Happy Faeries Day to you all. Get outside and do something wonderful with nature and the fairies today!!

Sitting at my sculpting table last week, I realized I was surrounded by more polymer clay leaves than I had a pile of in my back yard.  After time spent of mixing clay, imprinting leaves, and curing them I had a pretty substantial array…and yet, no motivation to do anything with them.  Uh oh, creative block !!!

When life gets in the way (and head) of an artist, that finely tuned thing we refer to as creativity, muse, or inspiration will often grind to a screeching halt.  “Things” had gotten into the way of my “flow” as I like to call it. Family responsibilities, employment woes, you name it, I allowed it all to overwhelm me and each time I sat down to work all I could see were my problems.

Fortunate to have a place to retreat to away from everything, I packed up some clothes, clay, sundry crafty bits, and high tailed it to the mountains of Maine

For two days I sat on the screened porch that overlook the mountains and listened to nothing more than the whisper of wind through the trees and birds who were ever busy at the feeders in the yard. I was an observer to the busy forest life that went on around me as if I were invisible. There are so few places nowadays where you can witness the rhythm of nature uninterrupted like this, and here it’s a magical thing.

Birds tending to their young, deer coming to the lake to drink, the whimsical otter that busily swims back and forth searching for a tasty mussel, the whippoorwill who sings as the last light of day disappears.

Mountain storms blow throw with a fierceness that is scary at times, and the wind howls like a freight train through the forest, and yet if I were not here it would still go on. I am just honored to share the experience...an observer.

I thought about the birds particularly after a fierce mountain storm the other night. All during the day they were at the feeders with their young, back and forth and as the storm approached they slowly disappeared to take shelter. The forest became quiet and as the wind came through, and then the rain, I wondered how they fared. When the storm had passed and the rain subsided slowly, you could hear the symphony start up again and within minutes they were back at the feeders as if it had never rained at all. And I realized that to the birds the storm was an inconvenience, nothing more, and they stayed right on track with what they had been doing before.

So I sat down to my table I have set up here and began to create once again. My muse was back. This time taking it in stride that I’ll run into a metaphoric mountain storm now and then, but maybe this time I’ll view it as an inconvenience and continue down the path I’m traveling in Nature’s stride.

Thanks for visiting!

Spring has been a busy time here in the woods.  Much time has been spent outdoors getting the yard ready for summer.  Planting, raking, and just enjoying the birds and my pet chickens keeps me pretty busy.

I do hope you are all well and enjoying the "rollercoaster" weather patterns that Mother Nature has had us on.

It's obvious that I love being near the woods and all things that have to do with trees, nature and fantasy. Here are a few pieces I've created that are currently in my Etsy shop. Enjoy and Brightest Blessings.

Woodland Frolic is a whimsical walk in the woods!  Sculpted toadstools, whimsical owls, chunks of turquoise, a fairy leaf focal pendant.

Another nature spirit ornament. This is a sugar maple leaf and the dryad's face is done in a slight bas relief.

We daren 't go a-hunting    

So, the next time you lose your keys,  the lights go out, or toys go missing,  blame it on the faeries... you'll feel better and your children will love the stories.  Use your imagination!  

I can't begin to tell you how many times I am asked that question.  As a fantasy artist I live and create in a world of make believe, folk lore, and the everyday magic that is nature.

A better asked question might be, "who wouldn't want to believe in times like these?"

Recent weather catastrophes, war, financial crisis's, drugs, violence, and the downfall of the "hero" in our society has left us bereft and adrift in a sea of disillusion and uncertainty.  As children we looked up to sports legends, movie stars, and presidents until it become glaringly obvious that they missed the mark, fell or were toppled off their pedestals by their actions or misdeeds.  After all they're only human, right?

Faeries on the other hand are known to be duplicitous, tricks-y, pranksters, who depending on their type are pretty straight forward.  Most  fairy fall into one of three categories, Neutral, the Seelie, and the Unseelie. The neutral fairies are just that, neither aligned with the good or bad, and the Seelie are generally considered to be light (mainly positive) fairies while the Unseelie are quite the opposite.  With faerie you know where you stand.

We were brought up believing in the Tooth fairy, Santa Claus,  Easter Bunny, and faeries.  Early memories of scouting fields behind our home for dew covered spider webs on the ground with the hope of discovering  fairy balls still going on.

 Mushroom rings, dark hidey holes in trees, fallen logs, dense underbrush were inspected for wee folk.  My mom and grandmother would read to us each night of wee folk, goblins, and brownies who regularly stole our toys if we were bad.
My favorite poem is still William Allingham's "The Faeries".

Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren 't go a-hunting    
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl's feather!

While we were not rich in coin we were rich in imagination and we believed!

Fast forward some forty years and I still believe. I believe in a world of imagination, of art, of music.  Nature has become my muse, my comfort, and my friend.  I turn off the TV and go for walks in the woods.

The air is clean and sweet, vernal pools are now teeming with life, trees are waking and showing forth their finest buds and blooms.

I believe.

My grandsons are now of an age where Santa, the Easter Bunny, and fairy folk are real.  I will pass on the tales, poems, and stories that were told to me.  The seeds will be planted, nurtured, and if they are lucky, they will have the chance to experience the imagination of a magical world,  something that is slowly dissappearing from their daily life.

So, the next time you lose your keys,  the lights go out, or toys go missing,  blame it on the faeries... you'll feel better and your children will love the stories.  Use your imagination!!

Fantasy artists do it every day.  We live our lives immersed in music, art, folk tales, traditions,  and when the world around us is in chaos, we find the quiet place that faerie provides.  Our own oasis in a desert of disillusioned humanity.

I ask again...do you believe?

Spring is here in New England, and while Nature has been throwing a few curve balls in the way of snow showers, crocuses are up, daffodils are blooming, and the sweet green tree buds are poking their heads out to greet the season.  This is always a magical time. Vernal pools are teeming with life, salamanders, known as fire faeries are everywhere and spring faeries are hard at work.  They bring forth new life and encourage flowers to bloom, they cast color in fields, meadows, and forests.  They are responsible for all things growing and each day as I trek into the woods and fields near my home I am witness to their magic.  

In the spirit of all things new I sculpted a wee faerie toddler wrapped in a sugar maple leaf sleeping soundly in an oak leaf cradle.  While faerie children are rare, I'd like to think that some exist...if only in my dreams.

In honor of my friend Merrie...xo