Fairy Queue

Fairy Queue

© 2016

available for sale as a print (in a multitude of sizes), and as home decor and other products through this link at LISE WINNE.NET

or available for sale as a 11 x 14 hand signed giclee print HERE 

If you have been following along, I started a series featuring altered photographs. The last one was "A Dragon Confides in a Fairy" (viewable HERE). In this piece, I feature a procession of fairies with flowers, a butterfly  and fairy orbs. 

Here are some details of the piece:

detail: at the back of the queue

detail from the middle of the queue

detail from the beginning of the queue

(notice how their clothing is adorned with butterflies)

Here are just a few framing options that you can customize through LiseWinne.net (many more combinations are available, but these are some samples):

gold frame with mist mat

green frame with snow white mat

beige frame (plc8) with mist mat

 purple frame with purple mat

This is the original photograph that it came from. It was a windy day, which is why the hair is flying and the Wizard's cape is blowing back. You can tell I changed a lot including clothing colors, putting wings and pointy ears on the figures, taking the glasses off of another figure, and putting them in a different background with all things associated with a tiny fairies (big flowers, large butterfly, orbs, nature):

derived from an original photo

Beltane 2015 and how it ended up looking like something out of Hieronymus Bosch

bonfire set to go for Beltane 2015!

(Beltane wouldn't be complete without a bonfire and this one has two bonfires)

This is to celebrate and dance away the dark spirits that have been around since Halloween! 

To learn more about Beltane, which is an olde Celtic celebration, go here to a Wikipedia article about it.

This is a continuation of this post about Beltane 2014, and about this post where I promised to post about 3 events in succession. The three events include flag day (where taking pictures of the parade resulted in an art piece called "Followers as Zombies" view-able here), Beltane (this post, which resulted in an art piece that resembled something out of Hieronymous Bosch) and a Renaissance faire (yet to be published).

I sometimes use photos from events for my art. In my particular case, I probably will use more of the flag day photos and Renaissance faire photos than the ones from Beltane, though I am liking this year's crop of Beltane photos more than last year's and you never know what will spark the inspiration.

Before the bonfire gets lit with a torch thrown from a medieval-style catapult, I take a walk through the woods and find that there is a rather large campsite. Most of the camps are tents, but I found this cool caravan, complete with a couple of sculptures nailed to either side of the door:

  caravan camping complete with cozy bed inside

and two ceramic sculptures adorning the outside on either side of the door --

The whole caravan sits on a trailer bed and has modern wheels for a modern highway even though it looks like something from the 1600s - 1800s. This is much nicer to look at than a modern trailer made out of metal and plastic parts! It is very much a mini home and can fit a double bed, the rocker and shelf unit (though I have yet to find out where the small round table can fit ... and on closer inspection, I realize it is a spool, with two round circles on either end, and just fashioned to be a make-shift table for the present).

I noticed two caravans for Beltane this year (last year there was only one caravan, so the new trend seems to be taking hold)!

Then as I go back to the gathering, I notice it is getting dark. So I take a picture of one of the two statues that adorn the gate before the night descends:

sculpture guarding the gate

before dark

In the other post that I wrote, I told how this event takes place at an artist's studio, and his sculptures are everywhere! They are included in everything, even the place where wood is stacked, on carts, where there is a tree growing, where there is an entrance, anything is deserving of a piece of sculpture. For Beltane, the torches are placed in front of the sculptures.

So ... when night arrives the torches illuminate all the sculpture faces (like this one):

 the torches are lit!

the faces all glow in the dark!

Then the bonfire gets lit with fireballs thrown from a hand-built old style catapult up on a hill:

the bonfires are lit by fireballs catapulting into the wood piles

the celebration is on!

the drumming starts!

the dancing starts!

everyone moves a little closer to the fire!

I liked how this guy's profile was framed by the fire:

profiled by fire!

I love the effects of some of the pictures once it is dark! So much better than last year's photo shoot! These guys look like aliens (grays) with their tight suits and hoods. I like how these three figures move, and how they leave trails (because of the low light and long shutter speed):

three figures 

who look like aliens!

and dancing!

Then the fire dancers get started:

the fire dancers start!

and keep going!

and going and going and ...

and going!

There was a little more light made by the bonfires for this next photo, and I like how I'm getting shadowing with all of the figures. Faces begin to take on other-worldly appearances:

fire dancer with on-lookers

And then a guy with horns starts fire dancing too. I love how his glasses are reflecting the fire from his hands and the satisfied smile he seems to wear:

man with horns fire dancing!

another one

... And then he starts to eat fire (!):

fire eater with two fireballs

fire eater in full glory!

The following are my favorites of the night:

This is probably my ultimate favorite of the night! I like the composition and how the figures are moving. This one will have to be relegated to a painting. I don't know how to improve upon the photo itself at this time:

gathering

This one looks like ghosts. The squiggle is somewhat distracting, and I contemplate whether to take it out digitally. It has that Duchamp look to it (reminding me of Nude Descending a Staircase), but there is also something about it that only photography can do: 

ghosts with light squiggles

I take a portion of the photo and play around with it:

ghosts moving, doing their thing

So odd! Whoa! Weird things start happening in the dark, I guess!

It looks like some of the figures are in a bath tub! There was no bath tub, I can assure you! There's also a brown fish coming out of the side of it (front center). And then there's this cubist thing happening in the left corner! The figures ears are pronounced, and you can tell where their hairlines are, but other than that there is a mystery surrounding this perspective and the one preceding it.

I know that these photos were taken near the drumming circle, but other than that I can't remember what was there.

The one thing I left out of the above one was a full perspective of the tree. Perhaps that is what is most interesting about the photo. The tree and figures appear as one:

"Ghosts Holding up the Tree of Life"

This one looks like a Bacchanalian freak show:

"Bacchanalian Freak Show"

(take one)

The most interesting figures (to me) are off to the right. So I focus on them for this next rendition: 

"Bacchanalian Freak Show"

(take two)

It can't get much better than this!

... Or can it?

I go into the photo and try to emphasize the facial features and some of the hands.

Wow! Now it is looking like something out of Hieronymus Bosch (!):

"Bacchanalian Freak Show with Hieronymus Bosch treatment"

(final)

Next up is a Renaissance faire.

some other Beltane fests I found on the web

This one is from Glastonbury, UK

This is one from Ulster County, NY

and included a maypole dance in addition to the bonfire dance.

This is meant to be a continuation of my other two posts, Beltane Favorites and A Beltane Party, 2014.

Our party had many more drummers (with some professionals in the mix) than either of these two events.   

A great way to celebrate spring!

A Beltane Party, 2014

Beltane Fire Dancer

2014

In the last post, I mentioned some of the artists on my private Facebook page that celebrate Beltane and make Beltane-related art. If you are new to my blog see the previous post HERE. 

Do you wonder what a Beltane festival or party is? Go here to the Wikipedia article on it. In short, it is a Gaelic festival about the arrival of Spring typically celebrated on May Day (or a weekend before or after, for those who work M - F). 

Since I know a lot of people who love to celebrate these events, I get invited to a lot Beltane rituals, parties and art-happenings. The fire dancer above was at one of the ones I attended. You can't see her costume, but she wore boots, a mini skirt with bright metallic-like spangles and a headdress with horns. There were at least 10 drummers there to keep her on beat. At this particular event there were about four fire dancers and one fire-eater.

Some people showed up in costume: there were women with a bouquet of flowers around their head, other folks with horns and leaves on their heads and heavily tattooed, some were wearing the Celtic tree of Life somewhere on their person, some re-enactors came with full body chainmaille and impressive ornate swords, some people came with Irish capes and some people didn't dress up at all. In other years I have gone, some people showed up with Green Man masks and regalia and some came with faerie costuming. I was disappointed they weren't there this time. This year there were more tee-shirts, jeans and beer than other years, possibly because there were a lot of young rock bands in the barn on the property (or maybe it was the cold night: who wants to cover up a nice costume with blankets or a coat?).

Some Beltane festivals have Maypole dancing as well, but that kind of event usually takes place in the day time. It also features women with long dresses and flowers in their hair as this picture will confirm. I have also done quite a bit of Maypole dancing throughout the years to celebrate Beltane.

Almost all of the Beltane festivals I have been to feature a bonfire where people dance to drums. For these pictures, these bonfires had just been lit, so there were no dancers yet. There were 3 bonfires in all. A large medieval-like catapult was used to throw a minimal fire into a large pile of wood (i.e. to light the bonfire). 

Here are some pictures of the bonfires:

I liked this photo of a boy in profile:

Here are some more pictures of the fire dancers:

Beltane is also about sitting around fire pits, socializing (the picture is blurry because it was after sundown, a few minutes before the sky turned pitch black):

It is also about eating, drinking and being merry. In this case I was more interested in what was going on behind the people eating, which is why they aren't particularly featured:

Which brings me to a situation where more explanation is probably due. This Beltane party was held at a friend's studio (and grounds). He is a sculptor and there are sculptures everywhere, on everything imaginable. I'd love to tell you who made all of these beautiful pieces (and he very much deserves the credit), but since they are on his private property, I won't, but it makes for an even more enchanting Beltane experience.   

Here is one of his sculptures that has been offered a beer by some of the guests in the background (again, it was taken after sundown, so it is amazing I got any photo at all):

Here is one of the roads (this particular road led to the party, which is why there are lanterns placed along it). In the dark, the lanterns illuminate the faces of the sculptures. It is really a cool effect when you're tired and you are stumbling your way back to your car. Every road should be lined with sculptures to help you on your journey through life:

Some of the statues along that road:

Here is gypsy-type caravan he made complete with a relief sculpture above the door:

Even the wood-stacking shelter gets some sculpture:

How about a tree? Super fuzzy photo -- but you get the idea...

Even a cart that he made gets the treatment:

Here is another one of his carts (just because I liked it). One of his sculptures you can see in the background of the photo:

Here is one last one I took (before I couldn't take any more pictures of anything except fire):

Perhaps another year I can get some Beltane photos that aren't challenged by a quickly setting sun!

I hope you've enjoyed going down Beltane lane with me.