Christmas original painting Give-Away

I have decided to give this painting away for Christmas!!!!!!

This is a 12 inch by 12 inch acrylic painting on a cradled wood panel that I painted earlier this year.  All you have to do is go to my Facebook fan page and press Like if you haven't yet.  Then go to the post with this pic of the painting and comment.  Your comment needs to be a short poem describing who this lady is.  Tell me her story in a poetic fashion.  I will pick my favorite on Sunday Dec. 18th and ship it to the winner free of charge.  I will even ship her Internationally!
I can't wait to see what you come up with!

The Birch Tree Spirit

The Birch Tree Spirit

12x16 acrylic on panel

I was originally inspired to do a Birch tree spirit after reading the book called "Celtic Tree Mysteries, Secrets of the Ogham" by Steve Blamires.    Blamires discussed in depth how the ancient Celts saw trees on physical, mental, and spiritual planes.  In Celtic shamanism trees are worked with much like animal spirit guides are in Native American shamanism.  Each tree has a spirit and a message for us and can be our allies in the Otherworld.

Birch is the first tree in the Ogham, and the one that I am most drawn to right now.  Birch trees can grow in places that other trees can not.  Infact, the Birch tree is often the colonizer of new forests.  It's leaves are light and it's bark peels off easily and falls to the ground.  It feeds and fertilizes the soil around it so that other life can grow.  It helps other trees such as Oak and Beech to grow in places they would not otherwise.  But eventually the other trees grow taller than the Birch depriving it of light and killing it off.  Therefore the Birch is a tree of new beginnings, and a tree that sacrifices itself for the benefit of others.

Birch is a wonderful tree to work with when you are starting something new or change is upon you.  Meditating on it's self-sacrificing character is very healing, for the Birch is also regenerating and has life-giving properties.  She is a true goddess tree and we can  learn a lot from this silvery lady of the woods.

Reflecting on how far I have come

I was cleaning out my basement studio space last night and came across some old drawings from 3 to 4 years ago.  I did not start posting my work online until late 2008.  I have only felt like a "professional artist" in the last 2 years or so.  Before then I just fooled around with soft pastels.  I use to do spirit drawings for people and that was really how I began drawing people.
I came across a pastel drawing I did of White Buffalo Calf Woman in early 2008.  I was so struck with how rudimentary it seemed to me now.  I always loved to draw, and I always felt like I had some inkling of talent in me.  But now I really understand that talent in art is simply discipline in some ways.  When you work out everyday you eventually get a very toned body.  Art is the same way.  Sometimes it takes years to get very toned, but it takes doing it everyday.
For the last three years I have been painting or drawing something almost constantly.  I think I am finally starting to get some art muscle, although I am sure I will look back 3 years from now and think my current work is rudimentary (I hope so).
I wanted to post this picture of White Buffalo Calf woman for those that have just started drawing, or for those that don't think their art is very good.  Hang in there and practice everyday, you will get better.  Really all it takes is wanting it, and as I am sure most of you artists will agree....wanting it more than almost anything else.

                                               and here is what all my faeries use to look like :

Gwragedd Annwn

Gwragedd Annwn

14x18 in. acrylic and ink on panel

2011

Available

See her at the Forgotten Goddess show at the Rico Adair Gallery in L.A. on Nov. 18th.

LA show Nov.18th and Big SALE

If you haven't noticed yet, I started a big Half Off Sale on my website of older works.  The sale started on Oct.11th and runs until Oct. 18th.  There are currently only about 4 paintings left that are on sale, so go check it out at www.moonspiralart.com
The main reason I decided to have a sale right now is I am trying to raise money to go to LA on Nov.18th.  Many of my works will be in an exhibition to launch the Forgotten Goddess company.  I am really excited about this for multiple reasons.  For one, it will be my first time to show in LA and my very first trip to California (can you believe it....I don't get out much).  I am also really excited about being there to help launch the Forgotten Goddess.  I think many of us have dreamed of a company like this, one that empowers women and sells beautiful goddess art and other products along with inspiring others to create.  I am so happy to be involved with this company.  Russelle Marcato Westbrook and Jenni Ogden Klein are two amazing women with a visionary plan, and I am very grateful they found me and have supported me and my work the way they have.

So, I am going to be at the opening of the Forgotten Goddess exhibition on Nov.18th at the Rico Adair Gallery in Studio City (I guess that is in North Hollywood).  I know some of you that read my blog and follow me are from California, I would be overjoyed to see some of you at the show.
Thank you to all of you who bought paintings this week and helped me to make this trip a reality.

Mary, Queen of Sorrows

I decided to do a Mother Mary recently mainly because of the influence of my new friend and amazing artist Russelle Marcato Westbrook.  She is doing a whole series of exploring Mary and the opposites of dark and light within us all.
In the Bible, Mary was still a teenager when she was called upon to bear the Son of Man.  She became a mother in innocence, and lost her son in the height of his greatness.  She knew his fate, and had to bear the sorrow.  Mary is the one goddess that has been allowed in Christianity. She stands for compassion, nurturing, acceptance and love.  I think her archetype deeply effects women, especially mothers.
I am writing this right now as I am struggling with my son.  He is in 3rd grade and he is beginning to hate school.  He daydreams a lot and doesn't know how to handle his emotions very well.  He is a typical boy in our society. Boys are getting more and more lost everyday.  I think the Mary archetype has a lot to do with mothers and their sons.  We are losing our sons to war and violence, and we are suppose to just grin and bear it.  We are suppose to be strong and just let our sons go, at least this seems to be the underlying message from our society.  But I think it is time for Mary to wake up.
I thought I would show you a few of the work in progress pics of Mary so you can see exactly how she evolved.  Sometimes I change them and play with them a lot before they are finished.

"Mary, Queen of Sorrows"                                                  

 16x20 acrylic and ink on panel

2011

Leanan Sidhe

Leanan Sidhe

16x20 acrylic, ink, gold leaf paint on Gessobord panel

$350.00

Struggling with Perfectionism and my latest work

Perfectionism can kill art.  It killed one of my pieces I started last week.  I had a beautiful drawing, but then I started painting.  I was trying some techniques that I saw another artist do.  I was trying to be that artist I suppose, and got aggravated that I wasn't...and ruined the piece.  I realize that I don't need to be another artist, but sometimes perfectionism, or the ego, creeps in...and kills art.
So I started on another one.  This time I found the perfect face somewhere on the Internet.  She is my perfect model, my perfect symbol of beauty.  I wanted to draw her and it had to be exactly like her.  Well I started drawing, and lil' miss perfectionist came right back in.  "It doesn't look like her", "You can't get the lips right", "that left eye isn't right".  I erased and erased, and finally decided that I had a pretty close representation, even though it was not perfect.  Here is the beginning drawing:

The lips were driving me batty at this stage....and that left eye still.  But I started to slap on some paint.  I am experimenting with a more neutral background than my norm.  Here she is with the first bit of paint:

Starting to come to life, but I was still very displeased.  She doesn't look enough like my model.  I was fretting a lot about the lips at this point.  Now I am looking at them here and suddenly they look great to me.  I changed them a bit though, and here is where she is now (I think I might try to take the lips back to where they were above though).:

Sorry the pic is a little grainy, it was taken last night.  Anyway, this little gal is a Leanan Sidhe.  These are faerie women that are believed to attach themselves to artists.  Irish folklore says they are beautiful dark muses that both provide inspiration and suck the life from their host.  Many artists are driven mad and die young because of their relationship with a Leanan Sidhe. 
I think this is in a way a metaphor for the artistic inspiration itself.  It comes in and you fall in love with it like it is a beautiful lover.  But often, the ego mind sets in and you think the artistic inspiration is all you and from you, or your mind.  Eventually the inspiration wanes, and the artist can be driven mad when they can no longer find it anymore.
Then there is the perfectionism.  Driven by your mind, or ego, to create the perfect work of art, you can drive yourself mad.  I am laughing at myself here.  This little Leanan Sidhe is truly doing her job on me.  But I am starting to get that you can create your idea of perfect beauty, and it doesn't have to be perfect.  Although, if you are doing it in a state of joy instead of anxiety....it will in no way be imperfect.
I was inspired to write about artistic perfectionism after my gifted artist friend Steph Granshaw posted a work of Audrey Kawasaki's today on her Facebook page.  Audrey of course is a very gifted artist and fairly famous.  Her work always seems like sheer perfection, but the first thing I noticed about this work was that the right eye was way too far over to the right.  Now maybe most people that do not constantly paint faces wouldn't notice this.  But I sit and stared at it and thought about how much it would have drove me crazy and that I would have had to fix it.  But Audrey left it, and it is still perfect.  Here is the painting, go have a look and marvel at her other work if you haven't before.
Hope you are all walking the path of non-perfectionism today........

Upcoming Events

I had a great time at the Woodland Arts Fair this past weekend.  It was a little too hot, but at least it didn't rain.  Now on to September events.

September 10th:
I will be displaying my art at Open Heat Yoga studio which is located in the Unitarian Church in Lexington.  They will be having a day of free yoga, free henna and food.  I will be be there with my art and will be drawing names for free prints.  The fun starts around 10 am, hope to see you there!

September 16th:
I will be participating in the Artist Trading Card event put on by the Lexington Art League and Citizens Create.  Over 50 artists will be trading cards at the Mayor's office during the Gallery Hop.  If you are doing the hop make sure to come by and check out the fun.

October 1st:
I will be vending at the Wee Folk Fairy Festival in Covington, KY.  It is from noon to 5p.m.  This is a really fun family event.  So put on your fairy wings and come and join in on the fun.

Woodland Arts Fair and a beautiful video.

Lexington's biggest arts fair is this weekend.  I have been a busy bee getting ready to set up my booth.  I will be in the Woodland Christian Church's lawn this weekend.  The fair runs Saturday 10 am until 6 p.m. and Sunday 11am until 5pm.
I am running a little promotion of sorts, the first 12 people to come up to me at the fair and say they heard about this on Facebook, or here on my blog, will get a free postcard print and maybe some other goodies too.  So definately make sure you come by and say hello this weekend.
Last night I saw this video for the first time and just thought it was beautiful.  I think it was pretty viral at one point so you might have already seen it, but it is worth another watch.  Lately it seems the news has been littered with things that bad men are doing.  Sometimes when I hear too much I begin to get afraid of men.  I begin to think that the world is not getting any better, that men are not learning to love.  I needed to see this video.  I need to watch it everytime I hear too much about the bad men and to remember that there are many men that are trying to be the change, to honor love, and to restore the divine masculine.

Finished "Dakini"

 

Dakini

14x18 acrylic, ink, gold leaf paint

on gessoed hardboard panel

Dakinis in bikinis...

Okay, not really dakinis in bikinis.  I just thought that would be fun to say.  Sorry I haven't wrote much in ye olde blog lately.  I usually fall into a pattern in the summer where I turn into a virtual hermit in between all the trips.  Needless to say this summer has been busy with the kids and trips, but I have managed to get some painting in here and there.
My latest obsession has been with the idea of dakinis (sometimes in bikinis I suppose). 
A dakini is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'.
A dakini comes in many forms and in some ways is related to angels or thought of as bird women of sorts.  In many parts of Tibet vultures are considered physical representations of dakinis.  Vultures have been revered by many ancient cultures as they are able to transmute negative energies and disease from the physical plane.
It is believed that all women are dakinis, but most do not ever realize this.  I like that dakinis are not always pure and perfectly nice, sometimes they are scary and mean too.  They are similar to the Valkyries of Norse myth. 
I feel that dakinis are muses.  I once read where the amazing visionary artist Andrew Gonzales said that he felt like all the women he painted were his dakinis.  I really understand this, because as I paint each one of my ladies I form this mystical connection with them.  They are me in part, they are my muse, and they are dakinis.
Obviously two of my favorite subjects are birds and women, so I am planning to do a whole series of dakinis I think.  Here is some progress pics of my first dakini....

I am working on the feathers around her eyes now and really loving them.  Be prepared for lots of feathered masks in the future.  I am also giving her some wings, but not really sure how I am going to make those look yet.  I hope to have her completed soon.  I am hoping to have her done and framed for the upcoming Woodland Arts fair.  I will have a booth that weekend in the lawn of Woodland Christian Church, hope to see you there!

The Ever changing Persephone

I showed a sketch of my "Persephone's Folly" on my Facebook fan page a couple of days ago. I started painting on her yesterday, and noticed she changed a lot. That often happens when I start painting on them, their faces change and morph on me. I was a little sad at first because there was something in the face of the sketch that I really liked. But now I am realizing there is no way to control Persephone, she is a force that can never be defined or fully understood.
Sketch with some background color added:

Beginnings of skin tone added, she changed already:

Where she is now:

Luckily I don't have to write a novel here telling you all about Persephone. We all know her story, and yet none of us really knows if she ate all those pomegrante seeds on purpose or if she was a victim (I don't think she was a victim).
One thing I am trying to bring through in this painting is the tree of life. In a lot of old paintings a snake is wrapped around a tree to signify it as the tree of life. I have a snake wrapped around Persephone and vegetation in her hair along with the look of her hair to hint to her being the tree. She represents the Underworld, the subconscious, the tree of life that connects to both the Underworld and the Upperworld.
She is also holding the fruit like a tree bearing fruit. I am also paying homage to one of my favorite painters and my favorite Persephone painting. Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "Proserpine":

Demeter and bees

I finally finished Demeter this week.

I lost my inspiration to work on her about three-fourths of the way through. I have been struck with that a lot lately...lack of inspiration. In fact I have been feeling very disenchanted about everything of late. I have been way too focused on the physical. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in being validated and we translate validation into how much money we are making. Like many artists, it's often feast or famine around here and mostly leaning towards the famine. It is very easy to fall into the "what's the use" thought pattern, and when you do it is very hard to find inspiration.

So that's where I was a little over a week ago. I was walking around in my backyard barefoot playing with my daughter when I stepped on a honeybee. He stung me twice on the right foot and it hurt like all get out. I got most of the stinger out, but I guess missed a small part of it. A couple of days later my foot swelled up. That little bee sting caused me a lot of trouble.

After I realized I still had some stinger left and got it out, it suddenly dawned on me that that little bee might have been sent to wake me up. I was led right to an article on the internet about the magicalness of bees. Rudolf Steiner believed that bees were sent to Earth from Venus. Venus holds the energy of the heart chakra for our solar system. Bees form their honeycomb in the patterns of hexagrams which are connected to the heiros gamos or Star of David; also a symbol for the heart chakra.

Bees are all about love and bliss. They are our example of unity consciousness and what working together for the higher good can do....produce the sweetest of life's nectar. The biggest message that came through to me was that for a bee "THEIR WORK IS THEIR BLISS".  Every time they gather nectar from a flower they are in complete ecstasy.  Wow, that is what I have been missing focusing too much on my validation.  I paint because it is blissful.  I paint because I love to paint and to create.  My focus should never be about if the paintings will sell, but about how much ecstasy I will receive from each brushstroke.

Also as I was reading about bees I came across the fact that Demeter's priestesses were called bees. Wow....very serendipitous! So I finished Demeter and included a little honeybee on her shoulder. She is dreaming of a better world, a more love centered world. She is the consciousness of the Queen Bee and she is asking for some worker bees to help create this world she is dreaming of. But the honeybees are disappearing and the world seems to be losing hope...too many of us are thinking "What's the use..."
It's time to wake up and follow our bliss.

I feel magical again, and the world is reflecting that to me. One of my magical friends Julia Inglis posted a blog about bees the other day and I noticed it last night. I wrote her to share how wonderful I thought it was that we were synchronized. She wrote a lovely blog about the Winter Solstice (she is in Australia) that has a lot to do with what I just shared. I think there is a big message to many of us to just follow our bliss right now.

I am gestating a Persephone right now. She is going to bring me a lot of bliss....

Demeter's Dream, new WIP

I don't know what it is about this time of year, but my creative spark always seems to get extinguished. I guess all I feel like doing is hanging out at the pool with the kids and drinking a beer on the patio. Ahhhh summertime :)

I finished the Cosmic Clown, but was still not completely satisfied with her. I need to take a good photo of her, but just haven't yet. I think I forced her when I just was not in the mood to paint. So I took a couple of weeks off. Then a commission came in, and I needed to get back into the swing of things. I hate to start a commission when I am in a creative slump or it ends up being forced too. This coming commission is one where I really need to connect in a heartfelt way so I decided to try a new piece to warm me up. I think it worked, I am feeling the spark light up again.

So I thought I would show you more of the whole progression of this one. She is one of those pieces that I changed a lot as I went along. Here is what I have done so far on her:

I still have a lot of details to work out on her, but I will probably start that commission now. Got to do it while I am on a creative roll :). These days I seem to need to grab it while it lasts. The kids have their last day of school today, so things are going to be different around here for awhile. Trying to paint with them around can be interesting at best with them chanting "I'm bored, there's nothing to do" in the background. I end up painting a lot into the wee hours of the night during the summer, which is okay since I don't have to get up at 6 a.m. to get them to school.

When I do finally get "Demeter's Dream" done I will write a little more about her for you. Until then, happy summer (or winter if you are in Australia).

The Cosmic Clown, a slow work in progress

Sometimes when I take a break from painting for a week or so, it is so hard to get back into it. I am not an artist that can just constantly paint and churn out work. I can't seem to just paint to be painting. I have to really be inspired and in my creative zone it seems. Then there is the perfectionist in me that thinks every work needs to be even better than the last one. This gets me into trouble a lot, as it is right now.
I started a new painting last week. I had no real plan with it. Honestly, I had been staring at the amazing work of Nashville artist Danielle Duer and those crazy little inky designs she does. I wanted to play around with some ink and tiny little brushes, and that's about it.
I didn't use a reference model. I usually find some pic of a fashion model and base my girl roughly off of her, but this time I made her up. I just wanted to see what happened. Well, I could not get something I liked. I gessoed and gessoed over her face. I got frustrated over and over with the way she was looking, and yet nothing I did seem to make it better. She kept seeming too masculine and not "pretty enough". This made me really think about what my real goal for the piece really was. Why do I need them to be pretty?
Once I started to think about that the whole idea for the painting came to light, and maybe ideas for future ones too. I got to thinking about expectations laid upon us, and about how we are eternally acting out these expectations. We are truly always acting, even when we are being the most real. The Internet is where we really do our best acting and Facebook seems to be our greatest stage. We present ourselves in a certain way by what we choose to show others.
So I realized this painting is frustrating me because she is reflecting me in so many ways right now. She came completely out of my subconscious and I guess this is what my subconscious wants to express in the now. I want to do a series of paintings that touch upon our many roles. Especially as women, we are expected to play so many roles...nurturer, listener, healer, warrior, provider, maid, sex kitten, the list goes on and on.
I am starting with the Cosmic Clown. In college when I was studying Western Native American cultures I was always struck by the idea of the Sacred Clown. This idea was so very important to cultures like the Lakota and the Hopi. These clowns exposed hypocrisy and arrogance before these behaviors got out of hand. Thus Sacred Clowns were considered spiritual leaders in their tribes, because they helped keep the balance in the community.
So my Cosmic Clown is a Sacred Clown, but maybe a wounded one. One that knows how important her role still is, but also knows that no one seems to care anymore about the part.
I am working really slow on her. It is not a big painting or particularly detailed, I am just having so much trouble finding the energy to finish her. I keep thinking I am going to put her on the unfinished shelf, but for some reason I don't. I know it is still because she is not perfect in my mind. Why can't I get over that expectation? Oh, those nasty expectations.......

New wip and a rant

Haven't posted much this month.  I have been real busy painting and getting ready for this coming weekend's showing and next weekend's juried art show.  I promised you a rant in the title so here goes....
People who complain about art costing too much have no idea the amount of work that goes into being an artist.  I think most people think artists just happily paint for a few hours everyday and that is it.  We also collectively have this idea that to earn lots of money we must be working extremely hard at something we hate.
I wish that all I had to do was paint, but that alone would still take up a big chunk of my time.  Each painting I do takes me anywhere from 12 to 40 hours to complete, depending on size and difficulty.  This is usually spread out over many days, painting anywhere from 3 to 6 hours a day.  Once a painting is complete I have to varnish, wire, and sometimes frame.  Varnishing alone can take me hours to do, as I seem to have bad luck with it and often have to go repaint things I messed up with the varnish.  I do all my own framing and this is by no means easy or quickly done.
The other time consuming aspect of being an artist is the copying of your work, or taking photographs, scanning, etc.  I spend a lot of time photographing my pieces.  I have to do it outside on a good weather day.  This can be challenging at best.  Then I have to edit all my pieces in Photoshop to make them as close to the real work as possible to post online.  All of this can take me anywhere from 3 to 5 hours to do, on just one piece of art.  Next you spend time uploading art to all of your websites where you sell prints, Etsy, Red Bubble, etc.  This can often take up an afternoon.
Next you have making prints, packaging prints, shipping prints, making other things to sell like pendants (this takes up lots of time).  So if you add all this up we are going over 40 hours of work a week. 
Pricing your art is one of the hardest parts of being an artist.  What is it's value?  That is a hard question.  We certainly do not get paid for our time.  Just to make a nice round $10 bucks an hour we would have to sell a $400 painting a week, every week.  Then there is the obscure question of how good is it.  We all have seen artwork that sells for thousands that we wouldn't pay $10 for, and ones that sell for $100 that seem to be worth a lot more.
My pricing is random and somewhat based on how much I am attached to the work, and the size of the piece.  I am usually flexible though, and willing to hear offers of course.
Okay, that is about it for my rant, although I haven't even mentioned the high cost of art supplies.  Most of you reading this are artists too, so I am probably preaching to the choir.  But many of my friends that are not artists, even my own husband, have no idea what I do all day.  Somehow I have to fit in cleaning the house, grocery shopping, and taking care of my kids and myself in all of this.  Oh, and I left out the self-promotion on the internet time....like this blog....there is another few hours a day, just trying to get your work out there and seen (advertising).
Okay, on to my current work in progress.  I have been experimenting with different surfaces.  This one is small because it is a sample that I got from Raymar of one of their polyflax cotton canvas panels.  It is a very nice surface that I will definately try again.  It is also what sparked my rant, because it is only 9x12 inches, but I have already put about 12 hours into painting it and am still not totally done.  Just because it is smaller than many of my other works does not mean it is worth less.  I am also really loving it, it has changed a lot already from this pic I am posting now.

May Events and new wip

It's been a busy. busy Spring.  My kids were just on Spring Break and it seems I haven't gotten much done in the way of painting, which has me fearing Summer break.  I have been hard at work getting ready for May though.  I am going to be doing a few fairs starting in May.  The first one is May 1st at Seventh Street Gifts in Newport, Ky.  I will be the featured artist that day during their Spring Sundaze event.  There will be live music provided by Poke, a herbal workshop, food, and readings.  It takes place from 1-5 pm and you can read more about it at the website here.
The next weekend, May 7th-8th, I will have a booth at Mayfest in Lexington.  This will be my first official juried art fair.  I am pretty excited, but also a little stressed.  Anyone who has done a juried art fair will know there is a lot of stuff you need to have to do it.  For instance, most require you have a white canopy tent which are not cheap.  Then there is the structures to hold your art.  The cost is starting to add up, so I will be attempting to do many more of these fairs in the future to justify my expenses :).
  Thanks to my good friend Barbara Glatzeder I will have a whole bunch of pretty cameo art pendants to sell at Mayfest.  I am hopeless when it comes to making these kind of things, so she volunteered to put them together for me and ship them to me all the way from Germany.  I have been hard at work now putting together the chains and cords for them and the ones that are finished are turning out so beautifully.  Mayfest is over Mother's Day weekend, so I am hoping these will be bought for some lucky mamas.

The next weekend in May will be the opening of a group show I will a have a piece in called "Gods and Goddesses" in Richmond, VA.  It will be at an awesome little place called C'est Le Vin Wine and Art Gallery starting May 13th and running to June 5th.  The show will have work from 6 women artists and 6 men artists representing gods and goddesses from around the world.  My Lilith will be there, along with work by some other amazing artists like Helene Ruiz and Lynnette Shelley.  If you live close to Richmond try to make it out for this amazing exhibit.

Lastly, I wanted to share some other big news.  I recently signed on with Kats Magical Patches to license my work on fabric blocks.  These are fabric patches that you can sew on quilts, handbags, throw pillows, or just about anything your heart desires.  This is a new company, but she has already signed on over 60 amazing fantasy artists.  Next month she will be having a little contest amongst the artists on her Facebook fan page.  The fans will like their favorite image and one lucky fan will win a fabric block of the winning design.  Go and become a fan now to participate next month here.

And here is a little preview of the piece I am working on for this little contest.  It is Titania, the Faery Queen.

Magdalene and the red egg

This morning I am thinking of Mary Magdalene.  She comes to me at different moments in my life and when she does her presence is amazing and for me, life changing.  I have been mainly drawn to the Celtic myth for so many years now.  I have by no means covered all that I want to paint there, and yet these Gnostic yearnings come to me now and then and distract me away from the Holy Isles.
I have painted Mary before, but only her face.

I do love the emotion I captured in her face.  I always imagined it as a young Mary Magdalene meeting Yeshua for the first time.  But now I am being pulled to paint a larger work of her.  I am channeling many thoughts about the work right now and I almost feel like I need to write them down before I lose them.  Sometimes I get triggered like this and have strong impulses to create a new work but can't do it immediately and then I lose that space I was in and the thoughts that were flowing. So I thought I would share one piece with you, in an effort to preserve this energy for later.
It starts with Mary and the red egg.  Often in Eastern Orthodox icons Mary is painted holding a blood red egg.  There are a couple of legends that surround this egg, one being that after Jesus died Mary went to the Roman Caesar to tell him about the poor treatment of Jesus by the Romans and that Jesus had risen.  Mary was sitting at dinner and holding an egg in her hand and Caesar responded that Jesus could no more have risen than that egg could turn blood red.  Of course the egg immediately turned blood red.  Another story is similar but has Mary pulling off the same miracle in front of a group of Russians she was telling the tale of Jesus' resurrection to and when the egg went red it marked "The Way" being brought to Russia.
There are many symbols associated with Mary and what intrigues me is their connection to the chakras and the ascension, or the mastery of death.  I am starting with the red egg as I feel it is a strong symbol for the root chakra.  The egg is the creative potential that we hold at our root.  Red is the color of blood, of creation, of the Earth.  Out of the blackness of the womb the egg and the blood create life.  We connect with the creative energies of the Earth through our root chakras.  All possibilities lie in this energy.  By raising this energy up through the chakras to the sacred marriage chamber of the heart (the place where the goddess meets the bridegroom) we transmute the energy into Love, and from there we can conquer death.  We raise it into consciousness at the third eye, where mind, body, and soul align into one.  We take the hidden potential that lay in the egg and bring it into the light of consciousness.
I feel that in this uncertain time that we are in now, connecting with our red egg is more important than ever.  We need to be bathed in those creative energies everyday to be able to create the new reality that is called for.  Once a symbol is unlocked in your consciousness you begin to see it everywhere, and suddenly it makes more sense what it is speaking to you.  Here is another old work of mine called Bindi:

The root chakra is the way to the third eye.  The root is the primal mother Earth goddess creative force.  You have to tap that before you can evolve into the higher realms of consciousness.  Many, many people are stuck in their root because they ignore the goddess.  This only leads to survival issues and greed.  They ignore their own creative potential.  The way to change the world begins at the root.  This seems more apparent than ever as we sit here fearing for the people of Japan as they are dealing with nuclear meltdowns.  We all know that nuclear weapns are the ultimate result of greed, destruction, and fear; and maybe now we know that nuclear power is not so safe an energy source after all.  Then there is Japan's flag, setting there showing us the way to release the fear and "the way" to ascension is through the root.  The red dot on the flag is called the rising sun (son).  It is time to raise the red egg.

Oh, and I just thought of another red dot...the site I put my artwork on Red Bubble.  It is full of creative people working with their red egg energy.

The Phoenix Keeper finished

I finally finished up the Phoenix Keeper today and I thought I would write a bit about the symbolism of the Phoenix, but first here is what she looks like finished.

The Phoenix has appeared in myth in cultures spanning the globe, from Egypt to Japan to Native American lore.  It is always associated with the sun and usually immortality and rebirth.  This legendary bird was believed to die in its self-made flames periodically then rise again out of its own ashes (some say after three days and therefore often connected with Christ in Christianity).  Linked to the worship of the fiery sun and sun gods such as Mexico's Quetzalcoatl, it was named "a god of Phoenecia" by the Phoenician. To alchemists, it symbolized the the destruction and creation of new forms of matter along the way to the ultimate goal: the philosopher's stone.
But I wanted to show the connection of the Phoenix with the Divine Feminine.  Often the Phoenix, because it is connected to the Sun, is connected to the Sun gods and the masculine.  Once again, this is a goddess symbol that has been stolen or rather hidden.  The Phoenix is truly a symbol of the Divine Feminine that is returning now from the ashes.   Those ashes are of all the women that were burned as witches when the Patriarchy tried to stamp out the goddess once and for all.  But now many of those "witches" have returned and are bringing the Goddess back out of the ashes.

It is interesting that just recently it was all over Facebook about the news of the 13th astrological sign and that everyone's astrology sign had changed.  Well, astrologers have known about this for centuries.  The Phoenix is the 13th sign, 13 is the number of the goddess.  We are just now becoming aware of her resurrection and rebirth.

The Divine Feminine is essentially our connection to our souls.  For some reason, as human beings developed their minds, most lost their connection to their soul (I say most, because a few spiritual movements taught how to develop the mind without losing that connection like the Taoist).  Also as we developed our minds we lost our connection to nature.  The Goddess is connected to our primordial nature.  She is always connected to animals, birds, plants, and the oldest of symbols the serpents and dragons.  The serpent represents our reptilian brain that acts on instinctual impulses.  As we developed our minds the prevailing thought became that this was a part of us that needed to be conquered, the dragon that needed to be defeated.  With the goddess the snake is often showed as a companion and protector.  To have the serpent as guardian rather than adversary means that what was blind and unconscious and in its primordial state in us has been raised to consciousness.

The Phoenix in myth is often a blend of a bird and a serpent, thus making it the perfect symbol of the balance between spirit and matter.  Birds have long been associated with the goddess as they are a symbol of the spirit and are messengers of the Otherworld.  The Phoenix is a messenger bird of the goddess, and is returning to help us remember our true connection to our soul and to the soul of the Earth.  We are now being reborn into a new consciousness that is one human beings have never experience before.  We have developed our minds and can now use our spirit to raise what was unconscious to the light of consciousness.

I painted my Phoenix white to represent the purity of the soul (and I was influenced by the Phoenix in the Harry Potter movies, big fan :).  I gave her some peacock like feathers to represent the third eye opening.  Also my Keeper has 6 roses.  Six is the number of Venus and the roses can be connected to love and the heart chakra among so many other associations.

The Phoenix Keeper...getting closer.

I am getting so close to being done with her.  I am having a great time with this one.  I really love the colors.  I am a sucker for green/red or turquoise/rose together.  Here is what I have right now.  When she is all done I plan to write a whole bunch about the Phoenix and it's ancient symbolism, I am sure you will be waiting with bated breathe ;).

Facebook Art Auction March 13th-19th

I have a lot of works that I am ready to let go of.  I have decided to try a little experiment, a little Spring cleaning art auction on Facebook.  I have picked some of my older works, mostly ones from 2009, that I still have.  Most of them are soft pastel on paper.  Pastels are hard to store because you need to frame them as soon as possible.  Some of them I have framed, but many are just stored in plastic sleeves.  They need homes.  Most of them I will probably not ever submit to shows.  My current style is also beginning to change a little from these.  So my point is, I would rather see them go to good homes then live in my basement forever, and I am willing to let go of them for a shockingly low price.
Here is a little snippet of some of the works that will be in the auction:

If you want to be a part of the fun you will have to first join my Facebook fan page HERE .  Then on March13th you can comment on the piece with your bid.  You can go to my Facebook page now and look at the album entitled "Dirt Cheap Spring Cleaning Art Auction" to check out the low starting bid prices.  All works have an opening bid of less than $100, some as low as $15.

The Spirals in the sky

Because I have that neat little flag counter doo-hickey on my site it lets me know how people end up on my blog. I have noticed a few people that end up here were searching for something about spirals in the sky. Ironically, when I named my blog I was just trying to think of something connected to MoonSpiral, which is my user name on most sites. I also sign all my paintings with the symbol of the crescent moon and a spiral. When I first started doing this I honestly was doing it just because I thought it looked cool, and until just now when I went searching for spirals in the sky, I had no idea this was an actual phenomena.
Evidently for the last couple of years people in Norway, Russia, and Australia have noticed these spirally lights in the sky at night. Here is a nice pic of one of the Aussie spirals:

Pretty cool, huh? Of course there is talk of UFOs and the overly-rationals saying they are being caused by rockets or test missiles. Hum, I wonder.
I have been thinking a lot about the Pisces energy today. Mainly because today there are 5 celestial bodies in Pisces and the New Moon tomorrow will be in Pisces. Then the biggy comes next month when Neptune, the ruling planet of Pisces, moves into Pisces. It has not been in Pisces since the 1960's. We can look forward to false institutions and belief systems being broken down, and a vibe of peace and love returning. Maybe if these spirals are connected to UFOs Neptune will help the truth come out, and maybe if they are missiles...Neptune will help us stop firing them on our fellow humans.
Peace and Love to all my brothers and sisters,
Tammy

One finished, one wip

Finally I think my muse has returned. I think she was hibernating most of the winter. I wasn't able to finish Ishtar. I got 3/4's the way done and decided I didn't really like the composition. I am silly that way sometimes. I will throw her on the half done pile and maybe come back to her 6 months from now. I just had this idea, it would be a fun collaboration with another artist to each send the other one of their half dones and see how someone else finishes it off. Anyhoo....
I wanted to paint a girl in a cocoon. That is how I am feeling right now, like I am about to sprout wings but for now I have to be patient in my cocoon. I finished her in about 3 days last week (she is small 11in. x 14 in.). My problem is that my camera is very old and crapping out on me. Everytime I try to take pictures in the larger settings it puts all these vibration looking lines into the work. Luckily my in-laws are giving me a "new" hand me down camera. It's only about 5 years old and still will be a major upgrade from the one I have now. I won't get this fabulous new camera for 4 more days, so I won't be able to take a good pic of her until then. I have a hard time not showing you all my work the minute it is complete so here is a teaser shot:

When I first decided I was going to learn to paint it was because I had decided at the time I would never be able to afford original art and if I wanted some on my walls I would have to do it myself. The point is I am completely addicted to original art. Since being on Red Bubble I have made many connections with other artist and have aquired some orginals through trade. Someday I will post a blog with pics of my "collection".
So my latest aquisition is by the amazing fantasy/faerie artist from Australia Kim Turner. I gave her a painting for her "Ariadne". I just love this painting so much, and seeing it in person is even more amazing than imaginable. I love staring at her painting strokes up close. I can't explain it, but it is like you feel the love she put into it. I think that is the power of true art. I told my husband I got tears in my eyes when I first opened it out of the box and he said "now you know what your art has the power to do for people."
Well, needless to say I was beyond inspired after getting her work. Last night I had to start another painting. I stayed up way too late and started this work I am going to call "The Phoenix Keeper". I am pretty sure it won't end up in the half done pile.

Sneak peek at Ishtar

Sorry I have been incommunicado for the last few weeks. Last week I got the worst cold I have had in a long time with a fever. Then it turned into a lovely sinus infection that I still can't completely shake. I haven't felt like painting or doing much of anything. I have read about other artists that get depressed when they have a long term illness. I somewhat understand now. When you are too sick to create it really starts to weigh on you.

I know there is more to me being sick right now than meets the eye. It has been an all around rough start to 2011 for me on the creative front. I have been questioning if I really have the energy for this or not. Wondering if I should just go get a desk job. A lot of this is just coming from the Winter Blues. January has been a rough month here in Kentucky. But I do think this illness had given me some time to ask myself what it is that I really want. The one thing I do know is it is no fun to not be able to create.

I have had a couple ideas for serpent goddesses in my head for weeks now. All this sinus pressure makes it really hard to lean over a painting, but I finally started on an Ishtar. I have been thinking a lot about the primal goddess/dragon energy. So many primal goddesses are connected to dragons, and dragons represent both spirit as they are part bird or have wings, and matter in their serpent form. Here is a little sneak peek at what I have so far on my Ishtar:

First sketch, Lady of the Forest

This is the first rough sketch of my "Lady of the Forest" for this month's Enchanted Visions Project. I have about 2 weeks to finish her and I am still trying to finish up a commissioned piece, so I am attempting to work on 2 things at once. Usually I like to start one thing and work on it until it is done, so we will see how this goes.
I might give her some wings when I get to painting on her, not sure yet. I feel like the composition needs something else, but I may change my mind once I start adding the paint. I might add some other animal in front of her on her left, maybe a deer peeking behind a tree. I also can't decide right now if her hair shall be black, red, or white. Any opinions?

Enchanted Visions Project

I am going to start participating in the Enchanted Visions project. If you have never heard of it, it was started by two famous faerie artists Jessica Galbreth and Amy Brown. Each month they decide on a theme and all particpating artists create a piece of fantasy art around that theme. You can checkout past themes and work here http://www.coriander-shea.com/enchanted-visions-project.html.

I think one of the hardest parts of being an emerging artist is defining your work. I am a Libra and am plagued with indecisiveness. One minute I want to do all Pop Surrealism, the next be a Fantasy Artist. I think my strong point lies somewhere in between these two. Anyway, I think the EV project will force me to do some more fantasy work which I have been wanting to do more of. Though I love them, I just don't know if I could do nothing but faeries....we will see.