Creative Nature

 Adding Flavour to the Day #Day10 30 Days Wild: Happy Herbs & Spices Day & Happy Iced Tea Day! (OK, I confess, I have borrowed these 2 National Days from our American cousins, but couldn't resist). I wanted to try out making tea from things in my store cupboard: Star Anise; Cloves; Fennel Seeds; Green Cardamom Pods and Bay Leaves from the garden. I will test drive the iced version later.... Sound Spa Day 10: #30DaysWild2022 : Sound Waves: I loved the sound of the breeze through the leaves of the tree in Wish Park - though it's quite faint. A wood pigeon got in on the action, which added a little extra: An extra, extra bonus was discovering a sublimely phoooaaarrr! track by Joe Satriani called 'Wind in the Trees: My little walk led to the crashing sound of the waves, which I love to hear: The experience was made more complete by finding 'Sound of the Sea', by Stick figure: - great visuals and the feel of Summer, that's lacking at the moment. Enjoy!

 Wild And Free #Day9 30 Days Wild & it's all about wildflowers. Following on from 'No Mow May' is 'Let it Bloom June'. Pictures here of wildflowers at a Garden of Rest in Brighton & along the cycle path in Shoreham, from yesterday & today. So lovely to see wildflower verges along roadsides & meadows appearing everywhere. According to an article in the Guardian (Jan 28th 2021) the 'Plantlife' charity has led to 12,000 acres of wildflower-rich meadows since 2013 'after a century in which more than 97% of Britain's wildflower-rich meadows were destroyed'. I'd gone out armed with my little Collins Gem Wild Flowers Guide, and was really pleased to come across the pack of Wild Flowers playing cards in a charity shop. More info, activities and ways of getting involved with Plantlife, here: https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature Thriving in the City Day 9: #30DaysWild2022 : I love how flowers break free and plant...

  Ocean Meditation #Day8 30 Days Wild, and it's World Ocean Day, living right beside the sea I can see there's a huge improvement on the amount of plastic pollution that used to get washed up on our beaches. Years ago, I set myself the challenge to create a piece of artwork by the time I got home as I walked along the shore-line; I picked up some mesh-work & wove into it the many strands of brightly coloured nylon cord that was always in abundance. I have to say, I was rather pleased with my effort! But while other artists have made such waste into art - it would be better to be deprived of that possibility & save our marine life in the process. Nature Meditiation Day 8: #30DaysWild2022 : The rain lashing against the windows so strongly I looked around to see how to meet the daily challenge to do something Nature-related indoors: a rose petal; clematis & leaf mandala. Also, found The Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky, with someone colouring a flower mandala as th...

  Designer Roses #7 30 Days Wild, and it's the birth-date of Charles Rennie Macintosh. I had a go at trying to create roses in his style (tricky!). I love that his simple, stylized design is so enduring & instantly recognizable: that's true design! Spinning Wheels of Joy! Day 7: # #30DaysWild2022 Wind-Power. I've always loved pinwheels, ever since my dad bought me one as a child: magic on a stick! I have a whole crop of them in my garden:   As soon as I saw instructions on how to make one https://www.easy-crafts-for-kids.com/paper-windmill.html - that was it! I Instantly set to it with whatever I had to hand. A wobbly success, but I'm guessing it's spawned a new obsession.... Happy to have found this track to add my collection of spinning joy: Pinwheels, by Smashing Pumpkins from their album, Oceania: Enjoy!

 Natural Art In keeping with the Wildlife Trust's 30 Days Wild project throughout the month of June, I'm flagging up some of the artists in the Degree show at Brighton Art College who drew on Nature for inspiration. Here, first, is the work of Shannon Maddams, who drew her inspiration from the book: The Secret Garden:            And,Grace Walford's Print Perennials: Blown Away Day 6: #30DaysWild2022 Popped into my local park to see what called to me: a bright, sunshiny Dandelion - like a miniature sunflower. I must make tea from a handful of rinsed flower heads, but am also keen to make dandelion vinegar. I found great recipes here: https://picnicsandpumpkins.wordpress.com/.../whats-the.../ There doesn't seem to be an end to how much good can be gained from the humble dandelion: king of 'weeds'! I also discovered a track called Dandelions, which picks up on their being used for making wishes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ngl6icXkQ8 - by Ruth B; An...

  Tea & Poetry #5 30 Days Wild: And right on cue, a poem by Emily Dickinson, (from: Read Me 2 - A Poem for Every Day of the Year) with red clover heads I picked earlier to make tea. Clouding Over Day 5: #30DaysWild2022 Enjoyed a Nature & Poetry zoom session today; participants were asked to call to mind 5 Nature related memories, which led to the genesis of a poem about my being about 4, paddling, when the tide suddenly turned and came in at a scarily fast pace, with no-one around to notice or help as it threatened to overtake me. I will work on it further, but took the opportunity to walk down to the sea after - with black rain clouds forming and breaking. I also discovered this: https://cloudappreciationsociety.org - with art, poetry & other stuff. Also happy to find this poem by Rumi: https://www.reddit.com/.../poem_the_black_cloud_by_rumi.../ & the others I hadn't known about before. Enjoying this organic daily exploration of Nature and all that it inspires.

 A Branch of Biological Study Day 4: 30 Days Wild, and it's the anniversary of the death (1922) of pioneering botanist Katherine Esau; we just don't hear enough about women scientists, so I'm pleased to flag her up here today. Weirdly, I'd picked up a book from the 1960s on 'Basic Biology' from a charity shelf in the supermarket while shopping yesterday, which came into its own on this rainy day indoors, including information on plant anatomy. Without it I wouldn't have a clue what 'phloem' is (food conducting in plants) which was her field of research along with viruses in plant-life. My own store cupboard became part of the day's 'research'... More on Katherine's life & achievements here: https://www.ccber.ucsb.edu/ucsb-natural.../life-katherine Branching Out... Day 4: #30DaysWild2022 Spent most of the day on the Wiston Estate in W. Sussex, where these 3 trees caught my attention - their shapes, in particular - adapting to the...

  Dragon's Blood in the Garden!  Day 3: 30 Days Wild: I thought I'd investigate Herb Robert, growing in my front & back garden. I discovered it's also known as Wild Crane's Bill; Fox Geranium; Dragon's Blood; Bloodwort, oh, and 'Stinky Bob' on account of its smell. Crush the leaves & rub them on your skin & it's an insect (& people?) repellent. Packed full of calcium; iron; magnesium; potassium; phosphorous; Vits A, B, C. It's antiviral; antibiotic; antioxidant; a tonic & blood purifier. It's been used to improve the immune system, and treat cancer! The latter because it makes oxygen more available to cells; and the ellagic acid it contains, has slowed the growth of certain tumours.            Add some of the crushed herb to your footbath to help remove toxins, radiation & heavy metals from your system; at the other end, it makes a good mouthwash, apparently (I'll have to try making some). I'm cutting short its ben...

  Walking Nature 2nd Day of 30 Days Wild, and it coincides with the birthday of Land Artist, Richard Long (b.1945). At the age of 22, while a student at Central St. Martin's, he produced an early example of both Environmental Art & Conceptual Art with 'A Line Made by Walking' (1967), which was simply made by his walking back and forth across a field in Wiltshire, leaving a trace of that journey. It raised all the usual issues that accompany conceptual work, but working with nature-based materials: earth, rock, mud, water became his mainstay and signature.               It's made me wonder what environmental art I could do this month for the challenge. I also love his circular poem made to represent a circular walk, which I'd love to be able to do. Day 2:2022: Talking Circles Day 2: #30DaysWild2022 : in the effort to tame my weighed down, straying rose bushes in the front garden, I now have masses of blooms gracing my kitchen, adding colour and...

 30 Days Wild: Wildlife Trust, 2021, 2022 Another year - another creative & wild challenge to do something Nature-related every day. It's what started this blog back in 2017. I decided I should do my efforts the honour of being recorded here, as well as being a good way of reviewing the past two occasions I joined in the project. So, these will be taken from my Facebook posts. Enjoy! This first item is from 2021: 1st Day of 30 Days Wild - a month of random acts of wildness; I wanted to do a hundred things at once! Walked to Wish Park and tried to make a collage sketch using whatever I could from a magazine I'd brought to tear up (+ glue stick, which I'm Never without). I was able to put my 1st sticker in the 'passport' - good fun & a great way to connect with Nature. These collage-sketches are a recent experiment/project to try & get the hang of using a sketchbook regularly, in 10-15 minute efforts. And this is this year, 2022's 1st Day: 1st day of #...