My Favourite Time of year. Autumn and Halloween are here!

I think Autumn and Halloween are the most magical times of year with the red and gold leaves scattered everywhere. The sun is low which creates a golden light through the trees. The apples are really red this year because of the very hot summer. We have had a great harvest, apples are all over the ground in the woodland garden. I have left some for the foxes, hedgehogs, squirrels and birds to feast on. I also gave loads away to friends who like to make apple crumble and pickle...

Zig loves rustling around in the coppery Beach leaves. He was looking for woodland mice but he never catches anything!

This spooky Jack-o'-lantern is ready to ward off evil spirits in Avebury. Carving turnip faces was originally an Irish Celtic tradition that has become very popular in America who started to make the pumpkin lanterns.

I also found some blood red skeleton type leaves in the garden. They are a wonderful colour and pattern. 

I have been making the most of my National Trust membership and visiting as many grand houses and gardens as I can before winter. 
The gardens in Avebury had a sculpture exhibition. Bronze and Resin head by Kay Singla. Stone sculpture by Martin Cash...

The places I seem to visit the most are Lacock, Avebury, Buscot Park and Kelmscot Manner.They have beautiful grounds for autumn walks. I always collect the leaves and take them home to press them in heavy old books. Here is an autumn leaf fan made from maple leaves.

There is always a creative project on the go during autumn. Usually I'm crocheting something like a waistcoat, scarves, hats or a Ziggy jumper. He loves wearing his jumpers when he goes out on frosty walks around the garden. 
Some people think that animals should not wear clothes but some animals love the extra warmth. Zig does because he's really an indoor cat and only goes for walks with us. 
Here is Ziggy modelling one of his colourful autumn jumpers... 

Badger Cards for the Wiltshire Wildlife Charity...
My blog posts have been very late because I have been busy working on several creative projects. One project is a secret that will be revealed in the future and the other bits of work have been creating stock for my online Fox Shop, and also designing greeting cards for the Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital 

I first contacted them to ask their advice about an injured fox that was visiting my garden. We have a night camera set up so we can film the night-time wildlife. Fortunately the fox was fine in the end. The charity were very helpful and gave us some good advice, so I asked if they would like me to illustrate some cards of one of their badgers that they rescued. Oreo the badger is quite famous on Facebook. The cards are still available in the Weird Fox Shop. Some money is donated when cards are sold.
Happy Halloween Everyone. We hope you have Spooky Time! xx

An end of May blog post. I have been away far too long! 
Time has flown by so fast and May has been wonderful in the Uk with an abundant of Spring flowers. We have had a Spring heatwave! 

Spring sunshine through the Daffodils.

I have been enjoying lying in a hammock under the Apple Trees. 

I remember when I did my very first blog post, way back in 2008. I have dipped in and out of blogging over the years and I've had different blog names, such as Joanne May Illustration, Willow Treefox, and Ghost Lily Design.

The banner from an old blog.

So much has changed and these days it seems people have less time to blog and write long posts. Many people I used to follow on Blogger have moved away!
Discovering new Relations on my family tree.
My name has changed yet again to Joanne Potter after discovering that I'm related to Beatrix Potter, who I greatly admire. 

A young Beatrix Potter with her dog Spot.

I had most of her beautiful books when I was a little girl and her illustrations have always inspired me. Beatrix did some amazing conservation work for the National Trust and I'm also a member of the National Trust, I have been for many years. 

The Foxy Whiskered Gentleman is one of my favourite Characters. 

After researching my family tree I discovered that I have much in common with Beatrix, apart from being an illustrator as well, I love nature and feel passionate about wildlife conservation. It is so important to preserve the wildlife for future generations. We can all do our bit to help the insects, birds, and animals. 

I planted a Buddleja Bush. Also known as a Butterfly Bush.

Lavender is great for encouraging Bees into the garden.

We finally bought a house in 2013 after years of moving around and renting. One of the first things I wanted to do was to landscape the garden, it is now a woodland garden. I planted Japanese Maple trees and flowers that would encourage wildlife. 
Zigsa cat loves the woodland garden too. You can also find him on his Twitter page, @ZigsaCat

In my next blog post I will show some of the work I have been doing over the past few years and discuss more about wildlife and how it influences my art.

A Winter Without Snow and The Fox Project...
It seems the snow queen has decided not to visit us this year in the South West of England. We have had plenty of frosts but only a tiny bit of snow for five minutes which soon melted away. I'm really missing it because last year we did not have any either. I think a winter without snow is just wrong and a sign of environmental changes that are causing a lot of problems in nature. This beautiful 'Snow Queen' illustration is by Angela Barrett from Pinterest and the other photo is a winter scene from January 2010 near my home.

The milder weather and constant rain encouraged the birds to have chicks far too early in 2014, I saw a few casualties in the garden and baby birds were dying because of the warm and then sudden cold climate. This poor little fellow did not survive. I tried feeding him and keeping him warm, but he was far too weak and there was no sign of his parents anywhere.

We really do need to treasure and preserve wildlife because it is getting harder for birds and animals to survive environmental changes and the cruelty of man.
I decided to start the New year in a positive way. I found 'The Fox Project' on Facebook just before Christmas. They are a non-profit organization that is run by volunteers, who help injured foxes and abandoned cubs. 
The photo shown below was taken from their Website Gallery. Lorraine was an abandoned vixen cub and was successfully rehabilitated into the wild...

I will never understand why anyone would want to harm these beautiful shy creatures. Farmers and people that own chickens seem to have always disliked the fox and consider them as vermin or aggressive towards pets. 
I believe it is possible to live in harmony with foxes by making secure chicken coops and keeping pets indoors at night. I'm not going talk too much about fox hunting here because I just see it as a senseless, cruel act that should remain banned! 

This shy foxy was found on Pinterest.

If you want to support 'The Fox Project' charity, you can donate money to their website or just visit and like the Facebook Page. They are getting a lot of support from artists as well, I have sold a few art prints and some foxy jewellery in my shop, and then donated some of the money to the project. At the moment I have a few silver earrings with carnelian stones that are for sale, to help the cause...

I hope you are all having a good winter with some snow. Stay cosy and warm by the fire and see you soon! xx