Category: Nature

Bleached Branch

~ settleandchase ~ 8 Comments

DSC_0431_branch+duvet2_72

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A winter branch for December! Even though we hardly ever get snow down here, I still can’t help but imagine it. It’s been ages since I’ve sat and worked on things like this, so I’m feeling a little rusty..! This is one of about 7 versions that I’m toying with.

This branch has last year and next in its branch and seeds, so it seemed right for now!

Wishing you warmth, friendship and love, through December and on.

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New terms

~ settleandchase ~ 17 Comments

Airy border Rosemoor_72

A garden in between

rosemoor 16, whites_72

Last whites..

heather_72

Dartmoor in September

This shift from August to September is one of my favourite times, especially out on the hills..the purple and green of heather, the yellow (and scent!!) of the gorse, the light spikes and smear of grasses, and the changing skies. And there’s something about knowing that these places have gone through all this since they began, and you’re only catching a part of it.

I’ve been studying for a diploma in horticulture over the past year and it’s made me feel somehow even more connected to the things growing all around us. I remember that I am surrounded by and a part of the whole of things, from the tiniest ant to the largest tree.

I wonder if  looking through a lens or writing about these things will feel different, in the same way that knowing about a person helps a portrait?

Random musings towards some kind of direction…I think.

~ settleandchase ~ 2 Comments

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tiny seeds

(unfinished sketch of an idea)

.As mentioned in my last post, I made the move last week to transfer some of my photographs onto a gallery type site, and it’s been building slowly. It’s been a strange experience in a way, and every time I work on it I slightly change my mind about it. Along with the enthusiasm, and sheer amazement that I’m actually potentially going to see an idea through to some kind of meaningful conclusion (albeit a teeny one), it’s brought along with it that usual old crowd of mumbling doubts, thoughts and feelings, and a predictable sensation of confusion about the worth of my own creative “journey”. (I put the word Journey in quotes as every living being, even your local tortoise, seems to be discussing their “journey” these days) But, it is a journey no matter which way you look at it..maybe I shall call it my “foray“, which sounds far more fun and slightly more Flâneuse-ish. (Thankyou Deanne)

So, it’s been a bit of a random Foray here on this blog, and out there in my life. If I think of my life over the time of this blog as being a little like my illustration above, me all marching enthusiastically on with excitement for the new day’s ideas, renewed hope with every sunrise, “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm…”etc_ I should also add in a few folk at the windows above doing a little wee on it all and chucking out a few banana skins.

Photographs, words and music have gently marked this time; quiet old knowing friends, they look back at me now, nodding away. They’ve been a reflection of life’s happenings back to myself, and a connection sent hopefully outwards. They are a thumbprint, something concrete that says “I/we were here, and we made it to now.”

And that is the point, if I start to walk my familiar trail of worry about the worth or meaning of it all. When I wonder if anyone really needs to read these trickling thoughts on this screen near to midnight. If I struggle with the question, that is a kind of an answer. Just keep making something, any kind of mark, stop judging it so closely. Just let it grow.

My postings here may not have been very regular, structured or themed, but then, if I am honest, neither am I. My aims for this space keep changing. I hope I’ve managed to share something of myself and the space around me with you as I’ve enjoyed exploring.

Photography has always helped me to re-remember what was important to me – by waiting, and observing, I’ve had to slow down and take notice. It’s taken me out into the world. Each photograph I took feels like a reminder of a blessing in the world somehow, something to be grateful for.

“When I’m weary, and far from sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep..”

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