Illustration Friday - 'Giant'

I was in the middle of creating this image when I saw what IF's latest topic was. The image is called 'Mother Earth', and is based on various folklore, myths and legends from around the world that centre on this type of deity, for instance the Greek Goddess Gaia.

Gaia is the primal Greek titan personifying the Earth, a version of 'Mother Nature'. Gaia is considered a 'great titan'. The dictionary.com definition of titan is 'a person or thing of enormous size, strength, power, influence, etc.: a titan of industry. ' Perfect!

You can read more about Gaia here.

I have used a couple of brushes from Obsidian Dawn's collection in this picture.

Folksy Friday - Teen Movie

1. Pretty in Pink - Stripe Panelled Dress by Suzanne Porter Boutique 2. The Breakfast Club - Boxed Sushi Set by Treaclezoo 3. Weird Science - Geek Greetings Card by Simple Kid Industries 4. Sixteen Candles - Muffin Candles by Lady Pirates 5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Life Moves Pretty Fast Original Framed Artwork by Wall Envy Art 6. Uncle Buck - Mini Stag Silhouette Pin by Lost At Sea

Theme inspired by John Hughes 80's teen movies. I regularly listen to BBC Radio 6 and today on Lauren Lavernes show, she played "Danke Schoen" by Wayne Newton, from the iconic parade scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I don't think I'd ever heard the song except in the film, and FBDO is one of my favourites so it was a treat to hear it!

So that sparked off todays theme. I chose six Hughes movies and tried to find Folksy items to link to them. For some of the items the link may be a bit tenuous!

Our Wedding in April

Just thought I would share some piccys from our wedding at the end of April. I can't believe it's been over a month now! We had a great day, weather was fab and so were the people :]

Probably should say my dress is by Charlotte Balbier, and it's called 'Garbo'.
We had our reception at Lady Anne Middleton's Hotel in York.

Sneaky Peeky

A bit of a preview of what I'm working on at the moment, it's an illustration based on a sentence I read in a book about sealife :]

My First Folksy Friday - Violet Femmes

1. Journal/Sketch Book by Marcade Arts Press 2. Purple Cat by Minifelts 3. Japanese Spring Girl 3 Original Screen Print by Lil Sonny Sky 4. Purple Spotty Ribbon Corsage by Lovely Things 5. Purple Butterfly Tote by MinXtures Clothing & Accessories 6. Lush Royal Purple Button Bracelet by Mrs Gibson's Atelier

So this is my first Folksy Friday! The theme was inspired by a dream I had last night in which my cousin and best friend, Layla, appeared at a dinner party I was hosting wearing a fabulous purple bandage dress and iridescent purple peep-toe heels. I fully intend to recommend she finds an ensemble like this as she looked great!

Layla (the beautiful blonde!) and me

P.S. I never host dinner parties, and my dreams are not usually pleasant enough to involve them!

The Honey Cake Monster

That's me. I discovered this ridiculously simple honey cake recipe last summer and have made about a million since then. It's so bloody delicious I thought I'd share it.

Ingredients: Makes one 20 cm / 8 in cake

100 g/4 oz butter or margarine, softened
25 g/1 oz/2 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
60 ml/4 tbsp clear honey
2 eggs, lightly beaten
175 g/6 oz/1 cups self-raising (self-rising) flour
2.5 ml/0.5 tsp baking powder
5 ml/1 tsp ground cinnamon
15 ml/1 tbsp water

Method:

Beat together all the ingredients until you have a soft dropping consistency. Spoon into a greased and lined 20 cm/8 in cake tin (pan) and bake in a preheated oven at 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5 for 30 minutes until well risen and springy to the touch.

The original recipe can be found here, but I've adapted it slightly by adding nuts for decoration (in these photos it's chopped almonds but more recently I've used pecans - yum). I've also noticed that using margarine is far better than butter, as the latter tends to give the cake a gravity complex. I personally use Flora Light seed oil, which is very tasty.

Enjoy!

Some New Bits

Ox
Original Pencil Drawing
approx 8.5" x 11.5"

I Heart You - Boy & Girl
Original Pencil Drawings approx. 5.5" x 8.5"

These lovelies are for sale here. I'll be adding several more originals and prints, including the ink drawing in the blog banner this week so look out for them if you're interested!

The Green Green Grass

I found this dress in a charity shop and snapped it up. When I got home I changed the existing buttons to some lovely green ones from my secret button stash (it's not really secret, it just sounds good), and added some purple ones around the neckline for good measure. I may remove them though, we'll see.

Anyway, I just loved the colour. I seem to have a penchant for odd shades of green, always have. On one particular summer holiday I played hell for a spotty green and white bathing suit. Pink was apparently not for me, although my bedroom at the time was a lovely shade of cotton candy ;]

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A Sorority of Stars

A Sorority of Stars

digital print 8 x 10 inches - $12
digital print 5 x 7 inches - $8

This image was inspired by one of my favourite books, 'Rhapsody' by Elizabeth Haydon. The book is the first in a fantasy trilogy called the Symphony of Ages. Part-way through the story the main character describes a folktale learnt from her mother, about the stars that shone above her homeland.

" Her mother had told her of a Lirin tale of two stars that were sisters, Melita and Oelendra; how Melita had fallen from the sky and into the sea at the land's edge, settling below the waves but still churning with unspent fire. Islands to the north of Serendair, formerly mountain tops, became tropical with the heat, and the seas between them raged, making it treacherous for ships to sail near them.

The star at the bottom of the sea became known as the Sleeping Child. The Lirin believed that one day it might rise again, taking the rest of the island to the depths with it when it did. The sister star, Oelendra, was said to have fallen in despair, leaving its light still burning in the sky even after its death."

I love this fictional folktale so much I was inspired to create the above image, depicting the stars as luminous, otherworldly, humanoid creatures with timeless depth in the eyes. I love that they turned out slightly alien looking! Plus, their eyelashes are fabulous :]

Candy Stripe

Candy Stripe
digital print 8 x 10 inches - $12
digital print 5 x 7 inches - $8

Who wouldn't want to wear mismatched stockings while hovering mid-air and sporting a gravity defying 'do?

This image started life as a mixed media piece, using coloured pencil and a bit of old textured wallpaper. However, the lure of digital called and a full revamping occurred, adding a touch of light and magic.