Musings from the fae

Musings from the Fae has moved

2010-06-20T20:26:00.001-07:00

looking for more up to date blog posts? check out www.crowfaery.com which is where Musings from the Fae has moved to :-)

Lennon Studio at Faerieworlds 2009!

2009-11-19T07:43:00.001-08:00

Wow, so first I have to say I am amazed at how long it has been since I blogged, and now there is so much to catch up on that some may just have to fall by the wayside for now, since last I posted was before Faerieworlds!!! So a lot has happened since then, and I think I will have to break the posts down by events or months or something, because trying to cram almost 4 months of fun and excitement and visits to Faeryland in one post is just absurd! So first order of business is Faerieworlds. It was phenomenal despite the crazy insane heat and change of venue. I personally really liked the new venue, and the addition of on-site camping definitely made the experience that much more magical, pretty amazing to get to hang with all my COMFy folk at the COMFy kitchen and enjoy amazing food and fun and laughter with that whole gang. Above is a picture of me with Mermaid (founder of COMF) and her daughter Zoe in the opening spiral dance ceremony. One thing I really appreciate about the Faerieworlds and Faeriecon events is the ritual aspect of honoring faerie and the seasons, cannot think of a more magical way to celebrate Lughnassadh! And there was no shortage of faerie magic afoot at the new venue, and even the water sprites were able to join in the act since the event was bordered on one side by a river where many hot and sticky fae went to cool off, or enjoy a private moment. My river excursions were pretty intense and amazing... Now this Faerieworlds not only did we have the opening ceremony spiral dance, but the wonderful medieval folk music band Faun also had their own version of a spiral dance put to their song Andros... and with Faun having one daytime set and one nighttime set that made for two additional spiral dances, bringing it up to a triple spiral dance count. Lots of magic was woven that weekend. The line up of bands was stellar, of course everyone loves Woodland, and as has become tradition the COMFy folk had a little prank to play on them, during their third song we all secretly put on red clown noses (note you can still see some on in the above photo by Ash Martell) and the band was in stitches... very fun to see them all try to play their song with straight faces while a whole crowd of red nosed faeries are looking back at them. Faun was definitely a highlight for me, their music inspires me to dance and the crazy medieval instruments they play are a sight to behold. Dehli to Dublin was a fun and energetic group of musicians that blend tradition folk music from India and Ireland, definitely had the crowd flowing. Beats Antique put on a fabulous show with the legendary belly dancer Zoe Jakes wowing the crowd with her undulations and rhythm and fans, absolutely stunning and breathtaking. A personal favorite song from there set was an unreleased track at the time, a Mashup of Michael Jackson and Martin Luther King, Jr. you can click on the link to download the track from them on bandcamp. One of the biggest highlights of the festival for me was that I got to perform both nights with Mythmaker a fire-dancing, stilt-walking, sacred theater troupe from Canada. This shot was taken at the Saturday night performance, photo credit goes to my friend Laume :-) Another highlight for me was getting photographed by amazing Celtic artist Jen Delyth as pictured below I was also forutnate to be photographed by Time Of the Fairies photographer Joseph Corsentino along with Time of the Fairies model Elizabeth Maxwell I guess my only complaints about Faerieworlds was it felt like it was over too soon, a moment of magic far too fleeting, and far off from repeating... till next year at Lughnassadh when we can all gather under the stars again.

Next stop... Faerieworlds!!!!

2009-07-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

So it has been quite some time since I have blogged anything, so quite a lot has gone on since last I posted, which was just in January. Had the opportunity to attend and perform fire dancing at a wonderful Beltaine ritual put on by the Pagans of Norfolk County, here is one of the videos of my performance with Brian Duguay aka Singing Willow on vocals and guitar, and Tony Guerriero from Prance the Witches Path on drums.. So I have been fairly busy this spring, was off selling my artwork at the Spoutwood Fairie Festival and Maryland Faerie Festival and most recently with my little fae child we vended at the Winslowshire Renaissance fest with proceeds benefiting the Winslow Farm Animal Sanctuary in Norton, MA. And somewhere in there I found time to go to Wildfire as well! So what is new on the horizon for Lennon Studio?? Flying off to Eugene, Oregon for the epic festival Faerieworlds!

This New Year

2009-01-24T06:40:00.000-08:00

So far this I am not quite sure what to make of this New Year... Last year on this blog I was trying unsuccessfully to write often and tell of my adventures, and then I found that with so much adventuring it was hard to find time to write.. so I am not sure what type of shape this year will take in my life, and how that will outwardly manifest in different realms including the cyber one.. but we shall see. So what has been going on of note? Well of course of note to the whole world this past week was the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. The influx of energy surrounding this is palpable, and it is amazing to be able to witness history in the making. America seems once again a country filled with hope and possibility, even in these very troubling and difficult financial times. Also of note to literary people this past week was the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe's birthday (January 19th, 1809). There was a movement here in Boston to reclaim Poe as it's native son, and Mayor Menino even named a place to be Edgar Allan Poe square. I had the good fortune to attend some of the Poe festivities at BC with my mum, who is a BC alum. Through circumstance of chance at the first evening of lectures I had the pleasure of sitting next to the actor and film maker Brent Fidler, who was brought to Boston from Vancouver to premier his film Poe The Last Days of the Raven It was a wonderful film, and dvds are available on his website. I am extremely pleased to announce that I am having an article published in Faerie Magazine, so that is very exciting! I have Kim, Be and Yama at Faerie Magazine to thank, it has been really cool to see my name in print! To have my article in this issue in particular was especially cool as my good friend and fabulous artist Matt Hawk is the artist who is featured in the Five Questions article. Since I had an article in I was able to sneak peak before the issue went to print and it looks fabulous. Kudos to Matt! He is a phenomenal artist and you can check out his work on his website Great Scot Productions With the coming of the New Year comes the sorting through of the previous year, shifting and re prioritizing what is important and vital in my life. One thing I have done so far in the New Year which I am determined to continue is getting back into yoga practice, it has been a great way to center myself and lovely to be in those super heated rooms when it is so frigid out. I find that life is a balancing act, and certainly as a single mom, artist and dancer, with a full time job and lots of goals and ambitions, sometimes I can get a little off the beam as far as balance is concerned, trying to do too many things at once. One thing I find difficult is trying to manage all of this online realm, very hard to keep up with it all, and so easily I am sucked down the super highway and it has a kind of faerie like quality in feeling like no time is passing and yet I emerge from the cyber realms to find hours gone by.. so on that note I am going to extract myself from this cyber-reality and go paint!

Eastern MA Pagan Pride and some letterbox ramblings...

2008-10-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

So I last left you, dear reader, when I was on my was to Tuatha na bPréacháin Naomh, the Tribe of the Sacred Crows in East Bridgewater. It was a fine night, though I stayed later than I should, especially give the fact that I was supposed to be in Andover at 8 am to set up my booth at the Eastern MA Pagan Pride Project and I probably didn't get home from East Bridgewater till around 1:30 or 2 am, not quite sure. Well, I figured that this year that seems to be my trend, not getting any sleep the night before the PPDs, so I figured I would make it a tradition.. So regardless, the next morning I was up bright and chipper, at least this time most of my car was packed, but I still had more things to pack up and finally hit the road. Luckily for me my friend Debi was also vending at PPD and when I called her she was only about one exit further along on the highway, so I sped up to catch her, and followed her to the site, since she had been there before and I never had. It was rather twisty and turny up there, and it was at Harold Parker State Forest in North Andover. So, you may or may not know, that I also do this hobby called letterboxing where wacky individuals like myself hunt out hidden tupperware containers in the woods or other locations, that have in them a logbook and a rubber stamp, which sometimes are hand-carved. To see some examples of my stamps you can check them out on my blockprints page So if you want to know more about the hobby you can check out www.letterboxing.org. I found my first letterbox while I was hiking with my daughter over 5 years ago, and the rest is history, I have been letterboxing ever since.... if you are interested about more of my letterboxing adventures you can check out my letterboxing blog called Various and Sundry Musings I guess I am all about the Musings... So, the reason I bring up the whole letterboxing thing here is that I had decided I would have a one day only letterbox at my booth, and post it on the local letterboxing lists and have letterboxers visit me. Now, this is something I also did at Faerieworlds in Eugene, Oregon, and plan on doing at Faeriecon in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, next weekend, Oct 10-12.. so if you happen to be at any event I am at, call me Dragonfly and if I have a box at that location I will give you the clues.. so when I was vending my art at the Eastern Massachusetts Pagan Pride Project in North Andover, MA, on September 21, 2008, it was my pleasure to be vending next door to Sha the Loon Witch, who is also a letterboxer whom I had met but not previously exchanged with (when letterboxers stamp their personal stamps in each other's logbooks), and also to get her EMPPP letterbox which she was replanting. My first letterboxer to arrive and get the box was Choi, it was a pleasure to meet him, he plants many beautifully carved boxes in my area, and it was great to finally have a name to put to the face. Also, my friend Kyerstein tried boxing for the first time and she wrote in the logbook that I got her hooked on it... so look out for a Dragon Fairy coming your way ;-) My next visitors were letterboxers who were new to the area, and if I hadn't posted they never would have known about the event, so I was pleased that something I had done had a positive ripple in the universe. So Nature and Caipora came on by with their lovely backpacks full of their greyhounds, who also stamped into the logbook, Peeky and Vito. Such wise and sage faces on those dogs, to me they were reminiscent of some of Brian Froud's pixies or something. Next up were The Merry Pranksters and the Woodland Wanderers with Go Catman and Music Man, and The Sparrows Interest. I had previously met Pete of the Merry Pranksters, but it was a pleasure to meet Deb. It was so wonderful to have all these lovely letterboxers come out and see me :-) Rounding out a perfect day was the visit from Old Hounder and Siamese! They didn't have their stamps however, so we will have to finish their half of the exchange at Fright Night.... And speaking of Fright Night, after many years of missing this wonderful event, Maine Kokopellian was finally able to get me to commit to coming, and I will even have some of my art with me. I believe there may be some night boxing Faerie Hunting going on ..... so speaking of hunting faeries.. I was very excited when talking to all of these letterboxing folks at EMPPP because Faerie Magazine was interested in having me write an article about letterboxing... It all started because I am on the online Fae community called Enchanted Folk and I had mentioned in my profile under hobbies that I enjoyed letterboxing. Well when I got my welcome message from Be Montague who is the wonderful woman behind Enchanted Folk, she wrote to me asking about letterboxing, wondering if it had to do with decorating our mailboxes, as she is from England and over there mailboxes are called letterboxes... actually letterboxing originated in England, and was called letterboxing because in the early days it was done with pre-addressed post cards that would then need to be posted in a letterbox. Well in any case, I wrote back to her a lengthy email about what letterboxing is, and how it originated in England, etc. Well I didn't hear back from her for quite some time, so I thought I must have bored her to tears in my rambling on and on about letterboxing.. well it turns out that was not the case. I wrote to Be to ask if I had bored her, and sorry I rambled on so long etc, and she said that to the contrary she found it very interesting, and as the UK Editor of Faerie Magazine that she thought it might make for an interesting article.. so it began, and she asked if I would write one, but said she couldn't promise me anything, but that she would run it by Kim Cross who is the Editor in Chief of Faerie Magazine. Well a few weeks ago I happen to call Faerie Magazine about my advertising and ended up on the phone with Kim , so I asked her if Be had spoken to her about me, and Kim didn't think so, but asked why she would have had occasion to do so, so I said about letterboxing, and Kim recalled talking to Be about it, but didn't realize that it was me that would be writing the article.... So she said she was interested in knowing more info and could I email her about it. I did, and that Saturday night before PPD I got my first response from her, which was that she did think that it was something her readers would be interested in, and would I write an article.. so this was all very exciting, and I sent her off the article, which I have since heard back from her that they will definitely use it in their Winter or Spring issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited, and I am also very excited that they will be featuring my Faerie Luminaries in their Things We Love section of the Fall 2008 Issue, which I will get to see at Faeriecon, where I happen to be vending on the same block of booths as Faerie Magazine (you can stop by and say hi to me at booth 1512) So I had been babbling to all of these letterboxers who were so kind to come and visit me that this article was a possibility, so I am very pleased to say it is going to be a reality. If you would like to know more about my letterboxes you can check out my profile and logbook on atlas quest (another letterboxing site) Well, the letterboxing was only half of the excitement that day, had a wonderful time listening to The Gypsy Nomads, Jenna Greene, and Sharynne NicMhacha from the Moors but also meeting so many wonderful people and connecting with wonderful friends. Among the highlights was seeing all of my Pagans of Norfolk County Folks, including Marie and Tony from Prance the Witches Path, and Marie was kind enough to be glowing about my artwork to Christian Day of Festival of the Dead and Hex fame, so he came over to meet me, and was interested in having my work in his store, so visit Hex and keep your eye out for some bad faeries... It was wonderful as well getting to hang with Doug Greene, Jenna's husband, and I look forward to seeing the both of them at Faeriecon. Also a bunch of the Salem fire performers came out to hang, so that was really cool (nothing was on fire though, but will be this weekend at Wildfire) and more of the PNC crowd were great to see and hang with, and some even bought my art! So thanks for keeping me company Glinda, Gaia, Babs, Brian and Kate, Tony and Marie, Delysia, Reuladair, Darla, don't think I am forgetting anyone. If you want to see more pics of this you can check out my pics on my myspace well after that very long day I headed out to Salem, to help build a dome for Wildfire, but by the time I got there people were gone.. which was fine, as I was exhausted!

The Crow took my Keys!!!

2008-09-29T02:56:00.000-07:00

so the top of my car key was broken, and I figured I would fix it with some polymer clay, guess I went a little overboard, but I have to say it is kind of fun to turn a big crow head to open the doors or start the car....off to the Crow Mobile!

King Richard's Faire

2008-09-28T04:58:00.001-07:00

Well, when I last left you faithful reader, we were waiting outside the gates of King Richards for my friend's to arrive and the festivities to begin... So upon the arrival of Sadie, Andy and Dan, we entered "The Realm" and began our day to the tantalizing aromas of cinnamon baking at the bakery right by the gate, and headed over to Seams Like a Dream where my lovely friend Lisa was, so I could introduce her to those she didn't know yet (she had met Sadie and Andy last year). Now mind you, everyone was all dressed in garb except for Michael (aka Reuladair) and Noah (can't remember his gaelic name off the top of my head...) so Lisa generously offered to outfit them, her treat! Noah did not take her up on the offer, but Michael did, so off he went to transform in the dressing room. And after some catching up with Lisa, we headed out to enjoy the faire. first I wanted some of whatever was making that delicious cinnamon smell, but upon arriving at the bakery we found them cinnamon-less! :-( But I tarried on, sans cinnamon roll, like the brave soul that I am... So for a short time we were all meandering around to the vendors together, but I quickly got Sadie to ditch the boys ;-) so we could do some girlie shopping and they could throw knives and whatnot. I actually want to learn to throw knives, we have contests every year at Lughnasadh, but I was more interested in seeing all the vendors and the animals and the forge. We went in search of a garland for Sadie, and there was a beautiful one with purple flowers and black feathers, and I could tell from how her eyes lit up that she wanted it, but they wanted $42 for it! So alas, I may have to make one for my fair friend Sadie, because she walked away (and good for her!) It can be very hard to talk away when we find some bauble or bit of glamor that we have tried on, I struggle with it myself.... So we continued on shopping, and off we went to where there was some lovely jewelery to behold. Last year when I went to the fair my boyfriend at the time bought me a lovely necklace and earrings to match from this same vendor. Now last year, this vendor had me in the palm of his hand with his lovely Irish accent, I have always said I will be in trouble when i finally get to Ireland, as I am a sucker for an Irish accent ;-) Now mind you, the necklace from last year was absolutely beautiful, yet the first day I wore it it fell right off of my neck when I was out and about somewhere, I retraced all of my steps that day, and yet never could find it. So now, this year, here is the same vendor, same lovely jewelery, and yet here he was with an English accent. Well it just wasn't the same for me. So I tell this vendor, as he is trying to ply me with his wares, and saying all of his "m'ladies" and whatnot, that I had a bone to pick with him... I recounted my tale of woe about my necklace falling off, but also how last year he was Irish, which I much preferred, and now this year he was English, and he says he would let me in on a little secret, he is actually from Texas! Well, he did offer me a discount on the beautiful tree of life necklace I was eying, so I did procure that for my collection of sparklies, so I leftoff the chain mail necklace that I had originally bought at Faerieworlds in Oregon that I had been wearing and promplty donned the Tree. He took the chain mail necklace and asks for a minute, and he places the necklace on my head, well with his help, and Sadie's and one lovely celtic hair barrette that I had purchased at Icons from Joseph Keane of Celtic Revival I now had myself quite the fancy hairpiece. Well after some more shopping our tummies were a-grumbling, so after fetching Lisa from her shop we went off to the racket that is the food at King Richards. For those who have never been to King Richards, beware, all of the food must be purchase with food tickets, and you have to buy at least $5 worth, and the whole ticket system makes you one stepped removed from the amount of money you are paying for food, so you may spend more than you bargained for because you are just spending "tickets" kind of like rides at a carnival... but that is neither here nor there, just a little pet peeve of mine, and many other faire goers I know. So this year, I didn't do the gnawing on a turkey leg, just opted for some fries. And the bakery at the food court area also was out of mostly everything but cookies, so I never did get my cinnamon fix. So I was having a wonderful time, and enjoying the flirty attention that is abound at the faire. Lisa introduced me to her friend "Lord Seamus" who is "protector of the realm" and other such stuff I can't remember. He did have quite a penetrating gaze... with a blue-grey eyes with a ring of orangy-brown around the pupil, just like mine, and he had no moons on his fingertips... Around this time the boys contacted us and said they wanted to eat,and they found us where we were. After eating the boys went off to the joust while Sadie and I did a little more shopping, I bought some fabulous ear cuffs to use with my faerie ears at Faeriecon. Sadie and I got our pictures with the Berzerkers, and we finally did get Sadie a hair garland from Kevin... Sadly, the faire closes at 6, so after Sadie and I met up with the boys at the joust, and a little more eying of leather goods and whatnot we were off for the evening, where we all traveled to East Bridgewater for our meeting of Tuatha na bPréacháin Naomh

2008-09-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well I figured before the forward momentum of this new weekend took over, that I would post about last weekend, so as to try and keep current. Between Facebook and Myspace and Tribe and Deviant Art and blogging, I feel like I own too much online real estate and need a management company to keep up with it all while I am out having fun ;-) Actually I hadn't been on Myspace before, or had only really lurked, and now that I am on there I have been sucked into that vortex.... but I digress, last weekends tales are waiting patiently to be told... Well Kaileigh and I spent a quiet evening home on the Friday night, as we both were going to have to get up fairly early in the morning. Originally, the plan was that Kaileigh would come with me to work, and go out with her dad later, but it turns out that his car was in the shop so we needed to coordinate with her grandmother instead (called Memere), and earlier on Saturday was easier for her to pick her up, so Kaileigh escaped from having to go to work with me. Though on this particular Saturday, it probably would have been a fun event, I work as an activities coordinator at an assisted living facility, and also work in the marketing department, and for our outing on this particular weekend I was taking my residents to a Native American Pow Wow that is held every year in Bedford on the grounds of the Bedford VA hospital. The only glitch, this happen to be the one day that my friend Lisa, who co-owns Seams Like a Dream at King Richard's Faire would have comp tickets for me, so while I was happy to take the residents to the pow wow, I was kind of distracted while there as I was anxious to get on the road to Carver for the Faire and meet up with my friends there. But the pow wow was wonderful, some of the residents even went into the circle during a time to honor veterans, one of the women was "Rosie the Riveter", another woman was one of the WAVES, and a third resident was also a veteran, but not sure what branch of service he was in. There was some wonderful dancing in the circle, and some amazing vendors, including one named Patsy whom I would love to try and locate.. I was going to go back early on Sunday morning to pick up some hair braid lacings from her, as I didn't have cash on me and she didn't accept cards, but by Sunday morning I was running late to get to Andover for the Eastern MA Pagan Pride Project, so I never did make it back, if anyone happens to know how to get in touch with Patsy, please contact me at katie@lennonstudio.com :-) So it really was a nice time, and in ordinary circumstances I would have been happy to stay longer, but the residents had a wonderful time, and had the chance to enjoy the circle, eat some food and check out the vendors... Next was King Richard's Faire, I drove straight from work to there, and it took about an hour, my friend Michael (Reuladair) and his son Noah were there when I arrived, and shortly afterward we were joined by Sadie, Andy and Dan.... but more will be revealed a little later on...

The Saga continued....

2008-09-24T19:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I figured I better finish up writing about that weekend, as I have another whole week and a half to catch up on since then! So where did I leave you, faithful reader? Well Joseph and I were set dancing to the whimsical tunes of Lunasa.. after which Joseph decided to go back to his booth to relieve Athonwy, whom I promptly kidnapped to come with me to see Solas, after getting some free coffee, as I was starting to need some caffeine boostage... Well Solas was incredible, new singer and all, and I danced my heart out the entire time... what an enchanting evening it was dancing in the light of the full moon with kindred spirits.. amazing! Well eventually Nancy and Joseph both made their way over and we were all dancing and having a lovely time until the very last strains of the last Solas song. After which we all journeyed back to the hotel where all the musicians and such were staying, and there were sessions in the lounge and the lobby and the hallway... and just about everywhere. I had the opportunity to do a bit more dancing, though it turns out I must have danced a little bit too much, as one of the soles of my boots developed a crack across the entire sole, and this is rubber that was about an inch and a half thick! If anyone knows of a good cobbler, let me know, as I am loath to let these boots go, I originally purchased them to keep my feet toasty for Samhain a few years ago, and I have worn them faithfully ever since. So the evening wore on into the morning, and I knew I should be heading home, I had to sell my art at the South Eastern MA Pagan Pride Day the following morning in Lakeville, and I was supposed to get there for 8am, and here is was 2 am and I was no where near home and my car wasn't even packed yet! But my feeling was I would rather be up having wonderful experiences and pay for it the next day than to miss out and be home sleeping. And what experiences there were to be had, I had the great fortune to meet Aoife Clancy, and Luka Bloom, and even Brian O'Donovan himself, from a Celtic Sojourn noticed and commented on my dancing. But eventually I really couldn't fight off the sleep any longer, and I made my way home around 3:30 AM, and had to awaken the later that same morning in only a few scant hours to shower and pack up my car and head off to Lakeville for the South Eastern MA Pagan Pride Day So there I am driving to Lakeville, and it is down-pouring, and I am thinking that I am really tired and that if it is pouring like this when I get there I am calling it quits, as I would be setting up my tent for the first time ever, and it would be pouring rain, and all my artwork would get totally soaked and destroyed. So I was on the phone back and forth with my friend Debi who was vending as well, and my tribe-mate Reuladair, to see what their status was, and they were on the road a little bit ahead of me, so I kept checking in to see what weather was doing. It was a little bit lighter rain when I got there, but not by much. So I went over to the check in booth and was pleasantly surprised to find that the vendor coordinator had decided to put me and another artist inside so we wouldn't get our artwork ruined. So I drove around and started to load in all my stuff inside. Also setting up inside were Kevin and Heather from Pentacle Press, who also put together the event Celebrate Samhain in New Hampshire, this was my first time meeting them, and they were lovely to share the space with, and had a great booth. Next to them was the author Trish Telesco so I was fortunate to get to see some of her workshops. Two of the musical acts came inside to avoid the weather The Harper and the Minstrel that was very soothing, and then of course I loved dancing to the lovely sound of the Gypsy Nomads while being the Pied Piper for little girls, though I wasn't piping, just dancing, so I guess I would be the Pied Dancer, but it doesn't sound quite right ;-) The other artist arrived and his name was Golden True, and it was interesting talking art with him, he is learning to use his art for clairvoyance... I think I will have to hear more about that...

Last weekends saga, the story begins...

2008-09-19T19:06:00.000-07:00

So, last weekend was absolutely amazing and incredible, it took me a while to take it all in enough to be able to process all of what happened! Saturday had a wonderful start as I had the great pleasure to meet my friend Barbara's littlest new wonder named Madeline, who has the best disposition and a wonderful warm smile and sparkly spirit... such a joy, and her little Tommy was such a charmer. Next up on the festivities, after a wonderful visit with my sister, whom I had not caught up with in far too long, and then off to the ICONs Irish fest where I met up with another Madeleine, a woman that I work with. I was enjoying some Irish Step dance demos and loving these amazing Irish Wolf Hounds when she called to say she had arrived at the festival. I asked her what she liked to do, and she said shop, so off we went to explore the vendors. We passed by many booths, and the first one I said I want to go in and check out, wouldn't you know that my good friend Athonwy, whom I met it Eugene, Oregon at Faerieworlds, was helping out the vendor there. What a treat to get to see this amazing soul again, and wonderful to meet his booth mates, Joseph Keane of Celtic Revival and Nancy who was also there helping out. Well a pleasure it was to meet this merry band, and what times we had later on that evening... But, the shopping continued, and I ended up spending all of my cash on books about Irish Folklore and Mythology, which I was very excited to find, except for the fact that now I had these books to lug around (though they did let me keep them at the booth for a time) and now all my cash was gone, and if I had one complaint, it would be those f*#$ing ATM machines at the site were awful and never could read my card, I ended up leaving the festival later just to get some cash! Well Madeleine and I went and had an amazing time listening to the Clancy Legacy, with Robbie O'Connell. Madeleine was particularly pleased as she had gone on a tour of Ireland with Robbie, and he played one of the songs she had been hoping to hear. A wonderful set indeed. After that, I bid Madeleine goodbye, as she was done for the evening, and heading home. I took my leave to be able to put the books in my car and head out to get some food and some cash... So I quickly returned to the Festival and met up with Athonwy, and Joseph Keane took me to see his amazing Ancient Landscapes exhibit while he looked through to see what "tree" I was, because much like the every birthday has an astrological sign, every one has a tree it is associated with in the Irish tradition. Turns out my tree was the reed, and it seemed very fitting, what it said, but I will have to do more research on that as it is something I know nothing about just yet, I do know that right now we are in the time of the Vine, and I have vines trained to climb up my spiral stairs out my door... but that is neither here nor there. So Joseph and I wandered off in the moonlight sampling bits of music here and there, and what a wonderful and intoxicating time it was. I did set dancing for the very first time, and we danced our hearts out in the field by the Compass Point Stage while Lunasa played their set. I must say, I thought I was in fairly decent shape, but man, that set dancing is fast and I found myself getting very winded, I will need to practice more... well the evenings festivities will continue in my next installment, I am still recovering from the late nights this past week and right now I am exhausted!!!

Original art Ebay Auction

2008-09-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

well this one is going to be short and sweet as I am totally exhausted and need to get some sleep! so I listed some artist trading cards on ebay, they are the size of baseball cards and are both original, one of a kind pieces, one is Halloween Pumpkins done in ink and colored pencils and the other is called Dew Drop Faery Bath and is an original oil painting and if you just want to check on what I am selling from time to time you can follow this link http://myworld.ebay.com/katiekat74/ I hope to get more up and running soon, but of course there are only so many hours in the day!

The Faeries

2008-09-17T01:15:00.001-07:00

The Faeries The faeries, they won't let me sleep They rouse me from my world of dreams To dance and frolic, dart and leap In worlds where nothing is as it seems In the wee hours of the night While all the world is sleeping They share with me their heart's delight To guard it for safekeeping It is in honor that they share With me things best kept hidden and dance through nights without a care and do what I have bidden But there is a price for what they do Long gone my nights of slumber The visit me the long night through In glazes of burnt umber Sometimes they bid me paint their faces Sometimes to scribe their tales Capturing their subtle graces and their lamenting wails I do cherish our convocation Grateful for muses spark and the subsequent conflagration Illuminating the dark -Katie Lennon September 17, 2008 3:37 am

A time of loss.....

2008-09-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

So of course it is September 11th, and everyone if focused on the topic of loss today, and it hits home (loss that is) for other reasons, so I thought I would delve into the subject a little. So first off, the subject of where people were on 9/11/2001 came up on a group I am in, and it yielded many interesting, powerful, painful, and revealing moments. I want to thank everyone who shared there (you know who you are) everyone was touched by that tragedy in different ways, and it honors the memories to recall them. I was about 4 months pregnant at the time, and it was very sobering to think of the awesome responsibility of raising a child in this dysfunctional world we live in, and what it means to bring another soul onto this planet....

Some of you may know, some may not, that in addition to doing all the art and dance and such, I am also an activities coordinator at an independent and assisted living facility. So certainly the art and dance and other interests tie into the job, but what I find the most rewarding is directly making a difference in people's lives and quality of life. However, inherent in the job is loss, as with an aging population people do come to the end of their journeys here, and it can be very difficult. I do have to say I feel blessed to have the chance to know these vibrant souls, who have lived entire liftetimes, and through decades of history that I can only read about. And there are always those certain individuals who find a special place in your heart, and when one of those kindred spirits passes on, it is a bittersweet time. There are two individuals who continued their journeys into other realms, but who definitely made a lasting impact on me, and they will be missed. The first was Norman, what a sweet and kind and gentle soul he was. A very intelligent man, originally an opthamologist by career, I knew and loved him for his love of art. He invited me to his apartment to show me his collection of clay work he had done, and showed off his wife's hand-knotted oriental rug she had made. He had such enthusiasm for making art, and his love for it was contagious. In teaching art to seniors, oftentimes I run into people with the attitude of "I can't.." and in their lifetimes these people lived through 2 world wars and the depression... there wasn't a lot of "let's just make art for arts sake" happening in their formative years, and that type of creative expression wasn't fostered or nurtured. So their attitude that they can't and fear of trying is understandable, but it is also a shame, and something I work hard to combat against, as their is great healing power in art. This attitude was entirely missing in Norman, he was enthusiastic and invigorated by working on his art, and he encouraged everyone in the classes, he made art with a passion. It was with great shock and sadness that I learned of his passing, he had not outwardly appeared ill at all, and his death was sudden, a surprise to the wife and family he left behind. It has been a few months now since Norman passed, but I cannot go in our crafts room without thinking of him, and his wonderful spirit.

And then there was Abbey, full of piss and vinegar, one of the strongest women I could ever hope to meet, Abbey died yesterday, at age 102. She was amazing! Abbey was also an artist, she made amazing collages and sculptures, and in her younger years studied working in clay in Mexico. She was a woman after my own heart, she decorated everything! She would fabric cover her shoeboxes, and collage on things and even her tape dispensers were decorated with pretty paper. She also was a poet, and did poetry readings when her eyes were still good enough to see. I had the occasion to go to her apartment and read through some of her poetry, and see her collages. As a poet and artist myself, I felt a kindred connection to Abbey, but that isn't where it ends, she was also a dancer! I was enchanted to hear her stories and read her playbills and newspaper articles from when she was a dancer with Isadora Duncan! I feel blessed to have had that chance to know her, if only briefly during her long stay on this planet. It is my belief that she and Norman have just continued on in their journeys to other realms and I wish them wonderful times ahead, but I will miss you dearly

Countdown to the Bad Faeries Ball....

2008-09-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

This is Halloween, this is Halloween.....

Halloween is coming closer! I can feel the chill in the air, and see the halloween stores popping up everywhere. I am very excited to make my Halloween Tree this year, and have some wonderful ideas for ornaments, in fact I will probably have some with my at the upcoming events! This is my very favorite holiday, with a close second being my birthday, which is just after it (November 3), so you may be hearing about Halloween from me for quite some time now...

So I just had eye surgery today, nothing major but it is uncomfortable right now, and very blurry out of that eye because of the ointment, so no painting for me tonight! Actually I am rather exhausted and probably need to rest, so that is probably a good thing, when I get into painting time has no meaning, I can look up from my work and hours may have passed....

In just a short time, I will be donning my dangerous metal wings and suiting up for the Bad Faeries Ball, my absolute favorite part of Faeriecon, http://www.faeriecon.com/, which is only a month away. I am definitely looking forward to vending it, so if you are in the area stop on by and visit me at booth 1921. Another highlight of the event for me will be seeing the Frouds and Alan Lee and Jen Delyth, and Woodland, and Omnia and Qntal, and Mark Lewis and Billy Scudder, and I could go on and on. I am very excited for this event. I do have to say though that I am very disappointed that according to a voicemail I got my partner in crime Hawk will not be able to join us after all :-( Which totally stinks! He will definitely be missed, haven't been able to talk in person so I don't know the full scoop.

Halloween aka Samhain will be upon us before we know it, and I have to say I am very pleased with my daughter Kaileigh's choice for what to be, which is rather important since I am making her costume, it would be really tedious to make a costume of something that didn't spark that creative flow. However, that is not the case here, I am totally excited to make her a costume to be Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas! I love Tim Burton movies and this one is by far my favorite, and Kaileigh's too, she has been watching it since she was a little sprite and would say "Can we watch Sally and Jack, Mama?" I must have seen it over 100 times. Frogsbreath? Nothing is more suspicious than Frogsbreath....

I was talking on the phone last night with a newly found friend, who is one of those people that I felt an instant connection with, and i feel we are kindred spirits.. I am very much looking forward to learning from this amazing woman, she is very talented in many areas, including being a fantastic diviner. She did a reading for me that blew my mind. In the course of our conversation last night however the subject of my website came up, and she sparked some ideas for some wonderful things to come, so stay tuned to www.lennonstudio.com for lots of exciting updates, changes, new features and sections, etc... if only there were more hours in the day! I would get it all done so much quicker.

where will you find me?

2008-09-04T04:17:00.001-07:00

Well I am up bright and chipper this morning, the second day of school for my little nipperkin, and all in all, life is grand. I am glad it is fall, but the time seems to be filling up way too quickly and I feel like all my weekends are getting jam-packed before I know it. Actually before I know it at least one will be jelly-packed, as every year my daughter and I harvest the concord grapes from the arbor in our yard and make jelly, Yum! but time isn't going too quick yet, as the grapes look far off from being harvestable. So what is coming up very soon? Where can you find me? Well hopefully this weekend I will be happily hunting for antiques at the last Brimfield of the year, if you don't know, Brimfield 3 times a year turns into mecca for antiques, and I have been going since I was a young girl with my dad. Last year I got a fabulous vintage floor length black velvet coat! I love the thrill of the hunt, you never know what you might find... The following weekend I will be attending the ICONs Irish Festival in Canton, MA where I am looking forward to seeing Lunasa and Solas, two tradtional Irish bands whom I have seen before at the Sommerville Theater, and they are fabulous. Solas has a new lead female vocalist, so that should be interesting. Also looking forward to seeing Kieran Jordan step dancing...On the 14th you can find me with Lennon Studio vending at the South Eastern Massachusetts Pagan Pride day. The website is http://www.semappd.com/ and the event is in Lakeville from 10am-6pm. On the following Sunday you can find me vending again with http://www.lennonstudio.com/ at the Eastern Massachusetts Pagan Pride Project http://www.easternmasspaganpride.org/, and that event is also from 10am-6pm, and it is in Andover, MA. Well that is about it out of me for now, have to get dressed now or we will miss the school bus!

The road thus far....

2008-08-29T05:54:00.000-07:00

Faerieworlds!!!!

So above on the left is pictured me in the white with my dangerous wire wings, and my dear friend Traci, also known as Mermaid Laughing. On the right is a band of mischevious fae folk posing in front of my booth. Starting from the left is a very blue Athonwy, then mad Red Cap Sam, with Blue Hawk and Dee. It occured to me that though my site has places for all sorts of art and trinkety bits and such, there wasn't much of a place for me to communicate with people, and thus the birth of this blog, to keep people current with what is happening at Lennon Studio (http://www.lennonstudio.com/) and where you can find info about me, the artist (Katie Lennon) and where you might be able to find me, upcoming shows and such.

So most recentely you could have found me flitting and frolicking about with other friendly and not so friendly fae folk at Faerieworlds Festival, which was on Aug 1-3 in Eugene, Oregon. Quite an exciting and fabulous and magical and enchanting time was had by all. Three days jammed packed with amazing bands and workshops and vendors. The day it was over people started planning for next year, myself included. Pretty epic. I was fortunate that my amazing booth mate, Matt Hawk, or just plain Hawk, as I like to call him, of Great Scot Productions http://www.greatscotproductions.homestead.com/, minded our booth alot and allowed me the freedom to run about and experience the festival as I had never been there before. Our children played and became irrecognizable in the dust, we began calling them our Lord of the Flies children. This was such an amazing time, words just really can't describe the vibe, but it was wonderful. Some of the high points for me were getting to dance backstage, hanging with the COMFy folk at Quiet Camp, and the amazing fire performances by Mythmaker, but also our own COMFy Lyra and clan right at Quiet Camp.

For quite awhile, years even, I have been interested in fire performing, poi specifically, and finally started learning just a few weeks before Faerieworlds, so I was totally inspired to continue with my studies, so next year I can spin at QC! I will actually be attending Wildfire in October, and am totally excited "WildFire is the East Coast's premier spinning and fire arts training camp", you can check it out at the website http://www.wildfireretreat.com/. Tickets are already sold out for this year, they actually went on sale August 1 when I was at FW, and sold out in 4 hours I think. I was bummed when I came home since I had completely missed the sale since I was at FW, so I am extra grateful to the Wildfire organizers who came up with 25 extra tickets to sell, and I was super-fortunate enough to be able to get one, as they sold out in like 10 minutes or less I think.

So one thing that has been very influential for me about attending festivals is the chance to dance, and realize that even though I have been spending alot of my energy promoting my art, that my dancing is just as important. Last October I had the good fortune to attend Faeriecon in it's first year in Philadelphia (http://www.faeriecon.com/) which is put on by the same promoters as Faerieworlds, and dancing at the Good Faeries Masquerade Ball and then on the following evening at the Bad Faeries Masquerade Ball was enchanting and energizing, and rekindled to me the spark of importance that dance has for me. I am very excited to be returning to Philadelphia in October for Faeriecon in it's second incarnation, and Lennon Studio will be vending there with a booth, so if you are in the area, stop by and visit! Or join me for a dance at the masquerade balls...I am very much looking forward to it. I am working on getting competent enough with the poi that I can encorporate my dance with it. Practice, practice, practice....

So another recent event I attended was called Triple Guild 9: The Phoenix Year. It was a local pagan festival put on by the Tribe of the Sacred Crows, of which I am a member. They are the founding members of an international druid organization called Comhaltacht-Draiocht which means Fellowship of Druidry http://www.comhaltacht-draiocht.org/ It was a wonderful festival, with many exciting workshops, some of the highlights for me were the Bardic workshops and the Bardic Branching ceremonies at the evening ritual. Also of note was the workshop on the Norse Soul Map divination with Linda of Hypnotic Wishes http://www.hypnoticwishes.com/ In the workshop she did a soul reading for the whole Tribe of the Sacred Crows, and I was fortunate enough later that evening to get a personal reading, which was life altering and clarified so much to me. What was also so reaffirming for me about this festival was again the importance of my dancing in my spirituality, I was asked to teach a workshop and I chose to do a dance one. This was new to me, not teaching dance, but teaching dance to some non-dancers, and also teaching ritual dance. It ended up being a fabulous workshop and I was so impressed with the participants, it required alot of class participation and they were fabulous and creative and daring. In short, they were wonderful and it was completely energizing for me to be teaching dance after such a long hiatus. well I think I have rambled on enough for now, didn't even get to where i meant to be going yet, so I suspect there will be another post soon :-)