Of the Artistic Variety May 21, 2012

Lately I have been on a huge, unexpected Artistic kick. I have been making and making, for friends, my daughter and even myself. Pretty pleased with what has been accomplished too So without further ado – some of my most recent projects:

Acrylic on Canvas – collaboration with Rob Fehily. He created the image in Photoshop and I painted it onto a 4ft x 1.5ft canvas

 

A quick and simple painting of the smally and myself – it was really interesting, despite how simplistic this was, to actually render myself in a painting. It hangs in our living room now

Another simple painting I did for our living room wall. Just because Just things I love really. Acrylic on Canvas – 6inch x 4inches

A Mass Effect 3 painting on a stone for a friend using acrylics.

A birthday gift for a piano player in my life – Acrylic and Ink on 90lbs cotton rag paper with a frame made from a repurposed hutch door. The sheet music is Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.

A close up of the details and shading. Every detail of the sheet music was copied by hand – the whole painting was very complicated in terms of measuring it all just right.

There are more things like an Ahsoka painting for the smallies birthday and her Pinata for her party, but I will put those pictures up later.

As much as some of those were just silly fun, the Moonlight Sonata picture really boosted my confidence as an artist Very very proud of it. And very pleased to give it to such a wonderful and talented human I adore ^_^

In which four years of chook and duck keeping ends… May 8, 2012

Because of that damn fox.

The hovel on the hill is now empty of feathered friendlies. A week or so ago, I was an hour late locking up my chickens and the fox killed four and mauled my rooster viciously and he had to be put down. I’ll spare you the details of his grisly wounds.

I gave the remaining three hens to my new friend out here who has a proper huge secure run and no fox issues so they would have a chance to survive and live away from the constant harassment of the fox.

I kept my ducks – an unwise decision. The fox took one on Thursday while I was in the city and Sunday morning took another right in front of my face. Two remained and I bundled them up and released them into the lake by our house so they had a safe place to retreat to at night (ducks sleep on the water to stay safe).

And now? The place feels empty. Losing my ducks was the worst as they made me happy every single day. I get this is just nature but I am still utterly disappointed and saddened. I have been keeping hens and ducks for four years now – feeding them every morning and locking them up safely every night. One of my hens that was killed was three years old. Gygax the Rooster was our one constant in animals – he survived everything… everything but that last attack.

Now all that is left is two empty runs and a ton of feathers from the attack.

How utterly and completely deflating and sad

Settling in the new ducklings (only one of which survived the fox) with Rhubarb, last week. Rhu and the last duckling are now happy lake dwellers. The glee they showed at being in the lake was really sweet though and made saying good bye easier.

 

RIP Gygax and Hens The three remaining are happily settled at my friends and laying again – glad they’re ok. They were in shock when I found them after the attack.

Next post will hopefully be more cheerful but such is the life of a small holder. When I have the money to build a proper uge enclosed run, I may try again. Or just try geese next time… either way, for the year, we’re done. If I can’t keep them safe, I won’t keep them. It’s just mrows for us for now.

I like girls who read… May 8, 2012

Vague roots metaphors & meandering thoughts… April 23, 2012

The other day I posted this on my Facebook:

“I haven’t lived in a single house for more than two years since I was 16 (13 years ago) and in the last 12 years I have lived in 3 different countries on 3 different continents, having moved between them 5 times. As I build my garden it occurs to me I have finally taken a leap of “faith” and put literal and figurative roots down – growing food takes time and commitment… it means believing I will be in the same spot to harvest that food when it comes time. It means stability and having invested in “home”. It means I have what I have craved for years… with just my daughter and me.

Scuse me… I’m having a moment *Trembly lip* I has a home “

I can’t remember if it was the day before or after I posted that, that I ended up in the city on an errand. It had been well over two years since I had last been in the actual city centre and the whole experience was surreal. You see, I’d lived in Cork City centre for 7 years – from the day I moved to Ireland until a year after my marriage ended in 2007. At the time, I enjoyed the sense of bizarre achievement that I lived in a European city, having been born and raised in the ass end of nowhere, Ontario, Canada. I loved feeling apart of something and the pervasive loneliness and lack of community didn’t dawn on me for years.

The English Market in the city centre was my favorite place to shop and disappear to on breaks from work.

In 2008 I had a startling epiphany that I had been basically living my life to meet the needs of those around me. Specific to this topic, I lived in the city for so many years to keep my city born then husband happy. It hit me square in the guts – I fucking hated living in the city.  I hated the noise, I hated the drunken assholes who filtered out of the plethora of pubs that saturate the city, I hated the lack of space, the lack of sky, the lack of birds and the inability to have a garden. Although, in fairness – I made DAMN good use of my 15×3 foot slabbed “garden” in my last house in the city. Don’t even get me started on the lack of privacy and the enforced intimacy with neighbors.

The wee one in our tiny paved "garden".

In 2008 when my lease came up and having only been driving for 4 or 5 months, I brazenly said fuck it and moved to a town about 30kms outside the city. I made a huge mistaken, renting a place I couldn’t afford after 6 months and quickly ended up moving again to a bunglow 8kms outside of that town. I will never forget visiting a christian friend after the move and being absolutely reamed for the stupidity of my decision. I was told in no uncertain terms that I had made an insane decision and a huge mistake. That I had isolated myself from my “community” and what would I do if __________ went wrong. And “HOLY MOTHER OF GOD YOU’RE ALONE OUT THERE! THAT IS SO SCARY!”.

Ballymore, french doors and my tiny first attempts at a real garden.

And I was scared suddenly. I was absolutely fucking beside myself with panic all of a sudden! What the unholy fuck had I done? I got home to my empty house (it was unfurnished and since most houses here are furnished, I had no furniture to speak of) and paced, beside myself with worry that I had just messed everything up AGAIN. Then I went outside and sat on the porch swing my dad had bought me for my birthday. I laid down and looked up and saw the stars. Unadulterated by light pollution and with all the lights in the house off, it was magnificent. Absolutely took my breath away. As I spotted Orions belt and the big dipper I felt a deep calm wash over me. I was born in the country and I was home again. This was not scary to me – this was normal. This was who I was and where I belonged.

A Ballymore Sunset.

Suddenly we were free. In the years previous we rarely ever left the city and visited the beach MAYBE 4 or 5 times. I had absolutely no idea what awaited in West Cork and no means to find out either. Now, suddenly, we spent our summers lounging in the garden, visiting friends and spending copious amounts of time exploring West Cork and the beaches around us. It wasn’t unusual for us to end up at the beach 2-4 times a week when the weather was at it’s best. At the time I was still working in the city and had all the connections to previously made friends. My house was also a popular place for friends to escape to, meaning I was never short of visitors and company. I started reading up profusely on gardening, discovered permaculture and got into art and photography more. Suddenly life made a bit more sense and even though it was actually getting harder and harder with more and more stress, being in the country again, very simply, sustained me.

Having remembered my favorite hobbies from my childhood, I began passing them on to the wee one - like fishing ^_^

Exactly two years after that, I got sick enough with my health issues to lose my job and that house. I packed up my small gardens I had been working on, my herd of chickens I had raised and all the furniture I now had and moved yet again. This time a full hour away from the city, deeper into West Cork. Whereas before I struggled to find my place among those city workers wealthy enough to live a small distance from the city itself, now I was smack in the middle of a rural Irish farming community and felt more at home than I had in years. The only house I could afford was a previously abandoned run down bungalow built after the original farmhouse burnt down 25 years previous. It was livable but in a sad state. Anyone who knows us, knows we spent that first winter surviving in 0-2c temperatures INSIDE. The hot water didn’t work, the cooker needed to be replaced (it was), the heating was appallingly insufficient and I couldn’t afford to run it, every single room in the house needed a ton of cosmetic TLC and well… you can quickly see why this blog is called The Hovel On The Hill.

The view from the back of our hill - overlooking our wee farming community/valley.

Most of this blog has been about settling in here, and I am happy to report that after only 18 months we are, indeed settled. The house is “finished” (I never really stop making our house our home…) and the garden is well on it’s way. The wee one moved to the local school and is blossoming. I busted my ass putting in a real proper functional garden, utilizing all I had learned over the previous years since we’d moved to the country. Over the two winters we’ve now been here, I fixed up the rooms inside the house, one by one and over the two springs we have spent here I have installed a pretty amazing garden that I absolutely love. Her being in the local school has made us friends and me working at her school teaching art to her class was our pathway to becoming part of a real community. Every chance we get (when we can spare the petrol!) finds us exploring our stunning, magical surroundings and we’re spoiled rotten with two incredible beaches within 20 minutes drive. I even adore our local picturesque town, 10km away.

"What do you do?" "Grow our own food..."

Nothing of the last five years since my marriage ended has been easy. In fact, it’s been hell and I haven’t made much of an effort to hide that. Five years on and life is finally getting better. Calmer. Happier. And I like I said in my original Facebook status, as I dig into my garden, nurturing it through it’s first fully functional proper year, I realize I finally have roots myself. We finally have a home. We are settled and I will be damned if I am moving again (if I have any say in it anyway!). I don’t think it’s any sort of coincidence that this small community we find ourselves in is so deeply similar to the one I grew up in. I think I basically, blind, deeply wounded and stumbling, have found my way back to familiarity and the only way life makes sense to me. Thankfully it’s a good way to live and I actually made something good for us.

Funny how one little trip to the city could be such a catalyst for realization.

An awesome article I came across…. April 18, 2012

And wanted to share

Dear Daughter

Enjoy! <3

My Wee Gamer April 10, 2012

***This is an article I wrote for OffbeatMama - I have no idea if they’ll post it but since I wrote it, here it is***

Young Kids and Gaming

My daughter is six years old and games. Right now she is a level 22 wood elf in Skyrim. She smiths – making her own steel armor to match Lydia, her house carl, and prefers one handed weapons and magic along with a dwarven bow. She’s part of the Thieves Guild, a Companion, a Werewolf and the Arch Mage of the College of Winterhold. She originally started out playing Lego StarWars which I picked up on a whim when I bought my Xbox 360 with her in mind. Thus began a massive love affair for her with StarWars. Legos, posters, books, additional video games, the movies and cartoons – she’s utterly sold out. Ahsoka Tano is her hero.

Gaming and kids gets a bad rap in mainstream media. It’s quickly blamed for violence and killing off kids’ imaginations. I’ve spent months mulling over my own feelings about letting my six year old play a relatively grown up game like Skyrim where she has to kill, steal and take on dragons, draugrs and wizards to complete quests and I’ve decided not only am I ok with this, it’s teaching her some great lessons.

Before I continue lets get something out of the way. We live on a one acre smallholding in the country side and are rapidly on the way to growing the majority of our own fresh produce. We’re outside every single day and her life does not revolve around gaming, even though she also plays every day. She’s an avid artist and has a fantastic imagination. She has chores, helps mind our animals and has a wonderful social life with her school friends. We’re not talking about a situation where my kid is glued, brain dead, to a television playing video games all day. Speaking of television, we don’t have one. I have a monitor hooked up to our xbox and that is how we game.

Whether or not video games can influence kids in a negative way is not my call – but I do not doubt that it happens. In our specific experience with her personality type with monitoring, gaming together and moderation, it’s been a very positive experience though. Below are some of the benefits I’ve noticed from her playing video games.

Learning To Read
Especially with Skyrim, she’s had to really focus and learn to read; sounding out words she doesn’t recognize. I don’t game when I don’t want to so she has to figure it out on her own the majority of the time. What characters say to each other, what is required for a quest, what she needs for potions or smithing – she’s on her own and learning FAST. Forget See Spot Run, she’s figuring out how to bribe gaurds to look the other way when she blows into town on a quest requiring her to break the law.

Perserverence
Again, I don’t play when I don’t want to so if she can’t make progress on a quest she has to figure out how to accomplish her goal. Very rarely does she give up on something as hopeless, and come to me asking for help. I’ve watched quietly as she pushes and pushes until she finally finishes a quest and been there to fist bump her on her successes.

Problem Solving Skills
Lego games are based on simple problem solving scenarios. When she started with Lego she was utterly lost as to how to figure out the next step but quickly learned when I refused to solve the problems for her. It helped that it was fun even if you weren’t making progress, but eventually she did and finished the game all on her own. In Skyrim as well, if one tactic doesn’t work you have to use your brain and come up with a solution in order to finish certain quests. I’ve watched her take on Bosses way too strong for her by doing clever things like leading them to traps or locking them behind gates. The kid is CLEVER. And personally, I’d rather her solving problems in a video game than slumped mindlessly in front of the telly.

Taking an Interest in New Hobbies
For her Birthday this year, her one request is a bow and arrow set. And she’s going to get it. Having taken archery as a kid, I have no qualms about her learning under supervision. In fact I am thrilled. She is determined to catch us dinner and cook it in an inground oven… we also watch Ray Mears together *^_^*

Encouraging her Imagination
I was relatively surprised (and delighted) to walk into her class one day (where I teach art occasionally) and hear the kids talking about being an Argonian or Kahjiit and elaborately explaining to each other their own actions in a Skyrim based world. One kid declared, verbatim, “You have committed crimes against Skyrim and her people, what say you in your defense? – what a guard says when arresting you in game – something he picked up directly from my kid. She also absolutely adores going on long walks around our house to collect ingredients for potions, something she also does in game. Right now there is a bowl sitting on my hutch with a myriad of plants – her healing potion.

Boosted Socializing
She isn’t allowed game when she has friends over, but she loves to play act the games out in real life and the other kids in her class eagerly join in. Having had some serious upheaval in our lives with having to move several times after a rather unplesant divorce, seeing her over come social anxiety and become a confident little social butterfly is a huge relief to me. It’s also fantastic to see other little girls who are normally playing house and barbie get stuck into being warriors or StarWars characters.

It empowers her
Skyrim is fantastic for being eglitarian. As a strong feminist that mattered to me. Whether male or female (she’s played both genders and had same gender marriages – kudos Bethesda!), you’re just the Dragonborn, a warrior. There is no objectification in the game either, something that is unfortunately rampant in the gaming world. She faces foes on her own strength and overcomes them based on her own wits, skill and determination. There are no set gender roles in Skyrim – women are Jarls, Companions, in the City Guard, Shop Keepers and Hunters. When she grows up she wants to be an artist, a librarian and a warrior. As far as I am concerned, that is badass.

Safely Confronting Fears
When she first started watching me game she was nervous of the fantasy baddies, especially Draugrs and the Falmer. She started off collecting ingredients for me and slowly realized she had nothing to fear of the baddies in game and confronted them all one by one. She’s lost her fears of fantasy boogey men in real life because she’s kicked the ass of anything intimidating in her games. Does that mean she is getting desensitized? A bit. I don’t find it a negative thing at all though. She’s distinguishing between reality and fantasy more now than she ever did before. I’m thrilled she is losing her fear of things that don’t exist. And she hasn’t been desensitized to death, despite impressive kill stats – she still cried for two days when a fox took off with our beloved duck Lily.

I’m not interested in convincing anyone to go out and buy a gaming console for their kid or to ignore any negative effects gaming can have on kids. I am interested in the positive aspects gaming has had in my kid’s life and discussing that aspect of it, because it’s there. I took the risk of letting my kid explore gaming under my supervision and on the whole it’s been a completely positive experience once we got moderation under control. I’m sure there’s more aspects as well – I’ve heard mention of it fine tuning motor skills as well. What about the rest of Offbeat Mama readers – what has your experience been?

 

Adventuring Season Begins… April 9, 2012

Kinsale Harbor

 

 

The view over the cliff at The Old Head on the coast past Kinsale

 

A very old tombstone at the Timoleague Friary

 

Rosscarbery Beach with the wee one. Otherwise known as OUR Beach ^_^

 

Another shot of our beach in Rosscarbery

 

A park I believe is called Raheen Wood, which we refer to as the Fairy Wood because a wonderful artist placed wee fairy houses around the walks ^_^

 

One of the fairy houses in Raheen Wood Park <3

 

My wee co adventurer <3

Things that cause the *^_^* in me… April 6, 2012

Spring

 

Having her home and spoiling her for her birthday

 

And spoiling her too! (Gotta love the owl socks)

 

Making absurd, childlike birthday parties for my best friends

 

Easter Egg hunts

Adventuring with him

 

Adventuring with her

 

Treasure (homg Big Daddy helmet IRL anyone?!)

 

The scoundrels.

 

Add in a new to us car in much better shape, spring being here (and SUNSHINE!), amazingly supportive and loving friends, feeling settled in our community and a thriving garden and you have a much happier, settled me ^_^ Life is not easy, but it’s monumentally better.

<3

Personhood April 4, 2012

Working with Kids March 18, 2012

Since I was 14 years old and my mum forced me to do it as an “experience” I have worked with kids. That summer when I was 14, I attended an interview and was accepted as a Leader In Training (LIT) in a summer program that was run in parks around our city. Mums recollection of it was that I hated it. My recollection of it was that I started out hating it but loved it by the end of the summer. I didn’t like then and never have liked since, working with people… except for kids.

Working with kids carried on through my decade of Christianity when I founded a youth group at our church (which is still running today – the irony of which makes me chuckle – it’s going strong and I am not even a believer anymore lol) and worked in a youth organization for 9 years albeit as an Accounts Manager. Still – I got involved in different aspects and projects right up until I had the wee one.

After she was born I was focused on her and wasn’t really involved in anything, which was fine. I never thought twice about it. With losing my job because of my health at the end of 2010, I lost an innate sense of satisfaction I had with myself because I wasn’t “doing” anything. I mean you can’t when you’re sick but still. In 2011 I did some facepainting at her then school to help out and remembered this forgotten little love of mine: working with kids.

When she started at the school she is at now, I didn’t get involved but she outted me on my facepainting abilities and I ended up helping for the school play. Her teacher found out I was an artist through, again, my bragging daughter (whatever, it feels great when your kid brags about you ^_^ ) and made an off hand comment about co-opting me into helping with an art class or two.  I didn’t think much about it until I saw the neatest idea on Pinterest – an aquarium window. I am trying to find the link so I can give credit to them. Basically they used blue streams suspended in front of a window to create a water effect, used fishing line to string fishes and sea life within the streamers and it was a 3D aquarium.

I loved the idea and kept thinking about it. I thought about doing it in her room. I thought about doing it in the art room. Then I thought with a gasp of glee “omg her CLASSROOM!” So I mentioned it to her teacher who thought it was a fantastic idea and thus I ended up as the artist mum who goes into 1st class lol.

Excuse the camera phone shots :s But here it is - spanning the length of their huge window. There are bamboo canes suspended from the ceiling with streamers in light and dark blue hanging down from the bamboo. The seaweed is painted onto the windows and the fish attached to the bamboo with fishing line so you can't see it

The kids artistic talents really blew me away and I am not just saying that (they don't know about my blog anyway!). The colors were fantastically bright and some of the ideas were hilarious - a ship snapped in half, submarines, mermaids, squids - you name it ^_^

Teacher came up with a fantastic idea to laminate the fishies so they would be rigid and not get damp next to the window. It really finished the project off.

*^_^*

In her class are 18 kids – 13 girls and 5 boys. They are the loveliest  bunch of creatures and we all hit it off right from the beginning. I instantly started meeting teachers and other parents and the kids would run up like lunatics to me in the morning to tell me their news and ask when I was coming back. The small one wasn’t impressed as she likes to make a quiet entrance but soon got used to it as she beamed with pride over HER artist Mummy. Her teacher was thrilled to have me come in because it meant new and original art projects with the kids (I have run about a dozen by her since lol) and as for me? Totally unexpectedly I found that place back inside of me that loves working with kids and a sense of self satisfaction I had lost when I lost my job.

So now, with a week break in between projects, I do art at her school. The head master asked me to be police checked so I could work with other grades as well. The idea makes me both nervous and utterly delighted. When the wee one heard she got all territorial and jelly. Which is fine lol. Mainly I work with her class anyway but teaching kids art things when they WANT to learn has been incredibly fun, enjoyable and satisfying.

This week we’re doing felt easter eggs and I am hoping my ducks lay enough eggs that we can do egg dyeing with them the following week. It seems like such a small thing – an hour once or twice a week, but it’s changed everything for us out here. I got involved in the community the only way I am comfortable and the only way I can with my health limitations and it’s made all the difference. We are now part of the community and it’s a close knit one. It’s probably one of the most positive things that has happened since before losing my job and house and moving out to the hovel. And considering I originally really wanted to unschool, it feels natural and right to be involved in her school in a creative capacity.

*^_^*

***Found the inspiration! On Pinterest here from Offbeat Mamas website originally (I love them!). I’m a bit slow – it was on the same pin board I pinned our version on. HERP DERP****

*** *Hangs head in shame* Actually THIS is the original source. I’ma bit slow <3 ***