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Tag Archives: beautiful

Beautiful Snow Leopard…

05 Friday Jan 2024

Posted by Satin & Sand in Animals, Art, Mammals, Nature, Poetry, Reflections, watercolor, Wild animals, Winter

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Art, beautiful, environment, mountains, Nature, Poetry, Snow, Snow leopard, watercolor, Winter

© Joan Currie – My watercolor and ink painting of a Snow Leopard.

Ode to a Snow Leopard by Joan Currie

In the peaks where snow doth lie,
A creature graced with silent stride,
Snow leopard roams beneath the sky,
In the realm where frost abides.

With fur of silver, spots of night,
Its gaze, ice blue, a mystic sight,
Amongst snow-capped mountains high,
A guardian beneath the moonlight.

Once a child of that mountain air,
A woman now, distant and fair,
From the village, she did part,
Leaving behind a heavy heart.

In dreams, she hears the snow’s soft call,
A longing echoes through the hall,
Her spirit yearns for frozen grace,
To wander in that wild embrace.

The snow leopard, a silent guide,
Through peaks where memories abide,
Its eyes like crystals, piercing cold,
A tale of nature’s beauty told.

The woman, haunted by the past,
Desires the mountains, free at last,
To return to where her soul belongs,
Amidst the snow, where it prolongs.

Through valleys deep and rivers wide,
Her heart retraces steps beside,
Towards the peaks, she yearns to climb,
Reconnect with frozen time.

Oh, snow leopard with eyes so bright,
Guide her through the frigid night,
To find her way, to nature’s lore,
To the mountains she adored once more.

The northern landscapes that shaped my early years now seem like distant dreams. I wish for a winter’s day, especially in the late afternoon as the sun is setting, when the snow is infused with soft shades of white, blue, lavender, and rose.

Beautiful Walk in the Woods…

19 Sunday Nov 2023

Posted by Satin & Sand in Acrylics, Art, Autumn, Nature, Poetry, Reflections, Trees, Winter

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acrylic painting, Autumn, beautiful, Emily Bronte, Painting, Poetry, Trees

© Joan Currie – My en plein air (fluid acrylic) painting of falling leaves around a tree trunk in the rain.

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night’s decay
Ushers in a drearier day.

From Fall, Leaves, Fall by Emily Brontë

I reveled in the beauty of fall on my walk – but, there was a bittersweet undertone to the experience. The leaves that carpeted my path were a sign that the world around me was preparing for a long slumber. The once-bustling woods would soon be hushed by the frigid grip of winter. The trees, now so alive with color, will soon stand bare and vulnerable.

Beautiful Blue Heron…

06 Monday Nov 2023

Posted by Satin & Sand in Art, Birds, watercolor

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beautiful, Blue heron, Mary Oliver, watercolor

© Joan Currie – My watercolor of a Blue Heron

Now the blue heron
wades the cold ponds
of November.

In the gray light his hunched shoulders
are also gray.

He finds scant food – a few
numbed breathers under
a rind of mud.

When the water he walks in begins
turning to fire, clutching itself to itself
like dark flames, hardening,
he remembers.

Winter.
From A Poem for the Blue Heron by Mary Oliver

I watched a blue heron as it stood in quiet contemplation – its long, sinuous neck curved like an ornate candelabrum. In the language of the poets, this elegant creature embodied a dignified grace, a symbol of refinement and grandeur. Its slate-blue plumage, reminiscent of fine silk, caught the light, creating an ethereal aura that stirred my senses. I had to paint it.

Beautiful Toil…

05 Wednesday Apr 2023

Posted by Satin & Sand in Flowers, Needlepoint, Poetry, Reflections, Sewing, Sheep, Wool

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beautiful, Charles Banks, Needlepoint, Tapestry wool

© Joan Currie – Detail of A Bunch of Spring Flowers Needlepoint

The toughest wood with brightest blaze will greet:
The hardest nut contains the sweetest meat;
So wisdom, gained by light of midnight oil,
Gives richest recompense to patient toil.

From Industry By Charles Eugene Banks

I came across a half-finished needlepoint canvas while looking through my tapestry wool stash. I began it over a decade ago and decided at the time that I just didn’t have it in me to finish it – much like when I started reading the 1,072-page classic, Don Quixote, and decided enough was enough and put it back on the shelf.

After examining the needlepoint canvas further and determining that I had just enough wool to complete it, I resolved to push through and finish it. It took me just over a month of incessant work. It is, hands down, my favorite needlepoint piece to date. I sewed it into a pillow using silk fabric backing and velvet piping from Chennai and wool stuffing from a sheep farm in Pennsylvania. I love it and it was well worth the effort!

Beautiful Do What You Say You Are Going To Do…

13 Monday Mar 2023

Posted by Satin & Sand in Acrylics, Art, Art studio, Reflections, Relationships, Self-portrait

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Acrylics, Art, beautiful, Danielle LaPorte, Relationships, Self-portrait

© Joan Currie – My self-portrait in acrylic on canvas


If you don’t mean it with every bone in your body, then just don’t say it. – Danielle LaPorte

I have learned over the years that beguiling promises, theatrical proclamations, and seductive statements of intent mean absolutely nothing without action, follow-through, stepping up to the plate, becoming a stakeholder, and/or demonstrating observable results. So please, no more talk – take action!

Beautiful Pre Springtime Starlings…

24 Friday Feb 2023

Posted by Satin & Sand in Art, Birds, Garden, Nature, Poetry, watercolor

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Art, beautiful, Birds, Crabapples, John Heath-Stubbs, Nature, Poetry, Starling, watercolor

© Joan Currie – Starlings from my sketchbook.

The starling is my darling, although
I don’t much approve of its
Habits. Proletarian bird,
Nesting in holes and corners, making a mess,
And sometimes dropping its eggs
Just any old where – on the front lawn, for instance.

It thinks it can sing too. In springtime
They are on every rooftop, or high bough,
Or telegraph pole, blithering away
Discords, with cliches picked up
From the other melodists…

From The Starling by John Heath-Stubbs

Despite the snap of cold weather, the starlings were out in full force today perched on the branches of crabapple trees – mostly hidden by the burgeoning pink blossoms. It seemed as if they were rehearsing a mixture of musical numbers and squeaky songs for a springtime premiere. They put a smile on my face!

© Joan Currie – Crabapple blossoms from my sketchbook.

David Bowie and Beautiful Repurposing of Ticket Stubs…

20 Monday Feb 2023

Posted by Satin & Sand in Art, David Bowie, Design, Photography, Reflections, Repurposing, Travel

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Art, beautiful, David Bowie, Photography, Repurposing, Ticket stubs, Travel

© Joan Currie – Some of my old ticket stubs.

An art book is a museum without walls. – Andre Malraux

A while back, I came across a box of old art museum, music, and attraction ticket stubs from my various travels. I am so glad that I saved them as not only do they serve as touchstones for wonderful memories but because they are quite beautiful – miniature works of art in their own right! I took them out of the box and now use them as bookmarks in my art books. I have also done the same with airplane boarding passes, tram and train tickets.

During my travels last year, scan codes were used for all the attractions and I did not come home with a single ticket stub from any of the venues I visited! Photos, postcards, and maps will have to suffice but will not be the same as ticket stubs. Now I have no tangible connection to the time and place I visited nor do I have a beautiful work of art or photograph that was the best part of the art museum and attraction tickets.

My David Bowie concert ticket stub (above) reminds me of David Bowie performing on stage in a torrential downpour in Wellington, New Zealand! A scan code on my phone would not evoke that memory the same way the ticket stub does.

Beautiful Atomic Habits and Needlepoint Projects…

16 Thursday Feb 2023

Posted by Satin & Sand in Crafts, Design, Needlepoint, Sewing

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Atomic Habits, beautiful, Elizabeth Bradley, James Clear, Needlepoint

Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound and turn into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years. – James Clear

I began the needlepoint project, pictured above, in October. It is entitled Hedgerow, from Elizabeth Bradley’s Natural History Collection. After I started working on it, I realized that it would take me about a year to complete due to the size of the canvas, the number of color changes (24 different colors of tapestry wool!), and the amount of time I had to devote to it – typically on a catch-as-catch-can approach. It usually takes me about three months to finish a needlepoint, so this one was a bit daunting by comparison. I knew I had to just get on with it. The needlepoint wasn’t going to get done by itself, but I wasn’t sure how to speed up the process.

However, last month I read James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, after which I decided to make some changes to my morning routine. I now get up an hour earlier every morning to work on my needlepoint. The needlepoint canvas and wool are laid out on the sofa ready for me to pick up in the morning so I am able to start working right away – no set-up time is required. This activity may or may not be accompanied by a podcast or new music stream or just thinking about how I am going to structure my day to get the tasks done on my to do list.

Although it is still early with my new habit formation, I have to report that I am thrilled with my progress! I only complete a tiny square of stitches each day but I can see that over the last few weeks these tiny squares are accumulating nicely and the textile will, indeed, be completed by the summer – probably four months earlier than my projected finish date! Yay! (I will still have to sew it into a pillow, but that is another story.)

I have so many textile, studio art, and home improvement projects in the works that I have been somewhat frustrated (more like overwhelmed) wondering how I am going to get them all done. This needlepoint project is only one positive data point, but I plan to apply this process to the other projects and I am looking forward to the results!

Beautiful Bighorn Sheep…

05 Sunday Feb 2023

Posted by Satin & Sand in Animals, Art, Nature, Sheep, watercolor

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Animals, Art, beautiful, Nature, Sheep, watercolor

© Joan Currie. My watercolor of a Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis).

Horns are found on members of the Bovidae family, which includes species such as cows, sheep and goats. They differ from antlers because generally, both males and females have horns and they will continue to grow throughout the animal’s life…

Since horns stay with the animal its entire life, you can age an animal by the number of growth rings on its horns, just like you can age a tree in the same way! Edmonton & Area Land Trust

The young children in my family have ignited in me an interest in the animal kingdom. Other than dogs, I really have never taken the time to learn about animals, but now I am completely besotted by “all creatures great and small!”

Five Beautiful Tips on how to Upcycle Clothing…

29 Sunday Jan 2023

Posted by Satin & Sand in Crafts, Design, Fashion, Sewing, Tips, Upcycling

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beautiful, Five tips, Sewing, Upcycling

© Joan Currie – From blouse to bag. Simplicity pattern #2685, style D.

Upcycle definition: reuse discarded objects or material in such as way as to create a product of a higher quality or value than the original.

Last summer, I made a last minute purchase of a blouse to wear at a family celebration. Although I liked the fabric, it never really fit me properly despite my best tailoring efforts to salvage it. Yesterday, when I needed a black bag to go with an outfit, I thought it was time to put the blouse to a better use. I am happy with the result and thought I would share some upcycling and sewing tips:

  1. Source the fabric for your project from your clothes or family and friends’ donation boxes, garage sales, and thrift stores. Look for the largest sizes to yield the most fabric yardage.
  2. Be resourceful and don’t limit yourself to just clothing: wraps, and even sheets. drapes, and tablecloths can work well.
  3. Find a simple sewing pattern that will be easy to modify. I had found Simplicity pattern #2685 on Etsy. It required more fabric than what I could harvest from the blouse, so I decided to use a different, but complementary, fabric from my quilt stash for the lining. The lining fabric I selected wasn’t quite wide enough, but by decreasing the size of the lining pleats by a little, I got it to fit.
  4. Be creative by adding embellishments such as buttons and piping on the outside placard to make the bag truly your own. In this case, the fabric was so busy, I decided to eliminate the decorative placard all together.
  5. Don’t be afraid to mix and match pattern pieces from the various styles within the pattern package to meet your needs. I usually lengthen the straps, add an interior pocket for my phone, and attach a carabiner for my car and house keys.

There you have it. Happy Upcycling! xo

Simplicity pattern #2685 D.

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