A Fun Photo

Andi took this picture of me at yesterday's rock painting event. I like it a lot!

October 2nd, 2017

Had some fun yesterday over at Gaia House with SIPA; they put together a little crafting event painting rocks with fun images, affirmations, etc. The idea is to take the rocks after the fact and hide them for other people to stumble across.

I gave the one with the dragon away, and I'll probably keep the Eye of Horus stone, but the other two I may hide in the courtyard near where I have class.

Virtually any common stone works for this craft - I used river rocks, but there was also some sandstone pieces that came out nicely - and regular acrylic craft paint will stick so long as you let it dry between coats. A final spray-on coat of clear sealant should set it permanently.

August 8th, 2016

The World of Faeries Festival was this weekend! I was so excited to go; after a long, difficult summer of family crises, I was really looking forward to some down time out in the open air with magical people and surroundings. The theme this year was Seasons of the Faeries. Participating children got a calendar, and then could go to each of the twelve month fairies (I was February) to play a game and get a birthstone sticker for the corresponding calendar page.

Me as Amethyst, the February fairy.

Destiny, the Season Changer fairy.

Hazelnut as Corra, the November fairy (she also did a lot of the season changing, as Destiny wasn't feeling the best).

The Blue Rose Mermaid.

One of the vendors' daughters with Natsu, the iguana dragon (check out her mother's work here).

Raincloud made it out with her boyfriend - I haven't seen her in forever!

There were some funny little field mice scurrying around the park.

Kaladin, the stilt walker.

The Statue Lady.

Bubbles...!

A vendor, Sara, working on a fantastic watercolor painting (view and purchase her art here).

Fairy Godmother Rose with her right-hand gal.

The river - we had perfect weather. Warm, but with a steady breeze and some cloud cover.

After the fair closed last night, the cast went out to dinner at a local buffet (photo credit to Hazelnut).

And last but not least, a group photo of a bunch of the cast (photo credit to photographer Mike Smith).

I met some cool new people and got to reconnect with a lot of old friends, which made me happy. I also did lots of shopping, so posts on that are upcoming. I'm very glad I got to go, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

April 24th, 2016

Had a busy but good day today, part of which involved heading over to the Gaia House for a few hours, to enjoy a reception for the artists who have work in the Pagan art exhibit which has been on display there this month. We enjoyed coffee, lemonade, and an assortment of little snacks, and generally were able just to hang out and chat.

My painting, with description, that I've had hanging up.

A collection of paintings, all by one lovely individual.

A series of nature photography, all by another artist.

Triple Goddess painting by one of our more Norse-inclined practitioners.

These two photos, by SIPA director Tara, have a rather interesting story. They were taken on vacation while visiting a haunted potter's field of unnamed soldiers. Apparently, just after these were taken (on actual film, not digitally), it started to storm, so obviously there was not enough sunlight to cause lens flare (the white patches on the photos are just glare on the glossy paper; the orange is actually present). Also, these were the only two photos on the whole strip of film with these strange colors, so it couldn't have been water damage. As such, Tara's thought is that she caught some spirits on camera. The one in the top photo actually even looks humanoid.

Me with my painting.

Hand-made grimoire.

Set of runes.

And just for good measure, this is the spiral garden I helped build last spring. As you can see, the plants are pretty well-established now. The sage and kale really took over, so that's pretty much what's growing at this point.

March 27th, 2016

I got to do some painting today! After being up past 3:00 this morning finishing up a project (better to be up late on a weekend than during the week, in my opinion), I've been able to spend most of my afternoon just relaxing and working on a piece I've been wanting to do for some time now.

I thought I had posted pictures of a picture frame I painted over the summer in offering to Athena, but I can't seem to find that post now. In any case, I had painted the frame, but at the time, had no picture to put in it. I was planning to draw something the following day, but life got in the way as it has a tendency to do. When I was home for spring break last week, I picked up that frame and brought it back to school so I could finally make something to put in it, and I had the opportunity today.

This is my painting of Lady Athena, and it isn't very big (5x7, I think?), so it only took a few hours, but I really liked how it turned out. It's not easy to tell in this picture, but some of the gold on Her armor is metallic paint. The whole painting is my own design, done in acrylics on chip board.

And here it is in the frame. I didn't consciously intend it, but it rather looks as though the feathers around Athena are floating down from the owl above Her. 

Water Dragon

A few weekends ago, I felt like painting, and decided to do a dragon. However, while I've done some dragon line art, I've done very little in the realm of color, light vs. shadow, etc. Therefore, I decided to imitate another piece of work to get a better idea of how those and other elements of art apply to the draconic form.

This is my painting, but all the credit has to go to the original artist, sandara on DeviantArt. I definitely recommend checking out her gallery, she has a ton of gorgeous fantasy artwork. There's lots more dragons, bird creatures, unicorns, and other fantastical beings.

Just thought I'd share my interpretation (painted on chipboard with acrylics), because I was really happy with how it came out.

October 26th, 2015

I'm going to pack as much Samhain into this week as I possibly can!

This past weekend, of course, was the Halloween party. Here's some of other people's pictures, after they got added to the Facebook group:

New friends!

A Valkyrie and a dog with a fondness for fire.

A civil war soldier.

Myself, winning the "Most Creative Costume" prize.

I still don't understand how this happened.

Zombie chicken?

And then tonight, the resident housing department invited students to come paint mini pumpkins during one of their meetings, and goodness knows I love me some pumpkins, so I went.

Mine was inspired by Van Gogh's The Starry Night; the lighting kind of washed the color out, but I like it. 

My mom also sent me some goodies in the mail. I didn't take a picture, but suffice it to say, I won't need to go trick-or-treating to get my chocolate fix this year.

August 7th, 2015

After years of a nagging intuition, I was finally galvanized into actively seeking a patron or matron God/dess this past weekend when I found an embroidered Athena drawstring bag at Fairy Fest. I've felt drawn to Her for a long, long time, and finally felt the time was right to reach out to Her, so I bought the bag to give as an introductory offering. Yesterday, I spent several hours researching Hellenic Paganism; while I enjoy practicing as an eclectic, it was important to me that I honor Her in the appropriate manner. I found this website to be an extremely helpful introduction.

I also wanted to give an offering of olive oil and barley, and luckily we had both in the pantry. I set up a small shrine to Her last night. It looks like this:

You can see the oil and barley sitting on the left; I later poured these into the white dish. The back of the altar is adorned with some paintings of mine, as well as several owl images, a few things I've crocheted, and some of my pottery. I put some knitting needles and a crochet hook in one of the pottery pieces. Also present is a tea light, a replica arrowhead, and an award from my high school. 

I wore the flower crown I bought at Fairy Fest, as well as an owl ring, and a red shirt. According to Judika Illes' Encyclopedia of Spirits, red is Her color. 

I had worried that I would not receive a response, but no sooner had I finished introducing myself and giving the offerings than I received an image of Her in my head. She spoke to me for some time, and one of the final things She requested was that I share the knowledge of her power. So - if you are feeling in any way drawn to Athena, then make yourself known to Her! She accepts all honest acts of devotion.

Here's a closer look at the back of the altar:

August 6th, 2015

It's been a pretty productive day today. I got quite a bit of cleaning done, first with a load of laundry, and then by pulling out the bottom drawers of my dresser and removing all the accumulated junk. While I was at it, I found my little pewter hummingbird stone which I'd never been able to locate after it fell back there a year or two ago.

I have it sitting as part of a miniature shrine to the element Air on top of my dresser. With it is a yellow candle and matching knit bunny, as well as a replica arrowhead and a watercolor painting of an owl I did. I have similar mini shrines for the other elements as well. This one probably gets the most use, since I stand in front of it to do my hair.

June 30th, 2015

I painted my second fairy house today! I spent most of the day on it, except for an interlude of a few hours where I went to Destiny's house.

The front.

The right side.

The back.

The left side.

I took inspiration from Celtic Women's song, "Fairies", in picking my imagery.

June 29th, 2015

Right before we left for vacation, one of the women I work with was putting together a children's program about fairies. Part of her itinerary involved the kids decorating little fairy houses, and she asked me to decorate a sample for her.

Fast-forward to today. I got to work and found my little demo fairy house in my mailbox, along with another little undecorated one. They're so cute, and so easy to make!

They're just little wooden birdhouses, of the sort that you could buy for a few dollars at most craft stores. At that point, they can be painted. I used acrylics for this one, in bright colors. After it's painted, flowers, glitter, and rhinestones make for fine augmentation.

One could also go for a naturalistic theme and use dried leaves, mosses, bark, or etc. to decorate, though personally I prefer color. 

Store-bought bird houses are best reserved for indoor use, though if you'd like an outdoor display, clear coats of polyurethane or similar can work for weather proofing.

Having fairy homes like this in one's living space is a great way to attract the flighty spirits. You might even create a ritual to dedicate the house in their honor.

More Pagan Art

So, I got a little bored earlier and was feeling like making some art, but there's only so many things you can hang on your wall before you run out of room. The solution, of course, is to make things for other people, which is what I did.

I painted this for my friend Destiny, and I'm going to tell her about it by posting the picture on here. Hi! Surprise!

Hope you like it!

Bonus picture: Me. Hello, readers!

May 5th, 2015

My architecture studio got quasi-cancelled today; rather than having the usual four hour class, we only have to go into the gallery for an hour to present our final projects. That freed up a lot of my afternoon, so I went back to the Gaia House to check out the display of Pagan artwork they are currently exhibiting. There were some really lovely pieces there, including these:

Owl with triple goddess eyes.

Handmade robe with Goldstone and Mother of Pearl beading.

I might be in love with this owl dreamcatcher.

I didn't know about the exhibition soon enough to make something to submit, but it sounds like it's an annual event, so maybe next year!