Parrish Paradise - Jen's Enchanting Abode

Jen Parrish is a phenomenal jewelry artist with a keen eye for all things beautiful and enchanting.  It should come as no surprise, then, that her own home is about as Domythic a space as they come, and utterly magical.  She shared a few images of her bedroom, each more gorgeous than the last!

Two Parrish Relics above.

 
What's your favorite part of your bedroom?

I love the original tin ceilings, the little pillowed reading corner. There used to be bookshelves there but I took them down to drape fabric that was the same color as the walls and piled the books in a corner where I could access them better. It was a challenge moving David’s bureau into an already tiny room but somehow we made it all work.

Beautiful bags above were embroidered by Medieval Muse and similar styles are available on her Etsy.

Do you have any advice to share on building a collection of treasures and making it look so inherently enchanting? 

Ignore the “rules” and go with your emotions, surround yourself with things that make you happy or remind you of what you love out in the world. Favorite colors, textures, prints. I do like the suggestion of creating visual pyramids or triangles, and try to do that with surface decorating and sometimes on the walls as well.

What's your cat Galatea's favorite part of the room?

Galatea's favorite spot is on the bureau, particularly when we let Shadow up each night to try to get them used to each other.  She loves sitting in the windows, watching the birds and the world go by. Any sunny spots. Her cardboard scratching box, surrounded by pink toys (her favorite!).

What are some of your favorite resources?

Thrift stores, yard sales, sometimes Homegoods. Loved their clearance section for damaged “parts and pieces” that I can work into something else or just hang on the wall “as is”. Many of my most cherished things are gifts from friends or my mother who is an antique dealer and knows my taste very well by now, and I’m very grateful! 

Interior Alchemy by Rebecca Purcell is a huge inspiration and I learned to see fabric as a great tool to divide rooms or create warmth within a space through her book. I also love The Stencilled Home for wall painting magic

Framed postcard on the wall above is by Cynthia Staples and available here along with Burne-Jones designs here.

More Sources:

After nearly a lifetime of collecting, I have stopped completely (ok, maybe a few books here and there) until we move to a bigger house in a few years. This one is packed! Ebay is another good source obviously, as you can enter any particular search term that interests you…”William Morris” and “Gothic Revival” were always my favorites to plug in and see what treasures pop up! You never know when or where you will find something wonderful. I went to yard sales last year with my mother to try and find a bookshelf and exactly the right one was waiting for me, along with a gorgeous lion headed writing desk and the huge framed print of Waterhouse’s “Lady of Shalott” that now lives on the wall opposite the bed. All at one sale! That was an exciting, car-filling stop

Thank you so much, Jen, for sharing your extraordinarily inspiring home with us!

Domythic Mythic Fiction

So I'm just going to assume here that all or at least most of us who frequent this blog like to read.  I mean, Domythic style is all about making your home seem more like a story, fairy tale, or myth.  I will go a step further and presume that many of us have a predisposal toward mythic fiction authors and stories, like those of  Neil Gaiman, Charles de Lint, etc.

But what about Domythic Mythic Fiction?  Sounds a bit repetitive doesn't it?  But it's true...all mythic fiction might be a wonderful genre, but not every book is set in a domestic environment in which the house and its contents and homely magic feature prominently.

I thought it might be fun to recommend a few that do!


I've been on a kick lately for magic realism authors who set their stories squarely in a believably modern world setting, but then twist it just a slight bit to create enchanting results.  Namely the books of Alice Hoffman are like this, although sometimes she has a tendency to put her characters through the wringer a bit more than I can easily handle.  Two books by her I would recommend for Domythic Mythic Fiction are...

Practical Magic

You knew this one would be on the list, didn't you?  The women of the Owens family are so squarely set in their magical home in their magical New England town.

The Red Garden

Don't worry, Game of Thrones fans...this is NOT like the Red Wedding.  This enchanting book has a series of short stories that take you time traveling through the same small patch of land in the same Massachusetts town, as homes are built there, stories are told there.  The common thread is a small garden on the property where only red plants can grow.


A handful of years ago when newly released, I stumbled on the first novel of an author who intrigued me.  Now she has become my enchanting little secret...an ace in the hole whenever a patron at the library where I work asks for a book suggestion.  Her work is very Hoffman-like, but unceasingly optimistic, enchanting and marvelous.  I cannot recommend her highly enough.  Her name is Sarah Addison Allen, and all of her books are utterly Domythic, starting with...

Garden Spells

Stick with me here...if you've read or seen Practical Magic, the plot of  this book might at first seem rather familiar, but Addison Allen makes it entirely her own.  It's the story of, again, a magical house, a magical family, and two sisters who have to learn to deal with their abilities.  The apple tree makes it.  Just read.

The Sugar Queen

This is possibly my favorite book by Addison Allen.  It was with this book that I discovered one of her signature features to her books is to have a non-person character who charms you.  In this book...it's books.  An utterly Domythic house shows up midway through the book too.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon

...in this fast read (almost a novella instead of a novel) it's a wallpaper that changes with your mood.

The Peach Keeper

is Addison Allen's newest book, and a little less Domythic than the others, not featuring a home that enchants with magic, but is still worth a read.



I have many more recommendations and will be posting them, but I also want to hear your suggestions too.  What contemporary fiction books have you read that featured Domythic settings and enchanting homey spaces?

Confessions of a Beauty Glutton

I feel so lucky to live in a time when I can communicate with and share with creative spirits around the world.  When a phenomenal photographer like Kristy Mitchell creates a new epic fantastical narrative photograph, or a phenomenal artist like Charles Vess is creating art for his new book, we get to see the results immediately.  Sometimes we even get to see the piece in stages as it unfolds.  What an inspiring and amazing opportunity!  The mythic arts community is closer and closer at hand, and we all feel much less alone.

However, there is an unintended and unfortunate side-effect to all of this ready access to aesthetic wonder:  We've become a society of beauty gluttons.

New images bombard us constantly.  Every day I undergo a delicious assault of wondrous imagery.  Pinterest overwhelms my senses, and after a while I just have to let all of the beauty wash over me in waves of awe.  But I find myself waxing nostalgic for the time as a teenager that a single image would refresh my senses for days...weeks...sometimes years.  I would stumble on an artwork that really spoke to me on the cover of a card in a random gift shop in a mall I would visit on a vacation, and I would stare at the purchased card all the way home, putting it up in my room and letting it fill my heart with motivation, awe, magic, belief.  Part of me really misses the singularity of that experience.

This painting by Helena Nelson Reed captivated me as a teenager.

Now, I see new images just as soul-stirring as the ones on those cards every single day.  New artwork by an entire globe of kindred spirits is brought before me like a feast before a queen.  And unlike a physical feast, it can be a challenge to know when I'm "full" of beauty and any more will leave me a bit overwhelmed.  I start depending on the visual stimulation like a drug.  I become numb to anything less than the best, and any emotional "beauty buzz" I feel lasts for less and less time.  As a fine art photography model, I can have a photographer send me an incredible image from a session that blows me away with its emotive and mystical brilliance, and yet a few days later I am restless for my next "fix."  

I know...I'm mixing my metaphors here...beauty is both a feast and a drug.  It makes me wonder just how the admirable Aesthetes of the Victorian age would respond today to Pinterest and Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram.  These followers of visual pleasure who counted beauty as their religion and not just as shallow impression...would they also be overwhelmed and not know how to deal with such a steady visual assault?  Would they remain content to gaze upon the beauty of a sunflower for hours when they have new images by Brian Froud, by Tim Walker, by Forest Rogers, displayed before them on a semi-regular basis like the most wonderfully-formed of bouquets ever?

How would they deal without becoming reliant and anaesthetized?  How do you?  How can I? 

Man Behind the Masquerade

So hi.

Um...it's been a while.  Like...a month and a half or so while.  And I'm quite sorry.  I could say that I got caught up in working on my garden, which would excuse me for the last few weeks, but honestly I just got caught up in coming home and perching on the sofa, curled in a comfortable ball and surfing Pinterest and the internet on my iPad (which is quite a challenge to write blog posts on).  

I've been writing down ideas for blog posts though, and I know the easiest way to get myself back into the game is just to jump right in and post a new blog. 

So here it is! 

There's this artist...his name is Kit Williams.  Perhaps you know his name already, perhaps you don't.  But you've probably heard of the little book he illustrated in the 70s called Masquerade.  The entire thing was a riddle, with a breathtaking treasure buried in a secret location only unlocked by following the clues in the artworks. 

There's much more to the story of Masquerade, which brings me to the topic of the outstanding documentary, The Man Behind the Masquerade, from BBC.  The documentary tells the story of what happened to the buried treasure Kit created, and shows us what Kit is doing these days.

Come to find out, he lives in a VERY Domythic house, making VERY Domythic artworks that utilize their frames, shapes and symbols, and secret stories.  He lives simply and quietly, with a core group of collectors who know where to find him.  I finished the documentary with a sense that here is a man who truly lives a life of magical creation.

The documentary used to be on YouTube, and if you know of a way to see it, please let me know!  I took these caps based on a few random parts of it that are still on YouTube.


Kit at work on a painting.

I love his shelves and shelves of books and relics and mysterious objects.

A collector discusses one of his works.  He creates the phenomenal frames for his art as well, and makes them a part of the piece.  This is a gorgeous example.

Love the Escher quality of this photo

More shots of his workspace.  So many warm glowing honey colors and wood tones....

Another example of how he plays with the borders of his pieces.

This image was what sent me in search of the documentary again to share it with you.  This is Kit's front door..  Oh yes.

More intriguing objects.

Love how it looks like he has wings in this shot.

Imagine having his art on your walls.  Instant enchantment.

Costumes and wings for model reference.

Or how about a whole bunch of his artworks?

Once again playing with the borders of his art.

His beautiful door and courtyard.

I know, Kit,  if I lived here I'd never leave either...

N

What a charming and subtle sign!

Mythic March Monday Makings IV

The month is winding down, and what a month it has been!  We have one more week to the official Mythic March, although hopefully those of you who are participating have found new fervor, started new projects, etc. that will extend beyond the original deadline.

This week I wanted to share with you two different resources for inspiring you to get off your bum and create.  Both have worked equally well for me this past week, in rather different ways.

First is this article from The Onion.  And yes, if you know anything about The Onion, you'll know it's rather farcical and tongue-in-cheek.  I started reading this article and thinking "oh gosh, hahaha, yes...that's just the problem I've had this entire month (and beyond) with motivating myself to create."  You remember earlier this month I was venting about how difficult it was to get off the ground on my projects because of long exhausting hours at the place where I work, which just had a grand reopening?  Yeah. 

So this article, titled "Find the Thing You're Most Passionate About, Then Do It On Nights and Weekends For the Rest of Your Life" is perfect.  You start out saying "ha yeah, that's me" and then by the end you realize "Hey, wait a minute...I don't WANT that to be me..."

Any time you're exhausted after work and just want to rest rather than do a bit more on that poem/painting/sculpture/story, read this article and hopefully it will jar you up and moving.

Second, a more traditionally inspiring resource, Terri Windling's blog, Myth and Moor, where she has had a few wonderful posts recently regarding artistic inspiration and motivation.  I find these two posts especially potent for inspiring, personally:

Art stands on the shoulders of craft

Mist and forgiveness

I must say, as much as I am moved by the incredible quotes Terri finds (such a resource!) I was socked in the gut by the words of the first commenter on the second link.  He said:

In the past I often found myself putting off projects until such time as I might be able to achieve the best creation that I can.. which of course is always tomorrow. I didn't have a name for it at the time but I realize now that what turned me into a master of unfinished projects and almost kept me from pursuing art was my lack of self forgiveness

Yes.  Oh gosh yes.  This is me.  To a tee. 


So let me ask you to do something.  If your projects this month didn't come out as you hoped...if they never even really got off the ground...practice what is preached in the above two links.  Step 1: Forgive yourself and then Step 2: Work again at your craft.  

This past week I worked on my craft by finally completing the second of three phases of a massive art project in my house: I completed the last sketch of the Twelve Dancing Princesses on my walls.  Now I only have step three left (the most intimidating):  actually painting them on the walls.  For more images, click here.

 

Mythic March Monday Makings III

Today I thought it'd be fun to show you some of the things people have been creating so far for Mythic March.  Because omg, *pretty*

Ali English has been doing multiple projects...art and writing.  Here are a couple of of her results, more at her blog post.

Once
Once, garbed in hope and youthful dreams,
naïve in velvet and silk, and lace at my cuffs,
I dared your forests, the rose and bramble that
barred my path, walled you in, or so I thought.
I did my fools dance to twig snap and birdsong,
moon struck, moon guided,
my once vaunted finery torn, as I slowly
became woods creature adorned with blood and sap,
time and the weary miles already travelled,
the colours that marked me a stranger in a strange land
left on tree branches and thorns,
bargained away to the witch in her cave,
or given to the stranger by the wayside,
and I have pitched gladly down rabbit holes,
chased ravens, and
sung with blackbirds, wild and crazy.
My velvets have become moss and myth, treeish,
and I’m slowly speaking the language of plants,
reading spells in the owl’s flight, and
I’m starting to understand the passage of time,
here, on my own.

These lessons have I learned -
how to see the jewel in a toad’s eye, and
leap with the salmon.
How to dance with foxes and sing their song while
still hearing my own.
The taste of tears like rain in all its seasons,
and callouses on my hands and feet.
The mark of corvids by my eyes,
gained by long weeks of scouring these woods for you.
And when, at long last, I
arrived at your sleeping palace, no longer a prince, but instead
huntsman, seer, wizard,
those arched, mythic gates opened wide, and
you greeted me – wide awake, sunrise in your eyes – and said
‘At last, here is a fit mate
for the Queen of the Perilous Wood.’
And I realised that you were never asleep at all, never lost,
never in need of rescue.
It was always I.

-Ali English


Gypsy Thornton has been trying to do an artwork a day, and has shared a couple of gorgeous examples:

Lisa Stock, my original partner-in-crime for the idea of Mythic March, has been collecting original artworks from various artists and using them as a starting point for short films. 

Annie Walker has been inspired musically, and the results can be heard in her SoundCloud.  She is adding to the cloud as she creates new compositions.


David Shane Odom shared pictures of the Odom family tapping their maple trees, and asked if this counted.  I say absolutely.

Jenny Davies-Reazor is working on designing new pendants:

Grace of Silver Swan has been painting spring flowers and is still working on a gorgeous mythic tree:

And I...well my next goal is to finish the last two princess sketches for my dining room walls, but I didn't quite get that done this week.  I DID have Tom take a reference shot for the final princess though!