Medium: Mixed - watercolour, coloured pencil, acrylics, ink
Size: 4"x6" (OSWOA)

Queen of Hearts has been listed for auction. There is a minimum bid of $140.00 and a 'Buy it Now' option of $175.00. The artwork in question will be published in 'Dreams of Magick' -- my coming book -- which will be released late 2008, early 2009.

Click here to view auction

How could you "knot" love that face??? *grins*

After several days of making us fret, a huge feed because he was hungry, and a soak in a warm bath, Knot Rodney has finally shed, and it was a perfect shed too. This morning I was woken by my partner as he called for me to "Come look!"

Knot had literally just pulled himself free of his old skin, and it lay, still sticky, wrapped around his log. Upon careful investigation, I discovered that the tail tip, eye, and nostril scales have all come off with the resot of his skin. I have it looped over several items to dry.

As for Knot, he's in his tank waiting for his next feed to defrost, and I'm waiting for the sun to rise higher so I can take some photos of my baby's new clothes.

While getting the groceries, I picked up a tub of icecream and saw a flash of hit hitting the floor and smashing open. I shrugged it off and put it in the trolley. Once home, the boot was opened, and guess what? The icecream fell out and smashed against the ground.

Just recently, I had a dream about my publisher opening a gallery with high ceilings. They were high enough for him to display two tiers of artwork upon the wall. I spoke to him a few days later and he tells me that they are in the process of opening a new art gallery and how cool it was that they had ten foot ceilings because they would be able to display two tiers of art upon the walls.

Today, my son went fishing. I told him quite pointedly to be careful with his phone and not to drop in the water as I had a flash of him doing exactly that. My husband's just gone to pick him and his friend up, and guess what? He's dropped his phone in the river.

*shakes head* Knowing these things can be somewhat annoying at times, especially when I also know that I cannot really do anything to prevent most of them from happening. I just have to watch and laugh with a shake of my head. But in one way, it plays a big part in my having confidence, especially when I say that I know that I will always have work. For the most part, knowing is a wonderful gift to have.

Time is flying by me. I used to laugh and jokingly say that my life is measured in brushstrokes and colour, but the more time passes, the more I realise that what I say is true. I lose days and weeks as I sit here painting. The loss is evident when I look up and discover that it's been nearly seven weeks since I last visited here. I look back over those weeks to see what it was that has kept me so busy, and realise that I have done approximately 20 artworks since then. The artworks for the Mythic Oracle deck are now all completed, and I am now printing colour proofs and copying the cleaned up files to discs in order to send to the publisher.

Not only that, I have begun work in earnest on my book, Dreams of Magick, completing the cover border design, several new exclusive paintings, and a good many graphite spot illustrations that I want to scatter throughout the pages.

Indeed, my day is no longer measured in seconds, minutes, and hours, but by the art that I create.

Does this make me unhappy? No. It does not. I think I like being outside of normal time constraints. I work when I want to work and that's when my muse takes me. I eat and move when my body demands, and sleep and dream when tiredness takes me. The most beautiful part is that my children are always a part of my world, even when I am working. I work where we all play, so I am always here, always able to watch my children grow, even when I am absorbed by matters of composition, lighting, and colour.

But time does indeed move swiftly. My children are growing into adults so quickly. My handsome son is becoming a man, full of cheeky wit, intelligence and music, while my daughter who has only enterred her teenage years is blossoming into full womanhood and developing a passion for art and writing. I am blessed to know that both have been instilled with a desire to create, and have been gifted with a love and talent for the means they have chosen. I have no doubt that my son will always play his guitar in a band, and I know within my heart of hearts that my daughter will be a writer or artist, or both, and she will do well.

They are both happy, and that is more than any parent can hope for. Being a teenager can be so scary, and yet because both of my children have a means to express both their joy and their sorrow, they seem to cope better with the challenges they meet in their school day.

I pray that this never changes.

And so I sit here, I paint, and I watch. I create, I laugh, I love, I am, and time moves and swirls around me and past me.

As I sit here printing colour proofs, putting together the pages of my book, looking around me at the beautiful paintings I have created I cannot help but feel immense satisfaction and pride. After walking away from several licensing deals, after splitting with a major client and friend, my confidence in myself was a little less solid. I was not sure if I could deliver the 45 paintings for the Mythic Oracle deck within 9 months, and I was uncertain as to whether I would ever be successful in my chosen field of illustration.

Yet here I sit many months later, the artworks are all finished, my book is on the way to completion, and I've been signed by my publisher to write and illustrate my own deck. I also know that when my deck is done, that I will have another project to work upon, whether it be for myself or another author. I have an unshakeable faith that I will always have work.

I also know that I made the right decision to walk away from product licensing. I'm no longer competiting with friends or selling my soul for five percent. Yes, publishers don't pay you anymore than that, but when you are as blessed as I am to have found a publisher with integrity, who, as an artist himself understands the highs and lows, the frustration, the passion, the love that we have for what we create, and the desire to protect it and see it respected, I am well content with the payment I recieve. Why? Because I know that my work, my rights, my creativity is both honoured and respected. To me, that is far more important than a weighty royalty check.

I think back at the heartache I felt when I first saw the ugly resin figurines that were derived from my works and again feel the tears on my cheeks. Having somebody tell me that even bad exposure from poorly made product is better than no exposure at all still makes me feel ill inside. To have my creations so disrespected ... to be lied to by people who claimed to be friends, to be lied to by people who claimed a desire to respect and watch over my rights ... to have them pit you against fellow artists in order to get your art on product ... No. It is not right. It is ugly. It goes against the very reason I paint. I paint to create beauty. I paint to create magick. To have it turned from something pure, an expression of joy and emotion, into something that has been reduced a means to beautify poorly made products?

Again I say no. Again, I am glad that I walked away when I did. Again, I know how blessed that I am that the choices I have made have steered toward fulfilling the dreams of a child who wanted to grow up and illustrate, seeing her art on the pages of books that will in turn make others dream and make magick.

Time is an interesting thing. It reminds me of a river wide and deep. We can move forwards or backwards or stay in the same place, with age and change being the only thing that marks its passage. We can still our journey by grabbing on to one of the many boulders at the river's edge, we can also swim against the flow, or we can move with it, swept up in its fluid embrace.

I have chosen to go with the flow, whether that flow be fast-paced or a gentle pull. Time for me is as irresistable as the moon and I will always move forward and wonder, with an often child-like enthusiasm, just where I will find myself when the current slows again.

*laughs* And now I have finished waxing lyrical, I shall hush and share a few of my latest imaginings.

Title: Draconus Amphibia Cornuta
Size: 5.5"x8.5"
Medium: Graphite

The Draconus Amphibia Cornuta, or Horned Dragon Frog, is a native to the tropical, and temperate climates. It is aboreal, and can camoflauge much like the common chameleon. It can grow to almost 24 inches in length from head to tail tip, and lives on small birds, lizards, and toads. It has a particular fondness for Cane Toads as the toxins in the toad's skin helps the Horned Dragon Frog to produce it's own toxins which can be injected via both tooth and horn.

The Horned Dragon Frog is not aggressive unless hungry, and is often heard not seen. It's call is a long low, "Grolllllup!"

Title: Draconus Lepus Leo
Size: 5.5"x8.5"
Medium: Graphite

The Draconus Lepus Leo is a rare creature more commonly known as the black-winged Lion Hare Dragon. They are most likely to be seen in the damp dark places where mushrooms usually grow. This little tyke, affectionately known as Pipsqueak, was seen in my back garden in a ring of mushrooms that popped up after the recent rains. They stand between six to eight inchs high, have black eyes and iridescent, transparent black edged wings. They are gentle, skittish creatures that will run and hide rather than face an aggressor.