Working in Nature

Pin It Nature is my motivator, my cure, my joy and all the nice feelings that I can sense. So I prefer to work in green whenever I can. Here are some shots from my latest works, displayed in nature.

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Everywhere Is A Working Space

Pin It       As I mentioned before, I had a long vacation that I partially spent in the summerhouse. Being away from the city, people and everything else should be a mind-cleaning period. Mine wasn't like that though.. So in order to keep my mind away from overthinking, I tried to keep myself busy and luckily enough everywhere is a working space..

Addicted to chains and scales.. And also books..

 

Any four-leaf clovers?

 

Nature is the best cure for mind sometimes

 

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Elderflower Cordial (Holunder Syrup)

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The plant itself looks like this

      There is a plant which is not so known in our country but quite famous in central Europe, especially in Britain and Ireland. I had the chance to taste its syrup for a couple of times owing to a very nice lady who had the tree in her garden and I really fell in love with the taste of it. Yes, I am talking about the Elderflower cordial which is also called as Holunder syrup.
If I give some brief information about the tree, Elder is one of a number of indigenous trees that became common about 6000 years ago following forest clearance by the first farmers on British island. It is found in hedgerows, woods, chalk downs and waste ground and was once regarded as one of the most magically powerful of all plants.

       It is said that a witch can turn herself into an elder tree and its wood is used for the making of magic wands. It is also believed that planting this tree protects your house from lightening and evil spirits. Sitting or sleeping under, an Elder at midsummer is said to enable one to see the fearies or even see them going to their midsummer feast. (So besides its taste and odor, I sort of like this magical side as well:)

      All in all, I strongly recommend you to find and taste this lovely syrup. Even better if you plant it in your garden (which is my next destination) and make the syrup yourself (By the way not only syrup but also champagne and vinegar can be made also from its flowers). So just in case, I will give you a simple recipe (I say simple because you can find more detailed recipes with longer processes but I learned this one from that 85 year-old lady and I trust "experience"):

 

I took this photo almost a month ago when I last visited the lady (partially seen at the backround) and unfortunately these are the last remaining portions of that syrup since the Elder tree in her garden toppled down during a heavy storm.  

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X-Painted Rocks

Pin It       I spent my weekend outside the city again and had some quality time by drawing, reading and sleeping (which I do for a very few hours normally). Since unfortunately last 10 days were busy with consequent and unexpected funerals, I was very upset and didn't want to spend time in the city, in crowd so such a weekend turned out to be a good support for me.
      This time I tried a new practise: Painting on rocks. It is a guaranteed way to keep your mind away from problems or basicly everything so even if you think you don't have the skill, I recommend you to try this at least once (and collecting these on the shore itself is a therapy as well).



My working space



One of my favorite creatures next to one of my favorite fruits.

 

It felt harder than drawing on paper because of the ragged surface and I like working with very thin pen but it turned out to be a bad choice since it is impossible to varnish without smudging the ink so acrylic paint with brush is the thing you shall choose.

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Niche Surtur's Terrarium

Pin It Yes finally the decoration of Surtur's terrarium is finished and it seems he is happier in this natural environment. He is climbing on branches and jumping from one piece of wood to another. :)



The overall view

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Characters in My Life - Vol.3: FROGS

Pin It       I collect many kinds of model animals like spiders, snakes, mice, crocodiles, all kinds of reptiles, dinasaurs, bugs and also frogs. They have a very important place in my life, all of them have names, unique characters (from my point of view). They accompany me while reading, eating or resting and I sometimes share my thoughts with them. We also travel and work together from time to time. All in all I like to live with them in my very PurPLe Planet and hope they enjoy living with me as well. :)
     

Here is a picture from last night's serious frog meeting in front of my library:

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Life With "Safir"

Pin It       As you may remember, I am looking after a grammostola pulchra which is a type of tarantula. As I experience this relation with her, I learn more and more everyday. During this period, there were times that I thought it was dead (like 3 or 4 times) or her head was torn apart (it turned out to be the moulting period) or it was sick because it wasn't eating at all (again turned out to be the side effect of moulting). :) Besides I bring up some larvae to feed her but I guess I have taken it so seriously that they grew too much and now they are bigger than the spider itself :)
      By the way "moulting" is the routine changing of the exoskeleton/shell and after that process the animal gets approximately %15 bigger (It really did!).
      All in all it is an enjoyable and instructive experience and I like it. I really miss her all through the day and as soon as I go home, I run to her terrarium. Here are some pictures:

"Safir" (Turkish word for the sapphire stone) before her moulting period

Future foods (unfortunately)

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A Visitor On My Window

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      You might have understood that I am very fond of animals, especially reptiles and insects. I guess they like me as well because yesterday this tiny character visited me at work :) I found it looking through the window curiously. :)

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Hi! :)

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If there is a beautiful sunrise or a sunset, I go out instantly to take pictures (as you can see pijamas or messy hair can't stop me:)).



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Black & White Drawing on Craft Paper - ExLibris

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Sometimes it is good to have the lack of something. Recently I don't have the digital programmes that I'm using so I concantrated on my drawings again. I think that sharing or feeling the need to share is an important motivation to produce as well.

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Dischidia (Snaily) Plant

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       I recently came across an interesting creature called Dischidia (Snaily) Plant. It grows in a snail shell so I wanted to mention it in my blog. I did not have a long experience with house plants because I was living with my parents and my mother was taking care of ours but after I moved out, I started to feel interested and learned more about them.

       This Dischidia plant grows in an unusual container -a real snail shell which originates from the rice fields of Thailand. Because of the curling leaves, the Dischidia plant resembles a snail, although fortunately the plant grows faster. I saw it in a friends house and here is how it looks:

 

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