Author Archives: Shirl Sazynski

New Etsy shop opened & main shop updated with new prints!

Posted on May 15, 2013 | Comments Off

Something Sketchy Banner

giraffes_Shirl SazynskiI’ve been busy over the last few months, creating new artwork, moving to Vermont– and, most recently, opening a new Etsy shop for original, affordable artwork from $5-50.

Something Sketchy has gesture drawings, preparatory sketches and assorted small-scale artwork done on-site or as studies for other work, including watercolors, pencil drawings and pen & ink sketches of landscapes, animals, pets, urban areas and people. Expect a lot of vibrant spring flowers, cute baby farm animals and absolutely gorgeous country Vermont landscapes soon.

My main illustration shop has also gotten a new look and a new inventory, featuring many of the works in the gallery.

Shirl Sazynski_mermaid banner

You can also follow me on Facebook: 

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Pagan Valentine Sketch

Posted on February 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

Pagan Valentine

A pagan valentine. Sketch for a color illustration.

Gerda and Freyr, Veles and Mokosh, Frigga and Odin, Lady and Lord, Persephone and Hades, Pomona and Pan– Norse, Slavic, Celtic, Wiccan, Greek or however you want to slice it, it’s Goddess and God in love.

She’ll probably have coppery or olive skin and dark hair, and he’ll probably have dark hair too, because she’s drawn Asiatic, and I’m tired of the idea that Northern Gods are white people. Lots of other peoples have flowed through the northern and western hemispheres, and still live here. People traveled. People traded. People intermarried across civilizations. That’s world history.

 

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Mermaid and Sea Prince watercolor

Posted on January 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

mermaid and sea prince 2 by shirl sazynski

Inspired by folklore involving water spirits, mermaids and lovers. I never liked the fairytales where a mermaid drowns some hapless young man, or she’s captured by one, or, like Agneta and the Sea King, there’s something both devious and  self-righteous about the whole thing. However, I’ve always liked the artwork of golden-age illustrators like John Bauer.

I’d like to one day write a story to go with this painting, and expand the illustrations.

It’s also now available as a print on my Etsy shop.

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The Yule King – Ingvi (Frey)- watercolor painting

Posted on January 11, 2013 | Leave a comment

Yule King Freyr_by Shirl Sazynsk_thumbnail

The Yule King (Ingvi), crowned on the Winter Solstice. Inspired by the ancient blend of peoples who passed through Poland and Scandinavia– Eurasian nomads, the Celts, the Balts, Scythians and Sarmatians speaking Persian dialects, Germanic peoples, Graeco-Romans and bringers of Mediterranean influence, and the Slavs. I like bronze-age and Egytian artwork.

The armlets are the horse and stag for the life and death of the God. In some ancient cultures, a young woman or man was given a crown made from tree branches or flowers as a mark of adulthood and the right to court and marry.

It’s also now available as a print on my Etsy shop.

 

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Mermaid and Sea Prince- WIP

Posted on December 11, 2012 | 2 Comments

First layers of gouache:

Initial sketch:

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Freyr painting

Posted on November 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

freyr-norse-god-of-love-painting-by-shirl-sazynski

My latest painting, depicting the Swedish/Norse God of Love, Life and Death, Freyr.

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Persephone’s Kiss illustrated anthology has new contributors:

Posted on October 9, 2012 | Comments Off
Ruth Sanderson_San Soleil“San Soleil” by Ruth Sanderson

Over the last few months, I’ve been editing Persephone’s Kiss, an illustrated anthology of poetic flash fiction, poems and comics inspired by classic poems on the theme of love, loss, longing, death… and what happens afterward, including ghosts, the underworld, and assorted elements of world myth.

Anthology contributors include winners of the Caldecott Medal, World Fantasy Award, Book of the Year, Bram Stoker Award, Edgar Allen Poe Award, Shirley Jackson Award, Hugo Award, Nebula Award… and many others.

Several notable artists and writers have joined the anthology, including:

Holly Wood_Stardust“Stardust” by Holly Wood
  • Jane Yolen
  • Peter S. Beagle
  • Thomas Canty
  • Terri Windling
  • Charles Vess
  • Tanith Lee
  • Jeffrey Ford
  • Delia Sherman
  • Ruth Sanderson
  • Ellen Kushner
  • Ari Berk
  • Leah Bobet
  • Marly Youmans
  • Amanda Cockrell
  • Laura McCullough
  • Katherine Soniat
  • …and others

 More information and a gallery of work by anthology contributors can be found here.

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Hope Illustration– and a poem– published at two magazines

Posted on June 20, 2012 | Comments Off

Sigyn and Loki - hope

Two things have been published on the same day!

I’m the featured artist for the summer 2012 issue of Eternal Haunted Summer with “Hope”, an illustration based off of Greek and Norse myths of the fire-bearing giant Prometheus and Loki and his protective wife, Sigyn.

They’re really ancient and related stories. I love the idea of mythical figures who grant the gift of knowledge– and therefore the liberating power of human potential– rather than demand obedience. It’s a great metaphor for science, teaching and good parenting.

I also have a poem, “We Still Offer Sacrifices” in the current issue of Cliterature.

Check out both magazines– they’re chock full of good poetry and other writing. A larger version of the ink painting at right can also be seen in the galleries.

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Illustrated flash fiction published in Mirror Dance

Posted on June 2, 2012 | Comments Off

Shirl Sazynski_Come With Me Love_cropped

If you haven’t already read Mirror Dance, go on over for some of the best mythic, poignant, thorny– and elegant– writing out there. It’s also beautifully illustrated.

My flash fiction piece, “Farewell” appears there along with my artwork in the  summer 2012 “Guardians and Gateways” issue. I also particularly recommend  Inside the Wolf– a dark, symbolic retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood” by Brittany Warman of the Persephone’s Kiss anthology I’m editing.

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The King of Hell’s Daughter- Poem

Posted on March 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

Published in Jabberwocky Volume III. Honorable mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008.

Mercy Tarot Card Illustration by Shirl SazynskiThe King of Hell’s Daughter

To write a poem about him would be an obscenity,
she thinks
but still she does it in her way
less often, now, of late

Her small, sharp-angled feet tread down
the flagstones of a forgotten corridor, then stair
a winding snake which does not sink to unplunged depths but
highest
closest to his home

Sometimes there is a weak current where the air blows fresh
and cool instead
when the tang of fire blossoms can be forgot
for a faint, foreign whiff of grass, good loam
and narcissus in the spring
—this, her only mercy
is no mercy
and done for old times’ sake

the unseen door obeys her lips and gesture
this piece of untaught sortilege
her kind were born to know Continue reading →

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