IGNIS FACTUUS

Ignis Factuus, in traditional folklore, known as "foolish fire" or for better terms, Will-O -The Wisp, Corpse Candle, Jack-O-Lantern, or Friar's Lantern. It is described as a ghostly, white ball of light that floats above ground with unknown origins. These balls of light are seen at night or twilight, usually over bogs, swamps, and marshes. Sometimes they have been seen in the foliage and bushes on a mountainside as well. It resembles a flickering light or a lamp that is sometimes seen to recede once approached. 

Here is a example:

Your challenge this week is to create your own Ingus Factuus of eerie, lights floating mysteriously in your background of choice. 

I was a Tour Guide for the U.S. Ghost Tour Adventures in Gatlinburg, TN. Here are a few of my photos taken at the Ogle's Cemetary in Galinburg showing these eerie lights.

This is me!! Waiting for the tour to begin!!

These pictures were taken at the old Church in Gatlinburg.

When these pictures were enlarged, this is what I saw at the window with the four panes. I also saw the mist or "spot" on the roof. I have no idea what that is on the window!

Notice the yellow glow in the left window. The bright light was an outside light in the corner.

On this particular night, I only had 2 women on the tour. There were no men present and yet, I caught a male figure in this picture strolling through the graveyard. There is, however, a young man buried in the graveyard that was accidentally killed on the elevator at the famous Space Needle. Could that male presence be him??? Did I catch a "real ghost' on camera? You be the judge!

And finally, my creation for the The,me: Ignis Factuus!

Thank you for joining in on the Challenge this week! Cannot wait to see what spooky creations you will make!!

IN THE MIST OF THE MOORS

 Being alone on the moors is scary, as the rain clouds settle in, it makes you realize your place in nature

I know I posted "There Be Dragons" but I changed my mind. I decided to go with the Mist In the Moors Theme. Think of England in the days of Emily Brontë and Wuthering Heights and create your own dark, mist-filled moors with what you would find in your dark imagination. I have posted a page of free images for you to use. Transport yourself back in time and have fun this week walking the Moors. Cautionary note: be careful what you see in the mist!! 

Also, this week I will try to update our Spooky Artistry Showcase!!

Here are my creations when I walked in the Mist of the Moors!

I had known loneliness before, an emptiness on the Moor, but I had never been a nothing, a nothing floating on a nothing, known by nothing, lonelier and colder than the space between the stars. It was more frightening than being dead.

It is a creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. All that tells the same story of this dreadful apparition. I assure you there is a reign of terror in the district, and there are none, not even a hardy man who will cross the moor at night.

Then away out in the woods, I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that is on its mind but can't make itself understood and so it can't rest easy in its grave and has to go about that way every night grieving. 

As you value your life and your reason...

KEEP AWAY FROM THE MOORS!!

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, the road was a ribbon of moonlight over the bleak Moors, and the Highwayman came walking, walking, walking, up to the Olde Inn door.

How does one work up a little madness? Perhaps I should go wandering on lonely Moors and barren shores. That is always a popular place for lunatics in English novels and plays. Perhaps wild England will make me mad.

Digital art created from images from Pixabay and Miriam's Digital Kit Scraps

FANCIFUL REGAL RENAISSANCE

 

Every little girl dreams of being a Princess. She reads all of the fairy tales of young maidens in distress, fiery dragons, castles with a drawbridge, and knights in shining armor coming to the rescue. The age of Romance and Chivalry. The Enchanted Forest where she would first meet her courageous Prince, sitting astride a gallant white horse. 

Your challenge this week is to recreate and capture that magical, mystical time in your artwork. Think of King Arthur and Guinevere. Excaliber. The Lady of Shalott. 

I have posted a page of Renaissance Images for you to use for the challenge!

And think of yourself as a Princess!!! 

Yes, go ahead...we can all be a princess, not for one day, but for every day! 

My Regal Renaissance:

Sorry Ladies!!!!!

 I have not been able to post for the past two weeks. I work in In-Home  Health Care and lost a patient last week and then had a family member pass away so we will resume the challenges next week. Thank you for your patience!

THE RAVEN, MR. POE, AND WEDNESDAY ADDAMS

My inspiration for this Theme this week was a free image I found on the Gecko Galz Blog. It is an image of a little girl with a black raven on her head, as portrayed above in the artwork.  The girl in the image reminded me of Wednesday Addams, and the Raven on her head reminded me of Poe, so I wanted to bring those two characters together like an Iconoclast.  

Robert Redford had a show on his Sundance Channel called Iconoclast, where he would pair two celebrities together who were not of the same era of Hollywood but had things in common. The two actors he paired together would hang out and talk, and the comparisons would show in their conversation with each other. I thought that I would do my own Iconoclast and pair the Great Edgar Allen Poe with our Darling Gothic, Wednesday Addams.

I have imagined Wednesday reading The Raven and other writings of Poe's at night before she went to bed. Of course, Morticia would have read Poe's stories to Wednesday as we read nursery rhymes to our children at bedtime. The Raven was probably her favorite poem, and she probably knew it by heart. She may have even had a portrait of Poe hanging on the wall in her room. She probably kept a much-treasured book of Poe's stories and poems on her nightstand. Morticia and Gomez probably gave it to her for her birthday or maybe even Halloween!! She would have owned a Raven, for Morticia would have encouraged her to have a pet that was dark and gothic.  So it would not be uncommon that Wednesday would have grown up cherishing Poe's writings as we grew up cherishing Little Women or Nancy Drew! Maybe she even dreamt of becoming a great Gothic writer like Poe and secretly wrote her own dark, macabre poetry in her diary. 

As I was reading about Poe for the theme, I read some interesting things about Poe's life that I did not know, which I wanted to share with you. For one, I have always thought Poe was British and grew up in England, but not so, he was born in my home state of Virginia. He went to school at the University of Virginia, and he also attended West Point. He had a terrible gambling habit when he was young, which caused him to be expelled from UVA, and he was court-martialed at West Point. The woman we know as Annabelle Lee, whom he loved as no other, was in fact his cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm.  He married Virginia at the young age of 13. She later died at age 24 of tuberculosis. Poe, distraught with grief, he was inspired to write the poem The Raven and Annabelle Lee in memory of his beloved Virginia.

I have also posted a Free Image Page to go along with this Theme! Have fun this week pairing Poe and Wednesday together in your artwork! I am also going to go back and pick out the art from the past challenges to go in our Artistry Showcase. I have not had time recently to keep that current but will try to post them this week and stay current from here on out! 

Here are my "Iconoclast" Poe and Wednesday Creations!!

Once upon a Midnight Dreary, Deep into that Darkness peering, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before.

Ghastly grin and ancient Raven wondering from the Nightly Shore, "Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonium Shore."

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore, meant in croaking, "Nevermore."

Desolate yet, all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted----on this home by horror haunted, "Tell me truly, I implore!"

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off the door!" 

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

And my soul from out that shadow lies floating on the floor shall be lifted---"Nevermore."

Digital art created from Gecko Galz Free Blog Image, Chez Simone Tresors Vintage Grunge Papers, Miles Beyond The Moon Digital Kit Wednesday Art Doll, Wikipedia, and Pixabay.  

DEVILED EGGS

I am sorry for posting this so late, but I cannot shake this flu!  

I hope each of you had a wonderful Easter Holiday!  I hope your Easter Baskets were overflowing with chocolate, and your day was spent with your family, hiding eggs with your children and grandchildren, and gathering around the table for your Easter Feast! 

The Holiday Dinner menu usually begins with a Brown Sugar Glazed Ham, Potato Salad, Green Beans, and Deviled Eggs. Wow, I am getting hungry as I type this!!! I have an interesting recipe to share with you while we are on the topic of food! One year for Easter, I fixed Pickled Deviled Eggs! They were delicious! They looked so pretty displayed with the rest of the meal. Everyone really loved them! 

Here is the recipe if anyone wants to try them for their next Easter Dinner or just for fun! I boil my eggs until they are hard-boiled. I let them cool and peel them, I put them in a jar of pickled beet juice and then in the Frig for a day or two, depending on the color they get from the beet juice. They usually turn a beautiful pink color that I adore! I remove them from the jar and make the deviled eggs as I usually would. Very easy and very pretty.

Our Theme this week is not very pretty, but just as fun! We are going to create Deviled Eggs with a little Devil in them! Think red, horns, fires, etc.!!!! And I dare you to serve these eggs for dinner!! I really can't wait to see what you will come up with for your version of Deviled Eggs! I have posted a page of images to help you get inspired to make your eggs devil-style!

Here is my version of Deviled Eggs!!

Digital art created from images from Pixabay

PINK MOON

Quirky Full Moon

 I know I said we do not do pretty but I could not resist using the Pink Full Moon as a Theme and creating some pink art!! Being that it is Spring and the long, cold Winter is gone, our bodies are awake and our souls are alive and we yearn for the new in everything... new directions, new attitudes, and maybe exciting, new adventures!  Who knows??? The possibilities are endless when Spring is here!!  

Every living thing is budding and blooming with so many lovely colors sprouting up everywhere! The beautiful spring days we have had lately put me in the mood to create with some light, pastel colors!!

 So when I read about how spectacular the Full Moon was supposed to be this month and that it was going to be Pink...well...I thought why not???? We can do Pink and P.retty but with a Twist!!!! The Twist will be for us to use images that are Abstract and Surreal...even Fantasy... with your Pink Full Moon for this Quirky Challenge! 

And by the way, I watched the Moon for two nights and never did see it turn pink!!! It had a lovely rainbow ring around it last night but it did not turn pink!! 

I was disappointed but then remembered that after all, I am an artist and have the freedom to envision anything and with expression through my artwork, create what I imagine to see it come to life...real or not real!! 

So all of my Pink Moon creations are really Pink and created just as I wanted to see a Pink Full Moon!  You can create your Pink Full Moon just the way you see it too! 

Here are my Pink Full Moon Quirky Creations:

Digital art created from DreamPrintFusion Digital Kit Quirky Spring People and Digital Kit Earthkeepers. Itkupilli's Digital Kit Alice In Wonderland Stages, KatePrintableArt Dreamy Skies Digital Kit, Miriam's Digital Kit Scraps, and Pixabay