One of my dearest friends in the faerie world, is the talented Paulina Stuckey-Cassidy. She is one of the sweetest, most thoughtful, dream filled people I have had the privilege to know and work with and is extremely modest about her astonishing abilities. This lovely lady thinks on a very deep level which is why I’ve been an ardent fan of her gentle art for many years and adore all her imaginative, quirky, humorous and wonderful drawings. Paulina’s enchanting style is so refreshingly different and reminds me of the illustrated fairy tale books that were so dear to me as a child and are priceless to me now… There is a fun side to her beautiful original art, a whimsical side, a darker side and a side that’s just fantastically odd! Canadian born Paulina is also an amazing storyteller and has put together a series of gorgeous chapbooks, written and illustrated especially by her for self-publication, just like folk used to do before everything became more commercial. (Look out for a feature on Paulina in Faerie Magazine International next year.) Her charming web site is www.paulina.ws - enjoy the treasures within!

As I’m not very good at dealing with the winter months, this time of year I tend to wish I was able to find a nice cozy place to hibernate as soon as it begins to get colder. Somewhere warm and safe where I can be woken up in time for our birthdays in the spring… So one of the blessings I give thanks for this season, is to be able to light a log fire in our old living room wood burner. Not only do I love the crackling sounds and smells of the wood smoke – especially as it lingers in the cottage the following morning – but I could spend hours just gazing into the dancing flames as they curl up over the logs and create colours that only seem possible in that kind of heat. It is a comforting natural phenomena which sheds a magical light all its own and I’m sure that my mind on some primeval level remembers this, can you tell I’m a fire sign?!

Magical Blessings, Be

“ ‘There is no use trying,’ said Alice, ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’ ‘I dare say you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’ ” – Lewis Carroll

Jack Shalatain's breathtaking visionary artwork is a feast for the eyes and brings joy to the spirit. Jack is an artist who has been especially influenced by the era he experienced and loved in the 60’s and 70’s, giving us a fantastic window into his world at that unique time. I have loved Jack’s paintings since I was really young as my sister loved his unicorns (many of you may also already be familiar with his work) and knowing more about Jack’s thought processes brings us all fresh insight. Interviewing him for Faerie Magazine International (Summer 2007 issue) was such a fascinating process, I learnt so much and have since discovered that some of the early writers whom he admires, are revered by many other highly regarded artistic folk.  Jack is a wonderful, gentle man and we are honoured to have known him these past few years. His new web site is www.shalatain.co.uk take a peek!



Early this summer, we were thrilled to discover that a magnificent Barn owl was regularly hunting in our garden each night and you could set your clock by the fly past at 9.20pm. I found out that the owlets must be nested in a barn on one of the surrounding farms as, sensibly, the adults gather food away from where their young will fledge, so that the babies themselves don’t have to venture far for the first few weeks, cool huh! We always looked forward to these awesome displays of soaring, swooping and diving, it was a breathtaking site watching this big beautiful bird and the highlight of our evenings and for anyone else if they were visiting! As the nights grew lighter, our view became clearer and our presence outside was tolerated too. We did have real concerns on the endless wet days though, as they proved impossible flying conditions and we hope all the family made it through against those tough odds. As you can imagine, we took many pictures, but this was not an easy task. The very best result was of course, by the professional photographer Charlotte Bird, who was staying with us briefly, and I am delighted to share her one here for you as we treasure it so much. Thank you dear friend, for managing to capture a very special memory for our family.

Magical Blessings, Be

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only at night.” – Edgar Alan Poe 
 

 

I have loved Josephine Wall’s beautiful artwork since I was young as it appealed to me perfectly in my early years and now as I’m older, her paintings help me to dream and recapture those magical feelings I had back then! Jo’s whole extended family are delightful and her infectious desire to have fun and keep everyone happy is a joy – she certainly knows how to party, thank you Jo! We have become good friends these past years, spending some very lovely times together, including interviewing her for Faerie Magazine International last year (Summer 2006) – we did manage to podcast this one for you to listen to (www.fairypodcast.com - see my first EF blog). I invite you to have a look at her web-site www.josephinewall.com and get lost in her enchanting worlds as her gorgeous colours (she never uses black!) and romantic themes transport you to places Jo herself wishes really existed. There are strong environmental messages too as she encourages us to remember just how precious and wonderful our earth is…
For the FM interview, I had asked Jo if she would kindly share her favourite quotes with us. This first one was from the headmaster of the school all her children attended, “We are the caretakers of this beautiful, fragile and extraordinarily complex world, protect her well.” (The second one is at the end of this blog.)

The sunsets at this time of year can be breathtaking and the very best place in our garden to view them from, is by climbing halfway up the horse chestnut tree! Then you can get a clear look to the west and watch the sun go down - which always feels like a rather reverent moment to me. I have so many photographs of these views that it has not been easy to choose! My poor family are so patient with me, as if we're out, I've often just had to pull over and stop the car to stare at the majesty of the sky as another of nature's awesome gifts endows us with her beauty. Everything seems to alter in those minutes, even the wildlife is affected and the older I get, the more precious they seem...

Magical Blessings, Be

“If the earth were only a few feet in diameter, floating a few feet above a field somewhere, people would come from everywhere to marvel at it… The people would marvel at all the creatures walking around the surface of the ball and at the creatures in the water. The people would declare it as sacred because it was the only one, and they would protect it so that it would not be hurt. The ball would be the greatest wonder known, and people would come to pray to it, to be healed, to gain knowledge, to know beauty and to wonder at how it could be.” – Joe Miller

We all need to treasure the beautiful bees. These precious insects are vitally important for many different reasons and they're so wonderfully clever! It is always a joy to see and hear the first ones of the spring and I often try to just pause a moment to witness them collecting pollen, a process I still find fascinating. It was a real worry here this year as we had an unusually warm March and that brought some bees out of hibernation before the flowers were open ready for them. Luckily we have a large patch of Comfrey in the garden and this blooms early, so we were blessed with many buzzing friends! My favourite ones to watch are those that visit our Foxgloves as they disappear right inside each bell-shaped flower and then emerge laden with a dusting of pollen and need to rev up to fly high enough with their extra weight! They get laden on the Poppies too. For ages I have been noticing some of the leaves here with mysterious disc shapes taken out of the edges, and then this year for the first time, I was lucky enough to catch one of the culprits… a Leaf cutter bee, who was cutting a tiny circle out of a leaf to use as a nest cell – I could actually hear the munching – it was awesome! Some of the Solitary bees also use the holes in the soft old mortar of our cottage walls, so I feel happy that we are able to care for quite a few 'personally'! We love honey too (to eat, and for medicinal purposes) and I did hear that a lifetime’s work for a Honey bee only produces about a teaspoon of honey – if that’s true, then there’s food for thought! Take care of the Bees and they will take care of us…

 

There is a very special artist who I wanted to mention who definitely deserves a medal for brilliantly managing to juggle fantastic painting, an adorable young family and coming up with more amazing ideas for new projects than we can keep up with! She is, of course, the gorgeous Jessica Galbreth who also has a great sense of humour and keeps us all giggling whenever we’re together. This wonderful lady came into our lives as we were beginning IDB, through her dear friend Amy Brown and we are truly blessed. Take a look at her elegant artwork on her main site www.enchanted-art.com where you will also find links to Jessica’s other awesome projects. Thank you Jess, for all your fun and laughter, you and your special family are so dear to us and we really appreciate your friendship – and the fact that you totally get British humour – kudos!!

Magical Blessings, Be

“Dream your dreams with open eyes and make them come true.” – TE Lawrence

When we first moved here to the Cotswolds, seven years ago, the very first tree that initially captivated me in the garden wasn't the beautiful, crooked old cider apple tree, but one that looked even more enchanted as it had apples of the brightest red I’d ever seen. These photos were taken today, but by October this fruit will look like it has been plucked straight out of Snow White’s story. It is not only magical to look at, but delicious to eat with the pink blush staining the brilliant white flesh all the way through to the pale pips in the middle. To watch and look forward to this little tree valiantly bearing its gifts every year is a humbling experience and one that we all really appreciate, including our wildlife visitors. (It was so funny to see our sheep when they’d eaten too many of the windfalls, as they consequently walked along in a more zigzag fashion!) Mother Nature is so miraculous and clever, and it is a lovely task to be able to pick fresh apples in the dewy autumn mornings for the boys to take to college. What a great legacy to have been left by the person who first planted this tree many years ago… Thank you, whoever you are!


I could not go much further with these blogs and not include the Froud family! Brian and Wendy are a very special, wonderful couple - always delightfully surprising folk who are meeting them for the first time, with how warm and friendly they are - such kind people who live, as we would imagine them to with faerie – the most enchanted folk I have had the privilege to know and I’m sure I speak for many of us when I Thank them both from my heart for all their inspiration and insight, words seem rather inadequate at this moment…
Brian writes a brilliant regular column for Faerie Magazine International and I will talk about Wendy's exquisite dolls (which I adore) that she so wondrously sculpts, on another occasion. But it’s actually Brian’s faeries that we personally have to thank for us deciding to begin I Do Believe! This part of our journey would start years ago, with the momentous ‘phone call to Amy Brown’s publisher whom we’d met and become friends with previously on a life changing trip to New York, although I think I’ll fill you in on that part of our story another day… A few weeks previous to that, I had finally treated myself to one of Brian’s Faeries’ Oracle decks whilst visiting my much missed Glastonbury. Before we made this call of destiny, Drew and I sat down and, for the first time ever, did a Faerie Oracle card spread, with the specific question as to whether or not we should ship over hundreds of Amy’s first books to the UK. It was a huge decision, as this new company would have to be run in our spare time whilst Drew carried on with his career in the wine trade. Although we loved Amy’s book ourselves, it was quite another matter to persuade the main book distribution company to put them into the shops over here as it took a long while for them to understand how popular she already was. Years ago there wasn’t even a category in the British bookstores to shelve them under, as even Brian’s beloved books www.worldoffroud.com were often to be found in the general art section and the only other alternative for anything else on this subject was in ‘mind, body and spirit’ – not really appropriate. These days it's thrilling for us to browse in the bookshops and see a whole section finally dedicated to Fantasy Art and know that currently we at IDB are contributing over thirteen different book titles and counting… and all because we believed. Needless to say, we interpreted the cards we had pulled from Mr Froud's deck as a positive sign and are now extremely thrilled and excited to be working with the fine gentleman himself!

Magical Blessings, Be



“You just think lovely wonderful thoughts,” Peter explained, “and they lift you up in the air.” JM Barrie