There is a Crack in Everything

The prompt for Artful Adventures, Stroll through the Hood today is: cracks. Whenever I hear the word crack I immediately think of Leonard Cohen's Anthem, a song that has accompanied me over the years in good times and bad. There are many cracks to be found in the Penicuik Estate but I wanted scenic cracks and found them in this set of steps where the persistent wildflowers (or weeds, depending on your point of view) have made their way through the cracks between the stones. reaching for the light.

 The river avens wildflowers are coming out along the Silverburn

 And the lime walk leading up to the side of Penicuik House has been lighted up with fresh green, almost like a crack where the light comes in.

The wood anemones are at their best just now! 

The dog walk was such a total pleasure  today, in warm weather and with Flora running loose. She is dealing with dogs, large and small, and has started to grasp the fact that there are lots of people about with dog biscuits in their pockets. And even those that haven't, are good for a cuddle.  I am one very proud doggy mummy.

How the Light Gets In

Sometimes the universe seems to be on your side (and sometimes it doesn't, but we won't mention that at the moment) and the latest prompt from Wanderlust 2016 was one of those times. The prompt read: Lyrics of the song that is currently your favourite. Needless to say the subject was so topical and the choice was easy. I used the lyrics from Leonard Cohen's Anthem.

Gratifyingly the lyrics of the song were printed in one of the newspapers this weekend in their write-up about his recent death. All I had to do was cut them out and add them to the spread done in the small (page size 5 x 7") Vintage Vanity Art Journal that I'm using for all the Wanderlust spreads.

I used a wide variety of acrylic inks on the pages, as well as glitter paint, gold pens and 3D embellishments to portray the crack through which the light gets in. The background was covered with black gesso.

The End of an Era

The news of Leonard Cohen's death after what has already been  a shocking week feels like the end of an era, like life as we have known it is changing forever. At least we will still have his songs which have always had a timeless quality for me.

They have accompanied me through life's changes and I listen to his songs at least weekly and mostly more often. They make me cry but lift me up too, if that makes any sense.

Here is the link to my most favourite song, Anthem,  accompanied by the most amazingly beautiful imagery. I could listen to just this song for the rest of my life.