Celtic Heather Fairy Update: Finished!

Well, dears, it was a busy weekend, but I still managed to get the finishing touches done on the Heather Fairy! I'm really happy with this one, the hair was a blast to do, I used a cicada wing as inspiration for her wings. I had a dream last night that I was trying to re-invent myself, and there was a fairy on my shoulder whispering in my ear, it was pretty cool!

Here she is..."drumroll paaaa-lease!"

Working on the Celtic Heather Fairy

Good Day Everyone!

I've been working on the fourth installment of my Celtic Tree Fairys series, the Heather Fairy. While heather is in fact, a shrub, according to Celtic Tradition, it's part of the tree ogham.

I wanted to share some of the steps of this fairy as she unfolds, some of my pieces take longer than others depending on many factors, such as what's going on in my life at the time, my inspiration, and the amount of detail that is involved. Let me just say for those who don't know, and something that I knew, but really had to experience first hand, Egads! Heather is a bunch of tiny flowers and tiny leaves!!! Whew!

That being said, I'm very happy with how this one is developing. I have of course scaled the heather plant up in order to scale the fairy down, My Celtic Tree Fairys are all little fairies that live in the trees they represent.

Heather as you might guess in this instance is for love, and she really looks like she's thinking of that really special fairy guy, you know the one, gives her compliments, respects her, always leaves the seat down...ahh, love! Of course this is easy for me to convey, cause I have a guy like that!

Without further ado, the Heather Fairy, thus far...

Bright Blessings!

Mickie

This was how it looked a few days ago...

Here is how it looks on my art table right now!

A Little Bird Told Me...

Merry Meet Friends!


I've been writing for Llewellyns periodicals for quite a few years now, and I'm holding in my hand, the new Llewellyn's 2011 Magical Almanac. I love when it arrives, I always pour over it, and this year I was pleased to see my article mentioned on the back cover. In this issue I have an article about the art of ornithomancy, or reading omens and signs from the appearances and actions of birds. Many cultures all over the world consider our feathered friends messengers of the Gods and consider their council very wise indeed. In the article, I discuss a little history on the topic, but mostly practical information like what each kind of bird means when you see them, the significance of birds color, actions and even included a little spell that allows you to ask a question from your local bird population.


(Cover art by Tammy Shane/Langley Creative)

I also had the honor to illustrate several of the articles in the Almanac, my own included. It's always fun when they send me a stack of articles and I get to read them and pull ideas out of the text to illustrate for each one. It's a really good almanac they put out, perfect for anyone who enjoys working with the cycles of nature and the power of the natural elements. It has tons of great articles by some of the best Llewellyn authors. It also includes a reference in the middle featuring world holidays, festivals, moon phases, astrological info and even daily color and incense correspondences.

For those of you who are interested, I just looked at their website and Llewellyn has last years Magical Almanac on sale right now for only 2.75, which is a steal for all those great articles. That one also contains many of my illustrations, and two of my articles "The Mysteries of Rhiannon," and "As Above, So Below" where I discuss manifesting and glamoury.


I've been working away on my contributions for the 2012 Magical Almanac, Witches Companion, and Spell-A-Day Almanacs, gotta get those deadlines met. And of course, I have edits for the companion book for my new deck Voice of the Trees also, but it'll be all worth it. The best part about hard work is the feeling of accomplishment when you're done!


Fare Thee Well!
Mickie

My article and illustration in the 2012 Magical Almanac





Another page, I love how they did the layout!

Celtic Tree Fairies Series...One To Go

Hello All,

I'm happy to report I'm almost finished with a series of pieces I call my Celtic Tree Fairies.  Yep, that's one of them you see on my header above!  There will be four in the series to start out, although you never know, I may add more in the future.  My idea was to create fairies for protection, prosperity, healing and love.  Since I had recently finished up the art for my upcoming deck "Voice of the Trees"  (Llewellyn, Sept. 2011)  I was still in that Celtic frame of mind.  The deck is all about the Celtic Ogham and tree lore.  Basically, the Ogham is an early medieval alphabet used as early as the 4th century.  Each symbol is associated with a different tree and has it's own divinatory meaning and mystical teaching.  The Ogham is sometimes referred to as the Celtic Tree Alphabet.

So, I had finished the art and the writing for the Ogham deck, and the idea for these fairies came to me.  I decided to use four Celtic trees and place the fairies each in a stance and attitude of the tree they represent.  I also included the Celtic Ogham symbol in each piece to further add to the tree connection and bring more magic into each piece.  They actually started off as black and white jewelry designs for Peter Stone.  I did about 30 new designs for them this year, every time I sent more, Peter kept replying with,  "Great! what's next?  Send more." How can a girl refuse?  I expect the new line including the four fairies be out soon, he's teased me a bit on Facebook, so I think the production is close to completion and they're waiting just around the corner.  They will be lovely pendants, and honestly, I can't wait to wear them.

I liked the jewelry designs so much, I wanted to see them in full color, and the idea of this new series of Celtic fairy art was born.  I added a small bit of each tree to my watercolor wash,  leaf, blossom, acorn, or flake of bark, to bring the tree energy magically through.  These were really fun to create, and have become very magical pieces.

I've been at the writing desk, i.e. laptop, a lot lately because I have some deadlines for articles that I'm contributing to Llewellyns 2012 periodicals, and I'm also working on re-writes for the Voice of the Trees manuscript, so the last fairy has patiently waited.  My fingers are itching to draw though, so I plan to work on her this weekend and see how much I can get done.  The final addition to the series will be the heather fairy, for love!  I know, I know, we don't think of heather as a tree, but it was a very important plant to the Celts, and they ranked such thing according to usefulness and importance, so in the Ogham, it's considered a tree. Below are the first three, I'll post some pictures of the work in progress of their fair sister as I have them, so keep checking back!

Shine On!

Mickie

The Apple Tree Fairy bring healing of the mind, body and spirit.  She sends magical healing energy through the power of her healing hands, the Ogham symbol of the apple tree glows forth from a leaf.

The Rowan Tree Fairy is a fierce warrior, she brings protection and shielding.  She'll lead you through the dark forest of life armed with a sword and wooden shield that bears the Ogham mark of the rowan.

The oak tree fairy is content and has blessings of plenty to bestow on those who need it. She cradles an acorn in her arm, caring for possibilities and holds a golden coin bearing the Celtic Ogham symbol for the oak tree.

My Pretty New Blog!

Hi my friends!

My name is Mickie Mueller and I'm an artist of fantasy, fairy and myth. The place where I create my art is actually an old wooden art table. It's a bit rickety, but well loved. I watched my dad work at this table when I was a kid growing up in Albuquerque NM. He was a well known watercolor artist in the area and taught classes as well, so I picked up some things watching him work. Later Dad got a great new table, and passed the other one on to my mom, who is also a talented and creative gal. Being the great parents that they are, and realizing that my art was being born on the kitchen table shortly after I moved into my own place, it was then passed on to me.

It's a warm colored wood, a classic tilting type of drafting table, but stays in a flat position for my purposes. It's covered with art supplies, crystals, random bits of inspiration, notes, and probably makes no sense to anyone but myself. Brittany concurs. It has aquired many gouges and battle wounds through the years, and much like myself, has a couple of screws loose but is still totally functional! I've had offers to replace it with a shiny new model, but man, we've got history! My daughters both sat on my lap when they were babies while I worked, learning at a tender young age, "Don't touch the pencils!" A lesson that was later forgotten in their teenage years, but you can't stifle creativity, so be it. This table is a magical place, where real magic happens, you just can't replace that, so why try. I'll just keep tightening those 'ole screws.

All that being said, it seemed only fitting to name my new blog after my old wooden art table, so here it is, my first post on my new blog! Yeeeea, *and the fairy tribes and elven folk celebrated across the land and there was much rejoycing, feasting and merriment!*

I tried this "blog thing" once before, and never really got the hang of it. So my wonderful daughter, Brittany of Va-Voom Vintage fashion blog, came over to help me set up a brand new beautiful blog and showed me the ropes of the blogosphere. We laughed, we cried, we blogged!

I'll be updating you on all the new going ons at my old wooden art table, and other fun stuff as well. Here is where you'll be able to see works of art in progress, updates on my many projects in publishing, design, inspiration, and more. I'm brainstorning on some great features to add here, so please come back and visit soon.

view from my art table

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Here I am, working away on a project.

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Willow the cat guarding her post in the studio.