Birgit Amadori and her Hotel Fox Designs

About a week or so ago, I was doing a random keyword Google image search for "fairy tale wall mural."  After scrolling through a few hundred images of the same pink castles and crowned frogs, an image fully caught my attention.  It was a room in a Copenhagen, Denmark hotel called Hotel Fox.  And it was a beautiful and very mythic space done in a minimalist style I'd never before seen or shared on this blog.  I had to know more, so I looked up the artist, Birgit Amadori.

I found her Facebook fan page, and sent her a message on the off chance that she'd be willing to talk a bit further about her room designs.  And a day or so later I heard back from her! 

Can you tell us a little bit about how your designs for Hotel Fox came to be? How many spaces did you design for them, and what was your inspiration for the mood and style?

For Hotel Fox, one of the editors from a publisher I previously had worked with asked me if I wanted to pitch some ideas for the project. The great thing was that I was free to submit anything that came to my mind. I liked the idea of an enchanted room. A room that would include symbolism from mythology, things that could help make the room magical. I did get 2 rooms, some hallway carpeting and a large hallway mural. 

I saw on your Facebook page that you referenced the gorgeous and intricate fairy tale artwork of Ivan Bilibin as an inspiration to you. Are there any other illustrative artists, mythic-subject artists, or artists of any genre who especially inspire your work?

Good question. I think Bilibin, Klimt and Mucha are my biggest inspiration. Countless other artists from the Belle Epoque and Art Nouveau era inspire me, too. But I do like to look and Expressionism, too, to remind me to stay weird and not get too decorative, only.

Ivan Bilibin

Ivan Bilibin

Ivan Bilibin

Klimt wall installation on stucco

Klimt wall installation on stucco

Mucha mural in Prague

I am personally a big aficionado of the work of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement. Morris was known for his phenomenal interior patterns, but also for helping to transform entire spaces in a home through artisan works on all surfaces: tiles, wallpaper, furniture, floor coverings, murals…all was included in his process of creative expression. Was his work, or a similar inspiration, at work in your creation of the spaces at Hotel Fox?

 Unfortunately, no. Morris' pattern is a little too much for me I prefer geometric patterns with less detail. For the room King's Court for example, I had much simpler guidance: I was reading the book "The Buddenbrooks" by Thomas Mann, and there, he describes a salon room in blue and white - I thought that might look interesting, so I used that for one of my rooms at Hotel Fox.

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While searching for more images of your art online, I came across a different wall pattern created apparently as a wallpaper. Can you tell us about this design? Do you plan to create more large scale works for interior use in the future? 
 What are you currently working on?

 These large wallpaper designs were created for a print-on-demand wallpaper company. I had been working on a series of angels. Again, I wanted to use positive symbology to create a positive space through the wallpaper.

I am not sure, I am currently not working on wallpaper. The wallpaper thing was more something where one thing led to another. My biggest passion is book illustration. I wrote and published several ebooks that can be found on amazon etc, which feature my illustrations. One of these series from a book was awarded with the How Design Magazine award for this year. I also do book covers. In painting, I do mostly paint scenes from mythology. I just finished a large painting of the Goddess Freya. As a hobby, I draw dream art now and then, whenever an interesting dream comes to me.

Mythic March 2014 - Start Thinking!

By Renee Needham

It's almost that time again, ladies and gents!  And I don't know about you, but I need it this year more than ever.

Well, okay yes I could be talking about spring, but what I'm really talking about is....

Mythic March 

If you recall, last year was the first year we started this fun tradition in the same vein as National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, held every November.  But instead of being in November, we hold ours in the month of new beginnings, when spring's delicate tendrils of green start to wrap around our hearts.

Last year's summary post is here, and I highly recommend you read it, but the concept is simple: just create.  It doesn't matter if you're writing a song, planting a garden, creating art, etc. etc.  Just get off your bums that have been so cozily cradled by the couch all of this freezing snowy winter long, and CREATE something.

By Joel Robison

Every Monday in March, we will have Mythic March Monday Makings, where I'll talk about what I've been working on, and share anything that any of you share with me as far as progress on your own projects.  You can email me here, leave a comment on a blog post, or contact me over on Facebook via our Domythic Bliss group or my personal page (Grace Nuth) to let me know what you're doing.

So now is the time to start thinking about it.  What do you want to work on for Mythic March?  And feel free to tell me your ideas below!

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Whimsy: A Very Silly and Very Important Word

the other day, while doing my semi-regular check of Amazon for new and interesting books in interior decorating, I came across a new title called Decorate Fearlessly: Using Whimsy, Confidence and a Dash of Surprise to Create Deeply Personal Spaces.

Looking through a few sample pages from the book, I started thinking more about the word "whimsy" and how it's a word that I don't use often.  Yet it's one that expresses really nicely an aspect of Domythic decor that I don't think I've entirely covered yet in the blog!

Whimsy is defined as a playful or amusing quality : a sense of humor or playfulness.  And the more I perused Pinterest for boards and pins based around the concept of whimsical decor, the more I realized that yes...it's a magnificent word for describing the "certain something" I try to make sure to have in my own home.  It also describes well the "something lacking" that makes me dislike the interiors found in so many interior design magazines.  Yes, it's true, I'm also looking for a personal touch in those cold and perfectly designed spaces found in magazines, but I'm also looking for a touch of whimsy.

A Domythic home does not have to incorporate whimsy in order to be Domythic.  Not at all.  I've seen stunning fairy tale inspired interiors that take themselves entirely seriously.  They look like exact reproductions of a castle, a witch's cottage, and they are seriously amazing.  But adding a touch of whimsy to every room of your house is a great way to show the world in a subtle (or not so subtle) way that imagination and wonder are important to you.

But what about the thin line where whimsical decorating crosses over into the dreaded kitsch?  Well, quite frankly, I think no one should judge for someone else where that line is.  I've seen the most filled-to-the-brim decorated spaces that thrilled me, and I've seen some austere spaces that somehow still seem warm.

When I'm looking at a room or a house, I will ask myself a simple question, and it's one I find so important...that the second post of this entire blog was devoted to it.  I ask myself "would a child think this room/house/space was cool?" Adding a touch of whimsy practically guarantees that.

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An entire antique porch piece on your living room wall?  Definitely whimsical.

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My friend, the artist Merle Pace, has the most wonderfully whimsical home.  Take note of the old radio cabinet painted a fun color...she calls it "cat theater" and her kitties love to play inside and put on shows for her! 

From Anthropologie

How To Fall In Love Again (With Your House)

This Friday is a very special holiday, Valentine's Day, created for the purpose of celebrating romantic love and wherever an individual may be on their journey with their significant other.

With this in mind, and because it's a topic of special interest to me right now, I wanted to do a post on rekindling  love in a different relationship: between you and your home.

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As I was outlining this post, I found myself quite amused at how much of the language I was using was the same as if I were writing a post about how to rekindle one's feelings in a romantic relationship.  Really, many of the rules are the same or similar enough to be used in both situations.

So what are some of the reasons why a person might find themselves falling out of love with their house, or at least stuck in a stagnant spot in their relationship?

I can think of a few...

1. We're going through a rough patch.  Sometimes every home will surprise you, and it's not always in a good way.  Hidden leaks, surprise expenses, rodent or insect damage, broken systems or appliances...the list could go on and on, it ain't pretty, and often times when it rains it pours.   

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2.  The "Pinterest Effect."  I'm sure anyone who has spent any time on Pinterest is familiar with this one.  And I find it's an especially dangerous possibility to those of us who prefer Domythic decorating.  Many of us mythically minded folks are not only swayed by a meticulously decorated room in antiques or farmyard accoutrements, but even more so the elaborate and one-of-a-kind items, like a sculpted tree bannister, a hand-forged gothic mirror, a chandelier that casts shadows on the wall that look like a forest (yes, I think all of us have seen and want that one!!)  When we spend too much time on Pinterest looking at all of these incredible items, sometimes we can break away to look at our house and see our attempts at magical decor with a soured opinion.

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3. The Five Year Itch.  I've heard it said before that marriages and relationships are at their happiest in the first five years, and then after that it's common to have a period of distraction or unhappiness.  Whether or not you've found this to be true, (side note: I sure haven't) perhaps it can also happen with our homes, where familiarity can breed discontent for no real reason besides just feeling restless.  

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So what are the solutions to these predicaments of falling out of love and into discontent with your home?  Well, once again like the language used when describing romantic relationships, each will be a different journey.  But here are a few ideas I've thought of to try that might help.

1. Find old posts/messages about your home.  In this digital age, likelihood is when you decided to move into your home you left a message trail.  Go back in time and try to find some information from when you first discovered your home.  For me this was a post I did to my LiveJournal account in 2010, talking about how smitten I was with this new home on the market we'd already named Catty-Corner Cottage.  You might not have a whole blog to look back at, but I'm betting you probably sent an email or a message to someone talking about how excited you were for this new home.  Even if not, just close your eyes and try to put yourself back into that moment.  Remember when it was all new and exciting, full of possibilities?

2. Think of all the ways your home has been there for you.  Yes, perhaps you're going through a rough patch at the moment, but think of all the times your home has been there for you...the nights you've curled up under a blanket with the smell of a candle burning as you read your books, a gentle spring rain that fell on your garden just when you needed that extra burst of growth, the stove that helped you bake that perfect cherry pie for your husband's birthday.  Truly there's so much for which to be thankful.

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3. Reminisce about your home in other seasons.  This one is somewhat related.  If, like me, one of the sources of your discontent is just that you're going a little stir-crazy being shut up in your home for winter, it can help to remember what your home is like in other seasons too.  Remember how good that cold wood floor felt under your feet in summer time, how exciting it was last spring to see the small buds and shoots of your garden peek up through the ground.  Remember raking up all of those crunchy autumn leaves, sipping hot cider.

4. Get away for a little while.  It can take as little as a few hours or a single night away from your home to see it with new eyes when you return.  I'll find corners I forgot to clean, and funky smells I didn't notice, but I'll also get a reminder of how pretty certain rooms look.

5. Remember...Pinterest shows every option.  Remember when you were a little girl or boy and you decided every week you wanted to be something different when you grew up?  You were going to be a rock star astronaut veterinarian fashion designer, and no one would tell you different.  But as you got older, you understood that although it's good to have dreams, it's also important to remember that you're only one person, and you can't put too much pressure on yourself to do and accomplish absolutely everything that comes into your mind.

Pinterest triggers that little child tendency again.  We create gorgeous boards called "Someday" and "My dream home" that couldn't possibly exist in the real world.  You can't simultaneously live in a caravan, mansion, cottage and Hobbit hole.  And any one house that included every piece of stained glass, tree sculpture, gothic carvings, etc. etc that you may pin would be...well it would be amazing, wouldn't it?  But it would also be overkill, and often an eclectic mess.  Your senses would be constantly overloaded. 

The process of decorating one's home is by its very nature the antithesis of Pinterest.  Instead of choosing five lamps for that corner, one to represent each side of your personality, you are forced to choose one.  And frankly I think that makes each of our homes, and the narrowing down of what items we choose to display and decorate it with, even more special than any Pinterest board could ever be.

Remember...eating every flavor of ice cream eventually makes you sick.  Choose your favorite and eat it mindfully.  And then walk around your house and see each favorite you chose.  Remember the stories behind each item...the strange iron doorstop you found at a flea market, the candle you were so excited to see on clearance at Target, the portrait a friend from Australia drew and sent to you as a total surprise.  Remember how exciting it was when those items were new.  And feel that excitement all over again.  See what a wonderful story your home tells about you.  And don't scoff at that story or reject it for a bunch of disjointed narratives, just because they're pretty.

I Feel I Owe You An Explanation...

Portrait of me by Ellie Lane Imagery

I love blogging.  There's something marvelous to someone who is an introvert and creative about putting your thoughts out to the universe, and having people respond positively.  It's therapeutic to get my thoughts down, exciting to share beautiful objects or discoveries or realizations in an organized manner, and it's great fun to go back and read through old blog posts, almost like discovering all of the discoveries over again. 

But lately I've been a terrible blogger.  I have three blogs, each of which serves a different purpose, each of which I love very much for different reasons: There's Catty-Corner Cottage, my personal blog where I share stories and pictures from the process of fixing up and personalizing our first home.  There's The Beautiful Necessity, where I talk about my never-ending obsession with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and explore new and re-evaluated details of their lives and their art.  And then there's Domythic Bliss, where I talk about the Mythic Arts in general, and more specifically how to express a love for myth and fairy tale in one's personal abode and daily environment. 

I haven't blogged at either of the latter webpages since early November 2013.  And before then, it had been months between posts on either blog as well.

Please, reader, I beg you not to think I'm abandoning these blogs.  I'm not...I hold them close with a sense of ownership and pride and community.  But I have to admit something to you: life has been challenging.

By Brooke Shaden

In early 2011, I discovered the absolutely phenomenal blog, Hyperbole and a Half.  The genius behind the entries, Allie Brosh, was one of the most hilarious comedians in any medium I had ever seen.  I spent half of my time reading her entries wiping away tears of laughter and trying to breathe. 

In October of 2011, Allie wrote a blog post about how she had gotten a book contract.  Her readers were all very excited, but then there was nothing but silence; months and months and then over a year of absolutely nothing.  Even though I adored the blog, and followed her page on Facebook in case there were any new posts ever, I gradually stopped checking back to the blog itself.

In May of 2013, Allie returned with an absolutely epic post about depression, and what it's like to go through depression.  I mean, the brilliance with which she described what it's like, with both wit and total truthfulness and minute detail...it was nothing short of a blow-out comeback phenomenon.

Allie's experience is a perfect example of how life and all its imperfections and struggles can get in the way of something we really love.  Mental illness is truly a destroyer of all joy, sapping any bit of happiness you have and twisting it into knots.  I don't struggle with depression, but what I've started to admit to myself, and what I've had an especially hard time with since October 2013, is a suspected generalized anxiety disorder. 

In late September, I went to my rheumatologist for a routine visit, and his assistant thought she heard something of concern.  An appointment was set up with a cardiologist to have him check it out in late October.  And to make a long story short, I eventually had to come to grips with the fact that some doctors will always want to run more and more tests and will never be willing just to tell you that everything will be okay, even if the problem is minor.  I ramped up such an overabundance of anxiety by the time my appointment was scheduled, my heart was already racing a million miles a minute, chest tight, panic attacks waking me up at 3am.

By Brooke Shaden

 

Finally I decided to let the fear go, and I focused on having a great Christmas.  And it was a great holiday, but soon thereafter, I switched the focus of my anxiety from physical wellness to fear for our house, its safety, the weather and its affects on it.  My mind would create a thousand completely unlikely scenarios for how everything could fall apart: the loud pops and cracks old houses make in cold weather meant the roof was caving in, or the floor would give way.  An unknown smell in the air was undoubtedly carbon monoxide poisoning and we'd die in our sleep (despite the fact that we have detectors on every floor with fresh new batteries).  And lately?  Our furnace will go out in the negative degree weather, leaving our pipes to freeze and burst in the walls and collapse the ceiling and floor.  You get the idea, maybe. 

And the stressful thing about having an anxiety disorder is that sometimes...well, often...the things you're worried about are things that could legitimately happen.  It's just that they are rather unlikely, and you blow the ramifications of what if they every happened way out of proportion, as if your whole life will end if they occur.  But because these fears really are theoretically possible, it's hard to just ignore your anxiety.

By Brooke Shaden

 

Everyone has worries sometimes, but usually we can tuck them to the back of our minds, telling ourselves we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.  But lately I seem to lack that filter, that ability to let it go.  (Let it go, I am one with the wind and sky...)  And the worse the anxiety gets, the more it feeds on itself, until I can no longer even focus or concentrate on anything other than my fears.  I haven't worked on a single creative project since Christmas, and as a creative person who needs that almost as much as I need food, I'm feeling the loss of it.  But in my mind, the idea of focusing on anything but the fear seems absolutely impossible.

So...Um, yeah.  I suppose there you have it.  There's my rambling and somewhat paltry explanation for why even though I love blogging, you haven't seen much of anything from me lately.  I'm working on my anxiety issues...trying to find workable coping mechanisms and relaxation techniques.  And hopefully soon spring will come, both nature's reawakening and the reawakening of my creative spirit.  But for now, I am in deep hibernation, just trying to survive my own personal winter.

Fairyland for Grown-Ups

              “And I am growing up, Saturday!  I am growing up and I have read books, so many books, and I know that growing up means you can’t keep going to Fairyland the way you did when you were a child!  Something happens to you and suddenly you have to keep a straight face and a straight line and I am afraid!  I want something grand and I don’t want to know what it is before it happens!”

                “There are grown-ups in Fairyland” Saturday said.  “Who told you you couldn’t come back when you’re grown?  Was it the same person who told you grown-ups don’t cry or blush or clap their hands when they’re happy?  Don’t try to say otherwise, I’ve seen you fighting like a boxer to change your face so that it never shows anything.  Whoever told you that’s what growing up means is a villain, as true as a mustache.  I am growing up, too, and look at me!  I cry and I blush and I live in Fairyland always!”

--from Catherynne Valente's The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two


The other day I stumbled across part of this quote on Goodreads at the library while I was searching for another marvelous quote about libraries.  (I was still only part way through the book at the time, so I hadn't stumbled on this passage yet)  I confess when I read it, I had to blink my eyes pretty quickly to keep from crying at work.  Why?

Because despite the fact that fairy tales were originally written for adults, despite the fact that we all desperately need to retain a sense of wonder and imagination into adulthood when we can actually use that creative spark to add to the universe in constructive ways that kids might find difficult...

...somewhere along the lines, we got the message that only kids can go to Fairyland.

It started around the Victorian era I think, when childhood was turned into a revered state of being that was dismissed or ignored in previous eras.  The importance of recognizing a child's ability to imagine, to see things in a different way, became of paramount importance.  And in some ways this was a good thing.  In others, it wasn't.  Fairy tales were banished to the nursery, and stories like Peter Pan, and later the Narnia novels, reinforced the idea that when children grow up, they can no longer go to the magical worlds.

And once again, despite the fact that in older ballads and folk tales, it is usually adults who are spirited off under the hill to dance with the faeries...despite stories like Tam Lin and Lady Isobel and the Elf Knight where good strong women old enough to have babies of their own stand up to and defeat evil forces of faerie....

...on some level, we still believed only children can visit fairyland.

This basic rule, reinforced in so many of our favorite stories that kindled this sense of magic in our lives, stayed with us no matter how hard we try to force it back and ignore it.

It's because of this that I found myself blinking back tears as I read Cat Valente's words sitting at my desk in the library, my job where I get to work with thousands upon thousands of stories on the shelves...where I am paid to help pick out which story belongs with which person who walks in our doors.  Despite living with that magic every day, and fostering it in my soul with every breath I take, every beautiful thing I share to my friends on the internet, every line in every drawing and painting I do.... on some secret hidden level buried deep inside, I still am afraid that Fairyland is only for the young.

Catherynne Valente's words were like a spell that slapped me in the face...an awakening that said "whoever told you this is foolish, and should not be trusted."  Fairyland is indeed for the fair young maidens with eyes wide with innocence and the dewy blush of youth.  But Fairyland is also for the wise woman whose beauty only comes with age, and with braiding her hair day by day as it grows more silver than gold.  Fairyland is for the hands that have created and expressed so much that they grow stiff and sore.  It's for the face that has smiled and reacted to so many memories that lines start to etch themselves in its smooth surfaces.  Fairyland is for everyone...it always has been.  Some of us just forgot we already always held the key to its doors.

Linda, Kelly, Jacqui and Dancing Hands at Faeriecon.  Image source

Image source

Image of gorgeous woman at Faerieworlds was saved to my computer...source unknown and Google didn't help.  If you know the source of this beautiful image, please let me know!!

Daily Magic

I took this picture this morning as the warm golden sun streamed in the window of the living room in a way that only can be this magical when it contrasts with cold frost on the ground.

And it reminded me that home is about more than just accumulating magical-looking objects...it's about allowing the magic that occurs all around us in daily life to shine through.

I have been on a hiatus for the last month or so due to health issues.  I hope to return soon.  <3