Owly

I hear wings. Flapping around the eaves and flapping through the trees. I hear leaves rustling in the breeze (that is one of my favourite sounds). Harder to hear because they are very light, but every now and then raindrops on the window. From the kitchen I hear the kettle singing ... and soon I hope to hear the pouring of boiling water and the clink-clink of teaspoons and cups.

Thank you so much to everyone who asked about my owl painting (I never knew owls were so popular :)). It is now available as print in my on-line shop

Paint the sky

End-of-January-evenings are painting the skies with  pink and orange sunsets. And end-of-January-evenings' light is touching further into my room and longer into the days. Birds going delirious every evening this week between 4.30-5pm, making my last half hour of the day painting go very happily.  Their sounds seeming to touch simultaneously on both old memories and future hopes of Spring. How is it that every year Spring feels both old and new?

Early Birds and Night Owls

 Early birds

Night owls


Are you an early bird or a night owl?
Me? I am trying to be an early bird these days;)

For the early birds, some early blooming flowers (the purple-pink Morning Glory) and the chirps of robin, wren and blackbird - usually the first to sing. Also a cup of morning tea to revive and why not some candlelight for the quiet time.

For the night owls, some flowers that begin to bloom in the evening (Four o'clocks, Evening Primrose and Moon Flower), the presence of candlelight. Hot chocolate with marshmallow helps too.

Remember the birds

Hello first day of December. Mild and misty you are this first morning. Milder on the western seaboard, the weatherman says on the radio, and rain on the way for the afternoon, spreading from the west. The afternoon will be for painting so.

My 94 year old Grand-uncle farmer sits by his window, also in the west of Ireland, observing the weather and the birds - he cannot walk out and about as much these days - but he always feeds the birds and he says they come back and sing for him. They are good company those little friends.  The painting above is inspired by him (available as an A4 print in my little shop). Don't forget to feed the birds this winter - it will be like a song investment!

Evening in a Summer Garden

Wood pigeons cooing their lullabyes. Robins flying quietly home back into the trees. 
Sounds carry from a neighbour's nearby garden; glasses clinking and laughter. 
Above the wall, old-fashioned, full, pink roses seem to glow in the dim, dusky, half-light of a long Summer twilight.
 A wooden seat for dreaming and enjoying the night time vespers.

Song investment

If she feeds the birds now in Winter, maybe they will come back next Spring and sing all Summer long.

Don't forget to feed the little ones if it gets cold this Winter!

No need to have the radio on

The best music these days is to be heard outside my window. Imagine not being able to hear the birds chirping - what would those Spring sounds look like?