whiling away the days...

I've been enjoying the sweet sounds of Lee Morse

after whiling away this weekend with wonderful friends

and devouring far too many sweet treats! Ah, the lovely thing 

about celebrating a Summertime Christmas and New Year is

the sheer abundance of sweet fruits on tree and table.

The trees are laden with plums again, which I am about to head

outside and pick, in the softer evening sunshine. 'Tis pickling 

and jamming season again and I am looking forward 

to some good old home preserving this week....

 I hope you have all been enjoying a wonderfully 

delightful holiday season!  One filled with delicious 

food, delightful visitors and decadent days... xo

You can listen to many of Lee's beautiful songs here

dress

"This was the first video I ever made. We shot it in a circus 

school called 'Fooltime' in Bristol on a 16mm Bolex camera. 

We could only afford to process 12 minutes of film, so bits 

of the film are repeated, played backwards and forwards! "

Mariano Mochnacz - Photographer/Video Maker

How Wild The Wind Blows

Indeed the weather has been wild and windy here lately, but 
with dashes of random sunshine and masses of butterflies.  

Wanderer Butterflies sipping nectar in our flower garden.

So I've been busying myself inside this week. In the studio.

Making, making making for shop 1 & shop 2 (opening soon),

taking photographs for my portfolio, making new artwork,

contemplating making some more sculptural pieces

and listening (a lot) to the music of Nick Drake.

It seems that Nick's mother was musically inclined too and

a couple of her homemade recordings have been doing the 

rounds on the internet lately.  This is possibly one of them...

How Wild The Wind Blows

An acorn carries an oak tree

Sleeping but for a little while;

Winter lies in the arms of spring

As a mother carries her child

And never knows

How wild the wind blows

A thought carries a universe

A seed carries a field of grain

Love lies in the arms of change

As a joy carries a pain

And noone knows

How wild the wind blows

written and sung by Molly Drake (?)

Eerie... and beautiful, even if it turns out not to be Molly's song. x

Let The Sun Shine

Where are you Mister Sun?

  

WE WANNA PLAY!

Summer a la Prada via MisakoMimoko

Marie I and Marie II from Sedmikrasky (Daisies 1966)

LULA  ...and the ever lovely Zooey Deschanel!

It's been all grey skies and dreary days this week,

but it does look as if it might be warming up...

Beach Holiday Checklist:

Vintage swimsuit. Check. Over-sized sunnies. Check. Beach ball. 

Floppy hat. Pretty sun umbrella and buckets of sunshine....

I think a holiday at the Seaside might be in the making!

xoxox

Orla Kiely Autumn/Winter

LOVE THIS!

Cruel Nature

PJ Harvey - On Battleship Hill

from 'Let England Shake'

Karen Elson

                                      

I have always much admired the style of Karen Elson.  

Her signature red henna locks, her penchant for 

theatrical designers, her eclectic montage of vintage 

and nouveaux fashions, and this vogue cover

She also happens to be a pretty damn fine songstress 

THE GHOST WHO WALKS

karenelson.com

I have had this album on constant play since it 

was gifted to me last year for my birthday... 

check out this live clip for the title track ↓

(I am so in love with that dress...) 

KAREN ELSON > SWOON!

Apologies... not sure of photo links

love, love, love

I love the wonderfully Beatle-esque vibe of this:-

This song lifts me up when life has me down and
reminds me that life could be worse than it is...

& that ups and downs are just a part of living. xo

wool and water

I love these beautiful & dark articulated dolls 

from talented papersmith Amy Earles...

↑ This duo look to me like they are straight out of ↓

{ The Black Rider } 

(click here to read more)

An incredible musical fable by Tom Waits,

William S. Burroughs and Robert Wilson,

which I was fortunate to see performed 

in English at the Sydney Festival in 2004.

You can view a version of it here on youtube

The accompanying album is fantastic

and available here from Amazon

Now, who can resist a little dancing halloween skeleton?

Simply enchanting, are they not?

You can visit the wool and water shops 

                        (click here for website)

via bigcartel and etsy

or visit the 'wool and water' blog here

for more delights and inspiration

the haunting

I first heard this lovely song...

{ The May Queen }

by Sasha Soukup

when Sasha posted the link to it
(& others) on her beautiful blog 

...it has been haunting me ever since

one sunday morning

 happy threads, early morning faces,

and one too many gin and tonics...

makes me think of  ↓this song↓  which I love

I wonder... would you join me, for a lovely snowy drive 

through the streets of Mendoza Argentina,  sometime?

FLY ME TO THE MOON

LET ME PLAY AMONG THOSE STARS

Karen Elson 

via Karen Elson 

Irina Graewe

via all the mountains...

billy und hells 

via thought patterns  

{miss polly jean}

I've been listening to this a lot lately 

whilst driving to and fro along the freeway- 

of this most incredible songstress,
I am a most adoring fan, I must say,
yet it's the same with every album...

it always takes time for the love to grow,
like a flower slowly coming into bloom.

The longer I listen,
the deeper I fall into the richness
& the poetics of each new work.

And that, is something which I very much
enjoy about the music of Polly Jean Harvey.

Her work is so skillfully & thoughtfully crafted.

part of a collaborative series
I created with Jonathan 2009


Over the years, her songs have provided so much
inspiration for my own creative endeavours, that I feel,

from 'The Devil's Playground' 
a series which I am currently working on


 although we are complete strangers to one another,
we are also kindred spirits journeying side by side.