Lucy of the Crows

First, thank you to everyone who has added me to their blog list or is looking via other means that I can't spy on.  I have plans to actually be on the ball this year and start seriously putting some Halloween stuff out into the world between August and October!  Halloween: it's not just for February through June anymore!  So far I've already bought a few yards of Halloween fabric, and several decorations from craft stores.  Michael's craft store has a "bling" theme this year which translates into lots of glitter, for practical purposes.  Let's call it glam, perhaps.

The painting above will be among those in what I guess is my Halloween showcase this year though really she is more inspired by the Saint Lucy/Saint Lucia than Halloween, specifically, but there is a ghostly aspect to her, with her black lace veil and her grey Victorian gown.  The crows or blackbirds that she holds, clutch a pair of eyeballs.  Her own eyes are obscured by the veil.  

She could be a twist on the image of the Christian martyr who is often depicted in gothic art and in medieval iconography as bearing her eyes on a plate.  Or, she is simply a ghostly apparition with unsettling pets.  

Either way, she is now on Etsy, as I start to direct some dark art in that direction for the season.  In other news: still reading The Castle of Wolfenbach by Eliza Parsons, and it's been very readable -- I sometimes have trouble focusing on the lesser known gothic novels of the 18th century (which is probably why they haven't survived as major classics) but this is exactly what I'm in the mood for.  Also, I ordered a book of EF Benson ghost stories today.  And the BPAL Halloween update was today so that is also on my mind.  Ahh yes, the season is starting.