Spring! Anonymous Content! Birthday!

I'm happy to celebrate Spring with Nix - my Crow-Hare fairy.  You may have seen her before or in one of her other seasonal themes. In any event, the Equinox has been welcomed and we're entering the Next.

Spring

Nix Crow-Hare Fairy

After the travel collages, it took a bit to do all the 'at home' things waiting for  you when you've been away.  Eventually, an image caught my eye 'just because' and this collage emerged from it. This is the first collage since I've been home.  I call these my 'anonymous content' collages, as I am not carrying a theme forward, instead letting the images 'find' their congruency together. 

The anchor image is the trio of retro-looking people, in the sepia tone, which I embraced.  I found it without any context except Kitty, Daisy & Lewis in the image name, who I discovered is a band. You can check them out here.  

Anonymous Content 9 

It's my birthday month, so naturally an 'annual' collage is in my plan. Totems abound - crow, octopi & such and this year, the trees of Forsyth Park in Savanah were still much with me and provided the background.

e @ birthday

Being away is nice. Being home just nice. Fortunate me. ꩜

Till next time.

 

A Most Lovely Opening to the Show! Wayne Theatre Gallery August 26, 2024

The Opening gathering was indeed a most lovely time.  Friends, family, supporters of the Wayne Theatre and those just looking to see the art,  all gathered and celebrated with me.  It was such an incredibly supportive feeling evening.

As most people were local, one fun thing was the exclaimed recognition factor of the locations or the 'Where is that??'  

Many people commented on these two collages. The one below has a contemporary photo of Main Street.    

On Main Street - Waynesboro, VA

This one is a retro photo and many people had fun pointing out the shops that are no longer there.

Retro Main Street

A truly lovely couple shared with me that they had recently gotten married right there in the gallery space.  They purchased the Wayne Theatre collage as a remembrance!  A delight!!

Welcome to the Wayne Theatre

I also had interesting chats about the Crow motif in my 'Inner Region' collages.  Apparently, many people are drawn to Crow, so much so,  that a couple of Crow works will be going to new homes.

Urban Woods

As I said in my last post, Liz Moss and her team did a fabulous job of designing the show; one of the first things people commented on.  Everything wonderfully highlighted the pieces.

Here are a pre-show panorama photo.

The Gallery, opening night!   Lovely!!

Delighted Thank Yous to Liz Moss and the Waynesboro Theatre. Thanks to my supporters who came out this Monday - Deb - who always shows up in my life and her Dad, Bruce, Piper, Rose, Kerry, Susan & Kenneth, Bill & Nancy and Perry.  Thank you to all those I got to meet for the first time and chat with that evening.  And always, to my husband Dennis, who is the one that makes all the things behind the scenes happen.  Thank you as well to all my blog friends who sent me congratulations and good vibes.

Most Happy Indeed!

The show is up through November 17th.  Come Visit!  Stop by SVAC, the Shenandoah Valley Art Center, where I am a member. Make it a two-fer!

Or join us in October for the The Waynesboro Fall Foliage Art Show, sponsored by SVAC.  This is an annual juried art and fine craft show.   October 12 & 13th

Till next time!

More Crow Tarot

When I first posted 'Crow Girl Tarot'  [3/29/24 post], Rose Guterbock, artist extraordinaire, commented that I should do a tarot series. Tarot cards carry meaning and the specific symbolism of each image in this series have yet to reveal themselves to me.  So for now, they are in the realm of your own free-association.

I came across the yellow feather in my images, so my theme of Crow colors continued. The bold yellow moves me.

Yellow Crow Tarot

White Crow Tarot evolved out of a prompt for the May members gallery at Shenandoah Valley Art Center -  SVACart.com.   I think of them as Crow Sisters.

White Crow Tarot collage

For the gallery show, I added an embellished mat; a theme I am enjoying thanks to my good friend Deb Booth, who passed on a supply to me.

White Crow Collage with Embellished Mat

Apparently, the Multiverse has decided it's time for more Tarot in my life, as I recently inherited a vast collection of Tarot cards from my dear friend Michael, who died in December.  A journey awaits me.

Till another time.

Crow Girl Tarot!

I was in a 'Crow' mood and decided to make a contemporary Crow girl.  I was drawn to heavy boots and a dark dress, a little bit Goth,  and after a bit our Crow girl here emerged.  The moody, somewhat mysterious background reminded me of a Tarot card and here we are.

Crow Girl Tarot collage

For our upcoming Member Show at the Shenandoah Valley Art Center - SVAC - I decided to  embellish the collage and mat. I was delighted to find among my bits and pieces the black crow pin which perfectly echoed the two crows in the collage and the perfect sparkly fabric to make the amplified skirt. 

Crow Girl Tarot collage embellished
11x14 frame

Till another time.

Spring! and Crow Woman With Daffodils

Happy Spring!  Happy Equinox! Welcome the change! The Emergence!

I created this Fairy archetype a couple years ago.  I call her Nix and she embodies my totems of Crow and Hare. Since then she's become my symbol of the seasons.  At another time in my life, I had a large plastic goose lamp that sat in the living room window.  I used to dress it for the seasons with hats and things I made. Alas, no pictures of the goose, but here I am, still dressing things for the season.

Spring Fairy Nix collage

It's my birthday this month and not surprisingly, I do a birthday collage each year and yes, usually including Crows.  Daffodils are my favorite flower and the yellow chair is a homage to Frida Kahlo, who sits on a yellow chair in one of my favorite paintings, 'Self Portrait with Cropped Hair'.

Crow Woman With Daffodils collage

Self Portrait With Cropped Hair
Frida Kahlo 1940

Till next time!

Not Radioactive! Radiation Therapy collage

This is the 3rd collage in my 'breast cancer cycle' of 2023;  the last collage.  I'm hoping now to file that in my 'Past Health Events' folder and as the radiologist said,  in my rear-view mirror.  I ended three+ weeks of daily treatments on 12/28, just in time for the new year and the beginning of my annual Winter Trip. I was fortunate to have little side effects from the treatment and am confident any random cancer cells were eliminated by the radiation therapy.  Life may bring me something else but probably not a repeat of this specific situation.

I titled her 'Not Radioactive' as I noted that the booklet I was given about radiation therapy used that phrase three times.  I mentioned it to the techs and they said people do still carry a connection to radiation and radioactive.  My Crow totem was with me throughout the treatments; embraced by Crow wings.

Not Radioactive-Radiation Therapy collage

The 1st collage after the mammogram that discovered the tumor, 7 millimeter biopsy

7 Millimeters collage

The 2nd collage post-surgery to remove the 5 centimeter tumor

5 Centimeters collage

The collages in an embellished frame, with flowers sent by my friend, Donna.

Fini!! Series Complete.

Till next time.

Anthony, The Aces and Crow

Today marks the 36th year since my father, Anthony,  passed from this realm.  He came home from World War II with a Silver Star, which I did not learn of until he passed.  He worked as a civilian for  Naval Air for 40 years and went through life-changing physical challenges of major proportions in my teen years. But through everything, he was that Dad that holds you close, is there for you as best he can be and you know you are always his best you.

People always commented the he looked like the actors Victor Mature and Robert Mitchum and he did carry a kind of gravitas that they portrayed.  So they join him here in this remembrance collage.

Anthony, Robert and Victor collage

I'm always attracted to quirky people and loved an image I came across of The Aces, a wonderful sister group. They are living out loud their story of becoming with their music and, here, with a bit of pie.

The Aces with Pie collage

Crows are always in my sphere and this is my latest crow totem. I was very pleased when I came across the yellow feathers; a unique crow.

Yellow Crow collage

Till another time.

 

Spring!

It's a glorious Spring day here.  Until now we still have had cold nights, cool mornings and then finally, a warm afternoon.  But today, the day blossomed warm and has been bright throughout.  I don't have a new collage to share, but these two evoke Spring to me.

Nix is a Crow-Hare fairy.  She holds the energy of new beginnings and renewal.

Spring - Nix-Crow Hare Fairy

This collage is perhaps not Spring per se, but Compassion and Endurance are two qualities to bring forth at the time of flowers and trees coming into bloom and new seeds planted.

Spring - Compassion and Endurance

Many of my collages carry and optimistic feel to them. I want to keep my eye turned to a lighter element. The collages of  'place' are filled with associative images, some clear in their association and others not, but often having a fun element within them. I like the 'fun' of adding elements that don't belong - a lime on a roof or a donut in the street. 

But I've noticed there are times the events, the issues, in the world press on me deeply and my creative eye stops; does not turn to brightness nor does it explore the world issues as it overwhelms. So today from that place, I took a breath and  remembered Spring.

Till next time.

 

Fall, Yellow, the Joans and Thankfulness

Today is a very crisp Fall day and here, the leaves of color are almost gone.  But it was a very vibrant Fall indeed, which inspired this collage.  Here we have one of my fairy creatures, Nix - the Crow-Hare fairy speaking as Fall.  You've seen her before as Spring.

Mythical beings often show up in my work.  I feel the presence of  Other.  Archetypal images populate most of my collages, from my point of view.  Retro images, retro people,people of different looks and styles, architecture, things and so forth, always carry a wider meaning than the image itself.  At least that is the feeling for me as I am drawn to them and find the juxtapositions that speak to me.

Fall - Nix, Crow-Hare Fairy collage

These two collages were a surprise to me.  After I recovered from a recent surgery, I found them in a folder labeled 'Working Collage', patiently waiting to complete, as I had forgotten them.

The very early, late 1920's image of Joan Crawford was the first image that caught my eye.  But we travel in these images up to the present day, with Tami Neilson rocking her retro look.

Retro Joans Collage

 

The fantastic yellow gown anchored this piece, joined, again,  by women of various eras.

Yellow Mayfair Collage

 

And Fall closes with Thanksgiving.  Whatever your feelings about the heritage of this holiday, I like to embrace it in its fullest spirit - a day of gathering and anchoring in thankfulness.  Why not?  

Thanksgiving - Mindful Gratitude Collage

Till next time.

Happy Birthday! Happy Spring! White on White!

Our time away was great, but being home is as they say,  it's own kind of wonderful. Many things to attend to to get back in the groove, but happy to be here.

Each year I do my own birthday collage and one of my gifts to myself is that I compile an annual book of my collages and cards.  Both are fun to do and it's always interesting to see what is revealed in hindsight.

e birthday 2022 collage 

Octopi are often an element in my collage and I often use octopi hair on 'avatars' of myself.  This collage was almost finished, when my husband gave me for my birthday an amazing replica of an ancient Minoan pot - famous for their Octopi imagery-  produced by a museum in Greece.  It was the perfect finishing element of the collage.

Crows are another element I often use and I consider the Crow a menaingful totem in my life. But at an earlier time, when I was doing work with Wendy Ashley, an astrologer who anchored her work in mythology, she saw the Hare or Rabbit as a totem.  In some myths, the Hare is seen as the messenger between realms, moving by moonlight between the human world and the Otherworld.  Recently I was moved to add rabbits to some collages.  So I am welcoming Hare into the present.

The idea of this collage came to me in a dream - a Crow-Hare icon.  As she emerged, I felt she was in the fae or fairy realm and her name, Nix,  popped up as I completed the collage.  She anchors Hare, who is the stronger and more wild rabbit and Crow.  Ironically, I completed her on Easter, which I see as linked to the ancient goddess of Spring, Eostre.  

The eggs are Ukranian 'Pysanka' eggs, a tradition going back prior to Christianity.  The eggs are meant as memories or good wishes, prayers. 'Pysanka' means to write upon, and the designs are drawn or painted with wax and then dyed.  I was really drawn to the one on the upper left with the golden symbol. I looked it up and it represented Freedom, so appropos at this time.

Spring - Nix the Crow-Hare Fairy collage

Sometimes themes appear from circumstance.  'White on White' was inspired by the members gallery theme for May at SVAC - the Shenandoah Valley Arts Center.   The background image, the Heritage On Main  restaurant, had apparently recently been painted white and I noticed it just as I was thinking about a white-themed collage.  It's always nice when the Multiverse collaborates with you.  There are some puns on white in this little grouping and some surprise players.  The happy couple are Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter on their wedding day in 1946.

Till next time.