Bringing Nature Into Your Home
Bringing Nature Into Your Home
"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."
John Muir
It's already fall......
With each day bringing us closer and closer to cold weather, I find it harder and harder to force myself indoors after a break outside. I'm reveling in my after dinner hikes at a nearby 3000 acre farm. I have spent the last 8 months heading out, as often as possible, to commune with nature, take reference photos for paintings, and breathe in the clean air. I have become intimate with my backyard
residents, naming my squirrels and recognizing the various calls of the birds and the pattern of their days. I have spent as much time as I could allow myself trekking around parks and nature
preserves.
I have had both vaccines for Covid-19 and most recently, a booster vaccine along with a flu shot. As the prevalence of Covid slowly decreases in my area (Thankfully!), I am very much aware that I won't continue to have the luxury of the more relaxed and flexible schedule of working solely at home that I have become accustomed to. As I transition into working with and in the public again, I will most likely not be able to spend the time outdoors needed to feed the nature addiction I have aquired.
So what do I do?
I decorate my home with little collections and paintings that bring nature into my home.
Original oil painting "The Hare"
inspired by my backyard bunnies.
Available for purchase in my portfolio of work.
This dish of acorns and pinecones represent trips/hikes from many different wild spaces I've been. Each one holds a special memory that I can bring to mind every time I pass them. Besides that, they are beautiful little works of nature's art. I try to pick up a small stone in areas where it is allowed when I can, to bring home some of the good vibes of the time spent in nature. It is wonderful to have physical reminders of the trip.
I found a beautiful conch shell and the exoskeleton of a horseshoe crab on a recent trip to Tybee Island. I saved a dried "mushroom" growing by a tree in my backyard, and am adding to the collection of feathers on my desk every time I find one in the wild. I'm always reminded of a favorite book, "Where The Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens as I collect a feather here or there.
Not only do these nature collections bring good vibes and memories into my living space, they also serve as inspiration for my paintings as well as physical "models" to draw and paint from.
"Every natural object is a conductor of divinity....." John Muir
"Attention is the beginning of devotion." Mary Oliver
The world seems to go too fast for us to slow down, but slowing down is just the thing that would help us find our footing. I know for sure that I need to find my footing after the past (at least) two years!
I downsized drastically to a much smaller house when my children were grown. Then I started the "purging of possessions".
It was literally and figuratively freeing.
Anything I kept either needed to be useful or made precious by the memories attached to it. At the end of the purging, I found myself with a practically empty house! Gone were the matching bedroom suites, living room suites, and dining room suites. In fact, anything that could have the word "suite" attached to it.
I started buying an old piece here or there that spoke to me, refinishing or repurposing to suit my aesthetic.
Now, when I walk through my much smaller house, everything I see has meaning to me, memories attached (good memories!). My addition of objects of nature into my home (not house) suits me for now. Eclectic for sure, and I'm happy with that. My way may not be for everyone, but I can guarantee that whatever your style, if you love and crave a connection with nature, bringing some of it into your home will enrich your life and well being.
A trilogy of nature paintings I did on old reclaimed wood panels. A planter with a rescued bamboo plant surrounded by stones collected on hikes. A painting of a fox framed in old barn wood standing watch over a pottery bowl (made by a local artist ) full of treasures found while walking along a beach one early morning. A collection of buckeyes beneath a wood stain painting of a crow I watched one evening on a hike.
I use my reference photos to paint from or be inspired by. There are many of my nature paintings in my portfolio of works that are available for purchase.
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. The power of imagination makes us infinite. Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. Keep close to nature's heart........"
John Muir
Hang in there everyone, there is light at the end of the pandemic tunnel!
I continue to be mindful of the fact that my loved ones and I have been among the lucky ones who have not been tragically affected by this horrible virus. We have not escaped unscathed, but we are alive and together and I am eternally grateful for that.
Remembering and honoring all who have died or suffered great loss as well as the heros who have, and are still, fighting the battles for us every day!
