Looking Backwards Before Moving Forwards...  

Lately my mind has been distracted and reflecting on 2011. Sometimes I feel it's important to look back, stopping for a moment to see what you have achieved and how you can improve things in the New Year... To me, January seems to be an odd month, when you can think about all of the other months ahead of you and new possibilities you can create in the future. It's interesting how we all have to drive our own lives in a direction that suits us and somehow along the way try to find some kind of inner peace and happiness.

I think when you do something creative that you really enjoy, it can make you feel truly happy and alive, maybe that is when you find the key to positive well-being in life.

Tell me friends, what makes you feel happy and fulfilled in your life, apart from family and friends?

When I look at Zigsa cat stretched out enjoying the sun, I feel he has found the answer to cat well-being. Life is simply uncomplicated... Oh to be a cat!

Because of distractions lately, I have not started my small fairy paintings yet, but I did make some more commissioned jewellery pieces and another heart picture for Valentine's day. A new Owl and the Pussy-Cat picture will be listed in Etsy this week.

Traveling back in time...

Last year I visited a few inspiring places with a lot history and plenty of character. There is nothing like visiting grand old houses to invoke the imagination. 

The Vyne is a 16th-century house in Hampshire that was visited by a few famous people in the past. The Tudor king, Henry VIII stayed for a while, Jane Austen went to a few dances there and Tolkien was inspired by an engraved gold ring that can be seen in a glass cabinet in the Library. It is such small precious item that helped Tolkien to create his amazing book!

The house has a classical facade and does not look very Tudor from the outside, but it has a mixture of styles due to renovation and changes in fashion over the past 350 years. 

 

My favourite room was the long Oak Gallery with it's Elizabethan influences and beautiful stained glass window. The glass design is called 'The Market Seller and her Dog in a Landscape' by William Price the younger, c1750.

Huge paintings of ladies from the Tudor court decorate the oak paneled walls. They look like ghostly figures staring down at the visitors who view the house... I wondered what their lives were like all those years ago during King Henry's and Queen Elizabeth's reign.  

The Vyne has it's very own wood and well kept gardens. I was more interested in seeing the woods than the garden.  

The day I took these photos the sun was low because it was autumn time, so the trees looked especially magical with dappled light and rainbows.

Revisiting Lacock Village...

Also last year I went to Lacock village in Wiltshire and of course I had to stop by to see the pottery again. It was a cloudy day and not like the warm spring afternoon on my last visit.

Unfortunately I do not know who created these lovely ceramic pieces, but I especially liked the owl bowl and cat plate. They really are fun works of art.  

I now see that Lacock pottery is on facebook. The link is HERE if you would like to follow!