somewhere there's a feather
Warning to people using this as an informational resource: I am not a lawyer. I curse a lot. Follow the links in the text to find official sources and research, rather than relying on my say-so.
he flew into my house through an open window, I caught him and let him go. he's a flycatcher.

he flew into my house through an open window, I caught him and let him go. he’s a flycatcher. I didn’t keep any pieces of him, except the poops he left behind on my counter.

There’s this law, see. Every time I bring it up, people get salty about it. Hell, sometimes I get salty about it when people bring it up. But I’m bringing it up anyway.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes it illegal for anyone to take, possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, barter, or offer for sale, purchase, or barter, any migratory bird, or the parts, nests, or eggs of such a bird except under the terms of a valid permit issued pursuant to Federal regulations.

The MBTA does not apply to: (1) Nonnative species introduced into the United States or its territories by means of intentional or unintentional human assistance…, or nonnative, human-introduced species that belong to families or groups not covered by the Canadian, Mexican, or Russian Conventions.

(If you have found a feather, there are resources at the very end of this post to help you figure out what bird it’s from, and if you can keep it or not. Click ‘read more’ then scroll down.)

song thrush

seriously, these guys kept coming in. that place had big windows, they really liked shitting all over my house and refusing to fly back out. this is a female, maybe the special friend of the other bird. she also left some potentially-illegal feces behind.

Definitely-legal feathers come from European Starlings, House Sparrows, Rock Pigeons, Eurasian Collared Doves, AND basically any bird you are legally allowed to hunt (meaning, YOU have a hunting license for it) or farm/have as a pet legally- these game and domestic birds include non-native parrots, wild turkey, pheasant, some geese, peacocks, some grouse, domestic chickens, domestic ducks, domestic geese, domestic quail, and domestic turkey.

(side note: all the feathers used in my work are from legal species and sources; I paint and stain legal feathers to resemble rare/illegal ones, and you can too, and if you do I will keep liking you and your art)

There’s a damn good reason for these laws. I know that you’re thinking, “but I’m not out harvesting cormorants, smashing baby sparrows, and yanking the tails of owls! I found it on the ground, how could it possibly harm anyone for me to just have it in my own house?”

fox skull mount

chicken feathers behind a fox skull. these look rad and they’re legal and easy to obtain.

It’s harmful because people actually do kill these birds to get their feathers, and they can and do say the same fucking thing when they get caught. In order to keep poachers from saying they “found” feathers that they actually killed to get, the law simply won’t allow anyone to have them at all. This includes you, and me, and includes ‘private collections’ and ‘I won’t sell it I just want it for my shrine’. I won’t even get started on people who are selling protected birds’ feathers (online or off) because it makes me too frothy and I want this article to make sense.It used to be that poachers could claim they had ‘found feathers’, and didn’t actually kill the birds. This law ensures that this doesn’t happen. There are exceptions and loopholes, of course, but you’ll need paperwork to fit into them.

I understand that it feels like the Fun Police have arrived when someone brings up the fact that you’re endangering birds by keeping those crow feathers in your hat. Hell, I know that before I got super involved in this kind of art I pretty much felt the same way. It wasn’t until I did a lot more reading and a lot more thinking that I really got it. I don’t mean to prevent you from making cool stuff. I truly understand, and I also dislike the arrival of the Fun Police in general. But.

BUT. But there’s this law, see. And if you’re breaking it, you’re not being an Ethical Shaman-type Person. So if you wish to represent yourself as a Magical Unicorn Dancer of Good Intentions and The Like, read on. (Evil Bastards of Doom, feel free to skip ahead to the “crow” or “canada goose” sections, or just go squash a european starling.)

 

Mandala, or mandorla?
karmic eye

mandala

I want to talk a little about why I paint and work with mandorlas rather than mandalas.

A mandala is a circular pattern, sometimes used ritually, which is built on radial symmetry. Each section of a mandala will be the same, drawing the eye into the center.  The eye moves into the middle distance, being drawn past the paper or surface and off into what it perceives as a distant center. This is subconscious and happens because of the radial symmetry. We’re accustomed to seeing lines of perspective radiating from the distant horizon in art, so our eye interprets the center of a mandala as being far away (even if the artist has used every means to make it come forward at us, visually).

I think this is all fine and dandy. But-

mandorla

 

Mathematically speaking, a mandala is based on the circle, a single-edged shape. They are often meant to represent wholeness or unity. A triangle has three edges, a square four, and so on. Each of these shapes, symbolically speaking, have their own meaning- their own particular use. For example, the pentagram has been used as a symbol for humanity. Arms, legs, head- making a five-pointed star. The symbolism of triangles with fertility (mother, father, child) or some kind of trinity of gods, is common. A square is often used to represent a church, an institution, the law. The circle, used as it is to represent oneness (since it is a shape constructed of one line) is well known among many religious traditions.

The mandorla? It’s really only used as a backdrop. As a containing symbol for other objects. I think, though, that it can stand on its own. It’s less often used, less the subject of an image, than a circle or a triangle. Hell, even seven-pointed stars are more common than a two-sided shape. Why is this?

15 books that will change the way you tattoo (for the better)

owlbooksThere are a lot of great books on art out there, and I’m bound to miss a lot in my list. These are just books I have found incredibly helpful in my work, and which I refer to often.

These are not books of reference images (although I did come up in the time before google images took over, and every shop had its own reference library on site…I still can’t part with all those books!)

These are, instead, books about art in general, about art techniques, or about being an artist that I think apply very well to tattooing. If you have favorites that I do not list, please add a comment and link me to them! I read voraciously and love to find new sources of knowledge.

At least a few of these are free on kindle/ebooks, most are cheap, one or two are pricey, all are available and not rare.

 

An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.
To say to the painter that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player that he may sit on the piano.
~J. M. Whistler

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originals are up for the holidays!

floral watercolor originalI’m listing originals. Everything I have on hand is being put up until the holidays, here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/resonanteyes

I won’t be doing this again for a while, so get em while they’re hot.
All of these will be for sale through january 15. If you want them by the holidays, order before december 12, though.

(prints and all my other things can be had at THIS page, right here.)

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a few older works. very older!

ukokprincessinformation_items_411

This first piece is based on tattoos found on a mummy, the Ukok ‘princess’ (probably a shaman). Her body is 2500 years old and was preserved in ice. Like the iceman of the Alps, these ancient human remains show intricate and amazing tattoo work, showing that our art has been around far longer than many might think.

Her body is about to be reinterred, which I think is a very good thing. We’ve learned a lot from her and need to return her to her resting place. You can read more about her here.
The woman who has these modern versions of the tattoos found on this ancient woman, is an anthropologist.

I think that all of the Ukok woman’s work is beautiful, and find the art very inspiring. I’ve seen actual full-scale images of these tattoos, and they are done impeccably. Even 2500 years ago, there were great tattoo artists in the world.
The work is astounding, compared to other tattoos we’ve seen from that era (which is not many). They’re not the typical bronze age/neolithic art we see, with its stick-figure base and straight lines, they’re ALIVE, in motion, vibrant. So inspiring.

The most recent MRI and other testing they did showed that she had advanced breast cancer, was using cannabis regularly (for the pain possibly) and had been thrown from a horse (which most likely is what killed her).

I really think that we’re not seeing all the things that were being done then. There’s almost…almost a thread that goes back, if you look at older tattoos (say, 1800s, or indigenous works) that makes me think our very earliest human ancestors were doing tattoos, and quite complex and intricate ones. Some motifs appear again and again, worldwide, and imply to me that there may be a previous, paleolithic art we’ll never get to see.

This woman’s tattoos hint at that even more strongly.

Feel free to share this post (or anything on my site, for that matter) or post any further information in the comments!

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The Krasue: page 6 of The Horrors.

EPSON MFP image

 

The krasue is a Thai monster, which feeds on entrails, fetuses, placenta, and babies. It’s considered very dangerous to pregnant women, and people put thorny branches around the house to keep it away when someone in the home gets pregnant. It glows red (as seen in this video) and floats. The krasue lives as a normal person during the day- but at night, its head and entrails separate from its body, which it leaves hidden away from view. It must go back to its body by daylight and reattach itself.

The krasue is Thai, but similar beings are known throughout southeast Asia. In all cases, it eats fetuses right out of the womb, and if it can’t find that, it eats animals’ guts or feces. If you leave clothing out overnight to dry, it will wipe its mouth on them, leaving slime, blood, and gore behind. Some say the krasue is a witch, who cast the wrong incantations and was cursed. Others think it is a woman who killed someone in a previous lifetime, or who had an abortion, or even an older woman jealous that she can no longer get pregnant. Still others believe it to be a ghost or supernatural creature, not human at all.

In the image, a krasue has just succeeded in stealing a fetus from a pregnant woman, and flies off, triumphant, to eat it.

 

(All this and more about the krasue, in my book!)

The Horrors, page 14: The Ilomba

EPSON MFP image

 

 

Ilomba is a sea snake with destructive powers in the mythology of the Lozi people of Zambia. It is provided by a witch doctor. Usually it is fed with eggs and porridge in the morning. It takes on the identity of the person that owns it. If it is killed, the owner feels the pain, and then dies. If the owner dies, it dies. The only way it can be destroyed is through the witch doctor.

~wikipedia

 It appears as a regular seasnake to normal people but on the desired target it has the head of it’s creator. …The eyes of the Ilomba paralyses the victim with fear and bites it sucking the blood and devouring its soul that makes the Ilomba double in size. The sorcerer or witchdoctor collects these souls to use as zombies.

http://fuckyeahafricanmythology.tumblr.com

The ilomba comes from Zambia, but is known here and there throughout Africa. It looks like a normal snake to most people. Only its victim sees its true nature. It’s made by a sorceror, whose face it will have when it attacks. It not only sucks the blood from its victim, but also their soul.

In this image a woman walks through a group of snakes, one of which is the ilomba. The fact that snakes are common in Zambia makes this tale all the more frightening- at any time you could be right next to one of these creatures and not even know it. Like many other monsters in mythology, it hides in plain sight. The ilomba may be created by a sorceror, but it is not ruled by one. The person who makes an ilomba must feed it, by directing it to other people to devour them. Without blood or souls, the ilomba turns on its creator, killing them both. And if an Ilomba is killed, its creator also dies.

(All this and more about the ilomba, in my book!)

halloween and horror arts.

I make a lot of creepy things.

witchiowl

fspdmnkyreachupil_570xn-324762839il_570xn-319169004il_170x135.342924128

 

il_170x135.324889630 shy owl EPSON MFP image shirts wpid-IMG_20131002_174925.jpg turtle springmorning

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Some of the prints!

 

spider skeleton taxidermy mount

devil, pig, bat, black cat, witch tattoo flashalkonost., harpy, painting, art for salered rose tattoo artdeer hunter tattoo artwalrus totem art, lolrus, animal art, painting

 

All original except those that have sold, available via my store page. Go buy something~! Or share anything online, if you like it. I like being pinned, reblogged, signal boosted, reddited, tweetered, facebooked to grandma, even myspaced. xox

Published on: Sep 5, 2013

the 6 worst pieces of promotion advice for artists, and the real solutions.

After countless suggestions of sites to use for promotion, I’m starting to realize that several things do not help at all:

1. Selling on more sites, adding more print-on-demand stores, or more marketing profiles.

fff

When you ask most people “how should I promote my art?” you will often get well-meaning people, telling you “you should sell at *printsite*!” or “are you on *marketsy* site yet?” or even “maybe you should sell them on *auctionworld*!”  “Do you have a *deviantshit* profile???” It’s as if they purposely misunderstood your question! “But I already sell on *somesite*!” You protest. “I already have a *americanartprints* profile, do I really need to be on *shirthoarders* too?”
You know, and I know, that you already ARE selling your work on a site like these. There is already at least one site out there with your work on it, for sale, clearly marked prices and all. What you need isn’t TEN MORE OF THOSE, you need PEOPLE TO GO TO THE ONES YOU ALREADY HAVE, and spend their money on your work. Yet asking how to do this never gets that kind of response! This is because most people have one or two sites they have heard of, vaguely, or bought something from once, and so they assume- if you are asking how to promote, it’s because you don’t even know where to list shit.

Most people aren’t trying to sell art. They’re buying it. So yeah- if ten people suggest *randomprintplace*, you should check it out, maybe. Because you already know ten people shop there. But be wary of paying for a bunch of shops or profiles on these sites, because they usually don’t offer much return. (If you DO need to know which sites to sell on, you’re not ready to promote the art yet. concentrate first on listing it, a lot of it, all in one place. I like redbubble for print-on-demand and squareup market for direct sales of originals. )

2. Writing in-depth or posting art directly on social media sites instead of your own.

nooo

I keep my favorites to the left.

Let me guess- you post your work to facebook, twitter, tumblr, instagram, googleplus, wanelo, weheartit, pinterest, linkedin, and maybe even a few dozen other places like this. You’re exhausted. You put off making stuff because you spend way too much time in an endless round of liking and sharing and pinning and chatting with people who never buy a damn thing. Then you get caught up in talking to friends and family, and somehow the day is gone and you actually didn’t do anything you could call “work”. I know. OH TRUST ME I KNOW. Then you go look at your own site, your own blog on your own domain and there’s only like two views. Ghost town. Well, of course it’s a ghost town! You don’t live there, you live in social networks, and you don’t invite anyone there- you talk to them on facebook!

How many people on there do you NOT know? How many people on there BUY things from you that way? I know I get sales to previous clients or friends on these sites sometimes, so it’s tempting to post there a lot, and spend time interacting, and all that…and call that “promotion”. But it’s not, really. It’s not work-related, it’s not promoting, if you do it that way. It’s either time spent with friends hanging out, or you’re just creating content for free so someone else can make money off of your work.
How social sites work, you see, is that people who make things and write stuff, they post these things on that site. That site then slaps ads everywhere and rolls in the dough. If they find out they can charge you to post your work too, they will. They’ll take the ad money YOU and YOUR WORK attracted, and ALSO charge you too. Without your work and your writing and your time spent there, THEY DO NOT MAKE MONEY FROM ADS or datasharing or…or any money AT ALL. YOU ARE PAYING THEM TO GET PAID. There are solutions to this, which will be in the next section (if you click through)

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