Happy Autumn Everyone !!!
I am very pleased to announce that Pomegranate publications has just released a lovely boxed set of notecards using 4 designs from my collection !!!
If you'd like to see their website, please use the link provided up at the top right of this blog page to go directly to the site where you can see the images and order the cards. You can order individual cards if you prefer.
The boxed set is really very nice. The box itself is heavy and is a first rate production ... it has a satisfying weight and feel. You will love the quality. The cards are much nicer than what the website shows (we are working on fixing that !). These will make wonderful Holiday gifts for all your gardening and Faerie friends alike.
I'm also working feverishly to get my next line of calendars out and the next book. Everything is getting closer and I am so very much looking forward to announcing HERE when they are done. Meanwhile, I will post another sculpture image tomorrow.
2 Weeks ago I finished putting together a slide show of over 180 images and presented it last week to a very special group of gardening enthusiasts. They enjoyed the presentation very much and gave me such good feedback. Then, 2 days later, my work opened in a very important show at a famous local environmental and educational center; "Shelburne Farms" in Shelburne, VT. If any of you have plans to visit the Burlington VT area for fall foliage, the Farm (it is an estate, really ) is a fabulous destination. The show will be up till Oct. 19th. Google Shelburne Farms and you'll see what a special place it is.
As for what is going on in the "real" world....
let's face it, there are some serious waves of emotions rolling around out there.... let this place , this blog, be your little place to escape the cares and woes of the crazy world outside... let Nature and all her beauty restore your sense of well-being. Allow yourself a few minutes to just reconnect with the infinite healing power of Mother Earth here through the images on this blogsite... come back often. I'm not going anywhere except outside to work more with Nature to bring her beauty and inspiration directly to you.
Blessed Be,
Sally
This was one of my first forest constructions. It took several days to make and many hundreds of fat mosquitoes were happy that I did ! This was in a part of the forest that had been logged about 20 years ago so there were lots of fallen trees and mossy bits to work with to create this fun faerie palace. A moss covered hemlock stump formed the base. Willows for windows and doorways. Pine bark steps and of course, lots of fun landscaping. I was not completely happy with the fungus over the door-way..it looked good on site, but in the photos the white line seemed to harsh, so I went back the next day and make a different door "awning" with some leaves from a nearby Beech tree...much nicer !
See?? I like this look much better. I also found some Chantarelle mushrooms which added some nice golden orange colour (up on the roof). They were not left on the house... I took them home and ate them...YUM ! I am hoping to get out into the woods to make a few more of these mossy creations, but the conditions are not quite right yet... not enough lush green moss at the moment as we are in the dry cycle of our season... but hopefully soon.
This is one of the houses that will be featured in the boxed notecard collection that will soon be available from Pomegranate. They just announced the cards today so I'm very excited ! I'll try to put a link here when I get the chance.
This one is a celebration of whimsy and fun. A lovely deep mossy spot was created naturally by the roots of the cedar trees. It looked so inviting... all the Faeries needed was a gazebo type structure to make it really special.
I collected cedar twigs that had been broken and peeled by the spring time floods. They were wedged in between the boulders all up and down the stream. The pine cones were from a nearby tree. Weaving the gazebo took two days to complete. The cedar is very springy when wet, but some of the twigs were dried out and needed more soaking overnight. There were only a few minutes of direct sunlight thru a hole in the forest canopy to shoot the photographs... unfortunately I had to leave the piece and come back several days later to get the shots. I was worried that it could have been tampered with as it was in a semi-public area and the woods were full of Labour Day campers.
When I did return, there was an extra bonus....mushrooms !!! I'm sure the Faeries added them to show their delight. They had sprung up literally overnight and they added an extra touch of magic !
This tiny door is nestled in the roots of cedar trees that grow along a mountain stream. The roots grow beautifully around all sizes of rocks. Cedar is very springy and can endure a lot of abuse from the rocks and ice that every spring crash and roll against the roots. In response, the roots curve and flow almost like the water itself. It is easy to feel the presence of all sorts of magical creatures in this area...the moss, stones and roots form all sorts of nooks and crannies... a perfect place to create a bit more magic.
What a moment this was. I had been at my favourite secret beach working with waves and sand in an experimental fashion. It was just after sunset and I decided to head back to the car which was about a half mile hike away. As I started out, I had the urge to take a different pathway back. I came across a pristine section of rare black sand, freshly smoothed by the waves of the day. One maple tree near the edge of the water was starting to change colour, and some sort of shrub was just beginning to come into bloom with incredible spherical blossoms that reminded me of magic wands. In an instant I "saw" this spiral wanting to be there in the black sand. At first, I declined the invitation...there was not enough light as it was and I knew it would be too dark by the time I was finished to get decent photos. The spiral insisted once more that it wanted to be there.... so I took off all my gear, set it far away from the waves and began to work quickly. I had the oddest sensation that the branch wanted to be "lighting" the spiral, so to speak.
Next I quickly collected the leaves and put them in place. I had to work very carefully and reach a long way towards the shrub yet and place the leaves down perfectly in one try because the sand was so fine that it immediately left an impression of anything that touched it, no matter how slight. Then I added the spherical blossoms... there were not many in bloom yet, but loads of buds. Just enough for the spiral.
Somehow, time stood still long enough for me to make the piece. The light lingered just enough to get the shots. As I walked away, I looked back and it almost appeared as if the spiral was glowing there in the hidden spaces between the trees of the forested beach.... a feeling of warmth and gratitude overwhelmed me.
When we overcome our internal "no" and say "Yes" to what seems improbable or impossible, magic opens a door and changes everything...including us.
I hope you've enjoyed the Spiral series. I will be working a lot more with this shape in the weeks and years to come. I can never get enough of this form. I also have new faerie houses to share with you starting next week. Have a great week-end everyone !
A very simple spiral. Riverstones and moss.
Tomorrow.... the last one in the series and it is magical !
Spiral made on a slate sidewalk stone. Flowering crab was releasing its blossom petals in the spring rain as I made the spiral. The rain helped the leaves to "stick" to the stone and added texture to the image. Norway maple and wild fern leaves.
Made from Queen Anne's Lace flowers floated on a quiet pond. This spiral was a real challenge to create because once the blossoms were in the water, they tended to push apart from each other so the spiral kept falling apart...but perseverance paid off. I love these flowers...they are so fractal !
Spiral of Maple leaves ; Sugar maple, Japanese Maple, Sugar Maple and Norway Maple. Pinned with thorns from Hawthorne to a lovely mossy expanse.
To make things more interesting and fun, and to celebrate the new show coming up, I'm going to post a spiral a day for the rest of the week.
Here is the first one. Maple and Dogwood leaves. Held together with water and thorns from a generous Hawthorne tree.
Stay tuned !
As I imagined, the forest was abundant with mushrooms ! So many different colours and shapes ... and so fragile...but I found a mossy stump that already had a perfect Fairy ring of yellow mushrooms dancing all around it that I could not resist creating this magestic Hall for the Mushroom King !
A word of warning: NEVER pick mushrooms with your bare hands unless you know exactly what you are picking !
I always wear surgical gloves when I work with mushrooms because I know some of them are deadly poisonous. If you have small children, it might be best to not show them this image as sometimes kids want to duplicate what they see in images and this one would give them an incomplete message. But, as adults, as long as the feasting that we do is only with our eyes, we can enjoy the beauty and magic of the mushroom world anytime !
I've been very busy this past week...loads of new sculptures to share soon... but I also have been preparing a selections of images for the Art Show at Shelburne Farms next month. It is a huge honour to have my work selected and I am so thrilled to have such an exceptional place to exhibit some of my "Eartherial" pieces. More contact information will be posted here soon for those who may be able to attend the show, it is a great venue. Show dates are Sept. 26 to Oct 19th. in Shelburne, VT. I will put more information up soon...but for now, I have to go back out and work ! We finally have some sun !
This little house has the first leaves of fall for a roof...yes, it may still only be mid August, but we are seeing lots of leaves turning early this year. It could be the lack of sun last month, or all the wet and cool rains that we had, but in any event we feel as if summer has passed us by this year.
What does not show up in this photo very well are the two Faerie "boats" tied up to this watery house... milkweed pods make excellent Faerie boats - and beds, and roof ornaments and....well...you get the idea.
The reflected grasses "grabbing" the moon was just a lucky shot. The winds were waving the grasses around and I had no idea they had caught the moon so beautifully till I came home and reviewed the images. We are so lucky to live in a place that has such good moon-rise viewing options !
This week I'm off to the mountains to work in the woods...and feed the mosquitoes. We are promised some sun and I can't wait to get out and work with whatever the rainy weather has left for us in the forest....there may be mushrooms ! Stay tuned !
This little hut came from a dream I had a while back. I saw a wee house with leaves for a roof, and was completely enchanted with the idea. The leaves worked beautifully. Here we have Hazel, Beech and Yellow Birch leaves forming the canopy over a white birch twig frame. The two windows are made from willow twigs and it took me several hours to make the pair. I discovered that if you found just the right shaped willow branches, and bent them slowly and carefully, they could form rather nice heart shapes.
We have had so much rain here. Some places have had severe flooding. Yesterday it finally stopped and for a few hours the clouds lifted and the sun shone in-between the remnants of the gloom. To see the sun shining again, even if for only a few minutes here and there, it felt like hope was returning to our valley. I gratefully received the afternoon as I could finally go out and shoot this little house up in the mountains by the swollen river.
Then, an added blessing that I never could have dreamed up ... the sun peeked out from behind the clouds one last time before disappearing behind the ridge. And when it did, the angle was just right to show a heart shaped light into the interior of the house, perfectly framed in the doorway ! The camera was already aimed and focused, I just had to shoot to get this one incredible frame. When magic like that happens, I feel so blessed to be doing this work. This is not a Photoshop trick...it really happened. I could not have planned it if I had tried, there were so many variables....this is just the grace of the Universe and the Faeries doing their magic for all to enjoy !!
Have a great week, everyone !
This one signals my return to the creative life.
Moving outward from a milestone in one's life is like a spiral dance... something, some event brings you to the center point...the place where time stands still.
But Life moves on whether we are ready or not... so, eventually must we learn to move outward once again too.
At first the steps are tiny, like the leaves near the center...tiny and simple. Then, as we move gently from the center outward, complexity builds and soon, we are fully engaged again with all the layers, colours, textures and interwoven patterns that are our own unique lives. For me, this is how it has been, anyway. Letting go , moving forward...one tiny step after another.
We have been having endless days of rain. A whole month of rainy weather has dogged us. Rivers are swollen, flash flood advisories are almost daily events now. The lake, all 100 + miles long of it has risen at least a foot in just the past week...that is a LOT of water and more is forecast. The mosquitoes are thriving. Working in all of this is very challenging. But the moss is happy...SOOooooo happy ! As are the trees. So this piece is also a celebration of the lush green of the landscape here. Usually by late July and early August, things are dry and beginning to look a bit parched. Not this year ! And now, leaves and moss and I are going to become friends again. This feels like a good place to start my own spiral journey back to working with Nature.
Thanks Everyone for having patience and hanging in there with me. I'll be posting more regularly once again ! :-)
Welcome to the enchanted world of Environmental art and Faerie Houses sculptures created by Sally J Smith. Here you will find photos of the artist's unique art-forms and hear some of the stories from behind the scenes as she shares with you her creative process.
Happy Autumn Everyone !!!
