Fairies in My Garden

I have random pottery everywhere. I have things from every stage of my pottery career from my first pot ever from when I was 12, up to something that came out of my last firing. (Which was a couple months ago.) Every now and then I repurpose something from early in my pottery development.

Today my mom and I visited three of the greenhouses in our immediate area, I picked up plants that could belong in a fairy world. Small leaves and flowers and fun textures. Then I needed just a few more things so I gathered some moss from our backyard and some small flowers from one of our gardens.

The bowl is actually the base of a fountain that I made at my first pottery job. I apprenticed for a few years around the time I got my driver's license. This was a collaborative piece with my mentor and I got to bring it home when it was done. It had a very short life as a fountain.

I also raided my trinkets and dug out some marbles.

The little pots and figurines are also from that time, or perhaps from before the apprenticeship when I was taking lessons in pottery from my mentor. The glass filled leaf was an experiment for ornaments and I kept several for myself. Stones that we have collected from various trips to Lake Superior became a path and the gravel is actually chicken grit.

The littlest frog lives in this pot with his "water" filled leaf pond.

It's my first fairy garden and I'm rather proud of how it turned out! I'm already thinking about adding a few things. I may need a dragon for deep in the shadows or a little hut for my little guy. Maybe another frog or two...

My Mystical Side

I find myself being mystical sometimes. Well, really more than sometimes. I don't know if this is a common thing with artists in general or if certain people are generally drawn to the otherwordly and fantastical.

How is it possible that there aren't any fairies living in here?

I look for fairies among the flowers and in cracks and crevices in the rocks and trees. I listen for the trees to talk and messages in the wind.

I keep crystals and gemstones in hopes of good fortune, health, balance and wisdom. When I am feeling stuck, I sometimes pick up amethyst (my birthstone and favorite) or quartz crystals and look for inspiration. I wonder too if there isn't some way to see into the future with a crystal ball and I think I may have to get myself one just to try.

I hope that I may discover that dragons, unicorns, and phoenix were really real.

A dragon rattle in a nest of stones, crystals and some prayer beads I made.

I put some stock in palmistry and tarot readings. I've never had my palm read, though I have tried interpreting it myself. I had a tarot reading done last year and was amazed at the things she saw in the cards.

I look up the meanings behind the imagery and symbols in my dreams, when I remember them, and try to see how it translates to my waking life.

I think there is truth in karma and I hope I'm not messing up my chances of a good life simply by being myself.

I make a wish at 11:11, though I'm not sure where this one came from or why you are supposed to make a wish.

A tree made of gemstones, my sage bundle I made, and a mandala-esque stone I painted.

I have written hopes and wishes on paper and then thrown them into a fire with the thought that burning the physical form of a wish would more readily carry it into the void and maybe it would be heard more clearly than the mumblings in my head.

Just one of many candles I have burned throughout the years.

I light candles for peace, cleansing and hopes. I burn sage bundles and incense for the same purpose.

I wish on shooting stars and look for angels and spirits in the clouds and Northern Lights.

When I find a feather in nature, on a hike usually, I look up what the colors mean because feathers are messages from the spirits.

Black, white and blue denote change on the horizon.

I find myself talking to myself, but am I really talking to only myself? Is there really that thing called a 'Creative Genius' standing in a corner waiting for me to address it? Or maybe I have a spirit or animal guide.

I hope my sculptures one day might find they have heart and spirit all of their own and come alive. I hope for magic in my life. Real magic. Like the kind you find in Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. I hope I haven't really been passed over to be accepted to Hogwarts. I can't seem to help myself.

To look at me, you wouldn't think I was this mystical. I appear, at least in my mind, I appear to be an average person worrying about everyday things. And I do worry about those every day things. Although I also worry about upsetting the fairies; and what I might see if I look into a crystal ball; and who or what is out there listening to my greatest hopes and dreams and if someday, if I believe enough, they may answer me.