Crosses Palm With Silver 032: Custom Box of Secrets

I had so much fun creating Balthazar's box of secrets I've decided to open it up to you.  Allow me to create your own custom box of secrets, or trinkets, or whatever your heart desires.  Once you decide on a size pop me an email telling me what you like and I will design up a custom box just for you.  Tell me what colors, flowers, lingerie, animals, etc. If you'd like me to surprise you, do the same with the header "Surprise me" and I well send you a digital sketch. katelanfoisy@gmail.com

Box sizes and prices are as follows. I do offer payment plans as well, so if you have something in mind but can't afford all of it, please drop me a line and I'll be happy to work with you.

*Note: Box pictured above is NOT the one you will receive.  This was a custom box.  Yours will be specifically designed for you.

I'll even throw in a few secrets of my own.

Square Boxes:

6.25 x 6.25 x 3.25

7.5 x 7.5 x 4

Square Boxes

6.25 Square $350.00 USD 7.5 Square $400.00 USD

Rectangular Boxes:

8.25 x 6 x 1.5

12 x 8.5 x 3.25

13 x 10 x 3

Rectangular Box of Secrets

8.25 Rectangle $450.00 USD 12 Rectangular $600.00 USD 13 Rectangular $700.00 USD

All photos by Balthazar

Pimp My Artwork 058: The Hanged Man

At the time I was plotting The Tower an idea was formulating, a little spark was tapping me on the head and whispering into my ear.  "How about Neil for the Hanged Man?" Sxip, my Magician of course heard the call of the tarot and sent me a message. 

When I told him I was thinking of Neil as The Hanged Man he said, "You always make such interesting choices. They all make absolute sense but they are not typical." We discussed The Hanged Man and it's many meanings.  For him it is about "Letting yourself absolutely accept the wisdom to come, even it hard information. It's about giving yourself to the reality of a situation to learn from it. It's about humbling oneself for the sake of knowledge."

I remember the first time I read American God's and feeling like Neil really got Odin, Loki, and the rest of the God's he wrote about.  He may not be spiritually connected to them but he understood them by tapping into a part of his brain that was or at least the archetypes. Part of The Hanged Man's meaning is Odin's sacrifice of himself for knowledge on the World Tree.  For nine days he hung, no food or water, wounded by a spear.  On the ninth day he looked down, saw runes that had fallen from the tree and understood them.  He came down from the tree and picked them up for his own.  Any knowledge needed can be found in these runes.

A few days ago I started another 40 days.  This time instead of going mad, I decided to focus solely on the tarot, it's insights, and paint the cards of the major arcana. Sxip once noticed that I lived each card as I painted them.  This one was no different.  I started the sketch on Sunday and began to work on the card, struggling a bit in the midst of thoughts and procrastination.  For the past few weeks I had gone inward and was seeing the most beautiful aspects of love, life, work, and the muses.  Day 4, the day I finished the card would be my eye opener. When you are in the midst of spiritual bliss nothing seems important, you're open, the past doesn't matter, you're here, it's now, money is just metal and the heart wants to be full.  And then you come down, back into the mundane world, back into reality. 

The night before someone I once cared about very deeply turned their back on me. It was someone that inspired a lot of the deck and it saddened me to see it end this way.  I carried it with me the next morning when once again I awoke to more news about another person, not news that I was necessarily shocked by, but news I wasn't quite ready to hear.  And so began my spiral into reality and delusion. They are quite connected you know.

I cried.  I pushed people away.  I didn't want to connect.  I buried myself in work so I didn't have to think.  I thought about other aspects of this card. "The Traitor." Was this man a traitor? Years ago they would hang them upside down by one foot as punishment. I instantaneously pushed that thought aside looking at Neil's face.  The card I painted was not a traitor and I wasn't sure that my former lover was either.  Only that he had to protect himself and that he thought of me as a temptation.  I was in limbo. I had forgotten The Hanged Man was not about life or death but suspension until the time is right, sacrificing of old ways to let new ones in, and uncovering the reality so that acceptance can happen. Something had just ended but what was to take it's place had not begun yet.  It was in the works and for now I must wait.

I took this photo of what it felt like, kind of like being in a fairytale and not quite knowing who to trust even though you know the ending.

Neptune is the ruler of this card. Neptune is spirituality, dreams and psychic abilities.  The Hanged Man has allowed himself to be taken over by all of these things, in order to receive his insight. He waits with open arms to be born into consciousness and receive the information that is to come.  He knows the knowledge will take him to where he needs to be and by sacrificing himself he will gain much more than ever expected, but sacrifice hurts and in order to receive we must let go.

This is a time when emotions run high, when insights are deep, and you dangle in the realm of fairytale.  It is  also card that suggest at this time being a little daring, trying new things, and letting go a little.  These are moments that won't last forever but they are moments worth listening to.

And of course a huge thank you as always to Jim Shirey who has allowed me to use his gorgeous photos.  The background on these two is straight from Jim himself.

The partridge berry blossoms come two to an ovary. thus, the two small ones are connected to a single berry and leave a double seed scar. They ripen in the winter into a small red berry the size of a small pea. The rattlesnake plantain is named after the appearance of its leaves, which resemble a snake skin. The flower spike produces a profusion to tiny flowers about 1/8 inch across. when i took this shot I was competing with a bumble bee who had her next under one of the leaves. She was very patient at first, but became quite cross when I wanted to do a re-shoot. She zapped me on the arm. Just a bit to let me know my time was up.

Pimp My Artwork 057: Box of Secrets

A long long time ago in land far far away a photographer named Balthazar used his magical texting machine to send a secret message to the Mistress of Magic.  It simply said, "I need a box for my secrets." And so began the search for a perfect little box to hold all the sexiest most bewitching of secrets.

I told Balthazar I had found the perfect box and then I stopped communicating.  You see I couldn't do that with anyone else but him.  I knew he would understand that a secret box would need a secret sketch.  And only once the first figure went down could I show him what the box contained.  One fine morning he awoke to this:

"Here is a snippet." I wrote.

And just a week or two later he received this:

From there the work went fast and I knew the time was near for our box to be tucked away safely and shipped.  I added a special little piece and wrote Balthazar a note. 

On the top of the box, a very special key.  I will not tell you the secret behind the key.  And I filled the box with little things, special mementos.

Won't you send some secrets of your own?

Balthazar 

P.O. Box 376
Madison, WI 53701-0376

All photos by Balthazar except for works in progress.

Killin' It 065: 40 Days of Tarot

Yes I am at it again.  I love Project 40 and decided to do yet another 40 days.  This time I'll be spending my days on the tarot.  So for 40 days I will be documenting my tarot process right on these pages. 

Day 1-3: I made the decision to work solely on the tarot Saturday night.  Zodiac Dance was Sunday and Sherene and I had a writing date that evening at the Ace Hotel.  It seemed like a good time and so as Sunday rolled around I snapped a few shots to show what kind of headspace I was in as well as my surrounds.  I feel it's important for an artist to document their various spaces where they create.  I also started working on the sketch for the Hanged Man.  Sherene and I got a bunch of writing done, almost all of the introduction.  The proposal will be in the agents hands by the end of the month.  The actual painting of the Hanged Man begsan on day 2 and continued onto day 3.  We just hit day 4 and I'm still painting and blogging.

The photo up top is me in my bedroom aka my workspace.

Pre tarot dancing.

Working on the computer sketch.  I like to do computer sketches so I can everything down including the colors before I start.

The Hanged Man in progress.  Neil makes a great Hanged Man.

Sherene and I at Cafe Cluny.

And again at Ace Hotel after writing.

Also I'm thinking of painting a ouija board? What do you think?

How To 010: How To Keep Your New Years Resolutions

Happy 2012!  With just one day under it's belt 2012 has already begun to be awesome.  I divided my time between two parties, one a small gathering of uber talented people in a midtown flat and the other an all girl party at Molly Crabapple's filled with smart, talented, gorgeous women who I am so honored to call friends.  We toasted with champagne at midnight as Occupy Wall Street marched down the street below. History in the making.  We all sat around glasses half full with our tallest high heels talking about what we wanted to accomplish in the next year.  While 2011 was a lot about self reflection, friendships, and figuring out what I really wanted 2012 seems to be about taking it to the next level and just going for it.  No fear in 2012.  We let go of so much in 2011, take it in in 2012.

I figured this year I would publicly share my resolutions.  

1. Take my career to the next level.  What does this mean? Well, more press, more shows, not holding back when I want to do a huge project and not limiting myself.  I have a lot of good ideas, they just need to be put out there.  Applying for grants, selling prints, being more active on social networks, and producing as much work as humanly possible.

2. While I intend to be more active on social networks, this does not mean refreshing twitter 20 times a day.  After assessing my time management I realized a lot of the day gets lost in the internets and not all in research.  So limiting my time refreshing and checking email is pertinent to my productivity.

3. Getting out of debt.  Yep, part of taking my career to the next level is getting out of debt.  I went to art school for 4 years at $30,000 a year, sure I had scholarships and grants but I also had massive loans.  It adds up over the years.  Time to kick that debt goodbye and become that financially stable maven I always wanted to be.

4. Getting an office.  And by getting an office I mean setting up in a cafe for a few hours to write.  It's great to work from home but also there are many distractions there.  So when I'm writing I'm going to set up shop somewhere other than the bed or couch.  Plus a nice steaming cup of coffee or tea will totally get me moving in the right direction.

5. Making a wishlist of people I want to work with and sticking to it.  So many photographers and dream publications, companies to contact.

6. Paid to travel.  This is one I have no idea how to do but I'm going for it. 

7. On a health note releasing the idea that I have to lose weight and get toned instead. Also drink more water.

8. Projects I plan on finishing: The tarot, self promotion book, series of stories based on dresses, possibly an attempt at a comic.  

Sticking to your resolutions can be complicated if you don't know where to start.  Here's a few tips.

1. Don't go crazy with the resolutions.  Pick a few things you know you can keep.  You can add more as you go along.

2. Get a planner or use the calendar in your phone.  Get organized.  The more you are aware of what's going on, where you have to be, and what you have to do the more you can accomplish.  Plus you won't feel like you are always trying to remember what you are doing.

3. Eliminate unnecessary feeds, twitter follows, emails, and facebook friends.  I seriously just deleted 4,000 + emails.  Feels good.  I'll also be trimming down my twitter feed.

4. Clean out your purse or wallet, put last years receipts in a folder and get a fresh new start.

5. Day by day is the way to do it.  Don't try to cram everything you want into one day.  Make a schedule and take small steps to achieve your goals.  For example, you want to have your art featured in certain publications.  Take time everyday to either search appropriate publications or contact them.  Just one or two a day adds up over a year.  Baby steps, baby steps.

6. Eat better.  The best way to make sure you are getting things done is to make sure your body is getting properly fed.  I started doing this in 2011 and have been reaping the benefits ever since.  Exercise + healthy food is a win/win situation.

7. Clean your house and create a place for everything in it.  You'll feel better and your mind will feel less scattered.

8. Make a list of your resolutions and keep it either in a journal that you use often or post it up where you can see it. That way you can check things off as you achieve them.  Remember to simplify.

9. Think about yourself as a whole.  Does everything you do come together? If there's anything that doesn't quite fit in with the bigger picture get rid of it.  You can always go back later. Remember one day at a time. 

10. Be proactive. It's easy to get lazy or have our doubts take over.  Keep focussed and carry on every day.  Somedays will be more productive than other but keep open and you'll see it all start to come together.