Coastal colours of the west of Ireland...

Last weekend we camped on the far west coast of Ireland on an island called Achill. It is beautiful spot, very rugged with tall jagged cliffs carving the coast interspersed with pristine beaches. The last time we were there was last winter when the wind nearly blew us off the beach! It was still beautiful but last weekend we were blessed with heavenly warm weather, no wind and had the chance to enjoy this amazing part of Ireland at its best.

One of the things I really love about Ireland is the variety of colours in the landscape, especially when the sun is shining. The grass is not just green but you can see here the yellows, rust, oranges, lime and dark greens that come through in the above picture. Stone structures like this abandoned house in Achill's deserted village, stand out even more against the stunning rich background of the grass and hills.

I truly find living in this place so inspiring to my creativity and every day I am thankful for God for bringing me here (yes, even when it rains too!). Sometimes I really wish I could paint landscapes (to be honest I've only tried a little and I don't have the patience for it!) and try and capture the colour and feel of these unique places.

The colours of these gypsy caravans for hire at the campsite where we were staying in Keel were just asking to be photographed! Great inspiration for a painting or embroidery.

Dugort Beach on the other side of the island. Perfect place to spend a perfect warm summer's day.

A new idea to try...

I have been desperate lately to try out the idea of blending fabric with paint! The two things I love most are painting & sewing so I've been wondering how I could combine the two. I made this fairy last year on some canvas fabric. I made her really quick but am quite happy with the result.I used watercolours in the background then fabric for teh collage. I sewed the design on top. I love doing this sort of free-hand sewing and I am really happy with the eyes!

Last week I decided to try the technique on a canvas already stretched. I'd had promised my youngest son a painting & he wanted a superhero so I sketched a whimsical superhero sitting on the moon. For the background I created a patchwork of fabrics (I am absorbed with some of the techniques in Kelly Rae Roberts book "Taking Flight", you can find her blog here). Kelly Rae uses papers for her patchwork but I decided to use the stash of amazing fabrics I have.

After applying the background I then separately cut out the fabric to piece together the superhero & the moon. I free-sewed them onto some fabric using matching colour thread. Then I stuck the collage onto the canvas with some gel medium after coating the fabric with clear gesso.

A close up of the head. I painted the hair with acrylics & basically painted & highlighted over the fabric.

I finished it off with spatters of white & silver to make stars. I am pretty happy with the overal picture but unfortunately the fabric has bucked a lot more than I would like. It does add texture to the piece but I think next time I might have to sew the pieces separately & stick them on to the canvas one by one. What do you think?

The main thing is that my son loves it! It was a good first experiment & most of all I enjoyed doing it!

Even when it rains....

When my husband and I moved to Ireland nearly three years ago we made a pact not to complain about the weather! Not a very Irish thing to do but we felt coming from the sunny skies of Australia to the grey chalky skies of the Emerald Isle might be a challenge so not complaining about something we couldn't change seemed like a great idea.

This was yesterday for example:
 

And this was today.....


When you're used to waking up to sunshine, this can be hard to get used to. A glimpse of summer promise than gone..... But if there is one thing God is teaching us during our time in Ireland is that life is full of hope, and that even in the small bits of sunshine, He is good to us & reminds us of how blessed we are. We live in a beautiful part of the world which wouldn't be so green if it didn't get as much rain as it did! And yes, we do miss our balmy, hot, dry summers....but now I if I moved back to Oz I would miss the crisp cold air, the soft rain making muddy puddles in our yard, the joy our daughter gets from jumping in those puddles & of course, snuggling in front of a warm, cosy fire.

Ireland is the most magical country when the sun shines. But it is also beautiful when it rains. A little bit like life sometimes....Life is full of blessings when things are good but life is full of blessings in the hard times to. We sometimes just need to look between the raindrops to find them!