Saturday, May 8, 2010

A Day Out And A week Filled Of Nail Biting.

It's cold here today. Grey skies and a chilly breeze. A gentle blizzard of apple blossom petals  every now and then gust pass the window. We have lit the woodburner. How different to the other day when we visited  beautiful Exmoor.


A wonderful national park, where the fluffy wild ponies graze and sunshine yellow gorse perfumes the air.

And beneath the flowered bushes minature forests exist...

The sun shone and it was warm.
Warm enough to sit by the stream just along the road at nearby Lynmouth.

And eat fish and chips (the best I've tasted in years!) on the sea front wall. This very handsome seagull waited ever so patiently and was very polite about wanting one of my chips.


I have visited here on several occassions but this trip was to show my daughter as she had recently been learning about 'The Lynmouth disaster' at school. She instantly fell in love with the little town.



We sat on rocks, skimmed stones and breathed in the sea air and generally had a quiet relaxing bank holiday Monday.
                                   *****
I've been easily distracted for the rest of the week by various things. My nails have been bitten down and I've have found it hard to concentrate. I keep wandering to this page and it's facebook page and it makes me so worried and sad to think things could change.If you feel the same please please join.

I've  also been painting ...

                                                                     Beneath blackthorn 

                                                                   And Moongazer.

Both of these I'm afraid have been listed and sold already but I thought I would still share them with you.
I have a new painting on canvas which I have just begun and hope to share that soon. In the mean time I think I will go and  warm myself by the fire. ......

See you all soon xx

21 comments:

  1. such magical moments in every post....lovely blog ;0)x

    look forward to your painting x

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  2. Cold and grey here too, it's good to have days like this one spent in beautiful places to look back on when it's like this. Exmoor and the Lynmouth area aren't places I'm familiar with but it does look beautiful, you are lucky to be able to visit the for a day out.

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  3. Beautiful photos, makes me wish I was there eating chips too :)

    And I love the pic of your woodburner. I long for one of those! :)

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  4. I can't believe you have been to Lynmouth - it is a favourite place of mine - I don't know if you can still find but the beach used to have mini teeny weeny conch shells - yes, really, conch shells... about 1/2 inch in size or less. I grew up with a lot of time spent at my granny on Porlock Hill, the other side of the Exmoor and used to watch the tourist buses to Lynmouth trundle up the hill past her cottage on the famous 1 in 4 Porlock Hill bend. I hope you enjoyed the cable car and hope you had a chance to see something of Porlock too? I am envious, homesick and nostalgic all wrapped up together!

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  5. Mrs yappy dog...
    Yes, we went up Porlock hill and up and down the cable car. I didn't see any of the shells, but I didn't really look hard. :)

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  6. HI Karen,
    Lovely post, as usual, I love the photo of your hearth... I am about to post on this VERY dark and stormy day in Massachusetts.... and about to light my woodstove.

    I share your worry about the possibility of things changing... here in the US, there are many laws that our former pres. made more lenient and now we have to fight for them again. At least the new administration is more aligned with my values, but these are not the times when animal rights or the earth are on top of the list... folks want jobs. Can't blame them, but.... Its hard to hold the truth about what is happening to the creatures, the earth, and us..
    deep peace to you....

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  7. Lovely Lynmouth...we camped there whilst doing some of the South West Coastal path. And Exmoor - so beautiful - especially where the moor and the sea meet! x

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  8. Surely, surely they won't repeal this. How could Britain possibly go back to that barbarism? Sending a prayer your way.

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  9. What a gorgeous, gorgeous place! How I would so love to visit there. :) It looks so blissfully peaceful. It is sad that people do not value the lives of animals more. Thank you for posting that link. I hope that something can be done about this. Theresa

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  10. I love the wild ponies, and your new paintings. Keep warm by the fire.

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  11. I too worry about our lovely foxes... what will now happen to them ? and to the humans who become more jaded by their cruelty !

    Thank you for posting on their behalf... i feel the same way... you are not alone !

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  12. Dear Karen, I am a regular follower of your blog and I often look upon your artwork with amazement and wonder. I've often thought "how does she make her paintings look so...so...other worldly"...for lack of a better term. I love trees...with leaves and without, trees of all shapes and sizes. I have had an odd fascination with your trees and have wondered "how does she imagine such trees?" This post has partially answered my questions... the trees in the 1st and 4th photos look like the ones in your paintings. This is my first time to see real trees like the ones in your post, so thank you for sharing them. So beautiful!!

    I was sorry to hear of the situation with the fox over there. You have such an affinity with the wild things I can understand your anxiety. Having grown up on a farm, I often look at things like foxes as predators especially where chickens are concerned, but then that's just my experience with them. However they are lovely in your paintings and you do help me look at them in a whole new way. Thanks for that.

    Hope you're having a happy and peaceful today...until later...V

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  13. That looks the perfect place to spend bank holiday Monday. I have my winter Cardigan on which I just finished Knitting and the central heating it's crazy. I hate cruelty to animals too I can't bare it

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  14. Beautiful picures and a well earned day at the seaside by he looks of things! My best friend wa lucky enough to get to chat to Brian May at the Save Me event in Bristol and was rewarded with a hug too. A lovely genuine man. xx

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  15. Beautiful paintings Karen. Though foxes are a big problem here, I'm completely in agreement with you about the 'hunt' tradition, or what I know of it. And in fact, it's the 'hunt' that is to blame for our predicament...some incredibly stupid colonist thought it would be a good idea to introduce them here so they could carry on the bloody tradition, and they have consequently spread across the whole of Australia and devastated the native fauna over the last couple hundred years. Foxes are beautiful animals who have as much right to a decent life as any other animal, but because dumb humans do stupid things like that, it means that generations of foxes suffer because they now threaten the extinction of native species and have to be culled (and not always humanely). When will we learn?!

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  16. When they finished doing their deals, I fear that we will have the Tories back and this is the first act they will repeal. Let's not forget who enjoys fox hunting the most....sad times indeed.
    x

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  17. Ah! The Exmoor photos are fabulous... love them. Wish I could be there.

    Also love love love the moongazing heart.

    You continue to be awesome and inspiring. :-)

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  18. must admire ponies later -

    You are on the FRONT PAGE of ETSY right now! Yaaaay! With one of my fave prints as well. Congrats!

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  19. WOW!

    That national park is just stunning, Karen!

    I've got to move by you!

    -Dean

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It's great to hear from you! :-)