Spring & Stones

A New Spring window for Aurora Pet Salon. Spring flowers and green vines adorn an old world stone wall. Gothic arches mirror great cathedrals and Easter traditions. 

Renewal & Retreat

To retreat is to draw back. I've decided to treat myself with a short retreat, a withdrawal, if you will, from the webbed world into a more secluded, more tangible setting: home. I'm retreating to a place of meditation, study, and creation. I retreat not into a shell or a cave but into the wild wide open of the world, out of doors, away from screens, gathering bits of renewed spirit and new perspectives along the way.

Starting April 1, I am going take a short break from the internet and in doing so my Etsy Shop will be on a little vacation (probably a month). So if there has been something you've had your eye on in my Etsy shop I would snatch it up soon before my windows are drawn shut. It will be quieter here in my little virtual alcove, too, for a while but rest assured that fresh projects will follow.

In the time that this offers me, I plan to immerse myself in Spring and with it some new artistic endeavors, some great books, and glean new inspiration from the trees, the green, the April showers.

I am excited to delve into the world of botanical dyes and eco printing, a fusion of art and nature that will encourage me to be creative in my favorite environments. I'm also looking forward to foraging wild foods of spring, especially those elusive morel mushrooms.

Already I have started reading Robert Macfarlane's Landmarks which is fantastic. I've also read his Wild Places and The Old Ways. All are just amazingly inspirational and profound. He is a wise man with  hunger for the wild. I've dipped back into Emerson's Walden for a little nature walk around the pond. I've a million ideas that I'd like to make time for and new mediums I'd love to try. In Winter ideas stew and steep and in Spring I begin to do things, make things, write things. Spring is a fertile field.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you are enjoying some Irish culture, either some music or food, maybe a film or black pint of Guinness. I'm getting ready to do the thing that reminds of Ireland the most: walking in the woods. Lucky for me, there are some mossy green woods right outside my back door. Slainte! 

Dunluce Castle, Antrim, Ireland

Bonamargy Friary, Ballycastle, Ireland

High Cross at Muckross Abbey, Ireland. Print for sale Here.

Signs of Spring

The Irish Rover

Here is a new creation, on the shelf in my Etsy Shop, just in time for St. Patrick's Day. The Irish Rover journal is inspired by the culture and landscape of Ireland that I so love. The end pages are from a vintage volume of Irish Literature in Old Irish Text. The inside is lined with a marbled handmade paper and is adorned with three green vintage postage stamps: two from Ireland, one from Luxembourg. The journal is hand bound in a soft, smooth leather, a muted khaki green, evoking moss and lichens and weathered old tree trunks. Great for journey and dreaming. 

Memories & Milestones

A recently completed book for a dear friend and her new baby boy. May they record many magical memories in this album and keep track of his firsts and favorites and all the wonders of childhood and motherhood.

embossed leather and brushed soft leather combination

Vintage Map End Leaves

Vintage Brass Button

Long Stitch with Hemp Thread

Irish Relics

Well folks, March is here. Spring is in sight! Green will return soon (in fact, before this last snow I saw the daffodils peaking through). For me March is a magical beginning to spring and all the lovely things that we'd almost forgotten. Also, I love to celebrate Irish heritage, St. Patrick, and remember the times I've visited the Emerald Isle. My mom found these books, years back, in her attic. They belonged to a relative of mine at some point. And though they are quite tattered and moldy, they are curious treasures. They are volumes of Irish Literature published in 1904, edited by the one and only Lady Gregory. My favorite volume here has English on the right and old Irish Gaelic on the left. The end leaves are lovely with their harps and shamrocks and the other pages have harp watermarks. Rare treats to find in a forgotten corner or a dark, damp attic. So here is but day one of one of my favorite months. Gather your green!