Chubby Cats deco book cover by IceKat.
So in my infinite wisdom, I decided to sign up for the January 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge at iATCs. It has coincided with my participation in the Come to the Fire art journal class I’ve started, and some other things, so I thought Suuuuure… why not? It’ll be fun, they said, you’ll like it, they said… What else have you got to do with your time? And besides, I have a lot of deco books to get moving along out of here. *sigh…
Here are some of my paintings so far. A lot of them are for deco books in this batch.
Pan and Delirium by IceKat.
Above is a chubby cat made on a little cardboard cutout. I made a few of those shapes, though I can’t remember for the life of me what they were originally for. LOL
Pan for a Greek Myths book, and Delirium for a Sandman the Endless book were a couple faves to draw and paint up. I’ve probably drawn Pan most of the male deities, and Bast for females.
Next is a funky girl for… I believe it was CatPratt’s book. I don’t especially like her but I’m including it for the sake of completely documenting my 30 paintings.
I was trying for a silly maybe sort of Harajuku kind of look but it didn’t really hit the mark for me. That’s okay, lots more books to take a shot at these sorts of things.
Cake by the Ocean by IceKat
Cake by the Ocean for a book of lyrics. I had fun with this one, as you can tell from all the little details on the cake. Fancy cakes are both amusing and tedious to draw. LOL
Admittedly, I enjoyed doing the background too. Sea and sky are nice to paint, and remind me of the landscapes I started off learning when I was taking oil painting lessons. I still try to handle watercolours a bit like oils, and it’s difficult sometimes to get it right.
So that’s 5 down.
Release and receive meditation by IceKat
#6 brings us to art journal paintings based on meditations. Some I’ll explain more than others. This one is based on a year end exercise by Effy Wild. On the left your write all over the page the things you want to release from the past year. Everything, writing one way, then turning the page and writing at an angle to that. Then on the right side you do the same but with things you want to be open to receiving.
After that, you paint over the words. My winter scene features the sacred Yule deer. Deer and stags have been popping up for me in different ways lately. This is a spread from my spell book project.
lion journal cover by IceKat
#7 Next we have the cover of my cosmic smash book from the Come to the Fire course. Lions are my deep totem animal, and spirals really speak to me. He didn’t come out as I pictured, but that’s okay. He looks more kindly than fierce, which I’ll grudgingly admit is more me. His mane is meant to be fiery.
I’ve since added some flat-backed gems that match on the right side corners, and ribbons and charms on the spine. You can see the red string I started with for the middle spread, which is based on the red thread concept where everyone is connected. It’s quantum. It’s a lot to explain here.
grounding page by IceKat
#8 The center spread of this journal is my grounding page. Earth for me is grounding, and I picture roots and the slow pulse of a heart deep in the ground. There’s a gold spiral on the heart, which didn’t come out because of the angle of the pages and the flash. My handprints were done in gold paint (so fun to keep finding that for days!). The idea is to be able to lay your hands on the page and get that feeling any time.
Roots and Sprouts meditation by IceKat
#9 The roots and spouts meditation was part of the Woman Unleashed program this year, and was led by Deanna L’am.
I didn’t capture the pulsing sensation that went with this one, but that’s fine. I like how this came out, and the sense of rootedness and the sprouting, and the tender fresh colours of the sprout, which I wouldn’t normally use.
I sneaked this one into the same journal because it all feels like part of the same introspective work to me. The crumpled pages really worked with the feel of the earth, to me. It’s harder to paint on, and harder to get a more perfected look that I normally aim for, so it’s a challenge in more ways than just painting or just doing the meditation work.
The Torchbearers meditation by IceKat
#10 The Torchbearers was a meditation about choosing the things you want to burn up, and the things you want to celebrate, also from Woman Unleashed.
The idea here was to draw them all in loose form, not letting your pencil leave the page. I imagined painting it a lot more… tidily? More finished? I don’t know, but it didn’t want it and I let it be. I don’t think the line work was my sort of thing but I liked the lesson.
It was again speaking to me of Delight, which I sure haven’t had enough of in my life! I think I’ll embrace it.
Self-Mother meditation by IceKat
#11 is Self-Mother, which came from a wonderful meditation on wounds and medicine. Chris Zydel taught this class in Woman Unleashed.
I LOVE this piece and how it feels, but I don’t really want to talk too much about my insights because they’re personal and not meant to involve anyone else. It’s about what I need and how I feel.
I do plan to use this meditation again in the future, because I found it really helpful and insightful. I even left some space in my book for the resulting drawings.
PS, yes, that’s my kitty Pixie in the painting. 🙂
Showing Up 2017 by IceKat
#12 is about how I want to show up in the world. Not that I necessarily want to be pegged as a witch, but I like the witchy hat just as a magical thinking hat. 🙂 I like that idea. Anyhow, I scanned this before I wrote in all the little bits and pieces so that I wouldn’t feel stared at. But there are things written in all around the image in my journal.
Those are my 4 kitties because they figure greatly in my life. They are my companions and little buddies, and sometimes like my children. I can’t imagine my life without them.
There’s also a photo near my hand of my wifey-thing, so she’s there too.
Sovereignty meditation by IceKat
#13 is from an amazing meditation on sovereignty, something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I never felt like I had any before, so I’m taking it now! Elayne Doughty led this one, and she’s wonderful! I love her energy, so I went and joined her Facebook group.
I like how this feels a bit like a tarot card. And more roots! The throne, heart, scepter, and orb all have meanings from the meditation, but that would again be long to get into.
Also, I’ve been thinking of doing a little crown tattoo sometime soon. Then this whole thing happened and I know I will.
My door and my gift by IceKat
#14 and 15: Okay, last one for now, folks. This meditation was to go see our Muse. We were then to paint the door we saw on the way, and the gift she gave us. I’m still working on my actual Muse, and I’m not sure if I want to share her at this point. Maybe later.
Anyhow, she first said to me “Don’t play small.” And then we received a red box holding the gift. My box was the gift, and it opened into this chest of many little drawers and the doors had shelves and it was very cool! She told me then that I have everything I need. I think on many levels that’s true.
Anyhow, that’s it for now! I have some catching up to do!