Higher Intuitions

My friend, Kristy Robinett, and I have been working on a special project for a few years now and this past February we found out that it's going to be published.

The Higher Intuitions Oracle Deck will be released sometime in Spring of 2012. This is extremely exciting for me (and I think Kristy too). It will be the biggest published project that I've ever been a part of.

There is a LOT of work involved in illustrating an oracle deck though. I sort of went into this thinking that all the images would come easily, that I could crank them out one after another and that they would all be perfect the first time.

Not...so...much.

I'm thankful for a deadline that is still a few months away. I've re-done cards, had artist's block, gotten pregnant, bought a Renaissance Festival shoppe, sacrificed time with my family and friends and have rendered myself completely unavailable in several capacities. At this point the deck is well on it's way to 3/4 complete, which sounds like a lot, but that means I still have quite a few cards left to complete.

The Oracle will be a deck of 44 cards with a book.

I've decided to share some of the Oracle images here. Several are available as prints, ceramic tile art, scent lockets, mouse pads and other miscellaneous items at my shop at the Michigan Renaissance Festival and are all slowly-but-surely being added to my website: www.johnagibsonbowman.com and more can be seen at my Facebook page.

Believe - Unicorn

Build Your Wings - Butterfly

Moonlight - Crab

Let It Be - Hedgehog

Be Strong - Lion

Strut Your Stuff - Peacock

Soar - Pegasus

The Purple Shoppe in Michigan

The first couple of weekends at the Michigan Renaissance Festival have been really nice. I am absolutely, completely exhausted on Mondays, but I'm hoping that it will all be worth it.

This past weekend Jason couldn't come with me, so my friend Kristy Robinett graciously agreed to spend the 2 festival days with me and use her home as a crash zone so I wouldn't have to drive the 2 hours back to Ohio every night - or stay in a scary hotel all alone. Thanks, Kristy!

Janet, my friend since age 4, came up on Sunday and helped me close for the weekend. Thanks, Jan!

So, what do I sell in my shoppe? Paintings, prints, tile art, candles, wax melts/tarts, soaps, trinkets, etc. The booth is fairly large and was owned by Jessica Galbreth previously. She is a very tough act to follow! Our art is very different, but I'm hoping that people give me a chance. Jessica is still painting and creating, so everyone that loves her art should go look her up and see what she's doing these days. I am really grateful to Jessica for giving me the opportunity to start a little shoppe of my own.

Here are a few pictures that Kristy took of the booth while she was up there. I have more to add, but wanted to put these up for now.

If you're at the Michigan Renaissance Festival, stop by! I'm not far from the front gates between Black Dragon and Fiona's Fineries. Shrek lives on my block as well.





Art tiles, prints and scent lockets.




Outside looking toward the patio area of the larger half of the shoppe.




Wax melts on racks. Ready to put in  your melters. Prints, soaps and candles too!



Ceramic art tiles can be displayed in your home in many ways.

Michigan Renaissance Festival and my art...

It occurred to me that in all of my blogging - OK, so there have only been 8 posts thus far, but you get the point - I haven't shared my artwork.

The funny part is that part of the reason that I've not been blogging as much is because I'm getting ready to vend at the Michigan Renaissance Festival in Holly, Michigan beginning in August. It's a huge step for me and I hope that all goes well and people accept me as a new shoppe.

Back in May, Jessica Galbreth put her shoppe at the festival up for sale and somehow I ended up purchasing it. It is quite a story of how it all came about, and I never in a million years thought that I would do something like that, but one day I lost control of my usual fears and shyness and bought the shoppe.

The most interesting part of all of this is that I'm going to be 5-7 months pregnant while vending at the festival and as I get bigger, I am attempting to accumulate enough product to fill the shoppe before I completely run out of energy.

Anyway...the purpose of this blog was the share with you some of my art. I also make soaps, candles and wax melts and will photograph those when they are all ready to go. I also plan on offering other interesting items with my art on them.

Please visit my website at http://www.johnagibsonbowman.com/ or my etsy site http://www.hootsgallery.etsy.com/. I'm a member of the Fantasy Artists of Etsy - FAEteam!



Night Owls 1



Sing Your Song

Practice Patience

Queen of Cups

Partners

All images copyright. All rights reserved. Please do not use without permission from the artist. Thank you!

Changes and growth.

I haven't written a blog in about a month now because I've really been busy working and working some more. I am also 4 months pregnant and don't always have any energy at all.

But...I like writing these blogs, even if they really are random and slightly meaningless.
This one will be short and sweet, but today has been exhausting to say the least. We've needed rain for quite some time and today we got it. Along with damaging straight line winds and tons of lightning. A large, very old sassafrass tree that I really will miss was blown over by the storm. It narrowly (and by narrow I'm talking about 1/4" or less) missed hitting my dad's truck and other important things - like the garage that is almost done being remodeled into my studio.

Somehow, this tree fell perfectly into a pile of junk that we're going to put in a dumpster. As if someone or something or the tree itself guided it to fall where it did - because everyone that knows my family and I knows that luck isn't something we have in abundance. In fact, the tree had been slightly scorched from our barn fire of 2009. Apparently the fire did far more damage than we'd known because the base of the tree was rotten. Strangely, though, the tree was in beautiful full-leaved bloom when it blew over.

I will miss the old sassafras and how it stood next to the other old sassafras in the yard, but I'm glad the tree was here while it could be and went when it had to in the most graceful way possible.





Desert Essence Coconut Shampoo

First of all, I'm sort of obsessed with shampoo for some reason. When I was a teenager my father would get so mad at me for having multiple bottles of random hair care products in the shower. Now I try to pare things down, not that my husband would think that I do.

I heard about Desert Essence Coconut Shampoo from TheSilverLining80 on YouTube and since I was ready to make a Vitacost purchase, I decided to throw some of this shampoo into my cart.

Here is the description of this shampoo direct from Desert Essence's website: Provides intense moisture to dry or over-processed hair, smoothes frizzies and restores hair’s natural luster, leaves hair feeling soft and healthy.Coconut Oil Cleansers gently cleanse dry or damaged hair. Organic Jojoba oil moisturizes hair and scalp so hair looks and feels healthier. Organic Olive Oil leaves hair soft and silky without weighing it down.


This product smells absolutely amazing. It's very coconutty and summery without that strange plastic undertone that I detect in some coconut scented products. This is just pure, fresh coconut. I was also shocked at the amount of lather that this product creates. I used a bit too much the first time because I'm used to sulfate free products that require quite a bit of effort to get sudsy. This, however, has immediate and luxurious bubbles that smell devine. It doesn't weigh my hair down and it doesn't seem to have any detectable buildup yet, but it adds just enough moisture so that if I am running behind and don't want to take the time to use conditioner I don't need to.

There are no parabens, phthalates, silicones or sulfates in this product. In fact, the ingredients look pretty good to me for such a sudsy and effective sulfate free product.

Water (Aqua), Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract*, Arctium Lappa (Burdock) Root Extract*, Achillea Millefolium (Yarrow) Extract*, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Leaf Extract*, Foeniculum Vulgare (Fennel) Seed Extract*, Sambucus Nigra (Black Elderberry) Flower Extract*, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract*, Sodium Coco-Sulfate (Coconut Derived), Decyl Glucoside (Coconut and Corn Derived), Propanediol (Corn Derived), Coco-Glucoside (Coconut Derived), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter*, Coco Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil*, Cannabis Sativa (Hemp) Seed Oil*, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil*, Dehydroacetic Acid, Glycerin, Hydrogenated Coco-Glycerides (Coconut Derived), Sodium Chloride, Potassium Sorbate (Fruit Derived), Lauryl Glucoside (Plant Derived), Benzyl Alcohol, Citric Acid, Stearyl Citrate (Vegetable Derived), Fragrance (Parfum) * Certified Organic

Have any of you used any of Desert Essence's products? There are other shampoos on their site if the coconut doesn't strike your fancy. I will definitely be trying the other formulas and conditioners and will most definitely repurchase this particular one. I think I'll even buy this as a gift for my coconut loving brother.

The Green Monster

In my last blog I had mentioned that I was planning on trying the Green Monster Movement and I did manage to make one of those Virgin Green Smoothies that are listed in the recipes section of the website.

I'll admit it. I wasn't overly thrilled with the idea of putting a banana, spinach, almond milk, ice and flax seeds into my blender so that I could then consume it in a liquified state. However, I also know that I'm not eating enough fruits and vegetables even if I do eat a cucumber per day (don't ask). I also know that some things like this are an acquired taste and if this little concoction can help to heal my skin from acne, prevent future breakouts and provide healthy nutrients, I might as well acquire that taste for it!

I whipped up a green smoothie and drank it. The first taste was a bit of a shock because it wasn't as potent tasting as I had expected. It was quite mild, bananaesque and thick. I didn't hate it, but I'm so used to sweeter smoothies that I also didn't love it right away. As I drank it, I found that the farther in I got, the more I didn't want to drink it. I do think that I made a much too large smoothie for my first time and that might account for some of the aversion I was feeling toward the end.

I didn't take a photo of my particular creation, but if you want to see what they look like simply Google "green monster smoothie" and then look at the images. They are green and slushy looking.

The strange thing is that I really did feel quite good after drinking it and for the rest of the evening. I ate more fruits and vegetables the day I made the green smoothie than I usually do in a week. I know that I'll make more of these soon and I'll probably try different recipes to shake things up a little. I think that pineapple is going to be the next addition to my smoothie. Ideally, I'll be making and drinking a green smoothie daily.

Have any of you tried a Green Smoothie or Green Monster? Let me know what you think.

MyChelle Dermaceuticals Incredible Pumpkin Peel

One of my favorite skin care companies is MyChelle Dermaceuticals out of Colorado. I started using their products about 2 years ago after seeing some YouTube reviews on various products.

I've tried several things in their line, but my absolute favorite product is the Incredible Pumpkin Peel.
This peel smells phenomenal if you love the smell of pumpkin pie or autumn spices. It's a thick, burnt orange color, but goes on the skin like butter. I apply a thin layer per the directions and then rinse off after 5 minutes. On my skin there is a slightly tingly, warm feeling while the peel is doing its work, but no burning or other irritation. After I rinse my face of the peel, my skin is so smooth and soft and any little dry skin flakies are miraculously gone.

I like to use this peel before a more traditional mask and the two together really clean out any nasties in my pores.

Ingredients
Cucurbita Pepo (Pumpkin)*, Aqua (Water), Lactobacillus/Cucurbita (Pumpkin) Ferment Extract, Glycerin (Vegetable)*, Cucurbita Pepo (Pumpkin) Wine, Honey*, Gluconic Acid (Glucose), Aminoguanidine HCL, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Oil*, Ananas Sativus (Pineapple) Stem Powder, Eugenia Caryophyllus (Clove) Leaf Oil**, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil*, Myristica Fragrans (Nutmeg) Kernel Oil, Cinnamomum Cassia (Cinnamon) Leaf Oil*, Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Oil, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Water, Lonicera Caprifolium (Honeysuckle) Flower Extract, Lonicera Japonica (Honeysuckle) Flower Extract , Alcohol Denatured (Grain), Potassium Sorbate, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose (Plant). (*Certified Organic, **ECOCERT Approved/Accepted)