Birds, birds, beautiful birds.

A new bird painting this week..

Been thinking this week about birds. I shared some of my birdie artwork last year in this post. I still love to incorporate birds into my art work. I find them so beautiful and a wonderful inspiration to live by. 

Birds are meant to fly, not to be kept in cages, or enclosed within shells or hidden behind closed doors.

They are very beautiful with fragile hearts.

Birds sing beautiful melodies whenever the mood takes them and they sing to welcome each new morning.

They are fiercely protective of their young and work tirelessly to feed them.

They fly miles and miles to get to a new destination with the changing of the season.

Birds wear their beauty, in the colours of their feathers and in the patterns on their wings.

They are not afraid to have their voices heard.

So fly!

And sing out, because your song is beautiful.

Much love, and have a great weekend!

xxx

Art Journalings

(I have repurposed an old book which I found in the recycling bin. I sewed some pages together, then primed with gesso before adding layers of paint and collage.)

Rose Garden...

 Know, Trust, Believe...

Much love.

xxx

Hope Rising

(There's a song that goes with this post. Click here to hear it.

It came to me whilst I was sitting at my piano last week...)

I can feel it, 

the changing of the seasons,

 a lightness in the air, 

a quickening of the senses

As hope rises from despair...

This year feels like the turning of the tide for me. I turned 40 right at the beginning of the year and as they say life begins..

But it really does begin, whatever age you are, because life begins afresh each day, with the rising of each new dawn.

I had the most wonderful start to the year with amazing birthday celebrations, first with my tea party for the ladies and then the most wonderful family gathering last weekend for which my sister surprised me and my twin brother with an impromptu visit from America for less than 24 hours to wish us a Happy Birthday and join us for dinner. So amazing!

My health is stable, my consultant said last week I have every reason to be optimistic about the future. Isn't that wonderful? 

The thing about love, (like the love that has been lavished on me recently), is that it lifts you, and carries you to a place where anything is possible, and the horizon becomes a clarion call for all the hopes and dreams of your life rather than an impossible destination. 

Hope does that too. It changes perspective.

Here are some of the horizons I gazed at last year, with the song of my heart ringing in my ears.

So here's to the new horizons that each day brings. May they call you to the promise of all that you are.
Much love.

xxx

Flower Power

Here is  my new window display in the flat, using some of the paper flowers we made at my birthday party and my everlasting Christmas branches which I added some more twigs to. The display makes me very happy because it reminds me of such a wonderful day and also it looks very pretty, with the lovely birdies perched in amongst the flowers and with the added twinkles from my pink flower lights.

To end, I'd like to share a quick recording of the song I sang at my party. Click here to hear it. The song is called "Rose Garden" and it is one of the very first songs I ever wrote, about 20 years ago. It tells the story of a heart's prayer to unfurl like the petals of a rose to reveal beauty.

Birthday Flowers and New year Love.

I turned 40 a couple of days ago on the 3rd of January.

Yesterday I had a gathering of wonderful ladies to celebrate. We had a tea party and the theme was flowers. I decided that entering into my forties is a time of full bloom and of celebrating beauty and colour without apology. So we spent the afternoon drinking tea, eating cakes and making paper flowers! It was such a precious time, surrounded by friends and filled with love and tremendous affirmation. My daughters sang songs that they had prepared, and there were performances from other dear friends.
I will treasure that time in my heart always.

(All photos are copyright Elle de Burgh.)

 My 10 year old daughter, Kezia and my dear friend Zoe wrote the most beautiful song about flowers and womanhood, which we all sang together.

 My 12 year old daughter, Daniella, made all the sugar flowers..

What a wonderful life affirming start to the year and a new decade for me. I am so excited about what the future holds and I am so thankful for all the love that surrounds me.
Wishing you all much love and a wonderful celebration of all that you are, in the year ahead.
xxxx