Tangled Woods and Skies Above

Ahhh I've been very busy these last few months...the time has gone so quickly! But this is what I've been working on - a solo exhibition. Inspired by my trip to Scotland (oh how I wish I could have stayed there longer!) but also by stories and myths I've read over the last year or so. It's a stunning little gallery - all old worldly wooden beams and whitewashed walls.... I just hope I have enough work to fill it! :)

"Tangled Woods and Skies Above"

Solo Exhibition at Montsalvat in the Residents Gallery.

26th August to 27th September

An exhibition inspired by Story. Depicting a world of dark forests and strange earth magics, mysterious forest folk who are feared by those who travel the safe paths through the sky...

Exploring a collection of characters - forest dwellers, fey folk, sky ship travelers, nomads trading on the forest fringes and lone adventurers who brave the green depths to find a shorter path...

So come along and make a day of it and explore the stunning Montsalvat grounds (adult admission is $14) 

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It is a truly magic, old worldly place and I am so excited to be holding a show there!

I'll be sitting the gallery on sat the 29th in lieu of an opening night so come and say hello!

-I'll also be there on Sun the 13th Sep for the inaugural Arts Festival tickets are selling quick so get in there!

http://www.montsalvat.com.au/Wh…/MontsalvatArtsFestival.aspx

Hope to see some of you there! xx

Here's a selection of smaller works that will be in the show...I'll share the larger pieces later

Ancient One

A Northern Trader

The Autumn Cloak

The Soothsayer

The Green Maid

And some imagery of Montsalvat if you've never been there...magic hey? ;)

(images are from the Montsalvat website)

the enchanted harp...

Beauty to be found over on Terri Windling's blog as usual - this time dealing with the myths and stories surrounding the celtic harp...just my cup of tea! It is such stories that inspired me to learn the harp when I was younger :)
My favourite tale I've copied below...

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"Into the Woods" series, 39: The Enchanted Harp

A tale from Scotland's Isle of Skye relates how music first came to those lands. A poor youth found a strange instrument (a triangular harp) floating in the waves. He fished it out, set it upright, and the wind began to play the strings -- an eerie, lovely sound the like of which had never been heard. The boy could not duplicate the sound, although he tried for many long days. So obsessed did he become that his widowed mother ran to a wizard (a dubh-sgoilear) to beg him to give her son the skill to play the instrument -- or else to quell his desire for it. The dubh-sgoilear offered her this choice: he would take away the boy's desire in exchange for the widow's body, or he'd give him the gift of music in exchange for her mortal soul. She chose the later and returned home where she found her son plucking beautiful, heavenly music from the strings of the harp. But the boy was horrified to learn the price his mother had paid for his skill. From that moment on, he began to play music so sad that the birds and the fish stopped to listen. And that, concludes the old Scottish tale, is why the music of the harp sounds poignant to this very day.

Read the rest here : 

http://www.terriwindling.com/blog/2015/07/into-the-woods-series-39-the-enchanted-harp.html

"The Holly Tree" by Marja Lee

Interlude...

Ohh so much to catch up on...poor little bloggy blog...But I'll be back soon, with travelling tales, new art and exhibitions on the horizon...
but these are the thoughts i'm hanging onto at the moment-

"When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world."

-Mary Oliver