Brimstone Rhine - A Mythic March Pre-Share

So Mythic March hasn't even quite officially begun, but I have a great project to share with you all that won't wait.

My friend and extremely talented writer, C.S.E. Cooney has started an Indiegogo campaign for a new project that hits all the marks.  It's creative, it's unique, it's mythic, and it's definitely interstitial. 

I'll let her describe it to you.

Basically, Brimstone Rhine has two EPs worth of music. The first is called Alecto! Alecto!, eight songs about women of Greek myth and legend as you've never heard them sung. Medea, Medusa, Alecto, Dido, Lysistrata, Calypso, Scylla and Circe: they're all there, each bright-lit under the spotlight she always deserved. Every song assumes its own musical genre, including blues, calypso, rock, waltz, lit-hop, and cabaret.

The second EP is called The Headless Bride. This is a darker journey into carnival-noir-weirdo territory. These eight songs lean hard toward rock and even (gasp!) go a bit METAL at times. But we also have a creepy trad folk tune about a ghost (you know, the eponymous "Headless Bride" herself), and a few more waltzes about beautiful monsters who like to eat people. Oh, and there's a nautical dirge. I call it "Kenning Song, or The Barrow Brine." Get it? Ha! Oh, also there's a VERY naughty nursery rhyme! 

 Sounds pretty amazing to me!  I have her book of poetry, and loved every poem in it, so I can't wait to hear what she comes up with for these albums.  She also is part of a group of women who perform songs at various conventions and events.  They are known as the Banjo Apocalypse Crinoline Troubadours.  How's that for a name?  Love it!  Point being, she is no new hand at writing songs and performing them either. 

It's a great fun project to support, and I hope you consider chipping in whatever amount you can toward her goal!

Click here to view her Indiegogo page and watch her video explaining the project.    

Mythic March 2015!!!

By Amanda Clark  Link

Oh my dear loveys, I have missed talking to you all.  I've been lost in snowblindness, going through a dark night of the soul this winter season.  I've been quiet here, but I've been busy with Faerie Magazine, creating some stories I'm quite proud of in the Winter 2014 and Spring 2015 issues (which you really should obtain, through a subscription or by going to Barnes & Noble).  But this blog has been quiet.  So quiet.  Too quiet.  In fact, it has been so quiet here, I almost forgot my favorite blog event of the year is coming up in just THREE DAYS.  Just this morning it dawned on me that it's about to be time for MYTHIC MARCH to come around again on Domythic Bliss.  And I was elated to remember.  It was like remembering a birthday party will be held for you just days from now, with tea and scones and cake and flowers and presents. 

Mythic March, for those who may not be familiar, is in its third year this year.  It started when my friend Lisa Stock and I were lamenting how awkwardly timed the National Novel Writing Month of November is...since November is an extremely busy time in both of our lives, during which it is nearly impossible to schedule a massive endeavor such as writing a 50k word novel.  We agreed that spring was a marvelous time to break out into new projects, and Mythic March was born.

Now, I don't know about any of you, but it seems to me that I especially need Mythic March this year.  This winter has been a terrible one in Ohio (and even more so for my dear Boston friends for whom I am sending a sympathetic hug).  I've felt extremely depressed and anxious, fixated on every little small thing (and large thing) that is wrong with my lovely home where I've been trapped for the last four months or so.  The days have been so cold that I've wanted nothing more than to huddle under a blanket on the couch watching Netflix and drinking tea, and yet some part of me has been furious with myself for not creating much of anything or doing anything worth noting for that time. 

Spring is on its way.  Tomorrow night's low is forecast to be -10 here, but the days are getting longer, and more kinds of bird song are in the air each morning.  By the end of Mythic March, the world will look quite different than it does now, and new creations are a marvelous way to mark this beginning.  Our modern society has far too few rituals to celebrate changes in life and in season.  This is one that I feel I am trying to create, both in my own life and for all of you.

So please join me.  Spend Mythic March resolving to create something.  Make a playlist of songs that inspire you to dance.  Write a ritual to celebrate the end of the bitter cold weather.  Write a story, draw a picture, create a collage, invite friends over and make a fruit pie...the point is not what you do, necessarily, but just that it is done with a spirit of imagination and an eye toward new beginnings. 

And when you have started working, please come back here (or to the Facebook group) and share your progress.  I promise I'll be elated to hear from you no matter what you're doing! 

Beat the Post-Christmas Blues!

So yesterday my husband and I dismantled Christmas in our home.  Every year, everything looks so blank and stark after the warm glow of Christmas lights and the greenery and festive garland come down.  Some people deal with this post-Christmas blah by delaying the dismantling of the decorations.  And if it was just up to me, that's probably what I'd do...leave Christmas up until around the start of April.  But for those of us who have to take down Christmas shortly after the holiday, here are some ideas for post-Christmas decor that can still look festive.

I started a pin-board on Pinterest with these and several other ideas, so go there to see even more!

It seems like the post-Christmas vignettes tend to either go in the direction of pale colors and snow, or warm woodsy colors and pine cones and deer and the like.  This wreath below rather nicely encapsulates the variety of post-Christmas items commonly used in decorating.

Another cute idea I thought for the early months of a new year was to do a vignette with different clocks.

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Many many wreaths and vignettes feature the lovely small plastic snowflakes I've seen (and bought) on sale at the Dollar Tree.

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I love the wee little white owl on this one:

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I love the freeform quality of this door vignette:

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Others prefer the warmth of bare branches and pinecones:

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Some are a combination of both types of ideas...

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Personally, some of my favorites involve wintertime vignettes....

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Thanks to my friend Barry Lytle for this picture:

Anything 'deer' in colors other than red and green will work too....

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And if you can't stand the idea of no color at all, the pop of red cardinals against the snow is just as stunning in decor as it is in winter nature.

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So good luck with your post-Christmas cheer!  Remember, there are even more ideas at the pin-board I created! 

The Gardens of Christmas

It all started when my friend Dana posted a picture of a floral Christmas tree.  I was smitten, and wanted to track it down.  So starting with a keyword search in Google, I finally found its origin. 

Winterthur is a museum, gallery, and garden in Delaware.  Each year, they put on a massive spectacular at Christmastime.  The dried floral Christmas tree is a 29-year tradition and is made fresh every year from outstanding examples of blooms gathered throughout the gardens in all the summer months on the grounds.  Gorgeous flowers are preserved, carefully boxed, and saved to later put on the tree.  Therefore, each year's tree is a different creation. 

It's a beautiful idea, especially when you consider that Christmas decorations are really like our way of gardening in winter.  They are a vivid celebration of color, warmth, and joy, just as a our summer gardens bring us a similar dreamlike, drowsy, and perfumed happiness. 

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This video talks about how they make this mainstay traditional tree:

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But this gorgeous tree is not the only one at Winterthur.  Numerous other breathtaking trees are featured among its halls.  One of them is this butterfly tree I've seen on many a Pinterest board.  I did not know its origin until now!

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Another tree pays homage to Downton Abbey, with rich ornaments, small tiaras, and other Anglophile details.

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While the largest tree in the conservatory is decked out in traditional baubles and tinsel, with a tree skirt of live poinsettia.

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I think my personal favorite is the March Bank tree, featuring a celebration of the earliest spring flowers, Daffodils and Snowdrops, peeking through the icy blue snow of the tree.

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One of my favorite things about Christmas decorations both indoors and outdoors is, in continuation of the theme of gardening, how no two are alike, and yet all are so beautiful.  Some people wouldn't be caught using a single colored lightbulb, while others really love the big oversized multicolor vintage lights.  Some people use all organic materials and ornaments on their trees, while others prefer pop culture figurines.  And the best part is...no one is wrong.  Like flowers in a garden, the multitude of decorating styles are all beautiful because of their variety.

There's a line in a Christmas song that says "the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be on your own front door."  The point is that, like viewing impressive summer gardens and then going home to one's own simple flowerbeds and borders, there's a warmth that comes with creating something ourselves that cannot be replaced, no matter how beautiful the examples we may admire.  May we all be content with our individual holly on our individual front doors this year, and be thankful for the warmth that comes with a happy home.

Merry Christmas, Domythic Bliss readers! 

Hedgespoken

You may have already heard about it, but I want to make darn tootin' sure you do.  Hedgespoken is a new fundraiser campaign started by artist Rima Staines and her partner in life and creativity, Tom.  I first came to hear of Rima through her incredible, phenomenal, engrossing blog, The Hermitage.  When I first started reading her blog, she was a traveling artist living out of a converted Bedford truck, with paintings by herself and other mythic artists tacked to the walls, and views of romantic British countryside out her back door.  Her blog was (and is!) an incredible way to feel swept up in a romantic life that seems from another era.

Rima put down roots in Chagford, Devon.  (A town I really need to do a whole blog post on, and perhaps I shall)  She found a local community, a place to belong.  But she never stopped wanting to live a traveling life again.  And so Hedgespoken was born, a campaign to create a NEW housetruck, but this time with a proscenium stage built into its side to perform storytelling and puppetry, a whole mythic arts on wheels concept. 

And I adore it.

Although we've had a terrible year financially, I am trying to help Rima by spreading the word as far and wide as possible.  She has a sub-campaign to challenge people to try to raise funds through informing others of the Indiegogo page, and so I would ask that if you do decide to help fund their project, you please do so through

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Also enjoy the below fundraising video.  It well sums-up the project and the fantastical, Domythic feel of what they are trying to create!

Also, Rima just posted an incredible blog today all about what appeals to her in a traveling life.  It is truly a remarkable post, and is almost enough to convince this introverted home-addict to hit the road. 

My Internet Home!

Yesterday I mentioned that I am not giving up on this blog.  However, you should know that your resident blogger has now created her own website (ok I can't talk in third person forever).  I made a website, since I have so many varied creative pursuits, so that anyone so inclined could have one central place to seek for updates or my latest creative endeavors.  The website template also includes a blog (chuckle) so I will be posting there when I update here, or any of my blogs, and there will also be original blog content on the site itself as well.  I will be linking to any new artwork I create, photo shoots I am involved in, stories I write, new issues of Faerie Magazine, etc. 

So please feel free to bookmark GraceNuth.com ! 

Blogger Never Say Die!

 

 

Video killed the radio star, or so the song says.  Perhaps the sequel to the song should be called "Pinterest Killed the Blogging Star."  The internet is full of websites that were once the biggest fish in the pond, but now are hardly used at all.  Facebook crippled MySpace, and eventually did the same to my once-upon-a-time go-to social outlet, Live Journal.  And now it seems like Pinterest is starting to cripple blogging sites.

I've noticed over the last couple of years, but this year especially, some of my favorite Tumblrs and blog pages have a special announcement at the top of the page saying that the blogger or site creator is going to leave up their page, but will no longer be updating.  But you can find him or her on Pinterest! 

Ah, Pinterest...so very very useful and enticing for many purposes, so seductive for someone who loves aesthetically appealing visuals.  And yet there is something missing in a world that only revolves around images.  It's like a children's book with no words.  Of course wordless books exist, and can be incredibly moving and enchanting.  But there's also an irreplaceable and totally separate kind of magic that comes when visuals and long-considered words join together. 

This is the realm of the blog, of the LiveJournal entry, of long-form creative or expository writing.  And we are sadly getting further and further away from it online.  Twitter may quickly give us short jolts of information from friends and famous people with whom we want to keep in touch, and Facebook may offer us a newsfeed to scroll through for bits of the daily workings of our lives and our friends' lives, but none of that replaces a piece of writing that integrates images and thoughts into a long-form look at someone's inner thoughts or views of the world. 

All this to say, my dear readers, that although I haven't been on here as often as I used to, or as I'd like, I do not plan to abandon this blog space.  I am on Pinterest, and yes, it is seductive.  It is far easier at the end of a long day to go onto Pinterest for a little while and search keywords, falling down the rabbit hole of beautiful images linked from other beautiful images, creating themed boards meant to share beauty in an organized and thematic way.  (And yes, I do have a Domythic board...several actually!)  Searching for the images that I find beautiful and finding so very many available at one resource...it's seductive and stress-relieving.  But I cannot let this fun and useful tool replace what I've already built here.  I can't replace creating my own words-and-image creations, exposing my thoughts and enthusiasms...with rehashing already-created visuals on a variety of pin boards.  Both of them have their place, but they cannot replace each other.

By the way, there is another reason for my recent absence on this blog.  Just a reminder...I am now working as a Deputy Editor of Faerie Magazine, and although it's wonderful and satisfying work, it is also quite time-consuming, and takes up time and energy I normally would have spent on my blogs.  The last three issues of Faerie Magazine have all featured multiple articles from me, some of which are quite Domythic in subject.  I'm really proud of what we've been creating in our newest issues, with a new team, a new look, and a new purpose.  I highly recommend you get a subscription!  And at the end of this month, our Fall issue will be on the magazine racks of every Barnes & Noble store in the United States!