Februa's Festival, Illuminated

 

~ click to make image biggerer ~

"Illuminated F", watercolor & black Sharpie on 

Strathmore watercolor cold press, 20230217

I'm calling this experiment finished.

I had one sheet of wood pulp watercolor paper left so I gave myself permission to go crazy with color and this certainly has a look of chaotic pigment which makes me uncomfortable. I suppose I should explore why that is. I suspect it has something to do with my penchant for hiding. I prefer working in black and white.

I used Prang OVL-16H watercolors. They are really pretty for a $10 set of paints. If you want to play, you can't beat these for a starter set.

Enough psyco-babble.

Things learned:

Background is too busy for letter illumination.

Use a smooth paper if you want smooth inked lines.

Use 100% cotton paper because you use a lot of water.

Patience, Grasshopper. Patience. Lots of waiting for the paint to dry.

Here's the poem I wrote that is featured in the bands on the painting.

Februa's Festival

as long as February frightens away feelings forlorn, fragmented, and faithless, this faery song fades like failure on failure. 

fancy me a fool, fate defied upon Fortune’s Wheel, turning, fumbling, frustrated from all that is found and forfeit as first love. 

Friendship, Freedom, Forgotten Books, and Forget-Me-Nots, florets flourishing on flood-tides where father and child fish, fishing, fished all flushed and fevered finds, forced fervor feeding the falcons and doves flying amongst fireflies in Fairyland. 

foreshadowed in fresh flesh frozen in fifty shades of faint fuschia, fallen petals, fallen fame, fingers in the belly. 

Fly, just not yet, fickle Fortuna. 

Februa fire fans the footsteps of angels, a funeral pyre of false prophets fleeing the phantom’s finale.

Happy Februa

If you do not wish to celebrate Valentine's Day, perhaps you'd prefer the eve of Februa.


As I'm sure you've guessed, we got the name of the month of February from this ancient Sabine festival of cleansing. Sabines were an ancient people of central Italy, conquered and assimilated by the Romans in 290 BC.


This festival was associated with the beginning of Spring and had to do with purging, cleansing with water and Spring rains. The Latin word itself may have had an Etruscan origin. 


Etruscans were a group of people also from central Italy, who ruled Rome until 509 BC when the Romans expelled them from the city and conquered them. Many of the things we consider Roman, such as frescoes, are actually Etruscan in origin.


In Roman and earlier Etruscan mythology, Februus was the god of the dead and purification. Sacrifices were made at this time of year to atone for sins.


Februa became included and confused with the Roman festival of Lupercalia. They were initially the same kind of celebration but once the Romans took over, the festival celebration for this time of year became one of merriment and kinky sexual play.


During the festival of Lupercalia, men run around wiping people, especially women, with goat-skin thongs called februa (purifiers) to bring fertility and an easy childbirth.


In 494 AD, Pope Gelasius I introduced Candlemas or the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary to try to stop the pagan festival, which was still very popular.

Tom’s wife, from Tom & Icy fame, was born today.

Happy Birthday, Red!

A frequent visitor here who likes to remain mysterious,

would like us all to consider helping the children of Haiti by visiting

The Universal Learning Centre's Website and doing what you can.

Weekend Reflections @ The “other” Chrysalis Stage

Golden Tiger @ Esoteric Uncovered