Hello hello, my dears! I thought it might be nice to revive this blog a bit, just in time for October, my favorite month of the year. Most of my content has shifted over to my Patreon page, which has been both useful and fun, but things have been too quiet over here for way too long. So I thought I’d ramble a little about my process here, and wanted to start out with why I choose the subject matters I do for my paintings and embroideries.
Artist’s statements are always so awkward, really. It’s a vulnerable place to be in, explaining to an audience why you love the subject matter that you do. But it’s also important, so here we are. As a rule, my focus tends to be about four subjects…
1: The natural world, and our uneasy but loving connection to it. For so many of us, walking in the woods or the desert or the beaches can be a combination of appreciating their majesty and quiet, and feeling a little unsettled by how out of place we are, especially if we’re used to living an urban life indoors. We feel energies around us, and those energies have very little to do with who we are and what we want. It’s very much out of our control. But sometimes we stumble onto something strange and comforting. A tree that feels like a friend. A stone that is ancient and wise. A beautiful plant. Also, being away from everything gives you room to be anything, which is why I love picturing small hideaways tucked in between roots and boulders, in giant gourds or the hollows of high trees. They’re places to rest, to be calm, to find solace and peace. Also, the Guardian Eye series is a deep desire for the spirits of nature to watch over you and protect you from harm, both internal and external. These Eyes are a manifestation of the quiet, not-particularly human world, and remind people that they are also a child of that world, and deserve beauty, love and care.
2: Women: One of my favorite things to paint are beautiful, slightly otherworldly women who are completely content in these unfamiliar woods. They could be new friends, or forces of nature, sharing wisdom and advice. Often they cross the boundary of human and spirit, as mermaids or harpies, ghosts or vampires, or wielders of magickal powers. Sometimes they’re just…there, and you’ve stumbled into their realms by accident. Will they be kind to you? Offer you treasures? Show you the way home? Or do they add your bones to the Bog, which hungers for new tasty morsels? These are all good questions, and the answers will change depending on who’s looking at the paintings…
3: Creatures: One of my favorite things to paint are strange creatures that may or may not actually exist in our world. Cryptids are always a delight to me, as is making up increasingly strange little beasts out of my head. Often I will make hilarious real creatures like opossums or crows, mice, cats, seacreatures, rabbits or hedgehogs. They sometimes cluster around the otherworldly women in my paintings as friendly little companions. Or they’re just staring at you from a tree branch, or sitting in a thicket, watching you. Possibly judging you. Wondering what kind of snacks you may have in your pocket…
4: Stories: When I’m painting, I often draw from ancient beloved stories. The stories of Baba Yaga and her walking hut always moved me, as did folk tales of fairy folk and spirits, rumours and gossip, urban legends and anecdotes too incredible to be true but too juicy not to tell. I also love making up open ended stories about the creatures and people that end up in my paintings; that tension between what seems to be happening and what will happen next is irresistible to me. Stories have broad shoulders to carry large truths, and so do paintings and embroideries. Even when I’m making something like a fun bit of jewelry, I want people to wonder what story it carries. Did it come from a hidden treasure cave? A tree hollow, carried by a crow? A magician’s workshop? A piece of stone that wanted to see more of the world? A tiny slice of the autumn sky with a bat flying over it, preserved in a brooch? I like making jewelry that unlocks other people’s curiosity.
So there you have it, a (hopefully) useful artist’s statement that is no way too long or rambling, and gives you an insight into how my paintings tend to go. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you’d like more artistic ramblings, I’ll add them here in the future as well as my Patreon. (Also under the name “MsFledermaus Arts”.) Also, if you have a deep hankering for artistic theory, I’d like to show you my friend Grey Anatoli Cross’s blog, at blog.immortalartist.com. He introduced me to a lovely artist chat group with great thoughts about how and why we make the art we do, and as I chug along I’d like to show you the work of some of these other, very interesting artists. Take care of yourselves, and I’ll have more soon…
Love, your Mausi…