Sylvester and the Dragon

Original painting 8" x 10" acrylic on acid free paper. Sylvester is inspired by the story of St. Sylvester subduing a dragon by binding it's mouth shut. Here is the fable re-imagined with a boy in a natural history museum with a Komodo Dragon. The mouth of the dragon is bound shut with white ribbon. There is a Komodo Dragon skeleton in the display case behind him. The clock indicates it is close to midnight because St. Sylvester's Day is December 31, and on St. Sylvester's Night, between 12 and 1, it was believed that all water would turn to wine.
At My Good Babushka

Sylvester and the Dragon

 Sylvester is inspired by the story of St. Sylvester subduing a dragon by binding it's mouth shut. Here is the fable re-imagined with a boy in a natural history museum with a Komodo Dragon. The mouth of the dragon is bound shut with white ribbon. There is a Komodo Dragon skeleton in the display case behind him. The clock indicates it is close to midnight because St. Sylvester's Day is December 31, and on St. Sylvester's Night, between 12 and 1, it was believed that all water would turn to wine.

The Gabriel Ratchet

The Gabriel Ratchet was the name for the cries of migrating wild geese flying by night. In medieval times, the sounds were thought to be a supernatural omen of impending evil, and perhaps the baying of unseen dogs.
The word comes from the French. Gabriel, one of the seven archangels, thought of as blowing a trumpet on Judgment Day, plus rache, hound.

This is an original illustration 8" x 10" in acrylic on acid free paper. My own interpretation where the sky is filled with supernatural angel/geese creatures, inspired by Giotto's Lamentation, and the configuration of crying angels in the cobalt sky. Here the Gabriel Ratchet flies over cowering twins with billowing red hair and blue twin dresses.

The "My Good Babushka" watermark is included here for security purposes and does not appear on the actual painting.

The Bithiae

A little bit. Laying in some color on my Bithiae, the Witches, painting.

The Witch Sailed Away in the Eggshell

Finishing up my painting of the witch sailing away in the eggshell.

Original painting approximately 8" x 10" acrylic on acid-free paper. Inspired by the folk belief in the British Isles that eggshells must be thoroughly broken after an egg was eaten or a witch might commandeer the eggshell for a sailing vessel. She would inscribe the name of the egg-eater on the inside, and that victim would become bewitched. The Witch in the Eggshell, original work available at My Good Babushka.

Some Knitting and a Search Party

 Here is the back of a long cardigan I'm knitting.

I've done a bunch of sketches inspired by the folk belief that candles set adrift on water won't cross a drowned body. The focus of the sketches has shifted from the drowned body to the search party.

St. Stephen's Day

  This is an acrylic painting on acid-free paper 9" x 11". It is a symbolic painting of St. Stephen and the lore around St. Stephen's Day.
   St. Stephen was known as the patron saint of widows, so he is flanked by two women in Victorian mourning dresses. At the feet of the woman on the left sit three balls. St. Stephen is often depicted with three stones to indicate that he was put to death by stoning. Here the three balls stand in for the three stones. The widow on the left is also holding a dead wren. According to lore, St. Stephen was about to escape his captivity when a wren woke up his captors. Since that time, a wren was caught and killed each St. Stephen's Day because it must now take a part of his martyrdom.
   St. Stephen is often depicted as a young man holding a miniature church. Here he is depicted as a child, also holding a church in miniature. To the right of St.Stephen is a rocking horse with bleeding legs. St. Stephen's Day, in medieval through Victorian times, was a day to bleed horses in order to preserve their health in the coming year.
   Ancient Welsh custom, discontinued in the 19th century, included the "holming" (beating or slashing with holly branches) of late risers and female servants. My widow on the right is holding a branch of holly to remind us of this forgotten tradition.
   St. Stephen's Day is the day after Christmas, that is why the candles are just put out in the wreath at the center of the composition.
   St. Stephen's Day. Original, one of a kind art by Julie K. Schuler. The "My Good Babushka" watermark in the first picture is not on the actual painting, but is included here for security purposes.

St. Stephen's Day

The widow on the left is also holding a dead wren. According to lore, St. Stephen was about to escape his captivity when a wren woke up his captors. Since that time, a wren was caught and killed each St. Stephen's Day because it must now take a part of his martyrdom.
You can see the completed  St. Stephen's Day Painting at My Good Babushka.

Yellow Cardigan and the Colt Pixy

 I'm working on the right front side of a long golden cardigan with these wiggly, mock cable panels on them.
I have other Cardigans that are already finished, if that's something you are looking for.

Here is a sketch for Colt-Pixy. A colt-pixy is a malicious spirit horse that lures travelers into bogs and to their doom. I've envisioned it here as a prop used to by two impish bog creatures who are languidly waiting for the next lost traveler to cross their path. I'm still not completely happy, so I'll keep working on it. If you like creepy, folktale or fairy tale inspired art, you can see my paintings at My Good Babushka, art, jewelry, needlework.

Hungry Grass

 

Just finishing up work on Hungry Grass.   In Irish mythology, hungry grass (also known as fairy grass) is a patch of cursed grass. Anyone walking on it was doomed to perpetual and insatiable hunger. If a body was being ferried to a burial ground and momentarily set down to rest en route, that patch of grass would become cursed. Alternately, a patch of ground would become cursed if it were over an unshriven corpse, one that had not received absolution before death. Sometimes it was detached entirely from funerary custom and thought to have been planted by fairies.

This is an 8" x 10" original painting. Acrylic on acid free paper, illustrating one conception of the Hungry Grass mythology. The cursed victim stands on the back of a skeleton, unfurling from the skull is a banner announcing "Esurio" which is Latin for "to hunger". The victim claws at a cloud of imagined various victuals in a work inspired by medieval illumination and children's story book illustration. It's humorous and a bit creepy.

You can find it and similar works at My Good Babushka. Art. Needlework, Jewelry

Hungry Grass

Illustration inspired by the Irish folk belief in Hungry Grass, a phenomenon whereby a person who stands in the grass where a body was momentarily laid while it was being ferried to the burial ground will be gripped by an insatiable hunger. Here is my victim standing atop the bones of the deceased. A banner comes from between the skull's teeth with the proclamation "Esurio" which is Latin for "to hunger".
I was inspired by illustrations in children's books, I can't think of any one specifically at the moment, but I remember illustrations of food in children's books to be particularly glistening and lurid. I wanted to impart that sensation of surreal unreal "tastiness" for lack of a better description.
You can see the finished Hungry Grass painting at My Good Babushka. Art, Chainmaille Jewelry, and Needlework.

The Hungry Grass

Illustration inspired by the Irish folk belief in Hungry Grass, a phenomenon whereby a person who stands in the grass where a body was momentarily laid while it was being ferried to the burial ground will be gripped by an insatiable hunger.
 Here is my victim standing atop the bones of the deceased. A banner comes from between the skull's teeth with the proclamation "Esurio" which is Latin for "to hunger".
It's sort of a stylistic mash-up between medieval illumination and a children's fable illustration.The finished work, Hungry Grass, is at My Good Babushka. Art. Jewelry. Needlework.

The Hungry Grass

Illustration inspired by the folk belief in Hungry Grass, a phenomenon whereby a person who stands in the grass where a body was momentarily laid while it was being ferried to the burial ground will be gripped by an insatiable hunger.
 Here is my victim standing atop the bones of the deceased. A banner comes from between the skull's teeth with the proclamation "Esurio" which is Latin for "to hunger". My victim claws at a thought bubble of imagined victuals but can never be sated. Ooooooh scary! And a little bit funny, I think.
You can see the finished painting, Hungry Grass, at My Good Babushka. Painting, Needlework, Chainmail.