Days decreasing, nights increasing.

November is leaving with gale and gust. A southwest wind blowing the 30th night out and the first day of December in. November, your days have been full of weather. A friend said to me last week, "it doesn't matter what way you face or stand, the rain will find its way into you!" It was coming from all directions.

November is also the month I opened my small online shop a year ago. Since then, unexpected travels for my prints. The little squirrel above flew to Australia, to a Chestnut Farm (I never new there was such a thing!) to sweeten the dreams of a 4 year old daughter. "St. Kevin and The Blackbird" to Canada, a present for a husband who is a fan of the poet Seamus Heaney. And a daughter in Norway who thought "Knitting and Tea" reminded her of her mother - a tea-loving knitter. (Thank you all for your support!)

Where will they go to next year? Like the November winds, blowing where they will.

September. Meán Fómhair. Septiembre. Syyskuu. Septiyembre.

I never knew there was a hidden army of knitters and knit-lovers all around the world. I am not very good at knitting but with my brush and paints I can "knit" without following a pattern! I got many enquiries about this painting which was a gift for and inspired by a lovely Norwegian knitter. So I painted another one. Hopefully it will be for sale, as a print, soon in a little on-line shop, which I am building piece by piece - like the knitters who build stitch by stitch.

Stitch by stitch

Every evening she rolled up her sleeves and, stitch by stitch, sewed a cloth of moonlight.

She "introduced" me to cloudberries

July sunshine and Morning were smiling to each other this morning and I went out and made a third. Sitting on a wooden bench under the dappled shade of two apple trees. With a coffee. And my camera and a letter to read.  The leafy trees put on a show, thrilling blissfully as the breezes rushed through them.

Above, a painting for a girl who introduced me to cloudberries (they are the little flowers painted around her feet). She is a talented knitter and a tea connoisseur!