Like many 13-year-olds in 1986, I'm sure I had my share of unicorns around the house. I know they were all over my school supplies. Glowing white unicorns on a purple background simply cannot be resisted, though I think I was mainly a dragon girl. Looking over the paintings I did in my teens, I only have a couple of unicorns represented, but I have many, many dragons. Here is the best example of a unicorn painting from that time period (1989) that I have on hand:
Edited to add: Another unicorn painting from that time period, which my mom just photographed for me since it is up at her house in NJ. ^_^
I was a huge fan of the movie "Legend" which came out when I was in 7th grade, and had some of the glitteriest unicorns ever filmed, even though their horns bounced a bit. But they were pretty, especially filmed among pink flower petals and dandelion fluff. It remains one of my favorite movies from that era (and I don't like much of anything made after 1975 to begin with!...)
One thing you will never see from me are any of the tongue in cheek "unicorn poo," "unicorn fart" or "barfing unicorn" images that I know are incredible popular these days. Look, I take my unicorns seriously. I like them pretty, pastel and magical. I like them pink and purple and covered in glitter.
With that in mind, I've started a mini campaign of doing some unicorn paintings with simple, colorful images that appeal to that part of my brain. This first one below is already spoken for, but will be available as a print soon.
"Beneath the Purple Unicorn Tree"
And here we find one in its natural setting, among butterflies and a fairytale tower (the kind from which I can imagine a long golden braid spiraling downward):
"Unicorn Tower"
Now that we're on the subject of unicorns, let's talk about lava lamps. While unicorns might call to mind an 80s girl's room or notebooks, surely lava lamps were a staple of the 70s....and also the 80s for people like me who lived (and continue to live) in a psychedelic past. I was fairly well obsessed with getting a lava lamp, but they were prohibitively expensive when I was in high school, at over $40 if you could find one. One of the first things I bought when I finally had some spending money, was a lava lamp, because I wanted to make sure to have one in my dorm room.
One of my most-viewed items on Etsy is my lava lamp ghost painting/print, so I know that other people share this interest. In later years one of my moments of glory was managing to have something like four or five lava lamps going in my office at work. I think when I reached that pinnacle, it set the clock ticking on my workplace folding, because once your environment gets that groovy, it can't last for long...
"Spectrum of Psychedelic Spectres"
At any rate, here are six miniature paintings I've prepared on 2 x 3 inch canvas, each with its own personality and name:
"Blue Goo"
"Emerald Ooze"
"Purple Pixie"
"Flame Phantom"
"Sunset Daydream"
"Ghost Globules"
And here is the moment where it all comes together -- the culmination of everything I could have wished for, and still do -- the moment when a unicorn and a pink lava lamp collide beneath a bead curtain. I'm so thrilled by this idea that I couldn't even come up with a good title for the painting! It's dubbed "Groovy Unicorn Room" until I can come up with something better.
I hope that someone's Google search for "unicorns" and "lava lamp" brought them here, because if it has, we are obviously meant to be friends.
