Ink and Oddments

Echoes of wild and quiet beauty gathered from stolen moments

Dame Aux Fleurs - © Emily Charlotte Powell

July has, mostly, been hot and dry¹. The environment agency has declared the Solent and South Downs in prelude to drought. Occasional, light and fleeting showers briefly caress the parched earth before they disappear.

I ache to slow down and let the heavy warmth soak into my skin, for the days to stretch long enough to dissolve the growing anxiety in my chest at the blur of activity and expectations, obligations, responsibilities and preparations that this time of year brings. They clamour for my attention when all I long for is the chance to escape. To the river, to the beach, to the garden, to the studio…

So I steal away, and leave it all. What must get done will get done. Eventually.

Probably.

Stolen moments by the river…

Where moorhen chicks — midnight‑black puffs of down with red beaks bright as berries and golden yellow eyes hide beneath the grasses that overhang the bank, watched by their vigilant parents. Where I breathe deep slow honeyed breaths of fragrance from tall, frothing meadowsweet. Where a little grebe dives and resurfaces in the dappled shadows cast by the old oak, her roots soaking in the cool water. Where blue demoiselles, like fragments of sapphire, dance, circling each other in constant, liquid motion. Where a golden dragonfly patrols the surface, its wings flashing shards of sunlight. And where a flare of brilliant white high in the trees by the railway line catches my eye — a little egret I think, mobbed by quarrelsome magpies.

Stolen moments on the beach…

Where the dogs plunge after a tennis ball and explode back out of the surf, shaking saltwater in glittering arcs, their coats curling into salty knots. Where my son and his friend skim stones that leap over the waves and build small, brief monuments of smoothed stones that collapse back into the water as the tide advances to reclaim them. And where the high tide sighs forward, then draws back again, pulling the shingle with it, the water’s melody accompanied by the delicate click and skitter of tap-dancing pebbles.

Stolen moments in the sunlit garden…

Where bees linger on the passion flowers while ladybirds scale the unruly green stems that grow beneath the bird feeders, from seeds scattered in the bursts of exuberance of small feathered beings. Where kind friends allow me to gather blooms of cosmos, dahlia, cornflower, mallow and roses from their garden, with which I awaken my lady of flowers, adorning her graphite silhouette with petals that spill into a wild, vivid unfurling of summer.

Stolen moments in the studio…

Where imagination overflows, where petals meet pencil lines, where sketches gather like pressed flowers between the pages of memory. Where ink spills onto paper and oddments of creative adventures coalesce into a small curiosity shop of story-laced treasures waiting to be carried into other lives, other stories.

Perhaps you’d like to wander there awhile…

To discover greetings cards and art prints, storybook illustrations and graphite drawings that celebrate the beauty in every day life and the wild. Where you might stumble into a Faerie Mushroom Glade glowing with quiet magic or watch as Birds of Prayer rise, trailing luminescent dust that shimmers in the wake of each wingbeat. Where you might meet the characters who’ve stepped from my sketchbooks to rest on canvas bags, and soft vegan suede cushions that conjure the peace and tranquillity of lazy summer days. Where handmade notebooks, snipped and stitched and glued from my Creative Bucket List, are waiting to hold new stories, thoughts, and dreams and where the quiet echo of stolen moments transform into something I can hold in my hands — and offer to you.

My new Etsy shop, Ink and Oddments, is open for quiet exploration, a place where art and oddments wait to be discovered, and maybe, to find a new home.

This month, the Creative Explorer’s gallery has grown again, with new photographs gathered from riverside walks, sunlit gardens, and quiet moments by the sea. There are poppy seed heads standing tall like tiny sculptures, bees dusted in golden pollen, and butterflies sipping nectar on petals of bright marigold. You’ll find weathered groynes silvered by salt and time, shells resting like forgotten treasures, sunflowers unfurling, and the vivid glow of California poppies swaying in the breeze. These small moments of beauty now wait for you in the gallery, a quiet place to wander whenever you need it².

With wishes for endless inspiration,

P.S. I had the very great pleasure of chatting with

Claire Fitzsimmons

for her new podcast - A Thought I Kept, about the ideas that stay with us, long after we’ve forgotten the rest. We talked about creativity, joy, and the importance of creating what you love, and loving what you create. You can listen at the link below.

1. When I starting writing this post, this was, indeed, true. But, now that I am finally ready to publish this post, it is dull and grey and rainy….

2. The Creative Explorer’s Gallery is a growing collection of my favourite photos for subscribers to print and display at home, use in your own publications, as reference images for drawing or painting, for your website or social media, and in your own creative adventures. You’ll find the link in your welcome email, and I’ll pop a link in the subscriber chat too.