Celtic Knot Earrings with Garnets and Freshwater Pearls

These earrings are handcrafted and unique. They are sterling silver, freshwater pearls and garnets.  $12.00

Gem Lore:

Garnet: Health, removing negativity, awareness, commitment, regeneration, order, insight.

Birth Stone: January

 Click on the ETSY link to the right to purchase.

FairyTale : A True Story

While lazing about one Saturday afternoon I happened upon a movie about faeries. It's called FairyTale: A True Story. It's about two girls who reportedly take photographs of fairies near their home. In truth the older teenage girl is a talented artist and painted and cut out her fairies and set them up using hat pins. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, (who wrote Sherlock Holmes,) believed the photos to be real. Click here to read more about the story and see more photographs. Click here to see the details of the film. I highly recommend it! It is very heart warming. Being a great fan of faeries,  I was thinking I might try to paint from the famous photo. I don't know if anyone has already or not.

Photography

My friend Christen Robinson who owns Gallery One here in Portland wanted me to put together some of my photography for her. I was able to get two together so far. 

This first one is an iron ring. These can be found all over Portland on older sidewalks. This one was outside of Jakes Famous Crawfish. They were put there to tie up horses to. Now people lock their bikes up to them. I purposely cropped the photo to a rectangle so I could mat it horizontally on a 11 x14, black mat. I also boosted the color in iPhoto. It's a simple effect that can add a lot. I really like the way it came out.

This next one I took in China town. The dragon was in a store window. I brought it up into Gimp and air brushed a few distractions with black and then added the light and shadow. I'm just learning these tools. So this was fun for me!

Launch Pad Gallery - Dreams Show

Well the show went really well. There were about 300 people there while we were there. My painting hasn't sold yet but it's still up for the month so who knows? My hubby and I went in today to see the installation without all the people milling around. There are some really great things in this show! I met the gallery owner again, Ben Pink, and he is really great, very encouraging. He thought my faeries were very soft. I think that's what makes them a little different than other faerie art because I often find faeries that are overly sexy and somewhat cartoonish. I'm trying to hit somewhere between fantasy and reality. 

I just sold a set of five cards on ETSy to a lady in Ireland. IT's my first sale on ETSY.  I was about to give up on them too! I'm very excited about this one!

My friend with the hole in the wall gallery, Gallery One is putting together a gift shop from now until Christmas so I'll have a place to put my work for a couple of months. ( I really need to make her a web site!)

In the future I am going to try and participate in more group shows. The Launch Pad is having a huge one in February with a love theme. The theme's are fun because they challenge me to think of something unique. There is one coming up where people are painting on refrigerators with the theme of hunger. I have some ideas about hunger, but I've never really painted with anything but watercolor and that won't stick! I'll keep you posted on that one!

Tonight's the Night

Well, tonight is first Friday here in Portland. Last night, First Thursday, all of the fine art galleries in SW Portland opened their doors for a city wide open house. Tonight, SE Portland which has a much younger crowd and alternative edgy galleries opens their doors. This also includes the Alberta Street extravaganza where they block off the street and artists and street vendors sell their wares in an ad-hoc type of arrangement. Anyway, I am showing my Faerie Dreams painting at the Launch Pad Gallery in SE and they are having the opening tonight. I am to bring a potluck item to share and they will be selling beer and wine. It's raining here already, so my husband and I will probably don our leather coats and try to mix in with the much younger hipsters. I'll let you know how it goes.

Launch Pad Gallery - Dreams

I finally finished my painting for the Dreams Open Art Show. Here is a link to the show's information: Launch Pad Gallery. There are 100 applicants showing one painting each. I am so excited to have that many other artists see my work! I hope you like it too. This is the first big 18 X 22" painting. The paintings are all about dreams. So this is my "Faerie Dreams."

Banba

I just sold this original to a lady that saw it at my hole in the wall gallery show last month. She also bought Rhiannon and two animal prints by my brother. She said she'd buy Banba when she got paid again and I guess she meant it! It's so exciting to have people want my work in their homes, especially women who want my goddesses. I paint them because they give me strength and I hope they will do that for others who see them.

Banba is at the center of Irish Mythology as the Earth Mother, representing the spirit of Ireland, and was the wife of King MacCuill. She was thought to be the first settler in Ireland. She is part of a trinity of goddesses: she, Eriu, and Fodla. Banba is a poetic name for Ireland. Banba also protected the land from invaders. She has long been my alias and screen name on line, hence Banba's Artful Realm. I have always felt she has protected me and given me strength. I also drew her as a child.
Young Banba