The Lord is my Shepherd

I painted this pastoral seascape with sheep because I always had a secret wish as a young girl to be a Shepherdess and live in the countryside surrounded by nature.

" The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

"A Psalm of David. A 3000 year-old -POEM PRAYER I love so very much. 

What does it mean that the Lord is my Shepherd 

( Psalm 23) ?

The Secret of The Sea

 

Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me
As I gaze upon the sea!
All the old romantic legends,
All my dreams, come back to me

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

The Secret of the Sea - 2024 

The Secret of the Sea 

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me

As I gaze upon the sea!

All the old romantic legends,

All my dreams, come back 

to me. 

 

Till my soul is full of longing

For the secret of the sea,

And the heart of the great ocean

Sends a thrilling pulse through me.

LISTEN 

 Secrets of The Sea ~ by Greg Maroney

'Ah! What pleasant visions haunt me As I gaze upon the sea!' - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I'm haunted and bewitched by the beautiful celestial image I witnessed with my family on April 8th, 2024, of the solar eclipse. I find myself painting white suns these days. Even after bringing an unwanted hitchhiker home from the event, the tick : ) He, as well, was curious and wanted to see. I suppose he had an excellent place to watch from : )

The cliff and water need more work. Maybe add something else to the painting as well.

WIP ACRYLIC PAINTING 10 X 8 CANVAS

PORTRAIT OF CAPTAIN GREGG - THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR

CAPTAIN GREGG

Portrait of Captain Gregg - Sea Captain Oil Painting Digital Download Art Hi-Res JPEG - The Ghost and Mrs. Muir Classic Movie Art The other day I discovered this print of Captain Gregg, the ghost from the 1947 movie classic "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", one of my all time favourite ghost movie with Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney. I thought where I would hang it and my art studio is the perfect place. So I bought the digital portrait of Captain Daniel Gregg from SYLVESTERS CHARTS on Etsy. It's on sale, so a good time to buy it. Now to make a print and find the perfect frame. Constance Metzinger did an amazing job on the portrait of the Ghost Captain. Love♥️

"INFO: This is a newly painted portrait in oil of Captain Daniel Gregg, the famous sea captain featured in the classic film "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" ( 1947 ). Before the handsome Captain Gregg ( Rex Harrison ) became a ghost and haunted Gull Cottage, he had this portrait of himself painted which Lucy Muir ( Gene Tierney ) had hanging up in her bedroom. 

The original painting used in the film was painted over for use in the 1968 television series "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir". This oil painting was painted by Constance Metzinger in 2022 and replicates the one seen in the film. "

*** Once Upon a Time ***

You can view this banner in a larger size on my FireFlies and FairyTales blog.
http://firefliesandfairy-tales.blogspot.com/


Once Upon a time there lived a little girl who lived by the sea in a far away land.
Each spring she would walk on the seashore and breathe in the beautiful perfume of the feathery downy mimosa on the wind that grew along side the bustling boulevard by the sea. She adored picking daisies and creating flowery crowns and necklaces and pretended to be a princess of the sea. Then one day, she left her beautiful home with her mom and traveled far far away to a wild and beautiful land, only the sea was no where near.

Time sure does pass and waits for no one. The little girl who left her seaside home was seven then and tomorrow she will be 52……WOW! And so I made this digital Banner with the thought of time … Hope you like it.Ooh the year? Well,"10" stands for my birthday in March.

Blog Banner *** Dreams ***

Just a tiny post to show the new Blog Banner I am working on. These past few days have been wonderful and full of sunshine. I don’t know exactly why, maybe the extra vitamin c or the spring like air but I feel rejuvenated with a burst of energy … that is for creativity.
Had a great family day today but of course way too short, looking forward to the March Break. Tomorrow will be seeing me go for my first mammogram…yuck! Hopefully it will be okay and when I return, straight to the computer to do some changes to the banner…yippee…in my dreams…other chores to attend to I’m afraid but maybe later…want to make another banner and avatar as well.


To view larger version of this banner scroll to the bottom of page...

I will be posting the banner on Etsy once it is completed.





Goodnight and Sweet Dreams.
Hugs Annabelle

The Owl and the Pussycat

Just finished this piece, “The Owl and the Pussycat Sun catcher” inspired by Edward Lear's poem; only it isn't a pea green boat but a Blue Glass boat that when placed in the sunlight, sparkles like a sea of dazzling diamonds. Wrapped up in their glass bottom boat with plenty of money and some sweet honey, crystals are the moon and the stars, and pearls are the waves of the sea with crystal drops at their tips, a little pewter bird flies high up above the Owl and his Pussycat love.


Fairytales are made of this...the memoirs of our childhood.

And now the inner child in each one of us, once again wants to play... *~^..^~*

Need to find him a small guitar…or make him one. Then it will be heading over to Etsy.

The Owl and the Pussycat

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?'Said the Piggy,'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon


~ Edward Lear

Ferderick Morgan

Frederick Morgan 1847-1927, another British Victorian Era Painter- Artist who I treasure dearly for his depictions of so many beautiful scenes, Old seamen, frolicking children by the sea shore, peasants in pastoral lanes and children giving their best friend a bath.


Who Do You Love?





Sea Horses





His Turn Next





Day at the Seaside





Not long ago I was visiting my husband in Chalk River. Actually it was some time ago when I recall, around a year and half ago when we were contemplating moving up to Deep River. I was checking out the real-estate and dropped by the Century 21 office in Petawawa. What caught my eye was not that of a home but one very particular painting in a gilded frame. From the glass that it sat behind bubbles reflected back an elderly man playing with some kids and a dog. It was titled “Tug of War”. I loved it. My guess to the period of the painting was Victorian. Of course my guess turned out to be accurate on the time line when a few weeks back the same print came up for auction at the local Sally Ann .I made a bid of $80.00, but unfortunately it wasn’t high enough.
So I decided I wanted to know more about this artist and track his work.

I was so surprised to discover that not only was ‘Tug of War” one of his works I was in love with but not known to me until now I was in possession of one reproduction of a Pear’s soap commercial entitled “His Turn Next” a painting of two children giving their dog a bath by Frederick Morgan. Lo and behold, many more paintings that I had admired throughout my life turned out to be more by the same artist. Needless to say, this has happened to me before. The same was true when I bought “Highland Raiders” by Joseph Farquharson and so many other artists.

Once you love an artist’s style chances are you’ll probably love more of their additional works.

The Bliss of Treasure Hunting

A delicate mist veils the early morning landscape and the suns rays gently blush the sky catching the morning dew on the tall blades of grass. Cows in an animated stance graze sporadically across the rolling acres of glistening splendor. Turn of the century homes with geraniums on window sills, their brick, wood and stone distressed from the elements of time, epitomize ”The Old Village Charm”. A tapestry of color, texture, pattern and form; each village we approach is in its own embodiment.
Bound for the allusive appeal of “something old”- connectors to the times and places of our past, we make our way through the quieter, muddled charm of the countryside. Surely you must have guessed were on a journey, a journey for antiquities, and a journey of discovery!
What better way is there to live the past than to boldly go where all men have gone before! To actually embrace an abject of a period in time in memorable and connect to its long past. To wonder at its form curiously and totally get the unexpected. I find it intriguing to my imagination with each new piece I obtain every time I take that special trip into the past.
The more the piece is worn and burnished by time, the more I’m smitten by its aura. Was it romance or sadness it possessed?
Obviously one must concede a new item would seem bland compared with an old piece possessing of such attributes. Quintessentially, indeed the new piece of today will one day be valued as highly. But let’s not loose sight of the fact that if you come across an item of little monetary value that that in itself does not prove its worth.

From the time I was a small child these objects excited attention and emotion from within me. I still can recall the time when I was rearranging my mom’s bedroom, when cleaning her dresser drawer, I tumbled across a beautiful rectangular shape encrusted with rhinestones. Spade shaped corners were adorned with four delicately woven bows. In between the bows there were four xs’s holding a centre circle. At the back of the see- through piece three brass brackets were joined. The middle one had two small teeth. Quickly I realized that it once must have adorned a beautiful gown as a belt buckle. Probably a gown worn during the Victorian era; oh no, there goes my imagination again. Oh, what a beautiful spell it had on me- Living in the Past!
Finding it difficult to come straight out and ask my mother for the buckle, I suggested on what a gorgeous frame it could be. Knowing her daughter quite well, my mother gave a smirk and said” keep it; I know that if anyone could find a use for it, It would be you”!! And so the Victorian buckle that could be from a Victorian lady’s gown; maybe worn on the Titanic; was mine.
This wasn’t the first time I turned something old into something new again, not only retaining its authenticity intact but accentuating its beauty making it a one of a kind item hard to pass by.
Through time I attained some very interesting objects minimal in cost and turned them into works of art. The purchase of a lovely spoon and fork turned into a pair of decorative wall accessories. Giving them a whimsical touch, I made for each of them their very own wire bows, dually useful for hanging and embellishment. Another find of some old dresser pulls turned out to be very enhancing to my paintings on the walls as picture swags.
Arriving to our destination, I spot a garage sale obscure from open view and we retreat indoors from the fine misty rain that begins to break into a pour. Anticipating another special heirloom find to add to my collection, I sip the tea that soothing me of cold trying patiently to wait for the rain to let up; but no, I can't wait. I must go!!!


Does the above post sound a bit familiar?
It should to some who have read my blog from when I first started it back in the spring of 2006. I wrote it in the early part of March when the snow had just left us and the church and yard sales called to me. Some things will never change ……………………. If I can help it ~!

Treasure hunting evokes the wonderful feeling of attaining an earlier period of history whenever I come upon a lovely find and it is just so thrilling and exciting to say the least. A Blissful joy to come upon a lost treasure of the past, to hold and to keep and to learn all that it was and all it will be.
I luv to venture off into Treasure Land on early bright or dreary Saturday mornings, no matter what the weather may be, off I go searching for that very special place that just might have something there for me.
But this past weekend has been a bit of a surprise for I found a gorgeous treasure just a hop and skip from our house.
Usually I luv making my early morning track to Timmy’s for a cup of coffee and then check out the church sales….still by far untouched for the most amazing, inexpensive , unique and very old vintage stuff. Junk like my kids and hubby refer to it.
But this stuffy junk makes me very happy. It inspires and delights and evolves into an artful creation all done by me giving me the sense of achieving and accomplishment. It stimulates the mind and therefore I feel release of my ingenuity and very triumphant. Hunting for Treasure is just one of many of my favorite pass times under the heading of “Blissful Things to Do with One’s Day”.

Now the reason for not venturing too far from home was our daughter Em had a job in taking care of the little dog down the road and being the kind parents that we are we agreed to drive her there so she could get back to bed to catch up on her sleep from a late night.
I know, I know she should be doing it all on her own but hey if we didn’t God wouldn’t have blessed us for the beautiful find …right?
Well ,right across the doggie house was a garage sale and we thought we go over there to say our Farwell to the couple when ….there it was, I had just seen one recently in someone’s blog and wished I had one. I bee lined to it in a flash and almost looking a little rude leaving my husband to talk to the lady I headed towards it. Ah! I held it and asked how much. “Give me an offer” the reply came back. “Oh no, I’m no good at that” I replied. She asked her husband and he said what I never would of thought…..I bought it! He finished off by saying “hey” take good care of it, it belonged to my granddad! Wow, His father who we were saying goodbye to was quite elderly so from my calculations this boat I would imagine to be from probably the early part of the 1900’s. And so now I was the owner of one very much like the one I had drooled over on someone’s blog. I was so thrilled and euphoric by the find! My treasure of the day I had found in the first minutes of my venture! Not at all that surprising for it usually is the very first half hour~hour that the Treasure is found. I always pick three and go from there. This time was not even part of the choice….You never know…..That’s the fun of it all!

Okay, here is what I found! I’m sure you’re wondering just what in the world I’m so over the moon for. A boat! Yeh, a boat!





I have been working on a boat for some time now and funny how things seem to come together. Of late I have come across or stumbled upon two more boats to be precise. They are no ordinary boats but very darling and unique in their own way .And so more stuff to create with but I think I’ll keep this one very special boat to light my nights, imagine the sea and who knows may even cast a magic spell upon my dreams.

Late at night when all is still and very, very quiet….

Myspace Glitter Graphics




I'm Dreaming by a Moonlit Sea...

Magnificent Obsessions and Passions of My Heart

“You’ll not be able to get away from it! You’re too far in! It’s got you! …A form of insanity, maybe; but you may as well come along –”

I pondered on this passage for a while the other day and I suddenly realized that I been caught in a trap! But a beautiful trap!
I truly believe that I’m in love with the idea of being captured in this snare, a spellbinding web in which it sustains me…with wondrous Dreams, Music, Art, Words, and Happy Thoughts … All Passions of My Heart!


On any given day I may take a solitary walk down a winding way lost in the countryside of Tuscany. Once there I am enamored by the lovely beauty of a warm golden field of sunflowers dancing in the breeze to Luciano’s Nessun Dorma! I may even get inspired to write an Italian poem from the arresting experience.
Girasoli, Fiori Blu
Nessun dorma, senza tu….

Or may be wandering along the beautiful and enthralling pastoral valley of Wiltshire and be arrested in the beauty of Stourheads enchanted eighteenth century garden with its secret grotto lined in flint and volcanic Italian rock sheltering the statue of the sleeping nymph while water cascades over her mossy slumber bed.

And then the next night I may just slip back in time and become drunk of cuoreblu listening to Ashrams intoxicating violins playing a haunting melody of ancient echoes and somehow mysteriously without intention find myself in old Victorian England in the haunting mansion of “The Innocents”. The one and only best film adaptation of the novel by Henry James ~ “The Turn of the Screw”. It has to be the one movie I had seen as a child that I never really ever gotten out of my mind and has in reality haunted me to this day for there is always that imminent thought: “someone could be watching me through the window” an habitual reaction to drawing in the curtains when night falls. Definitely it is without a doubt, the scariest psychological ghost story I have ever come to meet.


I read once that a home was a mirror of the family’s happiness and virtue; a place to which one could escape the harsh, demanding and perilous world outside. And so I, along with many others have now found shelter and security in our blissful home. In a way our Dear Victoria has captured are fancy all over again; the Bliss of Home!



I have always longed for the old limestone home filled to the brim with antiquities, not necessarily costly but old and worn by others, my connectors to the past. To have a room with a view of infinite wildflower fields joined by the sea and pass the mornings and nights and all the in-betweens.






But my dreams of the old home in far off seclusion overlooking the sea never did materialize, although most importantly I was blessed with a lovely family and home. My home, my castle in all its imperfections… it is my safe haven. The place from where I view the world.

My journey embarks from the private room of my studio! A place to me far removed from the outside world and yet at a touch of a key I am somewhere distant from the physical place which I call home. In the comfort of my chair I see the world in virtual reality; and meet friends from places I dreamed I would visit someday.
Obviously there are dreadful sites out there but you have the choice. Most times I come away with an exhilarating feeling of fulfillment and contentment. It is really in all essence the poor man’s way of living life extravagantly without the means!

Like anything that is pleasurable can become addictive. There has to be a happy medium to everything one does or else it can take hold and suck the life right out of you! Gaming, dating, music, food, art, nature, literature, travel are all but a few of people’s addictions or are they?

In retrospect we have always loved many of these things; its part of life and the web is an extension of our environment. It makes it easier and more accessible to information and communication than ever before. In seconds we have what we were probably looking for some time if not for years before the internet evolution. Many have found their ancestors and their secrets for better or for worse…ha! I found out recently that I have a younger American brother….So I guess I have connections in the States as well as Italy and Argentina and Australia and Germany to name a few of my gypsy family roots!!!
The information that is available to us is beyond ones understanding of the scale it extends; its infinitive!

Upon reflection, when I surf, I actually enter into another world; a world of dream and inspiration, of beauty and of loss. At times I find I get completely compelled, lost and mesmerized with a site and If my husband or kids call out to me I may be inclined to have not heard them consciously, thinking that it must be someone calling their kid outside until enough times the blaring of my name will sound out and I’ll snap out of it and come back to ground zero…ha-ha….still a child at heart! But I know my limit and when the laundry piles up or dishes and the beds aren’t made or that I want everything in the world; that in its self is an obvious indicator that I’m spending way too much time on the keyboard and looking glass.


As a child born under the cosmic sign of Pisces I have always been prone to being a bit of a Romantic, actually rather an extreme incurable one to be more precise in describing my nature. I can’t stop favoring so many of the Flickr pictures that I come across but that is due to my leaning to art…mosaic…creations of sorts!


Even as a little girl I showed an Passion to decorate the Hearth for Christmas!!!!!

Regrettably, I’m a terrible photographer and subject and ultimately haven’t learned the art form. So I reside on others art and take in their beauty to create a magic tapestry, a crazy quilt, a memory collage or simply just a Flickr mosaic of life!

Back some 45 years ago you would have found me in a vast white field of daisies over looking the sea; busily lost picking all that I could see, not knowing when to end my gatherings while my mother was calling out to me to come…..if that would ever happened!!!! I always was one to be captivated by the beauty of nature and the work of man. Such things I came to learn weren’t worth importance to my evolution of successful maturity although now I can afford the luxury of such retreats. But I must say these so called unimportant values in a sense make the fabric of a person and who they become.


And so when you see a sunset that takes your breath away or a moment in time you have never felt before, take heed and observe in the silence the beauty that surrounds you. Pull out that camera you just bought and make the memories that sweet dreams are made of and upload them to any of the numeral sites that are available to you to use for free like ; Flickr, Webshots, Picasa just to name a few. And if your hearts desire is to view old film stars and songs of the past check out Muirmaiden on Youtube.

Bear in mind life is yours for a very short time and one should live life to its fullest. I have taken that aphorism and am living by it.
For a moment I get to live in some else’s red slippers and see what it would be like having and owning the things I dreamed of having but in the end my heart belongs within the visually imperfect home to the richest home one could ever dream of having. The family and their home is where the heart takes rest and views the web of the world. I may be caught in the web but for only short periods of time, for I know that it is another ones life out there I view and that mine rests here in the real passions of my heart!




Affairs of my Heart ~ A Poem

Affairs of my heart… I’ve fallen under your magical spells
Pinned to my spirit with brooches of jewels and of shells
I love all that is and all that shall be
Imparted upon this restless, unreeling happiest heart that is me

Words floating on air, sparkling and luminous… as pretty as a golden -haired lass
Encrusted with the twinkle and glitter of mica, crystal and glass
Love, dreams…imagine and wish to Believe, maybe a little naïve… do I Dare?
Fairies and mermaids do really live here!
With flowers and lace entwined in their wavy long radiant hair!




Darkness descending within this old house; winter is here!
Spirits of the night come to me near
Come close; be still, while I in joyous pulse write… by the candle’s vanishing light
As snowflakes outside softly drift down to the silence of the night


The hearth burns a jolly fiery glow and warmly gives call
Whilst twilight quietly fades into the rosewood hall
And the music takes note; embarks on its journey twisting and winding in graceful flow… in its gothic delicate dance …

And then begins the faint echo of the weeping and strange violins.


Summer’s wildflowers now have all gone with the wintry chill
But the tuberose, slender and tall keeps company with the curious cat precariously poised on the sill
Intoxicating in its sweet-smelling and heady perfume
I’m lulled into a false state of sleep under the broom

The owl patiently sits on the wood of the very old oak that resides in the little country courtyard
Above hangs a plump milky white moon in a sea of twinkling stars that keep him on much heedful guard
Books… threadbare and olden; keepers of lyrical words;
Senses wild with delicious enchantment I’m blissfully bestowed!
And the night of the winter lays quietly still under a white shimmering blanket of sugary snow

Annabelle 12/2007


Some of my Obsessions and Passions of my Heart... A listing of the glittering stars that make life magic:



I have listed here for your pleasure:

Zsaj…My first addiction to collecting gorgeous ethereal photographs
http://www.flickr.com/people/98474349@N00/

My mosaics:
http://www.flickr.com/

Paul Potts sings opera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DelJrP3P7tA&feature=related

Freddie Francis the cinematographer responsible for creating the atmospheric mood of the film “The Innocents”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s61Lz0CqY8Y

Eerie Clips from the movie “The Innocents”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhqQEnASvJ0

Or if you are in the mood for a good deep sleep visit
Gentle ghost classics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-01ID1O_n8



Or just reminiscing on the Vintage Blonde Bombshells of Hollywood or other movie screen stars Muirmaiden has a beautiful collection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJvuz64vTvA


For a complete resource of Victorian literature, poetry and art one must visit: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dgr/dgrov.html


A beautiful site with a secret garden you’ll sure want to explore: http://www.follytowers.com/stourheadtrail5.html



A beautiful and haunting Italian band who has completely entranced me from the time I discovered them through a fabulous Italian disk jockey’s website who herself is an inspiration of sorts
http://www.ashramusic.com/ “Maria and the Violins” and here http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=71645906



And then of course here is an itsy bitsy list of the many, many blogs I obsess about and the stuff that dreams are made of… The Bliss of Home:


Victoria the ROMANTIC magazine has come back! ~ http://www.victoriamag.com/

http://wwwbeyondthevintagepath.blogspot.com/

http://www.beyondthevintagepath.com/page/page/653262.htm

http://karlascottage.typepad.com/karlascottage/

http://monicaanderson.blogspot.com/

http://prettypetalsboutique.blogspot.com/2007/08/sparkling-kind-of-wish.html

http://www.missduffys.com/

http://www.cindyellisart.com/index.asp

http://wwwcindyellisartcom.blogspot.com/

http://www.queenoftarte.blogspot.com/

http://www.onehundredwishes.com/

http://www.fadedrosecottage.com/

http://monicaanderson.blogspot.com/

http://www.romantichome.blogspot.com/

http://sweeteyecandycreations.typepad.com/

http://www.thebowerbirdsnest.blogspot.com/

http://www.natashaburns.blogspot.com/

http://jeannesbliss.blogspot.com/

http://ltthings.blogspot.com/


http://izabella.typepad.com/

For lovely authentic Italian cuisine by a Swedish chef and photograher
http://www.lucullian.blogspot.com/


And this is only a minuscule part of my beautiful relationship with the fascinating and intoxicating web!

Annabelle 12 / 2007