Ancestral Messenger
Your spirit portrait is truly one of kind. Brush-stroke by brush-stroke, I meditate on the otherworldly you. Many digital portrait painters use templates—e.g., the same faerie wings for all their clients. Or they digitally alter a photo. I paint the portrait, with a virtual brush, a computer screen my canvas.
Click a portrait to see it clear and detailed. This site blurs a painting when shrinking it to fit the page.
Order your spirit portrait: Click here.
Middle Management for Chaos Gods, Self Portrait
Spirit guides me, as I portray your spirit. The photo you send me is just my jumping off point to envision and depict—not the physical, but—
the otherworldly, magical you. See the difference between clown painting of me and photo that inspired it. My portraits are not slavish copies of photographs. This is about us affirming your mythopoetic truth in a way that is fun for you.
Want your inner and outer beauty celebrated in an art piece? Click here to order your fantasy portrait.
Here is an example of my process with a customer. Dave told me he’d loved two fantasy creatures his whole life: the dragon and the Tolkeinesque dwarf. He added, “…when I get to play a role-playing game,…I play the dwarf … it’s something about their almost British “Keep Buggering On” mentality, their sturdiness…” About dragons he wrote, “There is a wisdom to the dragon, a view of history only held by something which lives longer than a human life.” That—and a photo of him—was all I needed: I channeled Gimli’s Warrior Cousin, Friend to Dragons (below). Dave’s posted his reaction in a comment field below.
Dave sent me two photos of himself for me to use as my model.
Gimli’s Warrior Cousin, Friend to Dragons
I see you. Truly see you. Do you want the invisible-you made manifest? Click here to receive your portrait.
A personal story: Tara Noonan commissioned a portrait of her mom, who I’d never met. Even if I’ve met the person I’m painting, creating a spirit portrait is like painting in the dark. So I get nervous about doing a good job. When I sent the portrait to Tara for approval, she responded, “It’s truly amazing how I feel you captured my mom’s essence, her groundedness, her warmth, her sadness and strength, all in this portrait. Thank you so much for this! I am really excited to share this with her. And I am glad you guys “met”, kind of! Thanks for your beautiful work…Love, Tara”
Her feedback was a great affirmation for me, a fledging painter. I was also relieved! Tara’s mom’s portrait is to the right. It is not everyone who would accept their mom depicted as a clown! I kept trying to not do it. Finally I had to give way—unless I trust my inner voice, I am unable to paint. I figured I would change it if Tara felt it was wrong!
Be assured, I do not choose between your inner voice and mine, I choose them both. The Divine guides my brush, but might guide you to ask for a revision. I make sure your portrait depicts your inner beauty, dignity, and uniqueness.
I’m also excited to share Tara’s feedback because it demonstrates the special nature of these paintings. Getting commissions is difficult thus far, even though everyone’s loved their portrait, telling me I intuited something important about them. But 1) I haven’t a reputation as a visual artist, yet and 2) my painting captures someone’s spirit, which is unusual; most folks don’t understand that a glamorous fantasy pic can also be a channeled spirit portrait. So, Tara, thanks for helping make clear my ability to see and affirm the amazing hidden parts of someone!
Roberto Campus (Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Lucas Arts, Penguin Books, Hulk, Dungeon Magazine, GamePro): “As a professional illustrator and artist, I personally enjoy Francesca’s artwork and find it to be original and inspired by the natural world. Her whimsical, bright style is a breath of fresh air for the world of fantasy and fairy art. The wild yet harmonious color palette and subject matter speak to an enchanted world of fantastical creatures, just outside our windows, on the edge of our own existence, where spiritual understanding through the artistic muse is accessible. Francesca’s art captures this essence and brings it to the mundane world for our enjoyment.”
And here is my portrait of Roberto Campus: 
Want a truly one-of-a-kind portrait depicting the unique person you are, at a low price? Click here.
Posted in Art, Writing, and Music, Classes, Books, and Other News, Community, Spirit, The Whole Thing
|
Tagged archetype, art, artist, artwork, creatures, crowns, digital, dragon, enchanted, enchantress, faerie, fairy, fantastical, fantasy, fey, Francesca De Grandis, god, goddess, green man, illustrator, image, magical, meditate, mermaid, muses, natural, one of kind, otherworldly painters, painting, paintings, portrait, portray, root woman, spirit, tarot, whimsical, wild, wings, wizard
|
Maxim & Art, OutlawBunny
Imagine a world in which, instead of judging others, we accept ourselves . . . And self-acceptance can help us stop judging others.
Note: I’m so happy there are folks living an integrated life I can share with. I’m not alone, whew! I try to integrate the “disparate” parts of my life, e.g., calligraph my thoughts, use art as meditation. And all my classes are about integrated being, even if that is not in the description for a given class. To be kept abreast of classes, click here.
If anyone wonders why I made a blog category called “The Whole Thing,” you can tell them that, often there is such a weave that the category is needed. Oh, so I don’t have many out ‘n’ out gallery posts—to see my visual art, browse my blog.
Posted in Art, Writing, and Music, Community, Spirit, The Whole Thing
|
Tagged @outlawbunny, accept, acceptance, art, being, blog, Bunny, calligraphy, classes, description, disparate, gallery, imagine, integrate, integrated, judging, judgment, life, living, maxim, meditation, others, ourselves, Outlaw, posts, self-acceptance. self, share, thoughts, visual, weave, whole, world
|
Everyone needs a teddy bear, even big capable guys! People especially need a teddy bear when far from home. I have a bear the size of my thumb. It was perfect when I used to travel—I traveled light, and it took up no room in a suitcase.
I just made a wee teddy for a friend. I’m excited about making a one-of-a-kind critter, my design, hand-painted. So I thought I’d share pics. I also thought you might enjoy making one too, so there are instructions below.
The one I made is under 5”—bigger than my ol’ traveling companion, but still easily tucked into the corner of a backpack.
1) Using Jacquard’s Auto Fade Pen, I made a rough bear sketch on a gorgeous scrap of probably vintage cloth. Yay, I got to upcycle!
2) Next I painted my new wee friend, using Jacquard’s TeeJuice Pens. For some of that, I squeezed TeeJuice out of a pen so I could dip a brush into the paint.
The spiral on its tiny belly is because it is a cosmic bear. 🙂 A traveling teddy bear is God’s little helper, adding a bit more security wherever you go. Heck, toss it in your purse to go with you to work and the rest of your day!
The first known image of Madonna and child—Goddess and son—was a bear with cub. For me, teddy bears represent that huge all-encompassing maternal love, and are mother’s helpers, assistant to both human moms and to the Great Mom Goddess. Divinity is always with us, sometimes via the comfort of a stuffed animal.
3) Next came cutting. I pinned the bear to another piece of cloth, so I could cut front and back at the same time. When I cut out the bear, I left a seam allowance all around the painted area.
4) Then I stuffed and stitched! If it’s hard to get a lot of stuffing into a tiny bear, just keep at it. It helped me to only stitch as much as needed before starting to stuff.
Doesn’t he look proud to be helping? Doesn’t She look proud of him? “Never doubt the power of one wee creature,” says Outlaw Bunny.
5) Finally, I wrote a message to my friend, which I put in tiny print on a little scroll that I attached to one of the bear’s arms.
Note: I integrate art with the rest of my life—eg, use crafts as meditation, use my art to illustrate blogs. I’m so happy there are folks living an integrated life I can share with. I’m not alone, whew! That’s why I made a blog category called “The Whole Thing.” Often, there is such a weave that category was needed. In this vein, all my classes are about integrated being, even if that is not in the description for a given class. To be kept abreast of classes, click here.
Oh, I don’t have many out ‘n’ out gallery posts. To see my visual art, browse my blog.
Jacquard supplies for this project are found at www.jacquardproducts.com or 800-442-0455.
Posted in Art, Writing, and Music, Spirit, The Whole Thing
|
Tagged all-encompassing, animal, art, assistant, Auto Fade Pen, Bear, bear’s, being, blog, child, class, classes, cloth, comfort, cosmic, crafts, cub, description, design, Divinity, gallery, goddess, Great, guys, hand-painted, Helper, helpers, home, human, illustrate, image, instructions, integrate, integrated, Jacquard, light, love, Madonna, maternal, meditation, moms, Mother’s, one-of-a-kind, pen, project, scrap, Scroll, security, size, son, spiral, stitch, stuffed, supplies, Teddy, TeeJuice, thumb, tiny, travel, upcycle, vintage, visual, weave, wee, whole
|
Francesca De Grandis, Oct 2011
Noelle permitted me to share her story about a spiritual transmission I gave her. A few details for context: The transmission she received was in part about childlike wonder, and was given for a month, without any meetings, even by phone. I suggested everyone receiving the transmission remind themselves once a day that I was doing this work for them. I also gave them an optional prayer to say.
“2011 was a year of crushing betrayal, loss and grief for me. I was homeless for a while. I had to put my four dogs to sleep because I had nowhere to keep them. The people I thought would always have my back instead stabbed me in it. I stumbled through my days (at least I didn’t lose my job) trying to hold it together and wondering sometimes why I bothered. Something about your Childlike Wonder announcement kept talking to me. Something wouldn’t quite let me delete it. So on a leap of faith that I wasn’t even sure I had any more, [I signed up for the transmission]. I still wasn’t sure what I hoped to get.
“On the first day, when I woke up, I thought “Francesca is starting the practice for me today.” I instantly felt peace, for the first time in months. I said the prayer and was able to appreciate the sunrise as I drove in to work. I kept saying it. Every day I started with the thought that you were doing the practice for me, and every day, sometimes several times a day, I said the prayer. Especially in the late hours when guilt and grief nailed my soul to the wall–I would see the faces of my dogs lifted trustingly to me, happy to see me, while I’m taking them to their deaths. I’m still saying it, even though the month is done. Because it helps, because it shines a flashlight in the darkness.
a sigil I developed for my own personal use
“I can see beauty around me again and feel gratitude. I can think of my dogs without absolute despair. I still grieve them, but I am starting to forgive myself and I think they have forgiven me. I am working to rebuild trust with one who betrayed me. It may not work out but I know that I can go on if it doesn’t. The worst thing of all was to be out of communion with my beloved Quan Yin. I used to meet Her in meditation and would often simply sit at Her feet with my head against Her knees and feel complete happiness. That had left with only a numbing hole in its place. I know that She did not leave me, I left Her. I was wrapped in fog and I was paralyzed. The fog is lifting. I feel like the shell around my heart has cracked. I’m not totally back yet, but at least I am able to see the path back and start walking it.
“I know that this work came at some cost to you and I wanted you to know that it gave me my life back.
“Blessings, Noelle”
To receive notice of upcoming spiritual transmissions and my other work, click here.
Posted in Classes, Books, and Other News, Community, Spirit, The Whole Thing
|
Tagged back, beauty, beloved, betrayal, betrayed, blessings, childlike, communion, despair, Direct, fog, forgive, forgiven, gratitude, grief, guilt, happiness, heart, hole, life, loss, meditation, numbing, paralyzed, path, peace, practice, prayer, Quan Yin, rebuild, soul darkness, spiritual, story, Transmission, trust, walking, wonder
|
Between being a poet and feeling the world needs lots of changing, I’m compelled to make up terms, LOL. I’m not saying what’s right for others, but I personally need a term other than housewife. Domestic warrior works beautifully.
Right before I posted my painting with its little self-help suggestion, I thought I’d better Google domestic warrior first, just in case there would be a problem. I did not see one. But I did feel encouraged to see that various folks have used the term before I ever thought of it. Yay and yaya—it is not just me who feels it has value! They may not use domestic warrior to mean the exact thing I do, but it is still encouraging.
I used a pic of Jenn—the Leftover Queen—as the model for my Viking painting. No one better than Jenn as a domestic warrior.
Posted in Art, Writing, and Music, Community, Spirit, The Whole Thing
|
Tagged domestic, Francesca De Grandis, housewife, Jenn, Leftover, painting, poet, queen, Viking, warrior
|
Calligraphy can be so useful! I made this just for me, but then thought someone else might get something from it, LOL.
****
If you enjoyed my absurd …um, I guess it qualifies as a picture poem (it was a bizarre kind of meditation, ornamentation and all), check out Share My Insanity: It Improves Everything. Readers are kindly saying it is unusual among self-help books, and that they like that! Its self-help humor and creative madness offer methods that support the whole you, so it has too many topics to list here, but its topics relevant to this blog are: self-expression, creativity, art, and rants. 🙂 Oh, for clarity’s sake, it does not have my calligraphy. But it does support your creative and other goals. Available on Amazon.
Posted in Art, Writing, and Music, Community, Spirit, The Whole Thing
|
Tagged @outlawbunny, art, blog, book, calligraphy, creativity, Francesca De Grandis, humor, madness, meditation, methods, ornamentation, outlaw bunny, picture, poem, rants, self-expression, self-help, Share My Insanity
|
Walking Between the Stars: A Weekend Spiritual Retreat, Pagan Style
Imagine a weekend where you are cared for spiritually, in ceremonies led by a shaman elder.
Envision a pagan retreat!
Ritual will range from peaceful to ecstatic to transformative to very ol’ fashioned witchy to solemn to funny.
Escape the grind and take care of you. A two day ceremony to:
* Spiritually refuel and rejuvenate.
* Center into authentic self.
* Be immersed in Divine love.
* Receive insight about your goals, challenges, and your life in general.
* Get covered in stardust!
Suitable to all levels, no experience needed. E.g., the above centering into self is suitable whether you’ve never felt the real you, want to deepen your sense of self more than ever, are a bit un-centered because of a crazy schedule, or …
Guardian Ancestor, silk painting, Francesca De Grandis
Drawing on 25 years experience as a spiritual healer and ritualist, I’ll use time-honored shamanic modalities. A lot of the weekend ritual will be channeled to meet the needs of attendees. Each person also receives personal guidance and direct spiritual transmissions.
We who are Fey-touched often find self, Divinity, and power when playing in other realms. During our weekend together, we’ll be walking between the stars.
This relaxing exhilaration will occur just outside Meadville, Pennsylvania, Sat & Sun, AUGUST 18 & 19. We are in ritual each day from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. (with an hour break for lunch). The rest of the weekend we can hang out together, or wander off on our own to play or ponder or nap—it’s up to the individual.
I’ve heard the following accommodations are affordable and pleasant, but I can’t make endorsements. Motel Six (814) 724-6366 / Wynken, Blynken, and Nod (B&B) (814) 337-2018 / Azalea House (B&B) (814) 337-8883 / Holiday Inn Express (814) 724-6012 / Brookdale Campgrounds (814) 789-3251
This is a lovely rural—though very conservative—area.
Having fun learning digital art the past few weeks. I made the banner for this event using an app called Procreate. The three spheres are photos of pieces I’d painted on silk. I drew the calligraphy right in the app—great app for $5! Francesca De Grandis
REGISTER for Walking Between the Stars at www.paypal.com : log into your account, then click the Send Money tab. Use outlawbunny@outlawbunny.com as the Recipients Email. Fill in the amount of $250. PUT THE FOLLOWING IN THE NOTES SECTION: the words “Walking Between the Stars,” your name, postal address, and phone #.
Upon receipt of payment, your place is reserved; event details will be emailed to you. No refunds. If you need more info, prefer to pay by check or money order, or want to discuss scholarship or trade, call me: 814-337-2490. Don’t email; disabilities = I can’t discuss events by email. Thanks!
Blissed out weekend, blessed with renewal, sacred fellowship.
I calligraphed today’s blog.
I wrote the above prose in 2008, and wrote it out yesterday as a meditation. An aside: I never thought I would share my calligraphy publicly. It was for myself, mostly. (And I did not think it was good enough. Now I don’t care if it is “good enough,” I just want to share this personal part of me sometimes.) I’d calligraph class handouts, but they were for the students’ use only, not to be shared further. Heh, in fact, in 1986 I calligraphed 120 pages of notes from which to teach a twelve week Third Road class, though no one has ever seen those pages except me (except for the handful that I used as handouts). I added ornamentation, Celtic knot work, the whole nine yards, just for my own viewing. But I needed the act of calligraphing my words, to ensure my mind was not entrapped and confined by academic parameters, because I was in college at the time (returned to school late in life). Luckily, I taught that class once or twice a year for a long time, so all that pen work was not consigned to a drawer, I saw it a lot. Make art for yourself!
OMG, having typed that last sentence, I realize that this aside is not an aside! It totally ties in with the blog. Yup, my subconscious once again is doing its job, contributing quite well! Embrace inner chaos!
*****
Speaking of embracing inner chaos, Share My Insanity has methods, musings, and madness to help you do that! Oh, wait, LOL, there are more connections happening, I love it. The book connects chaos to other themes of this blog: creativity, knowing your beauty, connectivity , and anarchy. Share My Insanity, available on Amazon.
Posted in Art, Writing, and Music, Community, Spirit, The Whole Thing
|
Tagged anarchy, art, beauty, blog, book, calligraph class, Calligraphed, calligraphy, Celtic knot work, chaos, connections, connectivity, creativity, Francesca De Grandis, inner, madness, meditation, methods, musings, mystic, mysticism, ornamentation, poetry, prose, Share My Insanity, subconscious, Third Road
|
Self-Acceptance—A Blessing
