"The Imagined Village"...a moveable feast on blogging...

"Every adventure begins with a small step and a giant leap of faith."

I've taken the title of this post from a music video that appears in the side-bar of John Barleycorn Must Die, which I only noticed AFTER I left a comment on their fascinating interview with Rima Staines this week.  It seemed terribly apt, as the discussion this week is a lot about blogging, and my comment was regarding blogging as the building of an online village/community of creative people who inspire and support each other.  That's why I blog, and I suspect it's why a lot of people blog.  Incidentally, Rima herself is one of the reasons why I blog, if you haven't already discovered her marvelous Into the Hermitage then go go GO (but not right now, finish here first, as Rima's world is a little like faery land...easy to get lost amongst its marvels, and you may never find your way back!)

In the interview, Rima discusses her view of blogging as an art form in itself, how it is a way of creating a small corner of magic that is uniquely hers and her vision in the WWW, where anyone can drop in anytime and see the art she creates.  It has helped her reach a point where she can support herself through her art, and her art can reach into the homes of people all over the world, an impossible feat before the internet.  Rima also lives in a very REAL creative village, a beautiful small town in Devon, England, where her neighbours are such luminaries as Alan Lee, Brian and Wendy Froud, and Terri Windling (to name a few).  We can't all live there, flung to the far corners of the earth as we are.  But we can create an IMAGINED village, where we meet regularly, discuss what we've been working on, throw new ideas around, and share favourite music and good laughter.  And we ARE creating it.  John Barleycorn is worth a look any week (new posts every Friday), as not only is it documenting the development of a particular graphic novel (and all the highs and lows that accompany the birth of a new work), but it is an ongoing discussion on the creative process in general, featuring regular interviews with artists from all over, and a lively discussion from followers around the world (yours truly can easily claim to be the most long-winded!)

Terri Windling (who is married to Howard Gayton, one of John Barleycorn's partners-in-crime) took up the torch (or perhaps, being a moveable feast, it is a large cauldron full of rich stew?!) and continued the discussion about blogging on her Drawing Board.  Terri Windling is the other main reason I why I blog.  I first discovered her through her marvelous novel The Wood Wife, and then through the magical websites of the Endicott Studio and Journal of Mythic Arts, full to the brim (like that cauldron) of a wonderful rich mix of poetry and art and essays and stories about mythology and faery tales.  An award-winning writer and editor, and a stunning artist, Terri's blog is a wonderful cornucopia of thought-provoking essays, beautiful artwork, gorgeous music, fall-off-your-chair-belly-laughs, and of course, there's Tilly the resident muse (who occasionally smells like fox poo but we don't hold that against her!)  Her latest post, about why she blogs and how it can overcome the communication difficulties that suffering from a chronic illness can cause, clearly struck a chord as there is now a comment list as long as my arm (and growing).

But what I found most interesting, as I read through, is how the names on these comment lists are becoming familiar to me.  Mostly I don't have faces to put to them, but there ARE words, thoughts, ideas, personalities that I recognise.  I feel I do know these people in a way.  We regularly meet up at places like Terri's blog, and I visit their little corners of the web world and leave comments, and they visit mine.  Their comments stimulate and encourage me to keep creating, to keep challenging myself by trying new things, in a way that is almost impossible in the 'real' world.  I do not live in a close-knit creative community, and I can hardly accost a stranger in the street and force them to listen to the song I've just written or look at the painting I'm working on and expect an intelligent, coherent comment.  I'd probably just get arrested (I'm just now chuckling to myself as I imagine singing on the train into work, while my fellow commuters carefully move away from the 'crazy lady' and call security!)

In this crazy-busy world where it seems we are all time poor, often it is hard to go out and physically create that kind of nourishing community, find those like-minded people and get to know them, spend the time in the cafes or pubs or someone's kitchen talking and debating and laughing together.  So how wonderful it is that we can, at the click of a button, no matter what time of the day (or night) it is, or if we are still in our PJs or haven't got the breakfast dishes done yet, connect instantly with people all around the world who understand what we do and why we do it because they're doing it too!  And I love this cross-pollination that happens, the arbitrary yet serendipitous connections that are made.  I might read 3 of my favourite blogs, all discussing different things which, on the surface at least, have no links.  But reading them together CREATES a connection, a bridge between disparate ideas that suddenly makes sense and a new idea emerges.

Terri commented on the John Barleycorn post that this discussion is becoming a 'moveable feast', flitting from blog to blog across the web.  I like that idea, moving from the kitchen in one house to the lounge room in another (or the attic!), each blogger providing a special dish for all to share.  Sometimes we might bring a tried-and-tested old favourite we've made many times before.  And sometimes we might feel brave enough to experiment with an entirely new recipe, knowing our fellow 'villagers' will appreciate our efforts and encourage and support us to keep experimenting.  I've been doing a bit of this lately and I truly appreciate more than I can express the comments you have left for me.  They make me brave enough to keep on doing it.

So, now that this has most definitely turned into a novel of 'mermaid proportions' (!), it's time to finish up.  But I'll leave you all with a request.  A recurring theme in these discussions about blogs has been the almost unanimous dislike of the word 'blog'!  It is NOT a pretty word, and really cannot begin to encompass the beauty that we find in a blog like Rima's or Terri's.  So...it's high time we found a new name.  Here are a few off-the-top of my head ideas, please feel free to come up with something much better.....!

webtale...aethertale...aerthersong...websong...webweave...wable (web-fable, though could be pronounced 'wobble'...quite fond of this one!)

"Coming Home"...to a creative 'village' where we can all live, no matter where in the world we are.

Late Note, Saturday 26th Feb: For anyone popping in since Tuesday, I've posted some follow-up thoughts about who we are when we blog here, and don't forget to check out part two of John Barleycorn's interview with Rima here!

Anniversary Jam...

No, it's not a bunch of old musos getting 'the band' together again!  Yesterday the Other Half and I celebrated 16 years of wedded bliss.  And what did we do together to celebrate?  Well, apart from the fact that both of us forgot entirely until I was writing the girls' lunch orders for school and had to fill in the date and I wondered for a moment why it seemed significant...and then remembered...we made jam.  No, it's not a metaphor for anything else, we did indeed make apricot jam.  Having run out of bottles for bottling (I'm sure I've got some more somewhere but can I find them?!), we decided to tackle jam-making.  Neither of us has made jam before, so whether it was beginner's luck, or we're just 'naturals' I can't say, but it turned out beautifully.  I may have to make some scones tomorrow to really appreciate it's perfectness, and that will of course require the good china and the nice white tablecloth (can't be half-hearted about Sunday afternoon tea)...mmmmm.

I think I might have posted this photo before, but what the heck, it's entirely appropriate (I am, after all, wearing Apricot coloured silk), and I like it.  My mum made this dress and embroidered the bodice, and I hand-painted and beaded over the top.  I also made my hairpiece, and jewellery and shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but it's actually made with plastic beads.  It's the 'practice' one...because I never had time to make the 'real one!  But it doesn't matter, it's still the best wedding I've ever been to.

The mermaid turns ONE...and a gift for you...

Well, today it is my first birthday...well, the first birthday of A Mermaid in the Attic!  Yes, I have been rambling on about goodness-knows-what and playing show-and-tell with my little pictures for a whole year now.  And marvel of marvels, there are 191 people out there who find something worthwhile in my oft mad musings and ponderous ponderings.  So, that all seems like a good reason for a Give-Away, don't you agree?!  So, to thank all my readers and regular commenters for all your lovely support, I've decided to give this pendant away to one of my dedicated followers.

 So, what do you do to win this little OOAK hand-painted Olive Wood pendant?  Well, I'm sure most of you know how these things usually work, it's all very simple.  You need to be a follower, and leave a comment on THIS post.  Hmm, let's see, shall we make it a bit more interesting?  How about a 4 line poem (well, you can do more if you like, limericks are always fun) on the funniest (or weirdest) thing that happened to you this month?  I'll allow for a certain amount of 'poetic license' so don't get too worried about it, just have fun.  Don't forget to make sure I can contact you if you win.  Then I'll pick a bunch that make me laugh the most and put them into the top hat and draw out a winner.  Sound fair?  So, you've got...ummm...how about till midnight on Sunday?  That's midnight here, where the mermaid lives, which is GMT +8.  But I'll warn you when the deadline is approaching.  So, hop to it, off into your various garrets and summon up the poetic muse.  And if you really MUST use a goose quill pen to get the creative juices flowing, go ahead!

Hello and welcome to all my footloose new followers....

I just wanted to say hello, and thank you so much for stopping by!  I'll try and pop in to visit you all when I can but it may take a while to do a complete tour, as my Followers widget is a flighty, timourous beastie that is frightened of bright lights and loud noises.  Consequently it lurks in the dark and only appears (and erratically at that) in the late hours of the evening, shortly before bedtime (for me), so my window of opportunity to go visiting is short.  During the bright hours of the day, it, and therefore all the identities of my fellow revellers, is noticeably absent.  Sigh!  But fear not, I know you're out there somewhere, I just don't know who some of you are...yet.

And also a big thank you to all the people who've popped up the stairs to the attic to throw their names in the old top hat to be in my OWOH Giveaway...it's wonderful to meet you all, and I must say, as an ego massaging exercise this is par excellence...everyone has such lovely things to say about my work that at this rate, I won't be able to fit my head down the stairs soon!

Oh, and yes, there really is a top hat (though not the best pic of me...yet another photo of Chris with her eyes shut)!

Mermaids and fishy tales.....

Why a mermaid?  I like them, that's why.  I have been more than a little obsessed with damsels of an aquatic nature for a long time...sirens and selkies and rusalki and nixes and such.  And I know one...personally.  And one of my favourite songs is a gaelic song about a lonely mermaid.  And my middle name means 'sea'...among other things.  And when I was six the boy next door (who was a little older than I was and could swim underwater) grabbed my leg and pulled me under at the local pool...then the world tipped sideways and the light went blue and everything went quiet for what seemed like forever.  And I breathed...and I COULD breath...underwater. 

Well, that's how I remember it. And then I found my feet, stood up and found the air again, spluttering and coughing and crying.  So I know that deep down somewhere inside, I have a mermaid soul. 

Mermaid fingers

At first it was working, and then it was most definitely NOT working so I threw caution to the winds and just played.  And then suddenly, it seemed to be working again.  This is me, taking my own advice...now there's a rare thing!  Using the good watercolour paper and experimenting and not caring if it works or not.  This could become addictive!

On entering the world of Blogland...

So here I am, wandering a little lost in this strange new world.  Will there be strange creatures offering me delicious temptations that I shouldn't touch (for fear of being trapped here forever)?  Will I meet odd little old ladies, or men dressed in wolfskin telling me riddles or giving me advice that seems impossible to follow?  Every new path has its dangers...and rewards.  But if you never take the first step, how will you ever know?!  As this is a new journey, I thought I would include this painting, one of my first as a 'professional' artist, though I have been drawing and painting most of my life.  "I must not forget how to fly" was a reminder to myself at the time to follow my dreams and remember how I used to feel as a child, daydreaming about the future, about heading off on adventures to who knows where.  I'm not sure where the girl in the boat is going, but she is on a quest, in her trusty ship the "Sir Parsifal", with her loyal dog by her side and a tame pelican (can you guess his name?) to scout ahead for whatever obstacles they might encounter.  So welcome aboard my blog, and we shall hoist the sails and weigh the anchor and go see what's over the horizon.