The Wolves

Lovely friends,

First of all, 

thank you thank you thank you for all the well wishes after I'd been so ill with the flu.

I've been in bed pretty much since Sunday so your kind words cheered me up so much.

I am feeling much better and returned to work today.

Secondly

I've been itching for the day I shared this piece since I started it just before my birthday.

It's been one of those pieces that you had to be in the right frame of mind to work on.

I am proud to announce it is finished, and carries a very important meaning behind it.

I present to you

"The Wolves"

This piece stemmed from a journey of self discovery.  Learning about who I am and what works for me, and what absolutely does not.

At some point, most of us have had our hearts' fill of betrayal, heartbreak and disappointment.

The people and situations who brings this into our lives are the wolves.

Whether we accept it or not, we are the ones who allow the wolves into our lives, and after learning many lessons, the wolves can become unrecognizable.

In this piece in particular, the girl is representative of self, who is cast down from her royal position in rags and chased from her kingdom by the wolves.

She escapes the wolves by coming to a body of water, where she is washed clean of what they bring to her life, and left only with her own thoughts, her own position, and her own control over her life.

A large part of the inspiration for this piece comes from a song by Kate Walsh, also entitled "The Wolves".

"I thought I knew the wolves by name
They charge in here again and again.
I knew it was wrong, I knew it was wrong.
I only wanted to belong."


"For all the days I woke up in a strange place,
were so damn dark that I would never again.
Oh hell I've lost myself again.
But I'm gonna do right by me.
I'm gonna do right by me.
I'm gonna do right by me"


You can listen to the song here.

It is very representative to me of disappointing yourself by acting out of character, or working towards fitting in with a crowd you don't belong with.  It's disrespectful to your own being.

So tell me, how do you deal with The Wolves in your own life?

From My Sick Bed

Hi friends!

As is guessable from the title I have taken quite ill.

I've spent the past few days in this place:

Next to this good stuff.  Don't get any ideas, the toilet paper is for blowing my nose.

Luckily being bed ridden allows me to read.

The symptoms I got were all at once.  I had razor blades in my throat, a painful chest, achy muscles, massive amounts of coughing, a fever, and a stuffy nose all in the same night.  BRUTAL flu I tell ye's.

Last week, thinking I could spend a day in the hot sun I got sun poisoning.  I think I may be a vampire, allergic to the sun.  If I spend too much time in it I get covered in speckly yucky heat rash.  It's WRETCHED!

The only things that have cheered my up from my poorliness are reading the updates and blogposts from you folk, as well as this gorgeous double rainbow that stopped by a few days ago!

If you look closely you can see the second rainbow to the left of the brighter one.  Isn't that supposed to be lucky or something?

I also quite fortunately got these two lovely bears for 2 bucks each at a church sale this past weekend.  They're about a foot tall each!  I'd never seen such enormous bear figurines!

So that's about all that's going on in my neck of the woods.  We got a massive thunderstorm last night which I LOVED!  But mostly, I've been feeling pretty gross.  I NEVER get sick, so this was terrible.

I think it's quite possible I got it from the daycare.  Oh the joys of children HAHAHA!

Blessings & Bunnies

Hi everyone!

Hope all you mothers and grandmothers and children of mothers had a lovely day last Sunday!

I myself had a great day with my own sweet mummy, who is the loveliest most Irish looking lady you would ever meet!  Hehe!

After some expression of sadness from her regarding the fact that I'd never painted anything just for her, I whipped this piece up for my mom especially for Mother's Day.

Based off of this picture from when she was a tiny little girl:

And I also remembered that I forgot to share a piece I made especially for Melanie of Rabbit Hole Art from our art swap last month:

Not only have I been sending out art, but I've received it recently as well!  Miss Jessica of A Woodland Fantasy sent me this gorgeous pencil piece for my birthday!  We each had Wonderland themes to our birthday art for eachother, how funny is that!?  I think we know each other TOO well sometimes haha.  Anyway, it has taken pride of place on my shelf so I can look at it while sitting in bed.  I LOVE IT!  Thanks so much Jess!

Jessica ALSO sent me these magnificent labels that she made herself!  I have already used a few of them in a secret witchy project I've been concocting that I will share soon.  

We have also had a visitor at our little Shire recently too.  Well I think there are two of them.  Their twins.  Shall we name them?  I haven't a clue what their names could be, maybe you know?  I can't help but want to name them Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny.

And finally, I've been deep into Sarah Addison Allen's books!  Remember when I shared the Sugar Queen?  Well I got my mom reading that one now and she, who normally is finicky with books, has been addicted to it.  This is good stuff.  I am on to Garden Spells now which is proving just as addicting as the Sugar Queen was.  I am also reading The Princess and the Goblin which you can sort of see peeking out around the corner.  It's so lovely and refreshing to delve into a fairytale when you're in the mood.

I have been working every day this week at the daycare, and loving it so much!  Since it's at a gym there is a two hour limit to how long the parents are allowed to leave the kids with us, so luckily there's not a lot of diaper changing or anything.  And the kids are so lovely!  They're mostly 2-3, but there are some a bit under the age of 1 too, they're soooo cute!  I am working all by myself next week, wish me luck!

Lots of love,

Jenn

Magic Moon, Yard Sales, An Enchanted Forest, and SWEET 16 JESS!!!

First and foremost,

Wishing a beautifully happy 16th birthday to Miss Jessica, of A Woodland Fantasy.

Jessica is 16 today!  However, she is so brilliantly wise beyond her years.  Please go visit her and wish her a happy birthday!  She is such a lovely, kind, splendid, muchness-filled friend of mine.

Secondly,

How was your supermoon Saturday night?

I must be honest, the biggest, lowest, orangest moons are rarely the ones that are considered supermoons.

  They're usually flukes I suppose.

Nonetheless:

 The moon didn't come out from behind the clouds until about 4 am.  And sure as can be, at 4 am it woke me up somehow, seemingly to say "Hey, I'm here now! Come out and play"

 So there I was, wide awake at 4 am, watching this from my bed, thinking "How can you not believe in magic?"

And the next day I decided to go on an adventure through the Shire.  That's what I've taken to calling my home haha.  I live in such a forested area, I can't wait until the leaves are on the trees.

This, folks, is my back yard.  Neat, huh?  Lots of paths to follow, and wildberries to pick in the Summer.

Usually on May Day and Midsummer I will bring up plates of fairy treats for the fairies to eat.  I truly do believe there are fairies at the bottom of my garden.

 Somebody started building a tree house up here I see.

It is sort of a wild, rugged terrain, but I love it dearly and there are lots of shady trees to sit under in the Summer.  I can pretend to be just like Frodo Baggins, who in his heart is still in love with the Shire.

Though I look more like a mad, colourful woman in the woods than a hobbit ;)

I swear it is much greener in the Summer, and yes I will be back often to take pictures.

Oh and finally, I have been doing a bit of yardsaling now that the weather's warmed up.  There were a few this weekend and I found some absolute treasures.

I have set up a little desk in my boudoir where I can write in my journal and scrapbook and do other things that don't involve messy paints.  The little treasure cabinet was $1, and the lamp was $10 the same yard sale.

 And the doll?  Well for some reason I had to have her, and call her Emmalina.  Which I later found out is a German name and these types of dolls are made in Germany.  She is very old, since her skin is so white and her eyes are painted on.  How much did I pay for her?  Well only $5.

And my new treasure.  My absolute BABY!  I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!!!!  This is my new French easel, which I got at a yard sale for only $20.  I have named him Jacque :)  He is perfect for the witch's study, so now I can paint in there too should I like.  I was FLABBERGASTED at the cost of nice dark wood French easels online.  Like... upwards of $150-200.  This one is exceptionally good quality and I am so in love.  I keep popping in the study to stare.

Hope you've made it this far!  Am cooking a nice shire stew of beef, carrots, potatoes, onions and herbs for tonight.  It's meant to rain and I can think of nothing cozier.

Love,
Jenn

Birthday Art

Hello all!

First of all, I want to thank you for all of the kind birthday wishes on my last post.  My birthday was really magical and I can accredit that SOOO much to all of you magical folk.

Just dropping in with a quick post to share some of the art I have created recently.

Lots of birthdays have been happening, which means art for gifts, and me constantly creating but being unable to share any of it until it arrives at its destination.

The first piece I've made was for my lovely brother, who turned 22 yesterday.

Now that we're both in our twenties, I wanted to make him something to remember old times.

So I went off of this portrait, in which I am 3, and he is 5, at least I think so.

I also sent off a parcel, which arrived quite speedily, to Miss Jessica at A Woodland Fantasy, whose birthday is on May 7th.  So everyone go wish her a happy birthday when it comes ;)

Jessica is a true princess of Wonderland, and deserved a very special piece of art to celebrate her.

Did you know that Lewis Carroll himself originally wanted Alice to be brunette?  He drew her as brunette in all of her sketches.  However, later illustrators depicted her as blonde, and everyone else followed suit.

So Miss Jessica, as a brunette, is certainly the Alice type :)

The piece is glittered, cheshired, toadstooled, cupcaked, and trimmed with lace.  All are emulations of Jessica herself.

So that's some of the madness that's been happening in the studio.

I am still working on the Practical Magic house, if you're wondering where that piece vanished off to.  It's one of those ones that get put on the back burner, and get slowly worked on for ages and ages...

I also got a job for the Summer.  Working at a daycare in a gym part time.  The job offer arrived on my birthday, which was just perfect since I had been stressing about having to go look for a job.  The job market in my city, and well, everywhere, is so darn daunting.

And finally, I got a new tattoo!  I am not going to share it unfortunately though.  I had noticed my blog was being reached through pictures of my tattoos and I realized I was very uncomfortable with this.  I have removed all of the photographs of my other ones.  After much consideration, I realized this blog wasn't only being read by people who comment and visit regularly, but was also easily found from all stretches of the cyber world.  So, hopefully understandably, I have decided not to continue sharing them.

This is not just an issue with tattooing, it is also a concern, I am sure most of us feel, with my art.  However, art is not something permanently etched on my body, and does not usually carry such IMMENSE personal meaning

Ok, so after rambling all that, I will tell you what the tattoo is of!

I drew it myself and it is a crown, with a spider inside topped with a fleur de lis.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Love,

Jenn

An Enchanted Birthday

Hi everyone,

Today is my 20th birthday!  I can't believe it.   I am in my 20s!  That's kind of scary honestly.  I am no longer a teen!

When I reflect back on the year, I really have aged in so many ways.

I have learned to keep dates with myself, just as I would with anyone else.

If I'd planned to paint all afternoon and someone calls me asking to hang out, I have to keep the date with myself.  That's the most important person to keep promises to.

I've learned you only have to give second chances if the person really deserves them, and in most cases they don't.

I've learned to protect my heart, because it's my most valuable commodity.

I've learned, from Oprah oddly enough, that the past is the past and you can't hold yourself to it.

"When you know better, you do better."

And most beautifully of all, I have learned that there are amazing people who are trustworthy, and kind, and magnificently creative in my life, and all over this planet.  And I've been lucky enough to find them.

I thought I'd share some pictures from my little birthday party I had on Saturday night, photo credit to my Aunt Linda.

I'm not like most people my age.  We spent the evening, after cake of course, playing Trivial Pursuit.

 My mother surprised me with a witch and moon cake.  She knows me so well.

 Here is my beautiful mother.  You can see where I get my inspiration for all the red hair in my art ;)

 The obligatory candle blowing-out picture

All of my beautiful friends.  From the left it's Caitlan, Natasha, Hailey, Caitlin, and Kunduz.

And of course, the presents were so creative and thoughtful.

 A pirate ship.  Not going to lie, I saw this at the thrift store and bought it for myself hahaha.

 Lovely things :).  The journal is from Hailey and is going to be used as a travelling sketchbook.  I plan to keep it in my purse with a pencil so I can create whenever I feel inspired.  And the pink stationary stuff is from Miss Lady, my puppy bff :)  How sweet is that.  Oh, the top I had on in my birthday pictures is from Caitlan, another birthday gift :)  She also gave me one in pink!

 Magical things :).  The little sachets are each a different magical blend, filled with different herbs and oils.  These were handmade by Natasha, who apparently has some witchy blood in her as well.

 And artful things.  These are from Caitlin and Kunduz.  Caitlin has been living in Toronto (so far from me) for school this past year.  But she is a secret reader of my blog.  I often forgets she reads it and then she will mention something about it.  For example, I said to her, "How did you know I have been painting on wood!?"  and she looks at me with this knowing little face, like she's been keeping an eye on me from afar.  Haha!

 And, luckily enough, as sort of a surprise birthday present, I received my art swap from Melanie at Rabbit Hole Art today in the mail!  This is what it looked like before I unwrapped some of the bits and pieces.

And unwrapped.  How sweet and beautiful is everything?!  She send me some rosemary tied with lace, a gorgeous ATC, a beautiful handmade tag, some little tags to use in art, and a mini canvas with "magic" on it.  She knows my taste very well!  Thank you so much Melanie!  Everything is so beautiful and I cherish it greatly.

I also got from my mother some REALLY LONG hair extensions.  They're 24 inches, which on 5'3" me, well it's veryyyy long.  I mostly wanted them to do Lord of the Rings hairstyles!  Super nerd for the win!

I went last night to the lake for my birthday with my dad.

 This was my fortune cookie

This was my gift.  The rules?  Choose one envelope only.  Each one has a different gift inside.  You get to open the other envelopes afterwards, but you have to keep the prize in the first envelope.

Leave it to my dad to formulate such a mad as a hatter plan.

I had to pick two.  Why?  I don't know.  I just knew.  My heart was SCREAMING "Pick two!"

Number one said cash.

Number three said a new laptop.

And number two?

Guess who's going back to Ireland!!!

After all this excitement, what have I been doing in my alone time this birthday weekend?

 Just "being" in here.

 Surrounded by treasures and candlelight.

 And yes I know, my rooms change like the staircases at Hogwarts :)

What's next for year 20?  Though mathematically speaking it's year 21.  I really don't know.  I've never been much good at reading the cards for myself.  For other people, now that's an entirely different story.

Lots of love,
Jenn