The Fairy House

Before my niece was born, being artistic and super excited about having a niece, I was tasked with decorating her nursery.  I'm not entirely sure why, but we settled on a fairy theme.  There's a wonderful artist named Christian Slade who paints whimsical scenes with Corgis and fairies, and my sister has 2 Corgis.  So, I commissioned a Christian Slade piece for her wall, and set to work stenciling tiny luminous fairies on her dusky purple walls.  On a whim, I also picked up a book for her that was about how to make fairy houses.  It would be years before she could appreciate it, but it struck me as being really quite sweet.

Fast forward 8 years, and my niece is obsessed with fairies.  She only reads books about them, watches movies about them (presumably most of them horribly insipid, but never mind), and has even started a fairy club at school.  One day my sister found her crying over their bin of recyclables because she couldn't figure out how to make a good fairy house out of them.

My sister knows me far too well.  She Googled fairy houses, saw how much people online were charging for nice ones, and immediately picked up the phone and called Aunt Holly.  Because Aunt Holly is a sucker.  And because Aunt Holly feels a modicum of guilt about subjecting my sister to endless books and movies about fairies.

Less than a month, and well over 200 hours, and $250 dollars later, Auntie Holly and Uncle Seth have created, if I say so myself, a wicked cool fairy house for their garden.

I started with a stone chimney.

Then I got totally carried away. 

I drafted my long-suffering husband Seth into the project because he's good with tools and wood working.  I think it runs in his veins, from his grandfather.  Seth's best friend noted to me the other day that Seth started out moaning and groaning and complaining about being asked to help with the project, but that by the end, he would get this wistful look on his face as he described the tongue and groove joints he created for the roof joists.  In short, though he's not likely to admit it, I think Seth had some fun with the project.  He repeatedly stayed up into the wee hours to make every detail perfect, rather than cutting any corners. 

He sure as heck did an amazing job with it!  I was the artistic visionary, he was the one with the mechanical skills to make it happen in sophisticated and beautiful ways.  Seriously, his roof joists and hinge insets and hidden tricks for adding stability and hiding hardware are incredible. 

Bless him, too, for his patience with my constant interruptions.  I thought he might throttle me the day he was trying to put the walls up and I kept interrupting him with questions and tasks for the tiny acorn tea set I was working on. I even dragged my poor father into helping me find acorns for that tea set; he drove all over kingdom come one afternoon searching for some.


I take particular pride in the front entrance, from the stairs, to the awning, to the tiny lamps to the door with a working knocker.  It turned out far better than I even envisioned.  And of course, any good fairy house must have a sign over the front door that says "A hundred thousand welcomes" in Irish.  Because, you know, fairies come from Ireland originally.  (I'm wondering if I tell my niece that, if she'll demand to start learning Gaelic and request a 2014 summer vacation in Ireland...?)

I delivered it along with a hot glue gun and moss and stones and shells and lichen, so my niece can add her own decorative touch to it as she pleases.

Anyway, enjoy the photos. I shall miss working on it, even though it was a bit much to have every waking moment consumed by it for weeks. I just got back from personally delivering it (a 5 hour drive away) on my niece's birthday yesterday. I nearly asphyxiated on marine varnish fumes between here and there. The drive gave me plenty of time to contemplate designs for a fairy house for my own garden...

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Like Walking in Deep Sand

It was a glorious sunny morning, so my husband and I decided to forego our indoor ice skating plans and instead head for the woods.  We weren't in the mood for too much company out there, which means we headed to Baltimore Woods.  I had hoped they would be renting snow shoes since my husband doesn't have any, but their office is closed on Sundays.  So, in solidarity, I agreed to walk with him instead of snow shoeing myself.

Ow.  We did not get as much snow here as folks in New England, but there is probably about a foot on the ground at Baltimore Woods. And while it's been traveled and packed down some, it's still fairly deep and squashy. It turns out that walking in such stuff is a lot like walking on a beach through deep soft sand. Your feet kind of slide out every which way, and it's absurdly laborious. I WORKED for the three miles we walked!  Given that I went sledding on Saturday and can barely move my arms after all the effort to keep myself on the inner tube, I figure by tomorrow every inch of me will be in agony.

But I admit it was absolutely delicious to be out in sunshine today.  It was warm enough that all I needed was a light jacket, and at times that was too much.   For the first time in months I was really in the mood to use my camera, because there's little that gives better contrast than sunshine in winter.  I simply love all the shadows on the snow, contrasted with the almost blinding whiteness.  The textures of the snow are amazing too.

I also love how incredibly intense the few flashes of color are.  My eye just gets grabbed by the little bits of color, because they seem magnified by being surrounded by whiteness.

 

Anyway, it was a lovely if laborious walk, with good company and my trusty camera.  Sunshine, it was so nice to see you!

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New portrait

A new bit of commissioned artwork.



That's Sadie and Lola.  I love the gleeful leap into infinity.

This piece was one I struggled with mightily.  I am an animal portrait artist... and not good at landscapes.  And while there are two dogs in this, there is a lot more scenery than dog.  I'm not thrilled with it, but it was certainly good for my skills!  It made me do studies of light and value and color that I usually just skip right over.  Boring to do, but very worthwhile, I grudgingly admit. 

I hope my next commissioned piece is a nice close up of a dog, cat or horse face, though!

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A little texture in the woods

I am in the midst of my midwinter blahs.  I want snow (lots of it) because it's still sort of fun.  The fun factor will wear off before too long but not yet.  At least you can DO stuff with snow, like snowshoe.  But unfortunately it's been warm and melty and all we're left with today is some ugly clumps of snert.

Without snow, I am left just being SO SICK of the interminable gray skies of winter in Central New York!  Our summers are spectacular here, but we sure pay for it with woeful lack of sun in winter.

So, on Saturday, I saw the sun pop out from between the clouds for a few brief stints, playing peekaboo.  I grabbed my camera and rushed outdoors.  Because I'm me.  My shots were certainly not spectacular, but I did relish the ability to capture at titch of sunshine and the remnants of the snow, however briefly.

And also because I'm me, I found abandoned farm equipment in the woods to photograph.  I gravitate toward it.  I loved the laciness of the leaves, and the texture of the tire, and the brief sprig of life balanced precariously on rust.

I love textures in all seasons.  This moss was particuarly arresting since it was so bright surrounded by all the snow, dirt, and brown trees.  But I loved the texture of the snow, too, and leaves and grass in suspended animation in the water. 

I am hoping for more snow and colder temperatures in the forecast. Slightly colder. I'll probably get a lot colder. But so long as it comes with snow, I'll take it.

 

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