Spirit Dolls, art and painting and workshops.

As the British summer has failed to show yet and not much is growing  in the garden. I've been creating a few more ideas for textile, hand painted spirit dolls and I have found a way to decorate them as if painting on canvas.
Keeping the shapes of the dolls simple, the patterns and symbols make them into little art sculptures and  then sewing beads, crystal chips and shells onto them for glorious texture.  They are lovely to hold!
I have had commissions to make spirit dolls for people  with their positive intent , or wishes and used many different herbs for filling, such as lavender, dried rose petals, sage, jasmine with trinkets, twigs from trees of the ogham, crystals and messages have also been hidden inside. Natural wool is also used to fill out the body of the dolls.  These spirit dolls are made unique for each person. They represent the healing that the person needs at the time. Whether it is comfort, love, strength, laughter, joy, protection or transformation to be able to move forward in their life.  They make lovely gifts for friends too.  Stars and moons make perfect dolls for children's rooms made in the same way.

Here are just a few types of spirit dolls that can be made.
I will be making more for my etsy shop soon and have finally decided to teach how to make them in a new workshop.  This will be for two days, and people have the choice to come for one day or two.

This is a doll my daughter Megan made with tiny pieces of felt hearts and flowers.

Tiny maiden dolls to carry around with you.

A spirit doll can be an amulet or a talisman. Protection or to attract positive energy. Making your own spirit dolls are so much fun and wildly creative!  Magical, sweet, intuitive and inspiring.
If you would like to come to this spirit doll workshop, I can send you the details by email.

If you already make spirit dolls, I would love to hear about the positive changes and wonderful things that have happened to you.

The winners!!

Thank you everyone for taking part and leaving your favorite quotes.  All are very special to the creative kind such as ourselves.
So, after writing everyones name on pieces of paper, folding up tight and mixing them up in a bowl, I let my daughter Megan take the three that will be winning a print each.
The winners are Hannahbird  , for the print 'Trackways'
                         Donna-Q    , for the print 'Morning Dew'
          and..........Michelle Erica Green   , for The Mystic Knight'.!
Please leave me your email/ and address so I can send them to you.

Much love to you all from here and facebook.  I'm sure I will be giving away something else soon.

3 new prints to give away.

Three new paintings! ( The originals are in 'Picture Parlour' in Boscastle and they are also selling my prints). As from today until this time next week, I will be giving one print of one of these paintings as a gift to 3  followers. All you have to do is post your favourite quote or leave a comment on here or my facebook page.  I will message the 3 people that have a print as a gift on Thursday 31st May.  You can leave me your email if you wish.    Warm wishes to everyone.

Magical Trebarith Strand

Here we are again in Cornwall looking out to the valley and ocean from the beautiful cottage we found to stay in for a while.   Trebarith Strand has a beautiful beach with the best rock pools when the tide goes out.

I have found so much of my inspiration for painting here, whether I am sitting on the blue slate rocks looking out to sea, watching the turquoise waves against the evening sky. Or sitting among the wild flowers on the cliff side or looking deeply into the mysterious rock pools with wavy quarts ribbons making patterns through the granite. To me, this is one of the most perfect places to be.

Fairy Tale for a Garden

Over the Easter weekend, I was in search of climbing plants for the garden and it was so difficult to choose between a rambling rose, dozens of clematis and jasmines for our veranda. The space is really quite small and needed something to grow over the roof but not take over the house. Well I didn't mind if the whole house was covered with these plants but Nolan had other ideas!
I  love the bohemian gardens that are reminiscent of fairy tales and of course very Eco which included tiny, sparkling fairy lights, solar panelled. We brought a thousand litre water tank to collect rain from the roof. Luckily that can be hidden from view. We try to plant flowers with vegetables and have flowering herbs and wild flowers for the honey bees.  But this year I wish for loads of colour!  So I may be painting decorative  panels for the fences and walls.  ( I could always paint the house.......shhhhh!! Is Nolan in the room?). Watch this space, there may be a few photos to show later for the summer!

Here are just a few gardens I adore.

Creative Art Journals

I love creating art journals!
 After a very creative winter the first signs of spring are here!  The days are a little warmer as I gather my ideas for workshops later this year.
The very first of 2012 is an art journal workshop. I'm taking bookings for the 24th and/or 25th March, so I thought I had to show my own art journals and pages, or some of them anyway, here on my blog page.

The first to show you is a painted fabric journal with just black and white sketches inside. These pages tell of a few myths and snippets of folklore. I love the contrast between texture and colour on the cover with smooth paper, drawings and words on the inside. This journal has only eight pages but I'm hoping to add more signatures as I go along.

Here are a few more fabric journals I have made in the past.  One of these is a painted canvas journal and others are a mix of textures with fabric, mica and colourful buttons.

This is a recycled, hard backed book that I've altered for another art journal.  This has loads of pages, so many that I can't close the journal. It stands as a piece of art on a shelf with other colourful books. Here are a few of the pages inside.

The next journal to show you I finished a few weeks ago.  This has just the images inside that I plan to make into greeting cards.

I'm looking forward to teaching others how they can create their own art journals. I have been thinking of teaching for so long now, so start, I must!

Fairytale Art Exhibition

 I have showing The Tree people and fairytale landscapes showing in the wonderful  i-2 Art Gallery from the 4th Feb.   Other stunning art here too by amazing artists.  This gallery is situated in a lovely town called Saffron Walden and the gallery is an 'Old World' building with big wooden beams, looking like a place from a fairytale story. If you are ever this way, please pay a visit.         www.i2artgallery.com

The Tree people

I've been busy painting the first new pictures of 2012 and wanted to show you the idea behind them. It may seem a little strange but so are my favourite fairytales!

Inspired by the 'Old Masters' with these renaissance kind-o-style paintings. I didn't quite know how these were going to turn out. Painting in acrylic with a subject that has taken months to paint in oils was a little tricky. These were painted as small paintings on board, some with added mica.

I feel that these should have a deep and profound fairy story behind them....based on true and ancient beliefs. Maybe one day I will write about them properly but here is a beginning. I had to start off from somewhere........Once upon a time, the tribes around the Earth had a magic man or women, a Shaman. This was the tribes King or Queen that they would come to see for healing, guidance, insight and wisdom for the times and journeys to come. Long before the Egyptians the shamans wore crowns on their heads with symbols, feathers, stone and gems, so you can see how our kings and queens still have these crowns (?).
The fae have the best crowns. Are they the shamans of old still on this earth plane?  Of course they are!!!.........

Please feel free to add anything to the story. This could get very interesting! I'll keep close to see how the story goes.  Good luck. X

I've finally managed to post again after a little problem with my server and just in time to wish you a magical and wonderfilled new year. Here we are already, 2012!  I feel this coming year is going to be filled with new doorways of creativity.  My plans for this new year are already nearly full with joys of painting new paintings,  new workshops, books, teaching Megan, veg garden planning, flowers, herbs and dreams to grow, and even more love to give.
So, a gift for 2012 for you all, there are free ebooks to share. Tell your friends and who ever you want to share this love with.
These are all of the four books I have illustrated for the author Robin C Clark, my brother.
Love to you all and thank you for following my blog page.
 Here is the link to the amazon link and another to view the books   http://amzn.to/uRLZf7     www.peliguin.com

Have a beautiful new year!!!

Creative Art Classes

I have finally decided to teach the mysterious ways of the artist.  I'm gathering an assorted amount of materials for the first theme of 'Old Fairytales', first sketching and creative drawing techniques and different ways of seeing.  Do you remember when you were a child when shadows in your room sometimes looked like something to be a little concerned about?  Maybe shadows under the curtains or shadows your clothes made in the closet?  I remember vividly the shadows under the window that my curtains made, mostly strange profiles of faces but some were also quite beautiful.  These are the imagination of children that as we grow older we sometimes loose this magical ability. We may get a glimpse at angels in the clouds or a dryad in the bark of a tree  that can bring back, even for a moment , the magic of this special sight.  This with the fairytale theme is what I want to show and drawing skills and experimenting with watercolour paints.

I love all of the illustraters of the 'Old Fairytales'.  Kay Nielsen, Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac are but a few.  Their paintings and illustrations  of beautiful landscapes and colorful characters for these timeless tales have let us carry these treasured images into our adult lives.

Illustration from East of the Sun, West of the Moon.   Kay Nielsen.

Cinderella.  Kay Nielson.

Dreamer of Dreams.  Edmund Dulac.

Edmund Dulac.

Undine.  Arthur Rackham.

So, with a good stack of cotton paper, graphite, and watercolour paints, we will see what magic can happen!   I will show you the work of these wonderful creative souls in my classes...if they will let me.
Later, next year, I will be teaching at full day or weekend workshops along side the classes with all kinds of inspirations. Artists journal making. Drawing from life. Decorative painting. Healing art and Abstract painting.  If you would like more details, please contact me.

Here are more of these wonderful  places to see more of these illustrations.

http://www.arthur-rackham-society.org/
http://windling.typepad.com/blog/
www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/index.html
http://www.childillustration.blogspot.com/

Art Exhibition

I'm so thrilled to be exhibiting around 10 of my paintings here at the beautiful i2 Art Gallery in Saffron Walden.  This is a beautiful gallery!  Please go and see for yourself, or at least the i2 gallery website. http://www.i2artgallery.com/. 

Manifesting beauty!!

Midway through October and the warm and sunny English Indian summer is over.  I will soon be lighting cosy fires and I'm thinking of sewing an art quilt of sorts, and cuddle up in and read a few books.  I feel I need a rest from the busy summer and Autumn and re-stock inspirations and dreams for the new paintings ahead.

Night Bearer

 by Amanda Clark 2011

A dear etsy friend told me about a book called The Wood Wife by Terri Windling, 'a book I must read!' she says.  My paintings reminded her of the story in The Wood Wife.  So I ordered it two weeks ago and have just finished this amazingly magical story .  I have read a similar story, but told in a completely different way by Charles De Lint, Memory and Dream.  These stories tell of a magic that these artists had within to be able to create a portal for these mythical and enchanting creatures to be able to pass through into this world, exactly as they painted or wrote poetry about them.  A must read for anyone that loves fantasy, fairytale, and  I feel, a connection to Carlos Castonada books.




Imagining through the paintings I have created over the years, did the subjects already existed here or in the ether or maybe even on another dimension?  There's so much talk on manifesting these days, if I ever had this kind of magic, I would choose to only bring more beauty into our world.