Fears and Fairies: Wales Residency

This week I thought I would try again to conquer my fears and take a walk through the scary forest.  Along the way I said hello to this sweet kitty on the stone wall.

The wind wasn't blowing which meant the trees weren't swaying and creaking this time which made it seem less scary. Even though I was nervous I took a deep breath and started to walk down the dark tunnel of trees.

As I walked through I realized that I was being silly and that I had nothing to worry about.  I enjoyed the perfect rows of trees and mossy stones along the path once again. This time I discovered an amazing mossy waterfall with a mossy tree going out of the side of it.

I sat down at the overlook and noticed some bugs flying around me.  I don't know if is the welsh folklore I have been reading, or the magical toadstools I've seen, or the storybook forests that have been getting to my head, but I felt like these bugs were fairies.  I was looking at them and thinking that they really could be fairies...

I am incorporating some fairies in one of my paintings and I saw this photo on the left on the internet captured by someone in England in his garden.  I don't know if it is legit, but I took a photo of the bugs that were hanging out with me and I felt like there was a kind of similarity.  I know you probably think I am crazy, but there are moments where I feel like I do believe in fairies.  If you were in Wales you would too :)  

My last stop was hanging out with the sheep who I love so much. This sheep was all about getting a selfie with me!  I really want Santa to bring me a lamb for Christmas haha!  I am so glad I conquered my fears because it ended up to be a beautiful adventure full of mossy waterfalls, ruins, an overlook with fairies, and selfies with sheep.  

Here are some detail shots of another painting I am working on.  Lots of greens in this one like the green landscape here in Wales.  There are mossy greens for days here...

These are photos from another walk I went on this week. I just loved the soft texture of the grasses and moss all along this path through the trees.

And I love this interesting character I encountered.  Every walk here is a different kind of adventure with its own kind of personality.  I love it and I am going to miss all of it when I leave this place.  

Discover: Wales Residency

Today I went to Andy and Adam’s coffee shop and had a latte and did some research online about Welsh folklore.  I am really inspired to incorporate history from the area and I think this will be the best way to do that in my art.  After researching I went for a walk with Yuki.  I thought that this walk would be just like any typical walk.  I had no idea what I was in for!!!

At first there were the beautiful old stone buildings, a house that was an old school built in 1872, pretty views over stone walls, grave yard, and the coolest toadstools I’ve ever seen, but then we came to this…

It was a house that had a HUGE italian village that was built by the owner a long time ago but he doesn’t live there now.  It actually used to be an attraction that people would visit and walk through.  Now passersby can just peer at it from the road. It went on and on.  Buildings made to look like actual places in Italy, statues, gargoyles, ruins.  There were so many writings on old stones and bricks, and possible grave stones?  Everything seemed to have a story.  It was definitely creepy but beyond amazing!!  

At the end of the Italian village was the entrance to what looked like an enchanted forest.  I’m not going to lie, I felt a little scared.  I also felt like little fairies were going to pop out from behind a tree at any second.  Then we heard something and stopped.  It already felt like we were walking into a creepy tunnel of trees so hearing sounds didn’t make us feel better.  The sounds were so strange but they were the sounds of the trees swaying in the wind and cracking.  One time it even sounded like a bark of some sort, but it was just the trees hitting against each other. They were so tall and looming and when the wind swayed the trees looked like they were going to topple over.  We ran so fast at some points because we were so nervous!

After we finally got through the forest, there was the most amazing discovery.  Ruins.  In the middle of the woods.  Yes, you heard me.  There must have been a house in there hundreds of years ago.  There were also lots of huge stone walls through the forest, covered with the most amazing moss.  Moss of all colors of green. We touched so many different types of moss, and with some of them our finger tips sunk down many inches on the soft springy moss.  I just want a bed made of moss I love it so much.  I later learned that after the slate mining closed down, people were asked to leave their homes so they could plant trees and switch to the wood industry.  

I have never seen moss covered trees like I did today.  The moss wasn’t just in one area, it was covering the entire trees, trunk and branches and all!  There was also a little stone house we discovered nearby and a beautiful look out area where we could see a waterfall and the stone quarry.  Corris is an old slate mining town so that is why all the roofs are covered in slate here.  

We came across a field of sheep and they all came running up to us at the gate!  They were so adorable!  3 breeds of sheep were there.  I liked the ones with the rounder faces.  I think they liked us too!  I kept bleating and they responded and waited for more.  I could have talked to them all day.  

This amazing two hour walk ended up to be an adventure that I would imagine in a book and I would want to read it over and over again.  I am really inspired to get outside more.  To bundle up, put some boots on, and breath in all God’s creation.  I have really found it makes me come alive inside!  After our walk I worked in my studio until the next day, literally.  This has been my schedule and there is nothing anyone can do about it!

The town of Corris