The Aviary Keeper and the Beautiful Fair

So far it has been an adventurous year...I have moved away from the beloved island I have been living on for the last 18 years, to make a new home now in the U.K. I have met new people, seen exciting new places ( Jane Austen's house being one of my favorites) and found a new studio space which I love. It has been a good year...tough at the beginning but unraveling sweet and exciting....
I also started a new blog, devoted to the Aviary Keeper, which is one of the reasons I have not posted here for so long...
One of the most exciting things has been being invited to take part in the Selvedge Fair this coming Saturday! I have been extremely busy this past month getting ready for it and am thrilled to be meeting so many talented artists on the day :)

My path...

Sometimes

Sometimes you have to leave, say goodbye and move on....It can hurt, it can make you cry...

Sometimes you find a new path...that leads to a new life, new experiences....that fill in the holes in your heart.

Back with big changes...

...it's been very long since my last post...


...feeling serene and happy....
....and my painting fingers are incredibly itchy...

Monogram

I fell in love with Odysseas Elytis poems, from the first verse i ever read...and in my work i always aspire to capture some of its magic...a thing impossible I know.
I found a translation of The Monogram on the internet, and had to post a small part of it here...i hope you enjoy it

"Always you the little star and always I the dark boat
Always you the harbor and I the beacon on the right
The wet dockwall and the gleam on the oars
High in the house with the vine arbors
The bound-up rosebushes, the water that feels cold
Always you the stone statue and always I the lengthning shadow
The half-closed window shutter you, I the wind that opens it
Because I love you and I love you
Always you the coin and I the adoration that cashes it:

So much for the night, so much for the roar in wind
So much for the droplet in the air, so much for the quietude
Around the despotic sea
Arch of the sky with the stars
So much for your least breath

That I have nothing more
Amid the four walls, the ceiling, the floor
To cry out of you and so my own voice strikes me
To smell of you and so men turn wild
Because men can't endure the untried
The brought from elsewhere and it's early, hear me
It's too early yet in this world my love

To speak of you and me."


x
Lily

Back home...

It's been two days since i came home from Germany where i went for treatment. Everything went well until a volcano had the idea to keep me from coming home for a few days...but i managed to click my heels and land somehow in my studio again...i missed my painting, the Mediterranean light and my dogs very much, and I'm relieved to be reunited with them all...

I'll probably be heading to Germany in September again, but for now, I'll enjoy all i have and keep painting... with the light flowing through my window, my watercolours on the table next to my rocking chair and my little dogs at my feet, dreaming :)

x
Lily

Confessions

Thanks to everyone for their lovely welcome back comments :) I'm very grateful to everyone!

I'm busily working on paintings, and i have to say that the lovely weather we have had lately has helped boost my spirits - Spring has a magical way of doing that!
Blogs i suppose are also about confessions, so i'll confess here that i was scared, scared that i wouldn't have the inspiration and energy to get back to my paintings...and it sort of showed in the first attempts i made, the colours were dark, the girls were sorrowful, something you will notice no doubt your self when i add the paintings to my shop. But slowely the joy is coming back into them, the playfullness that i embarassingly let myself forget about, and ofcourse, hope, hope that i'll be able to continue doing what i love most for a long while yet :)

much love,
a little less scared painter,
called Lily (Maya, Stavri....the list goes on, lol)

It's been a long long road

It's been over a year since i last made a blog entry..i sort of disappeared into my own world, waiting for the storm to pass...there's still some thunder, lightning and some howling winds, but i can't let another year pass by waiting...My new years resolution for 2010 was to regain my life, even if it meant being a little shipwrecked...
I've started working since the start of the year on new work and loving it. My hope is that in April/May 2010 i'll have lots of new things to share with you my friends...
Thank you for not forgetting..
Love,
Lily

The girl with her voice in a cage

Varsti came to terms with the fact that she was different from her peers at a very young age.
But the other children (who we know mostly imitate their elders) would constantly tease her, because of her difference...you see, her voice did not come through her mouth, but through the tiny beak of a yellow bird that she carried around wherever she went...


But what the other children didn't know was that she had a secret...something that they would envy... Because through the bird, she could talk not only to humans, but also to nature, trees and animals who would await her passing by so they could listen to the stories she would tell...
...and that is how Varsti found out that trees could weep, as diaphanous petals would fall in her presence...

Friday Fete

I try to keep a few hours, free on Friday just to sketch for the fun of it! Usually this entails downloading an audio book, pressing the "start" button and spreading ALL of my paints around my couch/bed...
I imagine I have the silliest grin on my face while attacking my moleskine....

a sketch of Eva

It's been nearly two months since my previous post.
I have been working on getting better and discovering life again- the simple things that I love.

I'm sure it's a cliche: i love to paint and draw... touch with my pencil every contour and experience every colour.

" Eva" was one of the skecthes I made today.

Thank You!

Thank you so much for your supporting me through one of the most trying times of my life.
Thank you for writing your beautiful comments and helping me through the darkness.
Thank you for being there and being wonderful!!

Lots of love and gratitude,
an (almost) fully functional,
Lily Moon

Black Canvas

Warning: this isn't the sanest or happiest of my blog entries...

I woke up today to discover that both my legs are paralyzed.
Its a dark place to be.
Listening to music and scribbling in my diary is all that keeps me going.

I want to crawl into one of my paper gardens and fly away with the black birds....

A little sad....

Well it's been a long month, a long year to be precise! I've been in and out of doctor's offices more than I can count, and for the third time this year I am being admitted to hospital today. I've been battling a very sinister and sneaky disease this past year...I've missed being healthy, I've missed being able to do little everyday things and this month I have missed most of all my drawing and painting!
I do hope this is all over soon...
For the meantime just wanted to say thank you all those who have been so supportive through all this!
Sending you lots of love and hope to see you all soon!

Love
Lily Moon

Messenger Birds.....

Ramses: Delivers mainly love letters....he is quite shy, cries easily, likes to hide away in ferns and desperately wants to learn to sing (he believes he was a nightingale in a previous life)....
Ariadne: Delivers mainly good news...She may look pensive, but she is of a perky and adventurous nature... Sugar coated peanuts are her favourite snack (and she won't say no to a margarita bird bath)...

and last but not least my beloved No'e : He just likes to sit on your shoulder when you are feeling lonely....

The above prints are currently available exclusively for the month of August at my brand new Big Cartel store here
and will be available in my Etsy store in Septemeber. :)

xxx
l.m.

Sketching and listening...

...to Jacob Golden tonight...

I love listening to music while working, but he makes it difficult sometimes... have to stop every time I listen to 'Hold your hair back'.... it's that good...

Garden Dwellers and Messenger Birds

Lost and Found (Print)
.... garden dwellers and messenger birds amongst a field of poppies....









A new addition to the Paper Gardens.... an ornate aviary with messenger birds (trained by the Aviary Keeper).....


xxx
L. M.

Petite Teaser.......

........?

Lilymoon Hearts:

Little Doodle's etsy shop is full of mischievous birdies and other beautiful work:




This piece made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside - a beautiful accordion book by Iris Schwarz:




A gorgeous dress that was custom made for me by Suzannah Mullikin - she is such a talented artist and a very lovely person! You can visit her Etsy shop here!

Sneak Preview...

...of what I'll be listing in my Etsy shop next week!
(The originals on canvas will be available as well as prints :O)

xxx

Lily Moon