Hello Enchanted Folk friends, just using this Blog, as I know not what else one does, to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, oh, that bit has passed!! Ok, I will go for the second one, the New Year. May I wish thee all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year, and may all you wish for come true and your credit card bills are small and kind!!!

Love and Blessings

Neil xxx 

We recently had the good fortune to welcome US artist friend Sarah Costanzo of PA to our UK shores! We took her to I Do Believe for the Falling Leaves Ceremony and then wisked her quickly back to Orkney, off the north Scottish coast where we live! She had a great time and was then going to head south once more with me to attend Witchfest in Croydon where we were sharing a stall together.

The day after Witchfest, I took her around the many wonderul sites of London, and as we walked along the subway of a tubestation, we heard the music of a busker getting louder. So I suggested to Sarah that she might like to put some money in his guitar case as she went by, and also (very craftly of course) said that is was a very British tradition that as you put your money in the hat or case, you give a great big bow to the musician who is entertaining you! Of course this is not really true, but I wanted to see if she fell for it! And yep, she did! Full hook line and sinker!! I could not hide my laughter and was duelly belted for my antics!! But it was worth it!! American artists please therefore note: Do not let me take you around London!!!

I am currently away from Orkney, where I live and staying with my parents in Buckinhamshire for a few days. They were keen for me to try out their new caravan they just bought so I slept in it, for the fact that it was new and currently smoke free!!

Well I did go to sleep in it, but got awoke by the sound of rain and the caravan moving slightly in strong wind. Later that day I learnt that a neighbour had spotted a tornado moving up the road past our house! That was the time I was in the caravan. So I woke up and checked my two toes, they looked somewhat shaken and I said to them both,  'Toe, Toe, I don't think I'll paint on Canvas any more!'

Greetings from the Orkney Islands, the bit of the North of North of the boarder. As my friend Sarah, of Enchanted Childe,  said today, 'only a barbed wire fence separates us from the North Pole!'

This is the only bit of Scotland, you are hardly likely to see a Kilt, and you can understand why in high winds, that is why it's a good idea to have led weights sown into the hem! In fact, I am about 300 miles west of Norway, and about 700 miles north of Scotland. So you can see we are a bit out of the map as you would know it. Anyhow,  I am co-founder of Orkney Faerie Museum and Gallery, based in Westray, Orkney, and check out the web site so you can have a sneak peak of what we have in this real building dedicated to the Faerie legends of Orkney and Scotland, at www.orkneyfaeriemuseum.com  We are about to close for this season, but next season, starting in April, we hope to have more exhibits, so if you are a Faerie Polymer sculpturer, then I would like to hear from you, as we are seeking some more of those types of displays for next year. I do all the painting and drawing, and generally sporen waving, and my wife Alicen, the writer half, writes out all the legends of mermaids, and faeries, the other stuff, for visitors to read, whilst I stand in the background, swinging my sporen and drinking tea, and winking at them!!

We are also the writer and artist team behind the Hay House book Faeriecraft, (Hay House 2005) see www.faeriecraft.co.uk for that. Alicen and I are currently planning our next joint book for children this time, so watch this space for news of that when it happens. She is due to have a new faerie book out around Nov 2007 called 'A Faerie Treasury' with Angel author Jackie Newcomb.

So all those in Scotland or who plan to travel to Scotland, remember the wee bits a the top, and come and visit us in Westray, where sheep run very fast and Killer Whales stick Vic in their blow holes!

BB

Neil