The Mists of Avalon

 

 

I took myself off on a weekend of adventure to the fabled land - Avalon - hiding in the mists just outside of modern-day Glastonbury.

Four days of magic and mystery with the energy of this special place mixing with the wild souls of the women gathered to make art and find their inner Goddess.

My night dreams conspired to wake me up before the lark and nudged me to view the world outside my window. Where I was expecting blue skies was just a veil of mist stretching as far as the eye could see. Would Avalon be the other side? It was too good an opportunity to miss. I set out on a dawn pilgrimage to the Tor.

Silence save for the birds and livestock calling for their breakfast.

Long skirts brushed through the wet grasses as I disturbed the fairies from playing their harps.

Rabbits hid among the grasses as the Tor and Tower remained as illusive too...

I knew it must be up there somewhere...

And the voices whispered the stories ...

Of love and betrayal ...

Until the guardians of the sacred place bid me back beyond the veil to paint my own Goddess...

 

More on the magical Call of the Wild Soul Art Retreat later this week.

The 500

I thought I might pepper this blog with a few more business-related posts. For those of you about to tune out though ... Fear not! This will not be some Financial Times  review of a bull market nor a dissection of the Bank of England's decision to hold interest rates, nor indeed does it (unfortunately) have anything to do with Spartans with six-packs .... maybe next time...

Instead, keeping true to my passions, I will endeavour to approach each piece of writing with the right side of my brain. We'll tap into what Dan Pink calls his six senses that will be significant in the world of tomorrow........ design, meaning, story, play, symphony and empathy. I have lately been devouring his book - A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future. More on this in a forthcoming post.

Firstly, I wish to share what I got up to yesterday. Together with 500 other Entrepreneurs, we packed out a West-Midlands conference facility to listen to our mentor - serial business creator, birthday boy and bundle of energy and motivation... Mr Nigel Botterill.

It's a regular get together for the members of the Entrepreneur's Circle. It's supposed to be a business-type briefing, but I believe there much be something about 'circles' that conjures up a bit of magic. Regardless of the fact that we had a magician in the room and that Nigel's shirt kept changing colour, there was definitely some enchantment going on...

The day progressed and we moved from session to session, then made friends with like-minded individuals over a limp sandwich and something masquerading as coffee. All day I was coming up with so many good ideas for my creative work, moving my business forward and seeking success. It was like a little picket gate inside my right brain opened up and grand ideas began dancing over to the left to get worked into solid plans and objectives.

I felt in touch with my own story and of those in the room. I was motivated, excited and proud to be able to call myself 'entrepreneur', I felt like the hero of my own fairy tale riding with my companions into a world of adventure. We've forsaken the safety of Employment Town and ridden out bravely to our own tune ready to slay dragons and find the pot of gold... Wish us luck!

Astrid

Astrid

Just one girl book girl to show you today. The second is still WIP which is worrying. Has the flow stopped? Is it time to move onto sketching caterpillars or cars? (By the way no idea why those two subject matter possibilities popped into my head... perhaps The Muse is trying to tell me something!).

Astrid likes playing in the snow and wearing crowns the elves make her.She is my favourite so far. I found her posing in a Gudrun Sjödén catalogue. She has actually already inspired several paintings by me - something about that head gear has always appealed. She is a Winter Princess; woodland royalty.

One of the most magical places to be is ancient British woodland. In a land that is so crammed by people and our creations, there are few spots left where the fairies can live undisturbed. I am building a board on Pinterest of likely spots where they may dwell. Sometimes there's evidence of people having been by - moss-covered ruins, coppicing and carvings in the stone, but by and large the fae keep control of these kingdoms weaving spells to keep away all but those who believe...

Sharing for Sunday Sketches and Day 6 of Art Every Day Month.

Entrancing

For my happy sharing this week, I am cheating slightly and borrowing the talents of others. I'd love to direct you to some wonderful postings that made me smile and clap with joy.

First, have a read of Amelia's musing on what art can teach us about life.

Do you believe in fairies? Read this post and watch the YouTube link set within (be sure to view it all now), then tell me you don't believe...

Finally, more YouTube magic. Have a listen and let the dance vibe invade your soul.

Fairy dust

There's much magic in the air tonight. Can you hear it whispering through the trees? Fragments of spells fly with the fairies as they dust the unsuspecting. The fae background comes to life with a heady mixture of acrylics, inks and old texts revealing hidden secrets. Are you brave enough to look in the mirror?

There's a magical theme to this challenge from TGIF (strictly speaking it is now Saturday morning, but I'm sure it's still Friday somewhere in the world)

Yes, it probably could

I'm back to attempting to plot my fantasy novel again; I'm just struggling to fit it in with all the other creative urges and, it has to be said, the day job rather gets in the way! I am fascinated by the enduring power of magic. If so many have written about it for so long, have conjured up worlds inhabited by elves, dragons, witches, warlocks, dwarves and powerful beings. If imaginations build parallel universes that cross the passages of time then either they were once true or we bring them to life with our longing. Why do we yearn for the mystical and mysterious? What is missing from our lives that we believe magic can fill the gap? If you were confronted by a fairy floating around your bed in the middle of the night offering to take you on an enchanted journey riding on the back of a dragon to an unknown world, would you go?

Could it be magic?

"And above all watch, with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.~ Roald Dahl ~

I found this inspirational quote when I was least expecting it too, though perhaps it was not so unlikely that I would boing from creative blog to creative blog and find it gracing someone's page.

She also has this one:

"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 Carrol~

I love this sentiment, and why not? We do it all the time without realising. Think about last time you plugged in your ipod and scrolled through the 8,000 odd tracks on it, listening to one or two along the way. You don't seriously think that they're all really on that tiny device do you? And how does a digital camera work? Yeah, it's magic all right.

We all believe in magic, just some of us more than others...