Wind. Leaves. Words. Dance.

 

* At the Goblin Market * 


To ride the midnight train, you’ll need one old coin and a finger bone. It will not take you where you expect to go.


You can purchase love, but you’ll have to pay dearly.


Both story and song are good to barter with.


Framed pictures, the color of cloth and pretty women will not

Look the same in the morning. Trust me on this.


There is a stall that sells questions. Choose wisely.


Yes, you can commune with the dead.


Never eat the apples.

 

 *  * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Every year, Autumn seduces me effortlessly. The colors, the scents, the quality of the light! Long sleeves with thumb-holes and fleece and hot chocolate and boots! And paths like this:

 

 

We are on storm watch tonight. It is appropriately blustery, and I suspect the leaves are having a last hurrah.

Soon the trees will be bare.

 

 

This is also the season when dance events pick up. I recently performed a tribal fusion piece with a friend at Rakkasah East, a weekend long festival that celebrates all forms of bellydance.

 

 

And this past weekend, I had the opportunity to photograph some very lovely dancers at a local hafla:

 

 

It is such a pleasure to "capture" the bliss!

 

 

 

 

Hello, it's me.

Why hello! Lest you think I've been slacking off over here, have a few photos.

I've been doing this:

 

 

And this:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pleased to have found a technique that I like to use to transfer photos to canvas, at least on a small scale. The distressed look is intentional, and is well-suited to my theme of "objects and oddities." I've been mounting them like this:

 

 

 

 

Or using cradled canvas, which I've fallen a little in love with:

 

 

 

 

I've even gotten a few of them into my Etsy shop! 

 

 

So far, Autumn has been productive as well as pretty. I hope all is well where you are!





 



In the blink of an eye: July

Sometimes it feels like the long, hot days of summer are lingering and at other times it seems the calender pages are flying. I've been chasing bubbles:

And dragonflies:

I've been dancing, of course, and shooting other dancers

(with the camera):

There's been a bounty of blissful summer reading. "The Prisoner of Heaven" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and "Shadow of Night" by Deborah Harkness were both released earlier this month. I was also gifted with an ARC of Maggie Stiefvater's "The Raven Boys." Did I mention bliss?  All three are well-written and deeply enjoyable gems ~ I'd highly recommened any of them!

I've also been reading submissions for Scheherezade's Bequest. The upcoming issue revolves around riffs on"The Loathly Lady" and the themes found therein. This is a tale that has always been close to my heart, and I'm happy to see freshly spun stories that explore this tale further and take it to new and exciting places. The final product will mark the re-entry into the world of print for Cabinet des Fees. If you have a story that suits, please send it along, or if you know someone who might be interested in submitting, feel free to share the guidelines, which are here.

Random Love

Song for a Full Moon

1.

Sky-kissed moontide

Mother of pearl

Ribbons of light

2.

A time to ride

Dreams, desire, dread,

Pick your chariot

3.

Decide to

Sink or rise, imagination

Is key and belief

4.

At the crossroads of night

Anything is possible

Even the smallest of stars

5.

Shine. Sing.

Dance in a swirl of colors

Wear them home

6.

Or leave them behind

A shadow cloak

That lingers long after

7.

You wake and find

The taste of magic

Still clinging to your tongue.

Just a Few Words

 

Things Crop Up

Bloom, Blossom, Grow. 
Signs of Spring are cropping up everywhere...

The Suburban Duck Duo has returned to camp out in my gardens...

Where wet and watery reflections can often be found

along with the flora and fauna...

And even the fungi seems to be shaped like be a flower:

Other things have cropped up as well...

Two of the masks I made several years ago were recently used in a music video.  I hadn’t thought of them in quite some time, so it was a pleasure to find out they are getting put to good use.

On May 1st, my duo partner and I joined up with a delightful array of dancers for a very festive Tribal Expo. The two of us performed to Loreena McKennett’s “Huron Beltane Fire Dance.” It was a lovely evening and a fantastic way to start the month!

Happy May!

Spring

“Winter” she whispered, but his eyes were already shuttered in his face, lids fragile and fluttering. His lips were blue.

She leaned over and kissed him gently, tasted ice tinged with cold decay, forgotten shards of frost, and frozen silence.

His name drifted away on the breeze as she rose, foregoing good-byes in favor of donning her simple white shift, instead. She took one step forward, brave toes bared in the cool grass. Then she took another.

Soon she was running, hair flying behind her with blissful abandon, cheeks pink-tinged, eyes bright. The children were the first to spot her, as they ventured sleeve-and-shoe-less away from the hearth, but soon others felt her presence as well.

Even the earth blushed wherever she walked, leaving trails of buttercups and berry flowers in her wake. She loved the harebells best, and they loved her back, but the sun loved her most of all, and welcomed her arrival with arms wide open. 

Hello Spring.

Random Love

February was for Dancing...

Oh, the blur of February! I had a landmark birthday and one of the things I did to celebrate it was to perform my first tribal duo. It was a whirlwind of exploring and choosing music, gathering coordinating gear and collaborating on the choreography with my dance partner. 

It struck me that the process was much like that of writing or of making tactile art ~ start with a vision and work your way towards it. Tweek this, refigure that, and fine-tune it until it feels just right.  And then there's the performance itself: exhilarating moments when time is shaped by sound and movement. I enjoyed every second of it.

This was taken on the day of the show:

I brought along my camera and captured some of the other performers:

A “wowza” moment:

And a tribal version of “The Three Graces.”

Now that March is here, I am re-reading Pratchette’s “Wintersmith” to make up for the not-quite winter that is now bordering on Spring.  Yes, those elementals can be tricky, but oh-so charming as well! And I’m pretty sure Granny Weatherwax will always be one of my heroes...

Under a Winter Moon

A long winter's night,

Under the light of the moon

She dreams of flowers.

Pocket Design and Time

This post by Jude Hill got the cognitive wheels turning, and my back brain has been playing with the idea of shape as a form of time.  The initial thought prompts mental images such as the infinity symbol or perhaps Dali’s melting clocks, but mostly it’s an abstract concept that makes a kind of intuitive sense.  I suspect it also depends heavily on association, a factor that is ever-present in story, in image, in life. And in the latter’s case, it seems to be especially relative.

Today’s choice of jeans, for example, was based on the pocket design, which somehow seemed to evoke the idea of shape as time (at least for me). 

The stitching suggests little steps, movement of sorts, though right at this moment, I’m nestled in the eye-shaped space in the center where the two curves meet. Winter is like that, I think ~ an atmospheric time to sink into introspection or contemplation, and to nest. Cleo, my calico gurrrl cat, has the nesting part down to a fine art…

I think the center also feels right because we’ve just switched from one calendar year to another, the space in the man made realm where the old and the new connect. What will this newness bring? Many good things for all of us, I hope.

As for blogging, “Lens and Pen” began as a structured project for 2011, but where will it go in 2012? What shape will it take next? There will be stories, of course, and photos as well, including those that will pop up under the heading of “Random <3, an Irregular Series.” Here’s the first:

And there will probably be rambling posts like this, shaped loosely as words tumble out while the kitties nap and the laundry tosses around in the drier. Sometimes blogs are like that, I guess. And Jude’s post touches upon that, also…

“shape is often the result of continuing.

the record of a path in any direction. captured for the moment.”