Boycott Black Friday November 27, 2014

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This is a picture I took at an arts and crafts supply store — in September. Halloween decor I could handle when it was still 70 degrees out and school was just getting started, but Xmas stuff too?! “Beware the horror” indeed!

Now it’s Thanksgiving Day as I write this, and the onslaught really begins. Do you feel your body recoiling at the barrage of ads, tinny Rudolph Midnight Clear muzak, the message that you have to now get busy and jolly and go shopping? Yeah, me too. So I have a proposal. Instead of rewarding the Christmas sales juggernaut that now begins before Halloween (argh!), let’s switch it up. Slow down the holidays. Enjoy the one we’re in.

I propose a movement to keep actively ThanksGiving for the last few days of November, enjoying and appreciating what we already have instead of buying.

If taken up en masse, this could be revolutionary. Enjoying and appreciating what we already have instead of buying – if even for a few dedicated days.

Boycott Black Friday.

Here are some memes for inspiration. The last one is my favorite.

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#BoycottBlackFriday

* I found the above memes being passed around the Interwebs. If you made one of them, please let me know so I can give you credit.

Shapeshifting: Masks! October 23, 2010

Who or what would you like to be today?

These are works of art, but not only for passively hanging on the wall.

Each mask is initially made from plaster bandage material molded right on the face of its intended wearer. While anyone can wear them, they fit one person perfectly and are comfortable to wear for hours on end, even while dancing.

I love this half-mask style which allows the wearer to freely speak, drink and eat while keeping it on. They are also cooler this way (temperature-wise, I mean!)

This mask is embellished with feathers of peacock and turkey vulture, acrylic paints, and a found brooch for the 3rd eye.

Water mask

Horse mask

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Raven mask.  (This one I made for myself.)

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Jaguar mask

This woman was browsing at the Wearable Art Show in Reno, Nevada when she came upon my booth and picked up the Jaguar Mask.

Isn’t her outfit perfect?!

Some things are meant to be.

Rrowr.

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If you would like a mask of your own, contact me!

Special masks can be great not only for Hallowe’en but also for rites-of-passage rituals at times of life changes, theater pieces, cosplay, Burning Man, science-fiction/fantasy cons, as a documentation of the lovely pregnant belly (belly mask!), shamanic ally work, or mythopoetic play with alter egos in your own psyche.

Also available for group work with adults and teens, and children. I have experience with children as young as first graders as an Artist-in-Residence, with adult community theater troupes, with pagan covens, dancers, and celebrating individuals of all sorts.

High Flying Witch October 6, 2010

A witch flies across the full moon on a broomstick. This is a classic Hallowe’en image; nothing more.

–Or is it?

Note how happy this witch looks. Then look for four entheogenic plants semi-hidden in the design.

Can you identify them?

Some say the use of such plant mixtures is how those witches, our European ancestors, actually went ‘flying.’  The broomstick provided a handy applicator of the “flying ointment” – a.k.a. witches’ brew? – to the mucous membranes.  (I am not making this up.)

My favorite thing about this drawing is the glee she exhibits. I get so tired of seeing witches depicted as evil, scheming, or just grumpy in their warts. I mean, really. When I was a little kid of nine or so, a teacher asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. The book suggested things like “nurse” and “fireman.” I wrote in “Philosopher. And witch.”

Silently flying out of the window at night by moonlight, knowing the world’s unknowable secrets, casting spells, healing people with wild materials free for the taking, talking with ravens?! Yee-haw! It’s good to be a witch.

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And now, a shameless plug:

If you like this image and think, “wow, I sure wish this was a card! I’d love to send it to my witchy friends,” you’re in luck. I currently have an extremely limited edition of notecards featuring this image available for sale — 34 14, to be exact. Amaze, enchant, or horrify your friends with this esoteric knowledge in visual form!

The cards measure 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ and are blank inside, awaiting your own message.  Price: $3.50 each plus postage. Optional: Have the cards inscribed with a brief, personalized hand-calligraphed message of your choosing, for a mere $1 for up to 9 words (not including “antidisestablishmentarianism” or anything in Welsh.) Postage discount will be given for bulk purchases sent to one address – I’ll only charge what I’m paying. Or if you’re local, come on over and pick them up. Not only do you avoid postage costs, but I’ll make you a cup of hot brewed tea.

* Please contact me directly to order:  tfields8 [at] yahoo.com *

If you’d like this same design on a t-shirt or mug, you can get them via CafePress.

A single-color version of this original pen-and-ink drawing was the official t-shirt design for the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness conference in Seattle, WA.

Thanks for your interest (or endurance)!