Blackmore's Night Concert

getting ready for the Blackmores Night concert
in partial Renaissance garb (no vest or skirt because it was a hot humid day)

(more pictures at end of post)

For anyone new to my blog, this blog is primarily about talking about my music and art, and occasionally about my influences, my life experiences and sometimes about my research as well.

For those of you from the survivor community (of which there seems to be an exponential number), part of my life is devoted to art and music which I feel uplifts the spirit, and gives it more meaning.

For me spiritual art, fantasy art, and Renaissance music was part of my life since I was a child, and it is what gets me through my days. There are a lot of places, people and events which helped me to survive terrible odds, and the Renaissance community was one of them. I have performed at a lot of Renaissance faires (the innocent smaller ones with lots of children floating around in fairy costumes, blowing bubbles, riding dragons or big Clydesdales, taking part in magic tricks, while the adults seemed to be drawn to the music of the era, archery, costume exhibits and people-chess) and in my upcoming novel I feature the Renaissance faire in a somewhat similar way the minstrels are featured in the Bergman movie, The Seventh Seal.

When I am taken off course, it is the life I always go back to.

One of the bands who has played a role in my life is Blackmore's Night ... in many, many ways (some of which I will explain here). I dress in Renaissance attire when I see them, to show support, but also to be more true to myself (when I was a little girl, as far back as I can remember in almost all of my floating and flying dreams I was dressed in white Renaissance outfits, and it is the way I wanted to dress and be dressed). I cry because I am so touched and moved when I go to the Cloisters or the tapestry part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I get emotional when I hear Greensleeves or an olde Child Ballad. I have a compulsion to paint unicorns all of the time (the unicorn is a solitary creature who cannot be tamed and is in the habit of fighting for its life and purifying poisons -- fits).

I like cloaks, poet's shirts, flowing outfits (much of which I sew myself), and in a pinch, clothes from Holy Clothing. I like flora and fauna and gypsy caravans. I like stained glass and old stone buildings.

I like being healthy. I am not much of an indulger in modern processed foods and drinks, unless I am on vacation (and even there, I try to find salad joints and Indian restaurants and stay away from booze and caffeine drinks which have more franken-stuff in them than I want to consume -- it's that unicorn in me pointing to poisoned waters no doubt -- LOL).

I prefer reading (actual books) to television.

In contrast, I am not a fan of freeways, malls, dry deserts, polyester outfits, neon, and boxy modern glass-infected architecture. Los Angeles is my least favorite city in the USA ("please let me out!"). Maybe that had to do with my father who was a New Urbanist, but I think it is partly intuitive too: I have a love of the highly decorated and intricate, much of which is lacking in the big cities of the southwest. After all, the natural world is not a factory or loud; it is full of seeds and fruits on lace-like intricate trees with birds singing in them, and it will always juxtapose the boxes and homogenization. It is fine if you want to live in the southwest and I won't be too judgmental about it to the point of obnoxiousness: but for me it feels oppressive. I like moody weather, big trees, meadows, flowers everywhere, or a rolling sea, a little more humidity in the air. It's just my taste.

"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" -- Joni Mitchell

A fulfilled life is a life outside of a box, the intricate world of ideas, compassion, emotions and implementation.

So, I feel like the Blackmores Night die hard fans to be like family. They come marching up the street together (after having met at a local eatery) and I take to my feet in giddy delight to greet them. I have been walking around town beforehand with people stopping me asking me where the Ren-fest is or "What's with the get-up?" I am shy and I like my anonymity on a street (usually). So the fans who go to all of the shows in the northeast are part of not feeling like a freak. I am one of them. Later, when I see costumed maids and faire maidens in the restrooms at intermission, there is a knowing glance and smile between us.

When Candice (the singer and introducer of songs) mentions that her husband (Ritchie, the producer, conductor, melody maker and main musician) does not like boxes, I can immediately relate, on all kinds of levels.

The Seventh Seal is one of my favorite movies, and for lack of a better comparison, they are a kind of a Seventh Seal type of band (modernized somewhat as one might expect). There is a carnival-like atmosphere to their shows, interspersed with powerful and sensitive songs like "World of Stone" (about fighting for causes), "Ghost of a Rose"(one of my favorites) and "Barbara Allen" (beautiful, lilting). At other times, one almost expects jesters and leaping dancers in chiffon-fairy to pop onto the stage at intervals when the band goes from soft to loud (when Candice gets her rauschpfeife and shawm out).

Here are the influences of Ingmar Bergman when working on the Seventh Seal (from Wikipedia):

In his autobiography, The Magic Lantern, Bergman wrote that "Wood Painting gradually became The Seventh Seal, an uneven film which lies close to my heart, because it was made under difficult circumstances in a surge of vitality and delight."[14]...

... Some of the powerful influences on the film were Picasso's picture of the two acrobats, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Strindberg's dramas Folkungasagan ("The Saga of the Folkung Kings") and The Road to Damascus,[29] the frescoes at Härkeberga church and a painting by Albertus Pictor in Täby church ...

Somehow, I tend to think Blackmore's Night can relate to all of that. 

And if I look within myself, I can relate to it too (Picasso's acrobats and jester paintings are definitely an influence of mine, as I paint and draw jesters religiously, especially on pottery, and Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" is one of my favorite pieces of all time). 

I have been asked "Does Candice ever experience suffering and hardship like the rest of us or is the world just an endless fairy tale?" And my answer to that is that, as in the Seventh Seal, some of us are spared. And that is a good thing. If her life is about joy, this is the type of person who can lead you to joy too (i.e. the path out of darkness and depression). Perhaps her life's purpose is to bring beauty, to help you experience a love of life, a dance in your step, and we need those kinds of people in our world or it would be sore. Again, it's about intricacy and seeds, folks, and the variety, not about placing everyone in the same box you are in.

If you think misery loves company, you won't find much misery in their music.

There isn't a band like Blackmore's Night. They are about exploration and the non-traditional, and there isn't a song they do where they don't make that very clear. Ritchie has his dark melancholy side and it hits the light as soon as Candice puts lyrics to it, dances to it, and sings it. When I am asked to describe their music, I say, "Creative Music." If I am asked to explain more it is usually "Mainly influenced by Renaissance music mixed with folk, classical and rock, nothing defined in a definite way, just masterfully done creativity." The person asking the question usually looks puzzled. I would think that an answer like that would get them to one of their shows to see what it is all about.

As for the other band members, my feeling is that they are the best line-up so far. Lady Lynn (as she is referred to) is the classical opera singer who sings harmonies with Candice Night. The 4 octave range is a nice complement to Candice Night's vocals. The fiddler is one of the best on the circuit and has excellent resonance -- wow! The bassist/complimentary guitarist, Earl Grey, has been with them for quite a long time and knows instinctively how to keep up the pace with Ritchie. David, the pianist, adds humor when he can, and adds coloring to the pieces through synths. 

I feel that I can relate to them on a deeper level too. We perform Renaissance music too (new interpretations), but I like the English composers most (Dowland and Campion) and their often incomprehensible (word salad-y)  lyrics about unrequited love. Our take on Renaissance music, however, is quite a bit more annoying to purists than theirs, because Dowland is seen as a great composer, one of the ones who started the whole counterpoint thing and used it religiously, and which we don't always use, and you can't mess with great composers in their eyes, so while we sold a lot of CDs to Europeans, in the USA we didn't get very far with it for live concerts beyond library concert series. As difficult as it was to be sneered at and rejected by purists, I still have a compulsion to work over Dowland's songs. I think the same kind of rebelliousness lives within their hearts too.

I am part of a family of professional musicians who like to play old instruments including the hammered dulcimer, Celtic harp and lately, the hurdy gurdy. Cello or double bass help to ground it all to the earth, and when needed, provide a drone. So we are committed to Renaissance music. My husband thinks that good traditional music should be played so that it doesn't disappear, that it always should be accessible to new generations. I'm not sure how that fits in with my vision to be creative with old songs, but we get along and we don't butt heads, so there is compatibility with both perspectives, at least as far as the two of us are concerned.

If you are a believer in astrology, I found that everything in my chart was aspected to everything in Candice's chart with many in exact degrees, most of it positively aspected (her chart happens to be on-line somewhere, or once was). Very unusual, in fact so uncommon as to be freakish. Since Ritchie's chart is also aspected to just about everything in Candice's chart too, also in the same kind of once-in-a-lifetime way, I have more than the common amount of aspects with his chart as well. Right now I don't know if we have an unbelievable amount of things in common, but I do know the commonalities we share in music and in being creative people. If astrology has any clout at all, there would practically be lightening bolts of understanding and psychic connection with them. It would be a good test to see if astrology really works on any level. "Like attracts like", but I also know what it is like to be approached when you are a performer, and especially a singer -- you don't need connections forced on you when you are in "work mode", that's for sure, having been in that position myself, so it will happen organically if it is meant to happen at all. 

In the meantime sharing visions with people who are on the same kind of curcuit has been rewarding: Owain Phyfe, Lisa Lynne, Laurie Ann Haus and other "ethereals" and musicians who are part of bringing Renaissance music forward, and fantasy artists Lisa Hunt, Ann Marie Tornabene, Paulina Cassidy, Andrew Gonzalez, Susan Schroder, Suzanne Gyseman, and others who inspire me. And of course there is the Harper and the Minstrel, who from long ago, welcomed us (Spirites Consort) with open arms. They are all kindred spirits and if I died tomorrow, I would be happy to have made only those personal connections.

Profound connections lead to healing and great understanding, all necessary in life, and the connections juxtapose those who would judge you and stick you in roles (the kind of boxes of projected judgments and false imprisonments of narrow minded narcissism). All souls want to be understood and free. All souls want to see someone at intermission who gives that knowing smile. And all souls want to vibrate to a kind of music where it helps them understand more about the world and their place in it. For me, Blackmores Night opens up the gates of awareness in many ways, and I just have to sit in a theater, even in the last aisle if I have to, to have them effect me in that way.

created by Jim Manngard (my picture on a wine bottle). 

Jim is Ritchie Blackmore's assistant and part of the Blackmore's Night sound team

standing outside squinting in the hot sun hours before the concert

new in my shop: treble clefs on home decor, teeshirts, mugs and tote bags

Turquoise Treble Clef with Turquoise and Blue Border
available through THIS LINK

treble clefs come in a multitude of colors including pink, gold and purple:

check THIS LINK to be taken to the entire collection (and to purchase if you so desire)

Bear with me as these treble clefs come in a variety of colors and products. Products include mugs, tote bags, home decor (bed covers, prints, pillows, shower curtains), large round beach towels and phone cases. Some of the other variations of treble clefs are gold, pink, brown and dark purple (I show at the bottom of the post)

This is what the turquoise treble clef looks like on a mug

(the treble clef is printed on two sides of the mug):

available through THIS LINK

next up is a pillow design:

available HERE

and a tote bag:

available HERE

There are also teeshirts in any color of your choice.

This one happens to be long sleeved and in a silver color:

available HERE

Here are what some of the others look like:

all treble clef designs available HERE (and ... I will always be making more,

so check back for them ... if interested, of course!)

the whole shop is HERE  

Paul Brady, newly discovered (for me) Irish singer

Since I specialize in Celtic and Irish music (and have also been known to steal ideas from ancient Irish art for my painting projects), I don't know why I missed artist, Paul Brady. But I sure am glad I discovered him now! I fell in love immediately with his voice and this rendition of The Lakes of Pontchartrain. He is 30 years old in this video. Enjoy!

my memorial piece for Sally (plus Margie's write-up)

(slightly changed from the original version, particularly names)

I met Sally in 2001 at about the same time I met M.

But it wasn’t until her relationship with L was on the skids that we became fast friends. We would talk on the phone for hours and hours about our common experiences. Very early on I decided I loved her and told her so.

From then on, she became a major presence in my life and in the life of N and M. She put on birthday parties for our family members; she threw a graduation party for N;  she came to most of our local concerts and all of my art gallery shows; she compared height sizes with N as N was sprouting into a teenager (she’d say, “N, do you have to grow? I need more people down here at my level.”). During a particularly stressful court battle that I went through with Allstate, she was there for that too, cheerleading for me in the wings. We had more dinners and get-togethers than I can count.

When M had major surgeries and I wanted to tell family how he had fared, I called N first, Sally second and my mother third. That’s how important she was to us.

Indeed, I often told her she was my adopted sister.

This year, I spent a great deal of time taking care of my father who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. When I would come home for the rare weekend here and there or to take care of M for yet another surgery, I would cry with Sally on the phone. I would tell her how hard it was to lose such a good person with such a big heart. Indeed, my father was the apple of my eye and it was very hard to see him so sick and not be able to do anything about it. She was the ever-soothing presence and she would say “Oh, Lees, I’m so sorry”  over and over.

I was not prepared to get the phone call that Sally had died in the midst of all of this.  Indeed, I often found it too painful. When I went back to T  for the last 5 days of my father’s life, I would sit beside him in bed, rubbing his legs, trying to get him to eat ice cubes, telling him how much I loved him, choking up about Sally. The last day of my father’s life, I wanted to call Sally in the worst way. It was then that I could swear that Sally was with me. She said, “Lees, you don’t have to call me. I’m right here beside you and I’m not going anywhere.”

When my father took his last breath, I was with him. And it seemed Sally was very much there too, welcoming him to the club.

Two people with huge hearts, major figures in my life died ten days apart from each other.

I hope they are the ones I see first when I go through the pearly gates myself. We should all be so lucky.

Margie Rosenkranz's write-up:

Our beautiful and impish friend SALLY passed away unexpectedly last Thursday morning in her sleep... She was 63 years young and I can tell you, no one was expecting this. 
Sally and I would've been friends for 50 years come September, and I cannot count the holes in my life at this moment. She was president of the board for The Eighth Step, the grassroots music presenting organization which I help run, godmother to my son, and a fairy godmother to my girls. Sally raised friendship to an art form; there are so many people out there I have heard wonderful things about - for years! - and you know what? We have been so very, very lucky to have her! 

We are planning a less conventional musical memorial at 1 pm on Sunday, May 19 at The Eighth Step Underground (Proctors). We're calling it "Garden of Friends" after Sal's love of the outdoors, friends and music. (She was due to cook dinner backstage in a few weeks for Tom Rush, Scottish singer Dougie MacLean and probably Pete Seeger - and boy, was she happy about it.) That's the chance to celebrate the joy she brought us all: telling stories, spouting Sally-isms and singing along or even contributing a song. Forget? Never.

Some pictures of Sally and me:

at the Killington Renaissance Faire where we performed
She drove a long way with some of her family members just to see us.
That was Sally. She always went out of her way for her friends.

decorating Sally's tree at Christmas
She stuck bundles of baby's breath in the limbs and it looked fabulous!

I will have some artwork commemorating these two beautiful people (Sally and my father) in the months and years to come.

Introducing Scott Petito

SCOTT PETITO AT THE MIXING BOARD

Scott produced, performed on, mixed and mastered my CDs
"Wing'd With Hopes" and "The Goldenrod"

Scott's resume reads like a "who's who" of the music world: he's worked with James Taylor, The Band, Keith Richards, Chick Corea, Dave Brubeck, Jack DeJhonette, Aine Minogue, Pete Seeger, Jay Unger and Molly Mason (background music for many of Ken Burns' documentaries) and many others in the folk and jazz world. He also is a member of The Fugs and performs with his partner, Leslie Ritter. 

He is primarily known for his producing, mixing and mastering of CDs, but he is also a musician. His main instrument is bass, but he is also adept at the piano, guitar, percussion and cello. 

The first CD I did with Scott was the "Wing'd With Hopes" CD. It was a best seller on CD Baby in the Renaissance category for awhile. It also received a lot of airplay in the USA and abroad. Recording the CD lead to winning a grant from the New York Foundation of the Arts to record another CD of my original songs, "The Goldenrod" (and was an editor's choice on CD Baby when it first came out).

Check out some of the other great artists that Scott has worked with that are perhaps (?) in the same ballpark/genre as my own CDs:

Aine Minogue

Cathie Ryan

Kevin McKrell

The Gypsy Nomads

Abby Newton

This is a beautiful song he recorded with Leslie Ritter (on YouTube): If Mary Knew

He records at NRS Recording Studio in Catskill, NY.

MY WEBSITE

WING'D WITH HOPES CD

THE GOLDENROD CD 

My CDs: Wingd With Hopes, The Goldenrod and Saratoga Romance

I haven't written much about my CDs in this blog, so I thought I'd mention some of them. Afterall, it has taken up a large part of my time and life.

My CDs are all available on-line through:

My Artfire on-line shop (scroll down past the featured products)

or through CD Baby:
(a Renaissance CD and an original song CD) 
or:
(Celtic music CD)

You can also listen to clips on MYSPACE to our
Renaissance band's music (Lise Winne and the Spirites Consort)
or our predominantly Celtic/acoustic/folk band's CD (Saratoga Faire band)
or my own Myspace site which has a smattering of the two bands, my own original songs and some demo songs that were never put out for sale  
  
Here are some of my CDs:

Wing'd With Hopes with The Spirites Consort was released in 2001:

Wing'd With Hopes is my best-selling CD to date. It is an album of Renaissance songs using modern instruments, an innovative approach and a produced sound. It was recorded, mixed, mastered and co-produced with Scott Petito (who also records big names like James Taylor, the Band, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, Pete Seeger, Dave Brubeck and Aine Minogue, so it is a quality recording). The instruments are primarily acoustic instruments with world percussion, so it is a kind of hybrid sound somewhere between folk, classical and world music.

Before this recording, I was performing the works of Thomas Campion and John Dowland as a solo artist tackling both the lute part and singing, but it was challanging to do both, to say the least. My father who is a trained classical and jazz pianist suggested I try a new age, creative approach to the music instead, using a band. And that is how Wing'd With Hopes came to be.

After recording Wing'd With Hopes, I won a grant from The New York Foundation for the Arts to make another CD. This resulted in The Goldenrod, which was released in 2004:

The Goldenrod is an original song CD. Three of the originals were written with Jason Kessler, who I worked with from 1998 - 2000 in various capacities from Renaissance and light classical concerts, holiday concerts and jazz/new age style originals. The three compositions, Seaflight I, Where Did You Go and Perhaps Butterflies were songs in which Jason wrote the music and I wrote the lyrics.

There is one song on the CD which did not have my lyrics or music: Dreaming You Back to Me. This one was written by my music partner, Jeff Belding (music) and a lyricist he worked with for awhile, Rene Balsam.

As with Wing'd With Hopes, the CD is also recorded, mixed, mastered and co-produced with Scott Petito.

The inspiration for writing the CD came from the break-up of a relationship and the healing and spiritual journey afterward. Musically, the influences range from Renaissance music, jazz, folk and new age.

In the midst of finishing The Goldenrod CD project, Jeff Belding and I formed a band with Frank Orsini (violin, viola and mandolin) with Jim Lestrange (hammered dulcimer, bass and guitar). We called ourselves Saratoga Faire.

Our debut album, released in 2009 is called Saratoga Romance:

The title track is a waltz written by Jeff Belding about the place where we all met. He also contributes songwriting to The Fountain and Living to Eternity.

But a predominance of the album is Celtic and traditional songs.

We covered two songs on the album: Wind in the Willows written by Alan Bell and made popular by Blackmore's Night and Far Away, an instrumental by Peter Jung that has a Celtic style to it.

I produced the cover art for the CD.


Saratoga Faire is on a bit of a performance hiatus (medical for one of our members -- should be better soon), but we've performed at some great venues.

Our two favorite performances took place at Troy Music Hall (one a concert of our usual repertoire and one a Christmas concert). It is an ornate Victorian era music hall with two upper balconies in upstate NY.

This is a snippet of a photo of the inside of the hall with two upper balconies just above the stage area (from the Troy Music Hall website):

Finally I leave you with a photo of our band at Troy Music Hall after the audience went home (photo by Tania Susi, a Julliard grad violinist):

treble clef and bass clef Christmas ornaments

3 Star of David ornaments with dove of peace

hand painted and one of a kind

note: each one is reversible (that is why there is a side-by-side view)

© 2012

available through the holiday season in my Etsy shop

also available year-round in my Artfire shop (if they haven't sold)

As with the Hanukkah ornaments I talked about last time (link to that blog post HERE), I actually made them in 2011, but I am listing them for the first time on-line this year.

These are popular with my musician friends! You can tell they are slightly different from one another. I have set aside a few for our tree too. I really like how they look on a tree (and perhaps I will show you soon).

WEBSITE

MY ETSY ON-LINE SHOP

MY ARTFIRE ON-LINE SHOP

The Frog and the Princess video

The Frog and the Princess Video by Karen Anne Brady
~her work-in-progress video featuring a painting she did~
~the background music is from our band, Saratoga Faire, from our "Saratoga Romance CD"~

(the song is a lesser known Turlough  O'carolan piece called "Miss Noble")

Karen Anne Brady (known as Ireland Brady on Etsy) is a talented artist from the Portland, Oregon area. Her own blog post about the video is HERE.

Enjoy!

A return to Renaissance music and Owain Phyfe

I have been listening to bluegrass in the car for most of the year. Jim rotates the CDs in the car and they are almost always bluegrass CDs (note: I am the one who drives the car 90 percent of the time, but he's the one who chooses the CDs, just so you know... and also to let you know, I didn't object because I want to be supportive and explore that direction especially since so many of our mutual friends are bluegrass fanatics). He did put a Solas CD (an Irish band) in the car for a short time, but that disappeared. When it was there, I found myself gravitating toward it the most.

Dominating the CD player was Tony Rice, Chris Thile, Alison Krauss and Claire Lynch (who I like a lot -- I particularly like her Woods of Sipsey -- but, let's face it: that song is NOT bluegrass like so many others of hers are). Anyway, I like bluegrass even if I was gravitating more towards songs in the CDs that are not in the genre. I felt I had finally been converted since I was fed a constant diet of it and did not change out the CD player for artists I am more naturally drawn to.

But something funny happens when you are on a constant diet of a particular kind of music: you stop remembering other kinds of music. Indeed, it defines what you listen to and what kind of person you are. For all intents and purposes, I was becoming a bluegrasser even if I could not perform or even jam effectively in the style. All that Jim and I talked about was bluegrass artists (when it came to music of any kind). It particularly dominated conversations when he joined a bluegrass band and was constantly going to bluegrass jams (while I stayed in the house most of this year disabled with various illnesses, medical problems and crises, my identity as a performer now virtually wiped out and in the past). Indeed, there was nothing else to talk about but bluegrass.

Then for a long trip, I suggested to Jim that I might like to break up our listening with something other than bluegrass. So I grabbed an Owain Phyfe CD on the way out. When the car player rotated around to the CD, I noticed a sharp contrast with the bluegrass CDs, something that caught me off guard. The first cut was "Maid in Bedlam" and almost immediately I started crying. Then the whole CD was choking me up. It seemed to touch a part of me that I had not felt for so long in listening to all of the bluegrass CDs: my emotions, my yearning for something old and timeless. Indeed, I felt like I was "home again", even if briefly.

This happened two weeks ago.

Today I found out that Owain is in the hospital. This brought up another round of emotions: life is so short; we are here for such a short period of time. He has made a lot of people happy with his music and there are so many people on facebook wishing him a speedy recovery. He truly found within himself a talented and loved troubadour after working for so many years in the auto industry. Indeed, he has an irresistible delivery for Renaissance music. And it is not just people who have seen him live or on the radio who he has touched; it is also people who walked by my house, people who are normally accustomed to hearing rap and hip hop (and maybe a little country and teen pop now and then too), who suddenly stopped in their tracks and asked, "Who is that? That's quite beautiful."


Normally, a series of crises will take anyone off track, especially if it concerns health. I have gotten used to being taken off track now, of having lost parts of myself, of being distracted by absurdly small projects, floundering around with different directions because I might very well be incapacitated again, and in trying to keep the status quo so that I can make a living off of what products I do have on hand. But in the back of my mind when I do feel well, I am asking: What do I do now? Where do I go? Am I still a Renaissance musician and singer? Does anyone miss me in that role? Do I belong to the genre that Owain Phyfe inhabits or something else? Is there something in me that I have not yet discovered? Is this my true calling or is it something else?


These are all hard questions to answer at this point. But they were all brought up in my mind when I listened with new ears to Owain Phyfe.  

Kreative Blogger Award

Karen Anne Brady of Ireland Brady bestowed upon me the "Kreative Blogger Award". 

Part of accepting the award means I have to share 7 random, but well thought out facts about myself. So here goes:

1. I am generally a happy and positive person.

2. I am a health nut. I don't drink alcohol, smoke, buy junk food or eat or drink anything with sugar in it (except whole fruits) or eat any processed foods (except organic potato chips and Triscuits once in a great while).

3. I make most of the presents I give away at Christmas. 

4. I'd wear some version of Renaissance attire all of the time if people didn't look at me funny (except when on hiking trips, long distance travel or playing sports -- hard to do those activities in long gowns!). 

5. I love old architecture. I feel much more comfortable in older buildings and in older neighborhoods than in new buildings (it's hard to love boxy glass and steel structures).

6. I was a long distance swimmer as a child.

7. I love hiking and discovering things and places on foot away from traffic.

In accepting this award there are a few rules (which allow some leeway to be broken: check out the parentheses below):

When one receives this honor, there are a few rules they can (or not) choose to follow:
1. Post a link to the person who awarded you 
2. Share 7 well-thought out random things about yourself
3. Bestow this Award to 10 other deserving bloggers and let them know.

I am going to break the 3rd rule because I don't follow or read many blogs (except news and political blogs, but I'm not going to count them in). I'm sticking to art and music blogs:

1. Karen at Ireland Brady  -- yup, I'm giving the award right back to her because I read everything she writes.

2. AnnMarie at AnnMarieTornabene -- because I read all of her blogposts as well (her website is well worth checking out too at www.AnneMarieTornabene.net).

3. Abby at MinstrelTales. Abby hasn't written much on her blogger, but she was an active blogger on Myspace for years (before MySpace disappeared and came back, that is!). She tells what it is like to be a traveling Renaissance minstrel in the modern world.

4. Terrance Frank Lazaroff of EtsyExtension. Frank is a gifted potter and shares tips on the business of selling crafts.

I also sometimes read the blogs of this musician and artist (more well known):

5. Jo at TheCartBeforetheHorse. Soft sculpture and dolls and lots of creativity! 

6. Lisa Lynne at LisaLynneFranco. Harpist sharing concert videos, pictures of her travels and the story of finding her birth mother.

treble clef trinket box

Treble Clef trinket box
hand painted by moi
© 2010 (available for the first time)
available through my Artfire on-line store through THIS LINK
or through my Etsy on-line store through THIS LINK

Here is a view of the bottom of the box:

Another view looking inside:

My other trinket boxes can be viewed HERE. I thought I had painted all of the trinket boxes in the winter of 2011, but this one must have been painted during the holidays (I was painting a group of these for family and someone from the family likes treble clefs, so this must have been an experiment before I painted a custom one). 

This one may be my favorite. I certainly put the most work into it!

I probably won't be painting any more of these trinket boxes for a good long while as I have so many other projects I'd like to pursue, so they are probably an anomaly for me, a one-time event in my art career.

other links:

MY WEBSITE

MY ETSY ON-LINE STORE

MY ARTFIRE ON-LINE STORE

Victorian Christmas music hall and library concerts

our most recent concert at the East Greenbush Library concert series

(note: in the poster we are wearing Renaissance attire, but we do have Victorian attire)

here is the press for the event:

Last year, we performed a Christmas concert for the Troy Music Hall with our whole band (4 of us) to a crowd of about 800 - 1,000:

that's half the stage with a big grand piano on it with organ pipes above it (the side boxes go up 3 stories and there is a big balcony in the rear)

we have been told by many respected performers that it has the best acoustics in the country!

And we've been performing for years for the Victorian Streetwalk in Saratoga Springs, NY. I used to also perform for the Troy Victorian Stroll through the 1990s (before meeting Jim, my music partner) and I performed at a sold out Christmas concert at the North Pointe Concert Hall in Kinderhook, NY years ago.

For the Kinderhook concert, we performed a couple of songs on the radio before hand and it was broadcast all the way to Amherst, MA - Woodstock, NY - the Adirondacks - Utica. People contacted us to buy CDs from that live performance. It was wonderful to get such a positive response.

For library and art center concert series, we make the experience educational and come dressed in appropriate Victorian attire. We talk about the style of dress during the era, about the instruments that were used at the time, the origin of the songs and the hammered dulcimer (the musical instrument that Jim plays for many of the carols as it has a bell-like quality and is perfect for this style of music). Since we also perform a wide variety of Renaissance songs and instrumentals and we are known for this music (through concert series, Renaissance faires and my CD of Renaissance songs, Wing'd With Hopes), we often incorporate this music and its carols into the program and repertoire. 

We would love to perform more concerts in this genre!

If you are reading this and you know someone who might be interested in featuring us, contact us through this e-mail address: SaratogaFaire (-(att)-) yahoo.com. (Note: what is in the parentheses should obviously have an @ symbol, but we didn't want anyone to spam us!).

You can check out our music through the following sites:

 our Renaissance music (myspace site)

our Celtic folk band (myspace site)

some of my own originals music plus some Renaissance pieces (myspace site)

Angel Bliss of Music from the Ethereal Realms

Angel Bliss of Music

from the Ethereal Realms

© 2011

(you may have to click on the image to see all of the details)

This piece is again inspired by Bliss McIntosh's corn husk and milkweed winged angels. Bliss's work is viewable HERE.

I am on a roll. I made Angel Penelope of the Grain first (which you can view from this blog post). This is the second in the series.

I will have her available as a print and as greeting cards in my Artfire and Etsy shops as well as at a number of galleries and gift shops in my area (and, yes, she will be available at the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Center's 2011 holiday show). Look for her in the next couple of days.

MY WEBSITE

MY ART IN ON-LINE STORES:
Artfire (widest selection)
Etsy

MY MUSIC IN ON-LINE STORES:
CD Baby
Amazon
InandOut Records (Europe)
My band, Saratoga Faire, on CD Baby

Angel Penelope of the Grain

Angel Penelope of the Grain
(after Bliss McIntosh's corn husk and milkweed winged angels)

© 2011

Available on-line HERE. She may also be available as a print soon and via my ETSY SHOP during the holidays.

Here is a blurry photo of my inspiration:

Corn Husk and Milkweed Winged Angel holding a trumpet by Bliss McIntosh

(find more of her work HERE)

As it turns out, we are sharing space in a gallery (Valley Artisans Market) for the holiday season and probably beyond (perhaps until next summer). Thus began the inspiration to do some work based on her pieces.

And as it turns out (to my delightful discovery upon finishing this piece) the face of the angel looks a lot like Lisa Lynne! Check it out:

face of Angel Penelope

Lisa plays the harp (as well as a variety of exotic instruments) and she has produced many, many CDs of enchanting music. The horn that the angel plays might just fit in with the rest of her collection. Check out Lisa Lynne's website HERE.

I have been inspired by Bliss before. Here is a piece from 2004:

Angels of the Seed Celebrate New Life

© 2004

When I was zooming in on the grain part while designing "Angel Penelope of the Grain", I was struck by how many bugs were clinging to it (hope you'll be able to detect them in the pictures on this blog). All the bugs are captured in the final piece, though it is harder to see them than in these photos. Anyway, here they are:

bugs in the grain

(part of the job!)

FUN!

MY WEBSITE

MY ART IN ON-LINE STORES:

Artfire (widest selection)

Etsy

MY MUSIC IN ON-LINE STORES:

CD Baby

Amazon

InandOutRecords (Europe)

My band, Saratoga Faire, on CD Baby

treble clef greeting cards

Since I am a musician, I decided to do a series based on music. The treble clef is widely used. I painted the design in 2010, but this is the first time I am offering it as a greeting card.

Look in my on-line shops for it or follow the link HERE to a direct listing in my Artfire shop.

I already made matching tags last year. Here they are again:

That's it for now!

links:

MY WEBSITE

MY ART IN ON-LINE STORES:

Artfire -- widest selection

Etsy

MY MUSIC LINKS (hear clips):

Music MYSPACE

My band, Saratoga Faire’s MYSPACE

My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort

MY MUSIC IN ON-LINE STORES:

CD Baby

Amazon

InandOutRecords (Europe)

My band, Saratoga Faire, on CD Baby



It's All in the Partner!

"Love Birds Dancing" greeting card

with "It's all in the partner!" written underneath

© 2011

This is part of the exotic bird series I have been working on. Exotic birds were the first thing I thought of when I was looking around for subject matter last week for an anniversary (or wedding) card. I just can't get enough of exotic birds. I enjoy them most of all. This is certainly a very different approach from my tight, detailed Celtic style art or hand-thrown pottery (which I enjoy making too, but it isn't as though I can leap into this kind of art-making without lots of planning and preliminaries).

The original art piece is india ink and colored pencil. It is approximately 13.25" x 18" on 14" x 19" bristol. I am selling the greeting card right away through my Artfire on-line shop through this link and it will be out in that format in some brick and mortar stores in my area soon. I may add prints of this design at some point too.

If you absolutely love the original, you can e-mail me at sales(at t)LiseWinne.com. 

I haven't decided on what to do with any of the originals. Pile them up and then have a gallery exhibit somewhere eventually?

WEBSITE

ARTFIRE ON-LINE STORE

MY MUSIC LINKS (hear clips):

Music MYSPACE

My band, Saratoga Faire’s MYSPACE

My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort

MY MUSIC IN ON-LINE STORES:

CD Baby

Amazon

InandOutRecords (Europe)

My band, Saratoga Faire, on CD Baby

oh yes, and here's a detail of the 2 birds:

Acorn art gift tags and Treble Clef art gift tags

Note: copyright watermarks do not appear on actual products

My latest designs made into art gift tags. These are on acid free card stock and printed with archival inks. Available in ye olde online store. edit on 12/16/11: these are also available through Artfire (it has the largest selection of my products).

My Website

Music MYSPACE (hear clips)

My Artfire on-line store (largest selection)

My Etsy on-line store (seasonal slection)

My band site: Saratoga Faire

My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort (hear clips)