The Womb Healer

'The Womb Healer ' a recent drawing inspired by personal as well as a collective female experience.

Prints of this are available here

An unusual moorland scene, depending on where you are standing. Viewed as a portrait, the scene is demystified even more. The original is for sale here

 An encounter with the divine feminine. The original is available to buy here

There's a storm a comin..

 On this eve, a storm of great wrath is predicted to bully its way through the streets of my homeland, flicking tiles off the roofs and breaking limbs off of trees.  Expecting the worse, we residents prepare to batten down our hatches and brace ourselves for a night of nature's fury, with torches and candles to hand in case it decides we don't deserve the luxury of electricity. Fortunately, myself and other human land dwellers are housed within thick granite walls, but spare a thought for this young dryad, naked and vulnerable with nothing but her skeletal branches to shield her from the elements...

  Not only did she have to bend and contort her wire skeleton and polymer clay flesh as protection, but it was also a necessary act for fitting in my oven. It is little wonder I suppose, that she looks so anxious! 

When I can decide which angle is best, I will soon have prints of her available in my Etsy shop. But for now, why not have a look at other prints available there

Stay warm and safe on this tempestuous night!

In the heart the woodland wakes...

A painting that emerged from earlier this year

 and one of my largest and most detailed to date...

Injecting light and life with sharpest blade...

In the heart the woodland wakes

55cm x 69cm

Created by scratching with a knife into thinly applied water mixable oil paints with some coloured pens and pencils on gesso primed paper, and many, many hours.

copyright ©2013 Virginia Lee

You can have the next best thing to owning the original by going to my etsy shop and finding limited edition Giclee prints available. 

 Love and light to you, from this forest's floor!

The Wonderful World of Widdershins.

Greetings from this abundantly green dwelling on Dartmoor's edge. These past few weeks a Moorland Mythic medley of art has graced the walls of Green Hill Arts gallery in my neighbouring town of Moretenhampstead.

Walking 'Widdershins' or anti-clockwise is the old english way to enter the realm of myth and enchantment and on this occasion, the place where ten local artists were invited to bring in the spirit of faerie through portals created in paint, pencil, fabric, clay, bronze and wood.

The exhibition, I must say, is a triumph. So professionally curated by a group of local volunteers, it would not look out of place on Bond street, one visitor did declare!

 

  

Brian Froud's 'indecision Faery' and 'Blue dancer'' accompany my 'Three Hares Tor' and 'Earthbound' pastel paintings.

'Escape off the road' a limited edition polystone sculpture for 'The Lord of the Rings' collectables. I undertook this sculpture during my time in New Zealand at Weta workshop, some 12 years ago now.

Just to the left of my sculpture there does rest 'The Alchemist' by the marvelous Rima Staines
Prints available here

''In the heart the woodland wakes', my latest painting and more about this in my next posting. Giclee prints of this will be appearing soon in my Etsy shop

'Nemesis II, Griffin sejent', limited edition bronze sculpture by Paul Kidby, fiercely guarding some faery folk and Tolkien treasures by Alan Lee

'Pegasus' Limited edition bronze sculpture by Paul Kidby,  heads into the 'Faerie house' by Neil Wilkinson Cave

'Feldspar', dragon bronze sculpture by Paul Kidby resting on his marble base in front of some family of Lee creations.

Detail of Alan Lee's 'Fanghorn Forest' for 'The Lord of the Rings'

Detail of a 'fairy artist' by Alan Lee

My 'dryad' sculpture made of polymer clay, stands exposed in a prime spot of the gallery

'The weed wife' by Rima Staines, sits within gnarly oak. Rima has written such a beautiful blog about this, your heart will just melt.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
                                                                            

   Wendy Froud's 'Hedge troll and friend' and 'Faery man and woman' look out at their human visitors with Brian Froud's 'Blue Pincher'

                                                              

Wendy Froud's 'Dame Aolia Henbane' and 'Pinkie Mauve' sit gossiping amongst dressmaker trinkets and faerie boxes by Hazel Brown

 Wendy Froud's 'Clara Copperpot' and her 'Steampunk postmistress' box by Hazel Brown

Wendy Froud's 'Raven Black' and 'Ryder' with Hazel Brown's 'Goth adventures'
                                                                                                                                                              

 Rima Staines's 'Baba Yaga' in watercolour

Woven into the exhibition in between pieces of art from the in-between worlds there are quotes and poetry beautifully handwritten on the walls by Terri Windling.

                                                                      

             The writing continues into actual painting in 'A Dartmoor fairy tale' by Terri Windling

 

and 'Once upon a time on Natterdon Hill' By Terri Windling

   A close up of the 'Three Hares Tor' reflecting back at me

    Detail of 'Earthbound'.  Giclee prints of this will appear soon in my shop.                                                                        

Paul Kidby's 'Pegasus' leading the way for David Wyatt's 'local characters'

 

A detail of 'Recording Birdsong in the wild' by David Wyatt. Prints available here

Detail of an 'Old goat teetering across a bridge' by David Wyatt. 

'Guinevere' by Brian Froud

The art spills over onto the walls of the foyer area of Green Hill where you'll find more creations by other artists as well as the ten exhibiting. Artists include Danielle Barlow, Marc Potts and Jason ofEngland

Green Hill Arts has a most excellent shop for cards, prints, books, jewellery and many other craftings by local folk.

Alas, the art on the walls will be taken down from the middle of next week to make space for local art of a very different kind, but the prints and cards will remain in the shop.

One day I sat in the gallery as an invigilator, watching, inconspicuously, the visitors from pastures near and far arrive and be welcomed into the enchanted realm. Each individual would gravitate first to what spoke to them most, every time differently. Some were enchanted, some were challenged, and some were very hard to read. One man from very far away said to me that he thought all the art was done by one artist. I was amazed, from the inside I see how diversely different every artist is, like all the different characters you have within one family, but through his fresh eyes were as one artist. Perhaps he could only see the thread of faery and of this land that linked us all together.

For a slightly different perspective on the exhibition, have a look at Rima's blog here