Tag: Birthstone Goddesses

Behind the Scenes: Gemstone Goddesses Website Redesign

Behind the Scenes: Redesigning the Gemstone Goddesses Site

I’d normally save this kind of article to be exclusive for my Patrons, but I wanted to share this particular article with everyone to offer a little peek behind the curtains of building a website for a creative project.  

I’ve already written a Patrons-only series of articles where I go deeper into the website re-design process for my Angelic Shades site, should you want a more in-depth glimpse of why I made certain design choices, designing with my audience in mind, etc. with many visual aides that guide you through the process.  

You can check out that series here as long as you’re pledged at any tier here:

The Old Site

Lately, I’ve been re-centering my art business and making sure I have a strong core presence online with my websites and social media before I move into expanding any further.  The pandemic taught me that I’ve let my online presentation go lax and without the promise of consistent income from in-person events anymore, it’s been far past time to step up my online biz game!

While I have Angelic Shades as my main Art Nouveau/Fine Art site, my Gemstone Goddesses project has far outgrown the single page space it had on that site!  I’ve created so much work for this project that it doesn’t fit in a single collection anymore.

I also had a problem.  I started out this adventure creating with the intention of a single Birthstone Goddesses set.  Somewhere along the way, my ambitions evolved and I realized it would be amazing to do more Goddesses dedicated to other gemstones, as well!  Why not a Goddess for sunflowers and Sunstone and the like?  And thus, my project evolved to be more inclusive with the name Gemstone Goddesses.

This meant that my old website that featured the Birthstone Goddesses in a calendar-inspired splash page became outdated:

The New Site

Now, my website needs to be more inclusive of other Goddesses and future-proofed for additional entries into the series.  I took what I liked about the layout from my Angelic Shades redesign and applied it to my old Gemstone Goddesses site.  Here’s the redesigned Angelic Shades site for reference:

Here’s a mockup created in Photoshop of how I want the new Gemstone Goddesses site to look.  The dotted line shows where the viewer will have to scroll, with everything above that line being the most important info I want my viewers to see first.

I’ve included a lot more info for viewers to explore on the new site.  I’m not sure if I need to include the bar which lets folks explore by gemstone color, but I like the idea that if someone doesn’t know the name of the stone, they can search by color to find what they need.  What do you all think?  Would searching by gem color be useful to you?

A side by side comparison of the old vs new Gemstone Goddesses site:

Before I even made this mockup, I did a very rough version on paper first to sort out my thoughts.  This helped me figure out how to minimize the navigation menu and what sub-menus I’d like to include.

Next comes building the new layout in WordPress!  I also want to re-photograph all of the Birthstone Goddesses’ framed pieces, but that may not be doable until after our house move.

I want to do something a little special when I re-launch the site.  Perhaps a give away or a hidden Easter egg?  We’ll see what strikes me when the site becomes closer to being a reality!  For now, it’s nose to the grindstone to create all the interconnected gallery pages that will form the vast majority of this website. 

I hope you enjoyed this peek behind the scenes!  Working on this site may mean less art being shared for a little while since I do everything myself, but thus is the cost of wearing multiple hats for your creative business.

More soon!

❤ Ang

Estado del proyecto: Fase final de las Diosas de las Piedras de Nacimiento

He tenido un merecido descanso de musa con el Exalted Art Challenge, ¡pero ahora es hora de volver a mis Diosas de las Piedras de Nacimiento! En primer lugar, una cálida bienvenida a los Patrones que se han unido recientemente. ¡Están a punto de disfrutar de esta emocionante fase final de este proyecto!

En los últimos años, he creado el conjunto principal de pinturas, la colección Visage, y los pines esmaltados, y ahora quiero dar los últimos pasos audaces hacia las grandes ambiciones que tenía para esta serie. ¡Aquí hay un resumen de en qué estoy trabajando y qué está por venir!

Mis queridos Patrones tendrán una visión detrás de escena de mi proceso de diseño, publicación y producción a lo largo del camino, ¡junto con vistazos exclusivos detrás de escena!

El Calendario de Pared

Parte de la idea principal de crear el conjunto original de 12 imágenes era que quería hacer un calendario de pared. Finalmente estoy dando pasos hacia este proyecto y necesitaré crear este calendario desde cero, ya que el tamaño no tradicional de las imágenes significa que necesitaré que se corten e impriman a medida.

Ya tengo plantillas y una imprenta local en mente, y espero lanzar este calendario en Kickstarter alrededor de agosto de este año para que pueda crearse a tiempo para un calendario de 2022. Los Patrones de Patreon tendrán un vistazo exclusivo de cómo estoy diseñando los diseños y otras notas creativas a lo largo del camino.

(El conjunto principal de 12 pinturas.)

El Libro de Arte

¿Qué mejor manera de cerrar este proyecto que recopilar el arte creado para él en un libro lujoso? ¡Esta es mi joya de la corona, la pieza central definitiva de esta serie! Una de mis mayores empresas que sucederá a continuación es comenzar a trabajar en los guiones gráficos del libro. No solo quiero mostrar el arte, sino también parte de la narrativa y la investigación que he desarrollado a lo largo del tiempo para esta serie, así como crear un volumen coleccionable elegante.

También quiero crear pinturas nunca antes vistas para este libro (de las cuales puedes ver una pista en las miniaturas de la imagen destacada de esta pieza). ¡Llamo a estas nuevas pinturas las 'Diosas Oscuras', ya que estoy tomando algunas de mis Diosas favoritas de la serie y dándoles una nueva versión en mi propio estilo!

Adoro a Mucha, pero también quiero dejar mi propia huella con esta serie que muestra más de mi propio estilo que el de Mucha. Estas nuevas pinturas serán mucho más de mi propia estética oscura, elegante y surrealista, ¡que espero que sigas disfrutando!

Sin duda habrá muchas tareas que hacer, desde ilustraciones puntuales hasta la contratación de un diseñador adecuado que me ayude con el diseño del libro, pero espero tener la mayor parte del trabajo hecho antes de lanzar este libro en Kickstart, lo que quiero que suceda en 2022. ¡2021 será para todo el trabajo de preparación!

¡Como siempre, también compartiré vistazos exclusivos de las pinturas de Dark Goddesses y otras tareas del libro solo para los Patrocinadores!

Otras Colecciones de Diosas de Piedras de Nacimiento

Todavía tengo en mente lanzar las siguientes cosas a lo largo del camino. ¡Algunas de ellas ya han sido creadas, pero aún esperan un lanzamiento adecuado!

  • Pegatinas – Estos diseños ya se han completado, pero aún no están en mi tienda. ¡Actualmente investigando opciones de envío directo!

  • Bolsos/Bolsos de mensajero – Probé estos en DragonCon hace un par de años. ¡Se agotaron por completo, así que es hora de prepararlos para un lanzamiento adecuado en mi tienda!

  • Pañuelos – ¡Estos también funcionaron bien en el último evento presencial en el que estuve! Tendré en cuenta los comentarios de los clientes para poder relanzarlos adecuadamente en mi tienda.

  • Tarjetas de felicitación – Ya tengo diseños para estas, pero todavía estoy trabajando en configurarlas con un sistema de envío directo como Printful y Art of Where.

  • Estuches de regalo – ¡Siempre he pensado que unos estuches de regalo de cumpleaños adecuados que incluyan los productos favoritos de todos, combinados con joyas con temática de piedras de nacimiento y flores secas bonitas (¿o quizás una pegatina?) serían algo emocionante de ofrecer! Todavía estoy pensando en ideas de qué agrupar y cómo presentarlos para poder hacerlos disponibles para todos.

Mis Colecciones de Ensueño

Estos son deseos de cosas geniales que no estoy segura de cómo hacer realidad, ¡pero espero que al decirlas en voz alta se hagan realidad algún día!

Joyas de Diosas de Piedras de Nacimiento – Realmente quiero expandir las Diosas a algunas prendas de vestir hermosas para que puedas canalizar esa sensación que obtienes al mirar el arte a través de ti misma. ¡Las joyas preciosas son una parte integral del movimiento Art Nouveau y me encantaría rendir homenaje a ese hecho colaborando con un joyero.

Paletas de maquillaje – Me encanta, ME ENCANTA ver sets de maquillaje bellamente ilustrados con muestras inspiradoras. Cada Diosa de Piedra de Nacimiento tiene su propio esquema de color basado en sus flores y piedras de nacimiento, lo que parece una combinación perfecta para el maquillaje. ¡Además, la idea de ilustrar una portada con un enfoque en el lado glamuroso de mis Diosas suena tan emocionante!

Tés, Perfumes, Bombas de baño y/o Jabones – Todas estas cosas me brindan consuelo y una sensación de calma, al mismo tiempo que tienen una sensación y estética lujosas. ¡Soy especialmente fanática de las mezclas de té y las etiquetas de té fancifully ilustradas!

¿Conoces a alguien con quien deba hablar sobre estas ideas?  ¡No dudes en enviarme su información de contacto y los agregaré a la lista de prospectos para cuando esté listo para expandirme en estos emprendimientos!

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Tengo mucho que hacer como un negocio de una sola persona, ¡pero estoy emocionado de volver a la acción!  Estaré trabajando en el curso de marketing Making Art Work de Emily Jefford durante los próximos dos meses y espero obtener una nueva perspectiva sobre cómo manejar todas mis ambiciones para esta serie.

¡Ha sido un viaje increíble hasta ahora en los aproximadamente 6 años que llevo en esto!  Estoy emocionado de compartir la última etapa del viaje y ver qué revela.  Mi esperanza es que esta serie se convierta en la columna vertebral de un negocio autosostenible y recién estoy empezando a ver buenos resultados de ello.

¡Por un futuro lleno de arte hermoso que espero te brinde tanta felicidad como a mí me ha dado compartirlo contigo!

♥ Ang

July 2020 Wrap-Up – Big Milestone, Big Burnout

Cross-posted from my Patreon blog

July has ended and it’s been a strange mix of some great milestones here, but also an acknowledgement of my continued struggle with burnout.

To start off, Kev and I packed up the FINAL Kickstarter order after a year and change of consecutive Kickstarter campaigns dedicated to the Birthstone Goddesses enamel pins!

It’s been amazing to see how fans, new and old, have turned out to support this pin series’ creation.  The pins are complete and I am so happy with them!  That’s one big project milestone for the Birthstone Goddesses complete:

(The entire series is now available in my shop!)

Now, we can sit back and get some much needed rest!  This year-long journey has shown me what my limits are as a one-person business and that I just can’t do this all by myself without sacrificing my well-being.  It shows me I can only do two Kickstarters a year at most, and that it’s super important for my creative wells to not sacrifice so much of my time painting to business upkeep, promotion, and project management.

It showed me I was very bad at taking time off as well!  It just wasn’t possible. The last few months I kept trying to take time off, but there was always something in Backerkit that needed setting up, ads to design, proofs to approved, and Kickstarter things to promote before the next deadline.  

So now for vacation take three (or four?), I’m losing count!  Now that there are no more Kickstarter things until next year, I’m taking some ACTUAL true and proper time off!  Reading this article on artists defining and struggling with their burnout really made me pause and think about some specific strategies for myself to set better resting habits!

Our creativity is a muscle that can be strained and it’s a skill they don’t teach in school.  I’m giving myself permission to have fun in August, do non-art crafty projects, and play all the video games!  And THIS TIME I will not have to worry about unavoidable Kickstarter deadlines encroaching on that all-important rest time.

Coming in August

I’ll still be sharing a new coloring page and new art.  I’ll be meandering with fun art, like Anko’s 6 Outfits Challenge, finishing more portraits for my charity drive, and sharing more creative journey posts here, for a little while.  The Birthstone Goddesses are entering their final phase for me and there’s a lot I want to tell you all about where we’re going from here, once I’ve rested a bit!

Digest of July’s Posts

New Rewards Added in July

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I hope you all won’t mind seeing my continued art diversions here for a little while longer!  The Birthstone Goddesses will return momentarily, but as I’ve been going full steam ahead on them for 6 years (wow!), it’s important that I let it rest for a little while to finish off the final phase with a bang!  I’m planning some very different illustrations to be included in the art book and I am SO excited to get into something that’s less Mucha and more ME.

More soon!

 ♥ Ang

The Goddesses of Spring Enamel Pins Have Launched!

The moment we’ve been building up to for almost a year has finally come.  The campaign for the final set in my Birthstone Goddesses enamel pins has launched on Kickstarter!

This launch almost didn’t happen, however.  In uncertain times like this, I was very afraid to push the button!  Does anyone have time for art right now?  Won’t everyone be saving for other things?  It felt almost irresponsible for me to do this.  After some thought, I realized that it was ok to do this.  Art is there for us during the dark times to bring us a bit of shine and beauty.  If people connect with my project and want something to help bring that feeling to them, they should be allowed!

And honestly right now with all of my conventions canceled for the year, I’m grateful for any support that comes my way.  I almost cried during my livestream of the launch after seeing the enthusiasm of fans in the chat and the fact I raised so much during my first minutes of support.  It means a lot right now to me!

(Watch the launch’s livestream recording here)

Thank you all for your kindness!  Especially those of you who have continued your support here on Patreon as well!  It truly helps and warms the heart.   I understand if anyone must drop their Pledges for financial purposes right now and doubly appreciate anyone who chooses to stay! 

Before I get all sappy again, here’s the Press Kit of images and links to help with sharing my project!  Ya’ll are my biggest fans and your voices are always the loudest when I run these campaigns.  Share away, my lovelies!

Links to Share!

Remember to add your own commentary, if you have the time!  People love to know what you think.  Did you enjoy your last pins? Do you have a fave Goddess you can’t wait to see as a finished pin?   Let everyone know!

Downloadable Images

(16:9 aspect ratio Cover Photo)

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(Cover Photo – Square for Instagram)

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(Cover Photo – Facebook Cover Size. Feel free to snag this to use for your own Cover!)

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(March’s Pin – Square for Instagram)

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(March’s Pin – Rectangle for Facebook)

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(April’s Pin – Square for Instagram)

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(April’s Pin – Rectangle for Facebook)

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(May’s Pin – Square for Instagram)

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(May’s Pin – Rectangle Facebook)

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(Selected Reward Tier Images)

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Thanks to everyone who has been cheering me on through this project. It’s been a year of pushing and creating something grand with these pins (and more years before that for the paintings)! I can’t wait to see all of these lovely designs together soon.

I hope these beauties bring you all a bit of light and happiness today!

Stay safe, friends!

♥ Ang

Resumen de Enero 2020 – Diosas de Primavera y Planes para 2020

¿El enero pasó volando o solo me pasa a mí?  He estado manejando muchas situaciones estresantes este mes, incluido mi esposo lanzando un ciervo a la estratosfera con su coche (él está afortunadamente ileso, pero el ciervo no lo estaba) y muchos problemas de producción con mis pins.  ¡Así que eso ha significado un nuevo pago de coche para nosotros y los temidos retrasos en la producción de Kickstarter!

Estoy especialmente agradecida a mis Patrocinadores que han estado conmigo durante las fiestas, ya que sé que las cosas pueden ser difíciles durante el ajetreo navideño.  ¡Bienvenidos a los nuevos que se han unido este mes cuando muchos todavía se están recuperando de los gastos navideños!  El apoyo definitivamente nos está ayudando durante el estrés adicional de este mes.  Para aquellos que tuvieron que irse, todavía aprecio su apoyo durante el tiempo que estuvieron aquí y entiendo totalmente que la vida pasa (¡Vaya si pasa! ¡Hola, ciervo teletransportador!).

¡También estoy agradecida de que todos los Patrocinadores de Kickstarter hayan sido tan comprensivos con los retrasos hasta ahora!  ¡Prefiero que los trabajadores de la fábrica estén seguros durante el brote de coronavirus, ya que mis pines no valen más que la vida de las personas!  He escrito una actualización sobre cómo esta situación afecta el envío y la seguridad aquí para los curiosos.

Mientras tanto, sigo avanzando y he comenzado a diseñar los pines de las Diosas de la Primavera.  Habrá una entrada en el Cuaderno de Bocetos Secreto mostrando el proceso creativo detrás de estos diseños en la próxima semana aproximadamente.

¡Estoy empezando a ver la línea de meta que se acerca después de un año entero de proyectos de Kickstarter y eso se siente GENIAL!  Me encanta lo exitosas que han sido estas campañas, pero estaría mintiendo si dijera que no estoy también bastante agotada de hacerlas.  He aprendido exactamente cuál es mi tolerancia al estrés y la gestión de proyectos y planeo *nunca* hacer tantos seguidos otra vez (¡esperemos que no sean mis últimas palabras!).

He empezado a pensar en lo que vendrá después de que terminen las Diosas de las Piedras de Nacimiento, ¡lo que podría ser una entrada de blog completa por sí sola!  Por ahora, me estoy centrando en terminar los pines de las Diosas de las Piedras de Nacimiento y el calendario de pared en 2020, ¡y luego veremos qué pasa en ese momento!

Puedo decir que después de 5 años trabajando en este empeño, mi musa está empezando a divagar con OCs de Witcher y otras distracciones, y esa es una señal clara para mí de que puede que necesite cambiar temporalmente de rumbo cuando llegue a un buen punto de parada.  ¿Pero hacia qué?  ¡Tengo muchas ideas que guardaré para una entrada posterior una vez que haya terminado mi cola actual!

Nuevas Recompensas Añadidas en Enero

Publicaciones que te Podrías Haber Perdido en Enero

¡Tengo muchas ganas de ver qué comienzos y finales asombrosos ocurren en 2020!  Gracias por acompañarme en este viaje.

♥ Ang

New Art! Little Gem Goddesses of Autumn

Happy Friday, all!  In anticipation of the Goddesses of Autumn enamel pins Kickstarter launching on Monday, I wanted to share the chibi sticker designs of the Autumn gals I did since they’ll be making their debut as Stretch Goals for the Kickstarter project (and eventually as freebies here on Patreon once the pin Kickstarters are complete!)

Little Gem Goddess of September

One of the fun things about doing multiple angles on these gals is that I get to show off design elements that weren’t clear in the main paintings!  September’s chibi shows off her dual-colored eyes and parti-color dress so well.  Inspired by the red and blue color of Sapphires!

Little Gem Goddess of October

Funny how she was not my fave from the main set, but this chibi version stands out as one of my fave of the chibis!  Her pose came out with such perfect flow and I love all of her little spirit friends.  It feels like she has a stronger connection to them in this version.

Little Gem Goddess of November

This gal never ceases to steal the show in any form!  Her flowing veil and dress made a wonderful design element.  Having her floating among her butterflies also ties her more strongly to their ghostly ethereal nature (and also looks cool). 

Designing these cute versions of my asture Goddesses presented a fun challenge for me!  Plus, chibi versions of overly serious things will never cease to make me smile.  I was able to bring a bit more of a magical fantastical touch to these than even the main series and that makes me happy as well!  I’m slowly, but surely, bridging my way over to more fantastical art topics, which is the art I truly adore making!

If you’d like to watch the recordings of the livestreams of the creations of these chibis, you can watch them here:

Have a great weekend, all.  I can’t wait for Monday when the next enamel pins launch!  Are you excited? I am hyped after how beautifully the last set came out!

More soon!

♥ Ang

This was a meticulous article to write, but I love talking about the nitty gritty thought process!

A discussion of my process of troubleshooting my painting & visual exploration of problems & solutions complete with visual aids.

Accessible to all paid tiers or grab the individual post for $3 without needing to sub.

Find the article here:
https://www.patreon.com/angelasasser/posts/secret-cassiels-164355650

Re-branding the Ladies of the Months + Project Roadmap!

My astute fans may have noticed I’ve begun referring to my Ladies of the Months intermittently as Birthstone Goddesses over the past few weeks. I’ve had some major revelations happen while prepping my project for a wider arena (ie. Amazon).

“Ladies of the Months” as a title was getting a lot of strange looks!  Some of the misunderstandings about the title have led to some interesting questions, including, but not limited to:

  • Does this have to do with menstrual cycles?

  • Does this have to do with erotic coloring books?

  • Does this have to do with erotic calendars?

Silly, you may say, but if the title of a project requires a lot of further explanation, doesn’t make a good impression, and is too generic to be easily found via search engines, there is a problem!  This is why I have opted for a couple of changes.

Re-Introducing the Birthstone Goddesses!

From this day forth, the LADIES OF THE MONTHS will be called the BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES.  Each individual Lady will still be the Lady of January, etc., but the set of birthstone ladies as a whole will now be referred to as BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES so that it is easier to understand and put out there in the world.

Who are the Gemstone Goddesses?

I’ve had a great number of requests for Art Nouveau styled Ladies who do not correspond to any birthstone, which got me thinking.  Why limit this series to only birthstones?  I have renamed the entire series to Gemstone Goddesses so that at some point in the future I can come back and add more without restricting myself!

Wouldn’t you like to see a Lady of Sunstone or a Lady of Moonstone?  I know I would!

The BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES will now be a subset of the GEMSTONE GODDESSES series as a whole!  Wherever you see the Lady of Eternity pictured above, she now represents both of these series who are now ALL part of the same endeavor to bring the beauty of Art Nouveau to the world through these thematic creations!

Where to Find this Project?

Now that my project has been undergoing some title changes, my social media outlets dedicated specifically to this project have been changed to match.  Please update your bookmarks:

Where Do We Go From Here?

Now that we have a brand new name and a whole ambitious set of items on the horizon, it was time to get this project organized!  Check out this roadmap I’ve created for the rest of the Birthstone Goddesses project in Trello.

(Click here for a closer look at the Birthstone Goddesses roadmap)

The biggest change to the agenda is that the wall calendar has been moved up to next year so that I can create some of the fun add ons like Enamel Pins that can be bundled with it.  I also wanted to make sure my Kickstarter launches were reasonably spaced out so as not to overwhelm everyone.

This Roadmap is subject to change, but we have a good place to start to make this huge endeavor more doable.   We’re going to make great things this year!  

Are you excited? I KNOW I AM!  I’m especially hyped to get these pins out (I’ll have some sneak peeks of the designs I’ve been sketching soon!).

Coming next – I’ll be announcing the new streaming schedule so you can drop in on me while I’m working on making all this magic happen!

Thanks for hanging with me through thick and thin, Patrons and Followers.  You are the best!

♥
– Ang

Ladies of the Months Book Sketch Collection I

I haven’t shared new art in here in what feels like forever!  Kickstarter, the holidays, and doc appointments have kept me busy and I profess to having more than a little bit of art block that’s been getting me down.  Nothing I was drawing for myself was coming out the way I wanted!

But the life of a working artist must go on, regardless of art block!  It seems all that I needed to break the dry spell was to let go of my high expectations and let the muse be carried away by the spontaneous nature of the keyword sketch prompts of my Limited Edition coloring books.  Each LE Backer provided two keywords that would dictate the subject of the drawing that would go in the front of their book.  

I present to you a collection of the first 10 of 50 drawings from the books!  Each one has a little bit of flash fiction to go along with it. It seems my writing muse wanted to get in on the action as well!  Each was drawn with a combination of Micron and Tradio pens.

1/50 “Wise Wildlife”

The Great Owl, guardian of this sacred space. He holds the key to the knowledge hidden beyond. 

2/50 “Angelic Angel”

From the grace & fury of smokeless flame, she came into being with the splendor and beauty of a thousand eyes and a thousand wings, taking shape only so our senses could comprehend her.

3/50 “Angelic Eclipse”

Between the darkness and the light, she exists to make sure neither element falls out of balance. She is both and she is neither all at once.

4/50 “Garden Tarot”

With knowledge as old as trees and wisdom of the deep forgotten things, the cards will bring the wind of things to come from beyond the reach of the Grove’s roots.

5/50 “Star Song”

In ages past, the Elves knew a song that could sing worlds into existence in the mind of all who heard it. Such songs, if you heard them, will be remembered until your dying day.

‪6/50 “Forest God”‬

‪They called him the Green Man, the Horned God, the Kindly One. For all the names, he welcomed visitors with the same smile. Be kind to the woods and the woods be kind to ye.‬

 7/50 “Flower Angel”  

As each fleeting bloom dies, so does her breath brings life to new buds. Splendor and decay walk hand in hand in the cycle of a flower, always dying, forever beautiful if you know where to look.

 8/50 “Forest Fairy”  

Falling free amongst the seeds, a forest fairy guides every tiny soul. Infinite as the leaves on the trees and the stars in the sky. 

 9/50 “Veiled Woman”  

If you seek answers, there  lives a seer who can only be sought by moonlight. As the Cereus flower blooms, she can glimpse endless knowledge. However, beware her price, for it is steep! 

10/50 “Angelic Valkyrie”

For those who die in battle, she prays. Their cries become each blade in her wings, their strength the mettle of her sword. They will never die as long as she carries them.

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That’s it for this first collection!  As more of my Limited Edition coloring books find homes via my coloring book Kickstarters, I’ll add more here.  I also think some of these will make excellent coloring pages worth adding to future releases!

I think my favorite is the “Flower Angel” for all her delicate details.  What’s your favorite?

PS.

I shared most of these as I finished them even earlier via my private Patreon Discord server. If you haven’t connected your Discord account to Patreon yet, you should try it!  It’s my first stop for sharing art, tutorials, inspiration, and chatting directly with my Patrons!

Ladies of the Months Art Book Tease

This year is going to be an exciting time!  With the main set of paintings now complete for the Ladies of the Months, it’s time for me to move on to the next phase of this project I’ve been looking forward to for a long time!

The Alternate  Ladies

When I was first creating my main paintings for the Ladies of the Months series, there were a lot of concepts I had to ditch either because they didn’t fit the Art Nouveau style or there were just too many concepts that I had to choose something different!

Now, the Ladies of the Months art book I’m planning presents me with an opportunity to indulge these ideas and break the rules of Art Nouveau!  I’m planning several alternate pieces for a few of my Ladies that are going to be darker, more surreal, more conceptual, and more painterly in nature.

For example, when I originally thought of Lady of March‘s concept as the Lady of Resurrection, I thought of her connection to water, her power over life and death.  I got the image of this Lady submerged in water, with her reflection showing her connection to death.  This was incorporated as a very subtle skeleton in her original painting, but in her alternate, I’d like to make this theme even stronger.

Lady of March’s Alternate Painting Thumbnails.

This is just one example of how I’m going to push the concepts of the Ladies to be something even more conceptual, more dark and beautiful, and frankly more of the kind of art I want to be painting!

Supplemental Art

In addition to these alternate paintings, each section of the book dedicated to a Lady will feature spot images tied to her theme.  I want each section to be a sacred devotion to Her and the spiritual aspects she represents and to highlight her associated stones and flowers.

More to Come!

I’ll be revealing more of this art as the project evolves, with more creative notes being shared exclusively with my Patreon Patrons.  

I hope you all are as excited about this ambitious endeavor as I am!  It’s going to be the capstone of this project and I can’t wait to show you more!