Faerie and Elf Ears

I found a tutorial on the web on how to draw faerie ears. I haven't really been happy with my girls' ears so I sketched for awhile and then tried the new technique out on this faerie sketch.  I also tried to give her a bit younger face by giving her a higher forehead. She's a little shadowy because I had to darken her up a bit because she's still just a sketch.

Here's the link:

Rate My Drawings.com

From:

http://banbasartfulrealm.blogspot.com

Just Another Pixie

Wow this has been a busy month. I just realized I have only posted once! This weekend I spent a lot of time on this watercolor I had painted on a small sketch pad awhile back. She had a lot of eraser marks and water spots on her so I scanned her and worked with the blending tool in GIMP to clean her up. I was able to erase some visible pencil marks as well. It feels like cheating but now she will make great prints. In case you're not familiar with it, GIMP is a free program similar to Photoshop where you can work with images and photos. I am just learning and have been taking tutorials on line. Do a search for " GIMP download" and you can get started too.

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.

Blood Moon

In honor of Halloween I painted a wiccan woman dancing naked under a harvest blood moon. It is in the window of Gallery One right now. I gave her Celtic braids and a pentagram necklace to signify her connection to witchcraft.

"Wicca is a very peaceful, harmonious and balanced way of thinking and life which promotes oneness with the divine and all which exists.
Wicca is a deep appreciation and awe in watching the sunrise or sunset, the forest in the light of a glowing moon, a meadow enchanted by the first light of day. It is the morning dew on the petals of a beautiful flower, the gentle caress of a warm summer breeze upon your skin, or the warmth of the summer sun on your face. Wicca is the fall of colorful autumn leaves, and the softness of winter snow. It is light, and shadow and all that lies in between. It is the song of the birds and other creatures of the wild. It is being in the presence of Mother Earths nature and being humbled in reverence. When we are in the temple of the Lord and Lady, we are not prone to the arrogance of human technology as they touch our souls. To be a Witch is to be a healer, a teacher, a seeker, a giver, and a protector of all things. If this path is yours, may you walk it with honor, light and integrity.

Wicca is a belief system and way of life based upon the reconstruction of pre-Christian traditions originating in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. While much of the information of how our ancestors lived, worshiped and believed has been lost due to the efforts of the medieval church to wipe our existence from history, we try to reconstruct those beliefs to the best of our ability with the information that is available."

It's a very cool site. Check it out if you want to learn more.

Here's some info on Samhain from Geocities:

The Celts called Halloween Samhain, which means “summer’s end”, according to their ancient twofold division of the year, when summer ran from Beltane to Samhain and winter ran from Samhain to Beltane. (Some modern covens echo this structure by letting the high priest “rule” the coven beginning on Samhain, with rulership returned to the high priestess at Beltane.) According to the later fourfold division of the year, Samhain is seen as “autumn’s end” and the beginning of winter. Samhain is pronounced (depending on where you’re from) as “sow-in” (in Ireland), or “sow-een” (in Wales), or “sav-en” (in Scotland), or (inevitably) “sam-hane” (in the U.S., where we don’t speak Gaelic).

Anyway, enjoy the change of seasons!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

How many cars do you have?

OK, how many cars do you have and what's in there? If you have any extra cars or an RV for that matter, that you don't drive that often, why? These are great things to either sell or donate and improve your financial picture. Even if they're just sitting in the driveway they're costing you space and perhaps, money to insure them.

Let's talk about that RV. They cost about 80 grand. Now, how many nights could a person spend in five star hotels for that amount of money (plus interest on the loan to buy it!) And I shutter to think about the cost of gas! They're not worthless though, because people can live in them. Does it ever make you sick to think about all those RVs sitting in people's driveways while millions of people are homeless in this country?

So, let's say you only have one car. What's in it? If it's full of junk, you're making your life harder. Did you know that the more stuff in your car, the worse gas millage you get? For example, my friend keeps six flats of bottled water in the back of his car so he can drink one every morning on his way to work because he knows he'll be dehydrated from the wine he drank the night before. Now, a flat of water weighs a bit so I asked him, " What if you just reused a water bottle every morning by filling it with our snow melted tap water? You'd save yourself the time, trouble, money, and garbage created by buying bottled water and probably get better gas mileage." What was his answer? "Shut up and drink your bottled water!" And if you've read my blog you know I hate bottled water!

Do you eat in your car? If you eat in your car you are breaking all of the dieting rules right off the bat, making yourself have to throw away fast food wrappers, and creating useless garbage. Hopefully, you don't support these establishments because they are ruining our farmlands, waterways, rain forests, and creating needless garbage. So let yourself have the pleasure of eating in a calm manner, not while driving.

Do you have a thousand CDs rattling around your car? I have another friend who crashed his car while changing a CD! An iPod hooked up to your car stereo is a great way to go or invest in a 5 CD changer so you can have variety. Driving to work is stressful enough without listing to the news or public radio. You'll just be angry by the time you get to work! Sit back, relax, play those songs that no one likes but you, and sing along!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Queen Elizabeth Faerie?

This faerie looks like Queen Elizabeth, (not the modern day one,) to me. I suppose I likely would have lost my head for painting a queen as a mischievous faerie back in her time!

I have attempted to give her accessories just from nature this time, no forged metals, just leaves, vines, and feathers. Hopefully, my style will evolve into something recognizable. I am going to a watercolor class today at the Multnomah Arts Center here in Portland and am very excited!

On another note, I have been researching elves hoping to create some unique Christmas cards. It would appear that elves were considered pretty evil until the Victorians commercialized Christmas and portrayed them as helpers to Father Christmas. The Norse thought they would shoot arrows into their cows to disease them! They also seem to go back and forth from being tall to small, evil to good. None the less, it is amazing to me how many different cultures believed in elves which were seen more as Faeries in Celtic cultures. Now the Christmas Elves look kind of goofy. I'd like to change that and give them some dignity! Here's a link to one I thought was kind of sweet, but still the Elves look too much like little Santas to me. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
Elves Link - No artist mentioned.

Banba

I became fascinated with goddesses in college while taking a women's studies course at Sonoma State University. I am an Irish American and was drawn to Banba because she 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. Throughout my life call upon her for inspiration and solace. I have drawn her many times and last night she showed up again! She is depicted with a Claddagh on the forehead. Her earing is a Celtic spiral.

Welcome to my realm. Here you will find my faeries and goddesses and works from artists I admire. Banba is the Earth Goddess and Mother from Irish mythology. I have always felt her presence in my life.

Here is a wood nymph I drew in pencil and then watercolored.

She looks at me from my subconscious. She's passionate yet full of trickery. She says, " I will protect you. I reside in you and have guided all of your decisions since you found me. "

I'm not sure what it means really, but what can you say about faeries?

                                                                           ® Maureen Bullis 2008
                                                                            http://banbasartfulrealm.blogspot.com

Basically, it sounds like they're saying don't buy it if you don't like the packaging! I would love to hear what you think!

The Minimalist's Letter to Emer-gen-C

Here's my letter to Emer-gen-C about their packaging based on my casual survey. I included as many of my readers' ideas as I could. Do you think they'll listen?

Dear Alacer Corp.,

I belong to a large network of on line communities interested in the environment and reducing packaging in particular. I did a survey on my web site asking if your product should be packaged differently. First of all, people love the product! Many people use it instead of Alka-seltzer for sour stomachs and hangovers. We dislike the current packaging however, as it contains plastic. We would like something made of waxy paper that we can put into our compost piles, I suggested either a tea bag type or a Pixie Stick type tube. People loved the Pixie Stick idea because they could pop one into a purse or pocket. It was also suggested that they could be sold in a single tube at the supermarket checkout area and that perhaps the multipack package could be smaller.

I am sorry to see you producing bottled water. Shame on you! Just so you know, there's a huge movement to boycott bottled water. People want simplicity and less plastic! I urge you to listen to your customers. I will be printing my letter and your response all over the web, so I appreciate your consideration in this matter. Sincerely, The Minimalist

If you would like to try to help me influence this company to dump the plastic, follow the link below and let them know how you feel. I believe that we need to stop garbage before it happens! We can do it! (They'll send you some free coupons too!)
http://www.emergenc.com/contact/

Green up your kitchen and it will be less cluttered, cleaner, and prettier too!

I started this site not just to help people unclutter their lives , but also to help show that reducing our consumption of things we don't use much (like kitchen gadgets) or didn't even ask for (like junk mail), can really help our planet. I hope some of these ideas take some of the stress out of your everyday living as they have for me. Thanks, The Minimalist

1. Donate your Coffee Maker and instead use a French Press ...read more
2. Replace your old dishwasher with an Energy Star model that uses less water read more
3. Replace your old fridge fro an Energy Star model that dispenses filtered water...read more
4. Donate your microwave to a school and try living without it....read why
5. Use washable bar rags and a bit of bleach mixed with water in a spray bottle to disinfect your kitchen.... here's why
6. Limit your kitchen gadgets that will eventually end up in landfills......here's how
7. Buy your last set of good quality pots and pans .... read more
8. Store things properly so food doesn't go to waste .... here's how
9. Stop buying food in cans.... here's why
10. Support your local farmer's market... here's an easy way
11. Cook from scratch, it's not that big a deal...... here's some help
12. Reduce your junk mail and get it off your kitchen table ......here's how
13 Stop catalogs from piling up...here's how
14 Contact companies and request that they change to earth friendly packaging.....like this
15. Compost your kitchen scraps .... here's how
16. Reduce your use of all plastics, recycle numbers 1-6 containers at your local transfer station, and bring your own bags to the store .....read more