Women’s wellbeing workshop, Listowel. July 31st 10:30am -12:30. Booking closes July 15th. About Take two hours just for you to reflect and restore at Lughnasadh: a time of harvest and bounty in nature. This workshop will leave you feeling relaxed, more centred, and calm. No meditation experience or special skills are required. Borrow a mat…… Continue reading Women’s wellbeing workshop Listowel
Author: artyshe
The joy of July writing
Isn’t is amazing, when you stop to think about it, just how much nourishment we get from this planet of ours? Every precious creature is needed and interconnected in a wonder web of insects, birds, plants, and animals. Healthy soil supports crop growing to feed everyone, and of course the soul needs food too. For…… Continue reading The joy of July writing
Kerry events July
From babies to ladies, teenagers, and folks of all ages, July in Kerry has something for everyone. Search online for websites/ social media links. I have included phone numbers to make it easier for you to contact the organisors. Have fun. Cheers! -Kathryn. KERRY EVENTS JULY 2022 Ballinskelligs Moonstruck Full Moon Gathering July 13th with…… Continue reading Kerry events July
Open call for animal-related writing and photography
Today I am delighted to announce a new project: ‘Fur, feather, pen.’ Writers (published and unpublished) are welcome to get in touch with poems, stories, vignettes, and prose of all kinds. Black and white photographs are also welcome. KINDER TO THE ENVIRONMENT A limited number of ‘Fur, feather, pen’ magazines will be printed by an…… Continue reading Open call for animal-related writing and photography
Healthy food and hope
Many of you choose to eat healthy, home-cooked food most of the time like I do. Today it delighted me to see that Lidl had lots of loose items in boxes: we got cauliflower and other veg, plus a variety of yummy fresh fruit, without any plastic netting or packaging involved! Plastic needs to be…… Continue reading Healthy food and hope
Listowel yoga and art for children
Fully-booked. Get in touch if you’d like to reserve any places for my next event for children on July 9th. On Saturday we will have fun in the fresh air as well as making art indoors. MEETING POINT Childer’s Park Listowel V31 VK13. DETAILS For one and a half hours of fun, yoga mats, and…… Continue reading Listowel yoga and art for children
Kerry youth arts
Art provides an opportunity for kaleidoscopic thinking. Each time we shift the lens of our perceptions, we gain new perspectives — and new opportunities for innovation."— Linda Naiman ....and that's a wrap. It was lovely to finish the latest art project at midsummer. Spirits were high towards the end of their work, and the group… Continue reading Kerry youth arts
Protected: The Leaving Cert: those who sit it, those who milk it to promote themselves, and and the realities of the media frenzy.
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
A poem for the poets. Listowel Writer’s Week 2022.
Writer’s Week was fun, and today was the last day, so misty grey weather could not deter me from cycling into town for an open mic. I did not realise it was a competition (I avoid them), but the rain was pelting down at that stage, and sure what else would you be doing on…… Continue reading A poem for the poets. Listowel Writer’s Week 2022.
Social arts and spuds
Thank you Ana Nunez Rodriguez for including me! This art project is about how the humble spud connects global cultures. Ana started work on this over a year ago, and I was delighted to get this final, printed part of the project in the post this morning. Read / listen to my poem here. Kathryn…… Continue reading Social arts and spuds
Drawing and the process of mindful art in nature
SITTING TO DRAW Drawing is a form of meditation. Even though using a pen is not the easiest option, I really like the effect of biro on paper, so the effort is worth it. With every hour that goes into a picture, I see mistakes and ways of improving. This means that, despite the flaws,…… Continue reading Drawing and the process of mindful art in nature
Cleaning, yoga, and chemicals.
“…any talk about living chemical-free is complete nonsense. We are made of chemicals, and we consume a huge variety of them every day. A cause for concern is that many chemicals are added to our environment every day, and in many cases we don’t know what effects they will have on us or other living…… Continue reading Cleaning, yoga, and chemicals.
May meditation
One of my favourite artists, Salvador Dali, was born on this day (May 11th) in 1904. Sometimes I add seashells, sand, and all sorts of material to my pictures, and it was Dali who inspired me to do that: he used to glue stones to his paintings. This one is called ‘Soar’ and I painted…… Continue reading May meditation
Shoes and starlings
Photo by Ben Sharples Shoes and starlings Sabirah let out a roar as she hurled her shoe through the air with all of her might. She had stood up too quickly, and a dizzying rush to the head made her unsteady. She reached out with one hand to support herself against the back of the… Continue reading Shoes and starlings
Photo by Ben Sharples Shoes and starlings Sabirah let out a roar as she hurled her shoe through the air with all of her might. She had stood up too quickly, and a dizzying rush to the head made her unsteady. She reached out with one hand to support herself against the back of the…… Continue reading Shoes and starlings
Tin cans and potato mash
Today I put holes in these tin cans then filled each one with horse manure and soil to act as a nursery for seeds. The allotments are in a huge field, and my plot is very exposed. Being at a windy part of the site keeps me cautious: I want to make sure that all…… Continue reading Tin cans and potato mash
Plastic and artyness
I am delighted to have been awarded more arts funding. This time, it is to deliver a series of art workshops to a youth group in Listowel, Co. Kerry. 5 litre plastic bottles will be upcycled somehow and transformed by the magic of artyness as part of the process. I am not sure how yet,…… Continue reading Plastic and artyness
Yoga mat madness
KC design. PREVIOUSLY, WHILE FEELING FRAZZLED… In March I blogged about my efforts to make art out of old yoga mats (read post here). To recap, a few years ago I bought cheap yoga mats and thought that they would soon end up in landfill, but I was wrong: most yoga mats get incinerated, which…… Continue reading Yoga mat madness
Poetry Day Ireland
Ireland had some of the harshest Covid-19 lockdowns in Europe, so after two years without any gatherings it was a pleasure for all concerned to meet up in the sunshine on April 28th. I thoroughly enjoyed Poetry Day Ireland at Kerry Writer’s Museum. It was a treat to listen to everyone, to read my own…… Continue reading Poetry Day Ireland
Loving colour on the cusp of Summer
SUNRISE SERENADE This morning, not long after sunrise, I took a photo of my latest artwork on the grass outside while listening to birdsong. Bliss! This piece was stARTed in 2020. I stopped working on it for a while to prepare for ‘Solas’ (my Imbolc exhibition of photography and poetry), then finally completed it lately.…… Continue reading Loving colour on the cusp of Summer
Grief and healing in poetry and short stories.
‘The Pollen Pages’ is part of of a much larger body of work that has evolved since my father’s passing around Winter solstice in 2015. He was killed by a hit and run driver. BUY A COPY HERE THE SOUL THROUGH THE SEASONS If grief had to be a season, in the early days it…… Continue reading Grief and healing in poetry and short stories.
The turtle’s prayer
Writing poetry allows me to process thoughts and emotions. It can be a way to praise, plead and ponder. Pick any topic under the stars (it doesn’t have to start with ‘P’!) and you can be sure that a poem exists about it. I am part of a climate change writing group, and recently we…… Continue reading The turtle’s prayer
Joy
This drawing was bought by a customer in Germany. It is called ‘Joy’, and that is what I am feeling this week after a lovely suprise: I am being commissioned to produce a piece of writing by a UK cultural organisation. Being paid to write is always good of course, but the fact that I’ve…… Continue reading Joy
April arts and wellbeing.
SOME KERRY CULTURE. The last week of April is looking good! Here are a few happenings for people of all ages. Children can immerse in the joys of poetry and art with Louise Lynch in Listowel throughout April. Find my Tralee poetry day event for adults here, as well as writing and yoga wellbeing for…… Continue reading April arts and wellbeing.
Energy, food and busy, busy, you.
Photo: Oleksandr Pidvalnyi. Have you paused to simply enjoy the sun (or feeling of the wind) on your face lately? Are you so busy that you have no time to savour the sights and scents of the Spring flowers? You are not alone if you are sometimes overwhelmed by how busy day-to-day life can be.…… Continue reading Energy, food and busy, busy, you.
Gaia and the warlord
This poem / song is one that I wrote a few years ago. It feels apt to share it again this Spring… GAIA AND THE WARLORD Only she and the moon could know the graveyard of his mind fraught with nameless terrors and thoughts of the killing kind; a tyranny of errors and insects fighting…… Continue reading Gaia and the warlord
Protected: April health
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
The sights and sounds of Spring
Photo: Anton Atanasov SPRING LISTENING Away from the traffic’s endless rumble I walk up a country road Flanked on each side by breathing ditches Sticky bud trees Quiet teachers of time. Invisible birds sing out of somewhere I slow my pace on this road Relishing sounds; mud on boots Squelching footsteps Gravel and moss. Candyfloss…… Continue reading The sights and sounds of Spring
Red squirrells and us.
Photo: Joe Kilroy. A few days ago I was admiring the landscape from a train when I saw a red squirrel. Exciting! In childhood I used to watch squirrels leaping about on the hillside trees outside my bedroom windows like foxy-coated trapeeze artists. There is something exhilerating about their movements. When I got home I…… Continue reading Red squirrells and us.
It all connects: the art of small actions.
ELEPHANTS AND EFFORT It was windy on the day that I took this photo, which put me thinking about the expression "winds of change". During the process of art-making, as much as I enjoyed creating the elephant, I had moments of concern. Recycling old damaged yoga mats into wall hangings was no longer enough, I… Continue reading It all connects: the art of small actions.
Paint, poetry, philosophy…and a mouse.
This is a picture that I made using mixed media on paper. It is unfinished, yet I am content to leave it exactly as it is. The expression “Art is never finished, only abandoned” has been attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci and many others, but it actually came into being because of the words of…… Continue reading Paint, poetry, philosophy…and a mouse.
Kathryn Crowley 