Thankful {things I love} Thursday ...

...Thankful for  all the little treasures on my sparrow studio altar

Art

for me

is like

breathing

"Art enable us

to find ourselves

and lose ourselves

at the same time"

~Thomas Merton~

"If you ask me

what I came to do in this world,

I, an artist, will answer you:

I am here

to live

out loud"

~Emile Zola~

"Artists feel what they're carrying and feel it vividly.

In order to make their art

they must find their edges

and soften there.

Art {like love} was never about safety.

To love an artist

is to fall into a sea

of deep

soulful

courageous

wild living"

~Victoria Erikson~

sweet grass tea lights

"I am an instrument

in a shape

of  a woman"

~Adrienne Rich~

drawn towards the wanderings of the woods ...

with my bundle of tiny twigs getting bigger by the day

I sat and painted a few

and looked through old discarded/damaged books

for words that spoke to me ...

*her heart was drawn towards the wanderings of the woods*

♥

"the forest and I

was all there was.

In the deep still silence

I could feel

the Earth's

beating heart"

and looked through found treasures from walks past

~heart shaped stones~

♥

owl faced walnut shells keeping me company

{and making me smile}

spotting hearts amongst the beauty of fallen and gathered bark

the trees fingerprint

"you were you

and I was I;

we were two

before our time.

I was yours

before I knew,

and you have always been

mine too"

skeleton leaves

oh how I love finding them

the epitome of life I think

what may look delicate and fragile and aged

has lived to tell a long story

of holding its own

and while some may look and see an old weathered leaf

I see resilience, life lived  and pure beauty ♥

I remember carrying this leaf home ever so carefully thinking it would crumble before I reached the front door

but what a lesson it taught me as it has sat in a bowl now for years  and has not changed :-D

acorns

rattling about

some with caps

others the caps have fallen off

"she lost herself in the trees

among the ever-changing leaves.

she wept beneath the wild sky

as stars told stories of ancient times.

the flowers grew towards her light,

the river called her name at night.

she could not live an ordinary life

with the mysteries of the universe

hidden in her eyes"

~Christy Ann Martine~

~painted bark fairie~

"Forests will always hold your secrets,

for that's what forests are for.

To separate and hide things.

To protect, to comfort, to hold, to envelop, to demonstrate, to slow down, to hold, to teach.

Go to the trees to explore your questions and dreams.

Go to the trees to desire and seek.

The world will listen

as you walk, watch, soften and breath"

~Victoria Erickson~

treasures from the trail ...

I'm always writing about my love & fascination/admiration with trees

{here on the blog & over on my Instagram account}  -

and how my gathering bag is always filled {as well as pockets} with woodland

finds on our daily walks with Archer.

We have a large bowl on our coffee table that holds my gatherings and where I put them when we arrive home & it is gloriously filled to the brim. Each season brings with it different types of gatherings ~ acorns * pinecones* skeleton leaves * leaves of changing colours* branches * twigs* bark* feathers * rocks*

I also have a weaving/mixed media fabric art wall hanging in my Sparrow studio & I will often tuck in small pieces of  bark, skeleton leaves & feathers that I find here {she is looking really lovely with all her adornments} :-D

I thought I would show some of the ways I use my finds & what I do with some of them.

"The diversity of the phenomena of Nature

is so great,

and the treasures hidden in the heavens

so rich,

precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking

in fresh nourishment"

~Johannes Kepler~

I recently found some wonderfully shaped branches

faces were painted

and then larger pieces of bark were added to the back

wrapped with twine & a loop added to the back for hanging

I'm always drawn to and love branches where knots have fallen leaving  natural holes behind

these I've created into little

sparrow spirit sticks

each painted with a nature inspired sentiment/word

wrapped with fabric/twine/ribbons

and embellished with beads

and some with found feathers

"Nature is man's teacher.

She unfolds her treasures to his search,

unseals his eye,

illumines his mind,

and purifies his heart,

an influence breathes from all the sights and sounds

of her existence"

~Alfred Billings Street~

"You will find something

more in woods

than in books.

Trees and stones

will teach you

that which you can never learn from masters"

~St. Bernard~

***

I hope you find some lovely treasures from the trail on your walks too.

d xo