Been busy

So many things going on in the past few months as well as the months to come.

I had to prepare for and run a booth for my shop, Lotus Moon Apothecary, at the Satin Dolls Fetish Ball. Which was really awesome aside from being super warm in there.
Lot of fun. I got to work with a friend who I hired to be my fortune teller for the night.
Same friend who is also helping teach me how to sew. Yes I finally know how to use my sewing machine for some things. First thing I was being taught was how to sew a corset. Fun times.

I also have shop space down at Alchemy Spa in Boise now. ^_^
Though you can still order anything I make online whether it is in Alchemy or not and it will be shipped to you. So don't forget to look my shop page up on Facebook to see all I have to offer.

I started going to a scrap booking class and soon a stamping class; because I thought it would be fun and broaden my knowledge with paper stuffs.  I am already learning some fun things and they give you the supplies for each project for free so its awesome.

one of the non paper projects we had to do was paint and decorate a tile in the Wizard of Oz theme. This was mine.

I did a lot more painting on the tile than most do in the class… but I can’t help it. I am a painter after all. I even cheated and painted on strips of paper for the sign and the tree on the far right. The trees with the raised look were painted, then I put glue and its going to sound funny but tissue paper to make the raised bark look before I painted over it. I like the way it came out. I was going for the wizard of oz forest scene.


This is an oil painting I am working on that I had to pause work on it to get some other things done. I am thinking of putting either a creepy house, a house and lighthouse, or a combination of the two to make two in one… Tossing around ideas.
This is what I have on it so far. Its loosely based off the Oregon coast.

I also got to work on making a new book of shadows. I decided that the cover would resemble my A Grave Night painting. It’s not finished yet, but its getting there. Looking better than I thought it would considering I had to downsize and free hand the same painting. Never been great at it so I guess I am improving my painting skills in that way.

It is a little farther along than in this picture, I basically just need to add the tombstones and the yellow to the lantern. All the pages are burnt and ready to be inserted as soon as I am finished painting.

I also finished the commissioned painting awhile ago but I haven’t gotten permission to post pictures of the painting yet. I will most likely be able to get some up around the beginning of September.

I have a vampire photo shoot coming up at the end of this month I am going to be in. There is still much to be done in prep for that shoot. I am sure the pictures will turn out wonderful though :)


I went over to see a friend on the 8th and we made a random spur of the moment trip to the forest. It was probably an hr or so drive out… a really bumpy but fun drive. My car sure couldn’t have made it that’s for sure.
It was gorgeous up there though! we got there around 4am or 4:30. I got to see all of Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Eagle lit up. The stars were amazing. I saw the milky way, the seven sisters, drako, more than 5 shooting stars, and a bunch of others. I wish my camera was powerful enough to get shots of the stars. I did get shots of the city though.

This is maybe 1/3rd of the city lights. I took tons of pictures of the city lights but I figured posting one should be enough.
Here are some other photos from that day once the sun came up.


View from the drive back down
 
Twilight over the city.

  

Little hobbit hut we found. I was really excited to find this… I think its awesome!

View from not far inside the forest. Being that this was a spur of the moment trip, neither of us thought to bring food… So we got hungry and had to leave before too much of the area was explored. I did however come back with quite a good yarrow harvest. I also got a couple of sunflowers.

I have been harvesting peppermint, mugwort, and a small bit of sage from my own garden.

I got to work on trying to organize my book I am writing a bit better. I am at a point where I need it clear and easy to find certain points. Its slow going but I am getting a lot done. I need to add certain things at certain points for the various events within the book. It did not matter if it was organized before but it does now so I am working on that. Hopefully before I get the writing kick again lol.

I am also working on a new skirt design with the new fabric I found. I have not made a skirt like this before. I saw one like it and have the basic understanding of how it is made so I am just kind of going with it. I will post pictures if it turns out at least wearable.

Gardens, the welcoming of Spring, and paintings

It has been pretty busy for me for the past little while.  Been slowly stocking up on new shop supplies like bottles, jars, wire, etc.
There was a beautiful Super Moon out Saturday night. I was able to take advantage of the full moon and blessed all the little herb and flower seed packets I got recently under the moon. I planted those seeds Sunday. This is one of the trays of herbs from my garden which I am starting indoors.
Its a horrible phone snapshot but I wanted to show you what I have going on.


It has been a long time since I have had my own garden to tend to. Too long if you ask me. I did have two pots of herbs and some potted flowers last summer but I don’t really count that as much of a real garden. Almost no harvesting was involved, though yes I still had to water them.

Last years flowers.

I loved all the bright mix of colors. It was kind of a spur of the moment garden.
This one I have planted yesterday was a bit more planned out yet still a very spur of the moment thing since I had only thought about wanting one and then one day just decided to get the stuff to do it while I was at the store. I am glad I did :)


All the thoughts about different gardens reminded me of some beautiful terrarium pictures I had come across awhile back. I had thought of trying this at some point if I ever came across the right plants to put in them.

Here are some of the lovely pictures I came across.

 


They are all so very beautiful and inspiring. Most require you to spray them with water every day… while the ones in the boxes at the top I believe have air herbs in them and only require you to spray them once a week. They are lovely and I would love to have a bunch of these scattered throughout my house.

Putting them in large apothecary jars is defiantly something I would like for obvious reasons.


One of the things I love about the Spring and Fall seasons is all the extra creativity and inspiration. My muse and I are a lot more active during these months. I get more paintings done, more things made, get to enjoy all that nature has to offer.
In saying all of that, I have been working on the painting I have been commissioned to do again. Lots of work getting done on it now rather than small little bits and pieces. I knew it might get put on the back shelf during Winter. I am just am more inspired to paint during the Spring and do not wish to force creativity to flow when there is none for that subject. I have yet to train my muse to be there on command. I am not sure I will ever be able to… but at least I know when to predict it to pop up and help inspire me in the right ways.
Not only have I been working diligently on this painting, which is turning out quite wonderfully, but I have also started working on an old unfinished painting of mine. I had put it on the back shelf for quite awhile not sure what to do with it… I decided today that the lotus needed to be repainted. I already knew the yellow was not the color I wanted but was not sure what color I DID want. I decided on two purples and letting a bit of the yellow peak through. That’s what I worked on today. I also added a little bit of dark green to the outer edges of the lily pads.
This is what resulted from it. The painting is in no way done yet.


I am a lot happier with this color than I was the last. I did not even take pictures of the yellow lotus I disliked it that much. Everything is trial and error. It turned out it was good that I painted it yellow at first since it helped with the peek-a-boo color effect I really like.
Everything on this painting was done in acrylics except for the dragonfly wings which are real and from two different species of dragonfly. Dragonfly expired naturally and was not killed for the sake of the painting. The dragonfly’s body was painted, only the wings are real.
I still have not mapped out everything that will go on this painting yet. To be honest it is just kind of coming together piece by piece. I have ideas for what I would like to add to it but nothing is carved on granite yet. Fixing the lotus really does help me to think of more things that I could incorporate into it though.

I am sure I will get back to work on my Funeral Home for the Strange and Deranged this Fall. It is a Fall themed painting and was started but unable to be finished during the season.
This is a picture of Funeral Home for the Strange and Deranged. I need to take better pictures during the day with a better quality camera at some point.

There is a lot of detail to this painting that you cannot see with this picture sadly. Like all the different colors in the bark of the tree. Even this photo does not show it well enough but still better than the one above for the tree.

I recently  got some more colors of acrylic paint which will help with blending new different colors together. I have already started using them. I also got another brush I am having fun using as well.

My A Grave Night painting is obviously done and available for purchase. Its on 11x14 canvas done in acrylics. Email me at Lotus_Moon@hotmail.com if are interested in possibly purchasing the painting and would like more information.