collections of ....

images that inspire

I have always collected images that I love, no matter where they come from and I have always collected small plastic animals that I restore and repaint in nicer fashion

This is one page from one of my scrap books - long before etsy was born and etsy treasuries excited everyone, including me, I would spend many hours on the floor with all my scraps around me.

They were all sorted into colours and I would assemble images to compliment each other, and on other pages I would tell a story ... sounds just like my own etsy treasuries!

The small plastic animals are all 1/32nd scale, 32 times smaller than their real life counterparts. However some of the beings I have would be rather off the scale slightly!

All of these friends will be in my other etsy shop The Hares Nest soon. Some are already there.

They took many hours to paint and being so small, they were rather a challenge!

some details from the scrap page above - this is a beautiful painting by a British Wildlife artist - no idea whom? but isn't it so resplendent?

I love those colours and the sparrows are beginning new life amongst the new blossoms - how apt!

I shall post more scrap pages over time ...

and I will soon have an important announcement to make for two rescue rabbit raffles to be held soon!! with lovely prizes to be won!

an expanding waistline ...

I've been making mixed media collages for some time and find them very satisfying.

They encompass my story telling with my art.

Putting together these small ACEOs is rather a challenge and each one takes well over a couple of hours to complete even if I do have the idea already in my head.

I've been continuing a series that I started a while ago that stars two small lagomorphs - Priceless and his new wife Evdokia.

At first it was only Priceless as he began his growing up and learning life's lessons, then his yearning for a certain someone, and after he spotted her they decided to get married!

and now ...

Nothing short of a miracle

Priceless loves Evdokia thru and thru and would dare not say a word about her expanding waistline – she must be happily in love he thought and all that tea and cake. But one morning he woke up and she had their brand new family of 8 to meet him! All in the family - nothing short of a miracle! Evdokia looked tired but happy. Priceless puffed up with pride!

and ...

All curious and energetic

Priceless and Evdokias youngsters were such a bundle of energy and they loved the sea! How unusual! (just like their dad). They would spend all day diving into the water from their ‘candlestick’ diving board and swimming laps. Ofcourse, there was more beneath the surface to explore, what with them being all curious and all energetic!

These two ACEOs will be in my etsy shop soon.

ACEOs are a small art card of a standard size of 2.5 x 3.5 inches and are priced to be a collectible and affordable sample of an artist's work.

I love ACEOs and own quite a few from artists on etsy. I also really like my own ones but I've never made one for myself. I may just have to change that, and ofcourse it will come with a small story, and like all my stories will carry a small motto of life and will bring a smile to my face.

I just did a search on etsy for ACEOs and came across this very artistic rabbit - did you ever!

and

these happy friends enjoying a spot of lunch - what a super imagination eh?!

foX marks the spot

I love to read and have rather a large pile of books waiting to be read and a smaller pile of books currently being read.

And ofcourse a book being read must be accompanied by a bookmark.

Not only do I love a good read but it must be accompanied by a bookmark that pleases me. There was a day when I used to make do with a shred of napkin or torn envelope to mark my page, and at times the bottom corner of pages were folded over. In very rare circumstances would I fold the top corner, and only if my bookmarks were all busy elsewhere.

So when I purchased my friendly red fox book keeper from Alison at her etsy shop Wooly Zeke's Boutique I was delighted to get him working straight away!

My fox marker doesn't mind my taste in books and he rather likes spending time on certain pages. Even the next night when the same page is read again because I fell asleep the night before reading it, he doesn't make a sound.

He is happy to lie there between the pages with his head at the top and wait for the progression of new pages to be added to his bed.

I like exciting books that educate and entertain so my favourite authors are Amelia Kinkade, John Le Carre, Douglas Reeman, Hammond Innes, Desmond Bagely and Alistair MacLean. My favourite novels are usually war time / cold war thrillers.

Fox has been spending time lately in Amelia Kinkade's second book The Language of Miracles. Ofcourse Amelia is not a thriller writer, but her books are riveting and as eye opening as any book you will ever read. She will literally change your world by changing your way of thinking.

I met Amelia a few years ago when I attended one of her workshops on animal communication. I had read her first book Straight from the Horses Mouth and I was stunned about what I had learnt, and so very happy to have learnt it.

If you haven't read her books before then start with this one. It will really open your eyes and your heart to this world we live in and share with those beings who do not speak English or Spanish or Russian but who speak from their hearts.

Her second book is equally amazing and I hope that one day every person will read them as part of their education in life and living.

Fox is rather happy that my progression is slow at times as he's glad of the long naps between page turns! I am a rather slow reader and like to mull over the words, sentences and colloquialisms used.

There really is a big difference between the writers of the early decades and the younger generations. I've come across words I've never heard of before (in English!) and wonderfully fascinating sayings and nuances.

Fox is not the only spot keeper though. I am lucky to have Esme hard at work too. Usually I have about three books that I read at any one time and depending on my mood, they get finished at different times.

Is it tardy of me to say that I took a whole year to read the very last paragraph of a book? I finished it just the other day and the book can now be returned to it's rightful owner. I had to wipe the dust off the jacket!

I'm not terribly fussy where my books come from. 99% of the time they are second hand and cost pennies.

I give the covers a good wash when I get them home and they join my growing pile of 'to read's.

I collect this John Le Carre book and have three with the same bee cover. Though I have not read the pages of all three! (merely the pages of only half of one!) though I did watch the film with Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz of the same name. Films can never compare to books. Not Le Carre's anyway.

When I am in the right mood I shall finish the book. Though it has been a couple of years already, but I'm not counting.

Esme is a delightful reading companion, like fox, and she loves my taste in books too! She is from Pey's etsy shop Peylu.

A cherished bookmark will take you happily thru many good stories!

My constant reading companion over the decades has always been John Le Carre. I have never read better than him.

I hope that my very short stories that accompany all my mother hares and baby hares and other soft sculptures make for an enjoyable read, though being so short there is no need for a bookmark, but I would definitely be using one any way!