Hello Dumplings!*
I have rabbit energy these days--you know, feeling skittish, scamppery and on the anxious side. Feeling the overwhelming shaky sense of "OH-MY-GOSH-DON'T-EAT-ME!", as if something big will swoop down and gobble me up for lunch at any moment. "Gah! What was that?!" I'm unsure of where the rabbitiness is stemming from. Possibly my giant and growing list of "To Do's" before the end of semester, new moon configuration, maybe contamination from 10,000 other tense over-caffeinated kids on campus feeling the same sort of panic I am, or is something in retrograde? The news? Seasonal shift? City water perhaps? Whatever it is, I'm doing my damnedest to funnel these weird jitters into making work. Here's what the paws have been up to:

Reference photo for a self portrait I'm working on

"Shrine for Isis" based on a portrait of my Mum.

This "Aphrodite" shrine is still in progress. I plan to pimp out the frame using deconstructed costume jewelry and other sparkly bits in true balls-to-the-wall Liberace fashion. She'll also be illuminated from the inside with pink rope light. I also plan to work into the background to really build up the surface to a more textural peachy surface as opposed to the Mary Kay pink she is now. She'll get there, slowly but surely...

A quick experimental immersed drawing of Venus based on her birth myth "Born of The Sea". Right now I'm enjoying her rather voluptuous bedonkadonk. Unsure how I feel about this as a whole, but it's just an experiment--and you don't have to like experiements. We'll see if she develops into anything further...

A portrait of the queen based on Lucian Freud's masterwork. I love that he gives each of his sitters an undeniable five o'clock shadow...

A self portrait for Figure Painting influenced by Caravaggio if only in wardrobe and cheeky pose choices...

I call this portrait piece, " Hipster Douchebag Profile Pic"...


A moody portrait of my sister Anna wailing on her bass...

"Two Marys" a quick in class figure study.

More paintings and Mayhem to come! In the mean time I plan to slay To Do lists and attempt to rid myself of the rodent vibes. Now my dears, What have you been doing with your creative energies?

Until Next Time--
Much Joy and Merry Making!

Hello Kittens!*
So the semester is beginning to wrap up and school is eating my life--NOM nom NoM! Here are a few snippets of what sort of shenanigans have been happening in the studio:









What have you been making?

Hello cupcakes!*

Ahhhh--feels good to be back in the blogosphere! I've been off making mayhem! And as you know when working on a project of Epic Proportions one must prioritize and something has to "give". This time around those "somethings" were laundry and blogging. The latest project my dear friend and Kelly and I were toiling on ended up being an H-Bomb of Awesome! Our Halloween schmorgasboard of art and music, "Massacreade: The Curious. The Marvelous. The Macabre." was well received--we sold out two performances in one night--and was enjoyed by all the freakish and fabulous in attendance! Here are a few highlights from the evening:

Anna looking exquisite with the Famous Graves
on upright bass and our special guests The Echelon String Quartet.

The final fierce pose from Skellywag Fashions (my mom!) smashing debut runway exhibition, "Glampyre"!
That's Kelly in the powdered wig!
The incredibly lovely Evan Flynn, special guest violinist and model.

My muffin looking dapper behind the drum kit.
He deserves a medal for putting up with me being a banshee
for 2 months--a really really shiny one.

Leah Schultz rocking the viola--ensemble coordinator of
The Echelon String Quartet and all around Renaissance woman.
They're amazing performance changed a lot of minds that night--classical music is METAL!
A full view of me feeling like a princess in this awesome
Rosemary Clooney inspired gown Mom made for me.
It was a treat to perform in this incredible outfit, certainly helped
me channel all the dead jazz singers The Famous Graves covered!
The talented Mrs. Julie Ivens was behind the camera.
John Miller of The Echelon String Quartet destroying the crowd with his cello--
nothing hotter than a man in a bunny mask. :)

Our dear friend and talented artist Rick in
his clever costume doing what he does best--being spooky!

While Mum, Anna and I were recuperating from this extravaganza we decided to indulge in some retail therapy at a funky antique mall where I found this excellent Athena statuette! She's a stunning addition to the collection.
I'm also trucking along in my studio classes making books for my print studio, drawing goddess portraits, making shrines, practicing watercolor technique and as usual, up to my eyebrows in naked people for figure drawing! Here's a little peek of my hard ground etching project. The process involves little copper plates that are coated in a black waxy ground. You remove the black coating with a stylus, just like a scratch board and then dip the whole shebang in an acid bath to etch the exposed lines. I'm illustrating one of my favorite ghost story songs, "Long Black Veil", I think it will be rather lovely when it's finished. :)


I've also been lucky enough to make some new friends in town! The ladies at the Bewitchingbee Magical Supply, a wonderful metaphysical supply and spiritual advising operation here in Milwaukee, are sweet as pagan-pie! I'm working on some new signage for their storefront. Shhh! Don't say anything! It's going to be a Halloween surprise--I can't wait!More Making Stuff photos to come soon--and I mean really soon, not "3-weeks-from-now-soon"! hehe!

Now tell me dearies, what sort of mayhem have you been making?

Until Next Time,
Much Joy and Merry Making!*

Merry Full Moon, My Pretties!*
Holy moly this cycle went past in a FLASH! It's that time to peer out the windows and make our full Moon wishes! This month my dream board addresses my need for FoCuS! I'm cooking up some big projects, particularly the planning of a Halloween themed gallery and performance event--"Massacreade: The Curious. The Marvelous. The Macabre" on which I am collaborating on with all sorts of fabulous folk. It's a dream project: vampire fashion, spooky art exhibition, The Famous Graves performing with special guests...essentially throwing a publicized evening of mayhem with every wickedly cool and talented person I know. The school year also started PeTal tO tHe MeTaL on wednesday and I'm up to my unkempt eyebrows in books, studio supply lists and project deadlines.

On This Full Moon I Wish For
success in my projects--
a splendid tidal-wave-turn out and a flow beauteous artworks!
The Focus to get the job done right the first time!
The Resources to pull it all off and make it look breezy!
And joy to make the experience pleasant,
worthwhile, and memorable for all involved!

Here's to a New rabbit hole!
What will you wish for, my dears?
Wish Wild! Wish Boldly!

Until Next time--
Many Blissings and Merry Making~*

Hello Dumplings!*

I came across this exquisite piece of writing in a delightful goddess newsletter crafted by Anita Revel and I just had to share it with you! These kaliedoscopic bits are exerpts from a prayer written by Rob Brezsny, sure to super-charge the sleepy and skeptical:

Digital collage by Molly

"Dear Goddess, You who never kill but only change:

I pray that my exuberant, suave and accidental words will move you to shower ferocious blessings down on everyone who reads this benediction.I pray that you will give them what they don't even know they want - not just the boons they think they need but everything they've always been afraid to even imagine or ask for.

Dear Goddess, You wealthy anarchist burning heaven to the ground:

Many of the divine chameleons out there don't even know that their souls will live forever. So please use your blinding magic to help them see that they are all wildly creative geniuses too big for their own personalities.Guide them to realize that they are all completely different from what they think they are and more exciting than they can possibly imagine.

Make it illegal, immoral, irrelevant, unpatriotic and totally tasteless for them to be in love with anyone or anything that's no good for them.

Dear Goddess, You psychedelic mushroom cloud at the center of all our brains:

The curiously divine human beings reading this prayer deserve everything they are yearning for and much, much more. So please bless them with lucid dreams while they are wide awake and solar-energy-operated sex toys that work even in the dark and vacuum cleaners for their magic carpets and a knack for avoiding other people's hells and their very own 900 number so that everyone has to pay to talk to them and a secret admirer who is not a psychotic stalker.

Dear Goddess, You fiercely tender, hauntingly reassuring, orgiastically sacred feeling that is even now running through all of our soft, warm animal bodies:

I pray that you provide everyone out there with a license to bend and even break all rules, laws and traditions that keep them apart from the things they love.Show them how to purge the wishy-washy wishes that distract them from their daring, dramatic, divine desires.And teach them that they can have anything they want if they'll only ask for it in an unselfish way."

AH! That makes me want to dance around wearing something purple! Perfect words for the upcomming New Moon--time to clear out the old, cleanse, make new plans and manifest like mad! What will your daring, dramatic, devine desires be?

Until Next Time--

Much Joy and Merry Making!~*

*Last week I enjoyed a three-day-long holiday with my family at the cozy cabin home of my Muffin's family! Both the company and the scenery were the best a girl could ask for. I adore the northern parts of Wisconsin: the landscapes, the wildlife, the flora and the weather. It was a treat to be whisked away from over-stuffed-in boxes and screaming city busses to a place where you can ACTUALLY see stars, the soil is loose and sandy and between loon songs you can hear a pin drop. We spent time with our toes in the lake sipping strong coffee and watching a muggy summer moon-rise. And most importantly--there was space to just Be. Here are a few images from my recharge weekend:

"The Dirt Smells Good Here..."

I can't wait to go back in the fall to watch the leaves change before everything in the woods tucks in for winter. Now dearies tell me; where is your hideaway?

Until Next Time--

Much Joy & Merry Making!~*

It's WishCasting Wednesday!*

Our Wishtress Jamie asks us,

"What door do you wish to open?"

I wish to turn the key and release the latch to Worthwhile, juicy, Satisfying, productive, Profitable, positive projects. I wish to open a door to a new adventure free of slime and muck and poisons and trashy bits--

but full of strangeness,

curiosities, beauty, Victories and giggle-snorts.

I like to keep a rather tidy rabbit hole. :)

Now Lovlies, What door do you Wish to open?

*