always try to keep the bird feeders full at home…I might even do a few posts on them this year. As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!

ps. Next week I’m thinking of trying something a little bit different!!