Autumn at the Cabin

While I await the completion of the new studio building, I am spending all my creative time at the cabin. Leaves have long flown off the trees and blown away. We had a bout of snow which has since melted, mostly. It lingers up on the top of the hill around the cabin and in the woods. Yesterday was the start of deer (hunting) season. Neighbors and family were out and about, some just down the hill. Casey watches warily from the deck...

Casey watching from the deck.

Don has been clearing trees lately. Earlier this summer I asked him to make some "cookies" for me, which I have been using for some of my photo shoots of beads and jewelry.

I loved these slices of wood so much, that I went a little crazy with some yummy thin oak branch slices gifted to me by Leigh Meehan, and my leaf charms. Leigh makes these from fallen trees on her land on western PA, not too terribly far from us. I love these little leaf / cookie collages.

The other thing I've been collecting is ROCKS - I occasionally pick up stones during my walks. Like the log slices, I use them in my photography. I recently found a really beautiful stone with a golden hue. This has become my favorite rock for taking pictures of my work on. I used it for this photo of jewelry (yes I actually found time and motivation to make some jewelry).

Our cabin is situated on the edge of a forest so I see and hear a good variety of critters. This is affecting my creativity:  birds, owls, trees and other woodsy elements have been appearing more and more in my work.

One day when I was fooling around making egg shaped beads, one kinda turned into an owl!

Well that really got me going. I made a bunch and each seemed to have it's own personality. Yay! But something seemed to be missing. So... I made them a nice little log to sit on.

The log was something I remembered from earlier sketches for a "woodland camping" them. It definitely came in handy for my little owlie friends. 

Then I thought, well heck, with all the snow and windy weather we've been having, maybe some of these little owlie guys would like a tree to live in... cozy huh?

Well shoot, why not make some owl houses (like bird houses only for owls) - they could have a real "roof" over their heads. But I dunno, do owls like owl houses?  Hm...

Thank you for indulging my Autumnal ramblings from Starry Road Studio! How does the season affect your own work? I'd love to hear!