It's officially New Year's Eve...

As we begin to prepare ourselves for 2018, I am making goals to create art as well as continue with writing. Online classes are perfect and can be done at your own pace.

So, with the 'Fabric Book' class by Kate Thompson, (previous post), I am taking Annie Hamman's, 'Creating Soulful Art with a Story' (1). Her art is beautifully soulful. It will be fun combining the two classes using mixed media. Another couple of classes that appeal are 'Lifebook 2018' and Ivy Newport's 'The Storytellers Art'.

Just click on the classes above to take you directly to the websites. 

I have also signed up for Art Therapy course ~ HERE

Looking at the next year, I'm wondering about venturing into this area for work. We'll see, meanwhile I'll be having fun exploring art and words. Yay! 

Annie Hamman

Willowing

Annie Hamman

Annie Hamman

Annie Hamman

Wishing everyone a magical New Year.

💖

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

Character Storybook ~ A Carpet of Purple Flowers

A Carpet of Purple Flowers~ Book One

Give me Love by Ed Sheeran

The dance and dinner scene are one of my favourites in book one. I guess, the slow imagery of shy intimacy playing out as a film through my mind, remained, and of course, that is also the night of the first mead encounter. When I saw this gif, I just had to share it along with the song they danced to. 

Richard Madden Lily James

Chance and Bethany

Chance Character Board ~ HERE

Bethany Character Board ~ HERE

Martin Marcisovsky Photography ~
Coldfall Woods

Update:

I'm editing 'Awake in Purple Dreams' book two, but it's taking longer due to illness and general craziness of life keeping me busy. So sorry for the delay.

I have a few beta readers that also need to review prior to the last edit, so, I'm still hoping to be finished this year but contemplating releasing/publishing next year. I'll keep you updated.

ACoPF Book Trailer ~ Character Version 

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

Awake in Purple Dreams - ***Cover Reveal*** - Book Two

A different kind of fairy tale for adults. 

Awake in Purple Dreams is a story about love overcoming all obstacles. Elements of fantasy weave with reality in this epic romance derived from ancient folklore. An enchanted but a brutal tale of a soul trying to find its way back home.

Blurb ~
Having thought that she had finally escaped the past, Bea finds herself hunted down by an unknown enemy who violently rips her life apart. The harsh changes that follow catapult her on a journey which not only brings personal transformation but one that marks a new era for two worlds.

Secrets long hidden are finally revealed and a war like no other is on the horizon.
Karma never forgets and until the cycle of a soul is complete, the past will never fade away.

The final book cover was a collaboration with Rebecca covers HERE

Below, my early design using free commons images. 

I couldn't get the title to stand out but loved the different colour tone in the font. In the end, I thought it best to stick as closely to book one as possible and so decided to keep the text white. I also needed help with placing stars in the background and with book formatting for print. Rebeca was wonderful and so here we are ~ a completed cover design. 

Early Designs 

Front and Back

Placing the early design next to Book One for comparison ~ 

Did they compliment each other enough to be visually recognised as the same in a series? 

Yup! I think so. 😁

The silhouette of the couple sets the theme of romance and their souls. The purple flowers reminiscent of 'A Carpet of Purple Flowers', a place which echoes in both books. The stars and cosmos giving a subtle message of the story being Otherworldly. 

Want to find out more about book two? 

Click HERE

Will be available to Pre-order on Amazon in late summer 2017.

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

Flash Fiction

Her hands reach out for intangible dreams as dust motes dance in the spectrum of light across one corner of the room.

Flash fiction is an umbrella term used to describe any fictional work of extreme brevity, including the Six-Word Story, 140-character stories, also known as twitterature, the dribble (50 words), the drabble (100 words), and sudden fiction (750 words).

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

Enna

The Butterfly Bridge

Reminds me of a book character, Enna. Art Source link HERE

Read more HERE

Polyvore/Picmonkey Art by Jasmoon Butterfly

This was actually the first story that ran around inside my mind for nearly two years before, 'A Carpet of Purple Flowers'.Since then, a trilogy has spiralled from the original book idea. 'The butterfly bridge' is to be the fourth book in the series. A standalone edition - pre-history.

Polyvore/Picmonkey Art by Jasmoon Butterfly

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

"The veil between the worlds is thin"

A lovely review for

'A Carpet of Purple Flowers'

Book One

This is a most entrancing and captivating story. Bea, as the central character, weathers every emotional storm you can imagine, and as we get to know her, we feel for her plight, and one is torn on her behalf as she herself is torn, between two men, two identities, two realms of reality.

Bea is living a fairly ordinary life, running a small, somewhat esoteric, bookshop in London, left to her by her much-missed uncle. Into her somewhat muted existence burst beings from another realm, and why they are so interested in her gradually becomes apparent.

Tracey-anne McCartney introduces us to a richly-detailed and dramatic cosmology drawn from Irish folktales, mythology, and magic, and it is by virtue of this age-old relationship between the world of the Sidhe and that of humans that we find ourselves drawn in most strongly. It is the skilful, often humorous, blend of supernatural and spiritual elements with that of ordinary life; the hopes and disappointments of the ordinary person, as experienced by Bea, which makes this novel so charming, and makes us experience Bea’s emotional maelstrom as our own. We want the best for her, even if deciding what that may be seems near impossible.

The final scene in Coldfall Woods is magnificently achieved, and the writing overall has the right balance of lyricism and restraint and is peppered with moments of levity when appropriate. The narration allows one not only to viscerally experience the events described but also to be privy to the internal life of the principal characters, sensing their doubts, their confusion, their pain and joy – Bea's in particular.

The finale does not give up all the secrets hinted at during the novel. Who exactly is Jonathan? What does Bea’s future hold? And other questions, which I will not pose here for fear of spoiling the many surprises and revelations this artfully-plotted novel offers us en route.

A Carpet of Purple Flowers is an original, entertaining, and sophisticated blend of romance, the paranormal, and the spiritual.

~ By Mark Mayes 

Mark has a new book release set for 2017 ~ More HERE The Gift Maker 

Mark has published numerous stories and poems in magazines and anthologies in the UK, Eire, and Italy, and in particular, has had several stories published in (or accepted for) the celebrated Unthology series (Unthank Books). His work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. He has been shortlisted for literary prizes, including the prestigious Bridport Prize.

In 2009, Mark graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in English (Creative Writing and Critical Practice) from Ruskin College, Oxford.

Currently living in South Wales, Mark is also a musician and songwriter, and some of his songs may be found here: HTTPS://SOUNDCLOUD.COM/PUMPSTREETSONGS

Thank you, Mark. ;o) 

Catching up with art

Hi everyone :o) 

It's been quite some time since I've sketched in my journal. Writing has been a priority, but I finally dug out the watercolour crayons and let my creativity flow onto the pages. Yay! I wasn't sure where it would take me, but I'm happy with the outcome of the brief playtime. Hopefully, in the near future, I will make some art dolls again. 

Words and line drawing

sketches

Adding a splash of colour

 The Mystic ~ As above, so below 

Made of stars ~ Her galaxies are flowers

 Alice's Wonderland of Love

 I'm not sure why, but I drew their eyes out of proportion. They remind me of caricatures.
The one on the left of my niece, Heidi. :o) 
 Below, I thought I would try something different.  Rainbow aura ~ the soul of a lost star. In the book, the character, Chance, reminds Bea that his hand will always be in hers. It is a promise that his soul will find hers even in the darkest times. He asks her to keep her light bright.

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

Beautifully haunting...

Edgar Allan Poe ~ widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole

Birdy and Rhodes ~ Let it all go...

Birdy - Shelter [Official Music Video]

Investigating the yin and yang of a heart.

I like to write emotional conflict. I really feel comfortable writing scenes that capture the rawness of love in full glory or the kind that can only be found in the depths of despair. Investigating the yin and yang of a heart. There's something about the truth found in heartbreak or a newly discovered love that captivates parts of my soul, inspiring creativity, and I use these elements in my writing. Music helps me to delve into these places, such as Birdy, Gabrielle Aplin, Mree, James Bay, etc, all capture the essence of reflective haunting but in a beautiful way. Melancholy is a layered veil, and once each layer parts, pieces of the self, are uncovered. 

Riding the ripples of karma

Catharsis is the release of tension and anxiety that results from bringing repressed feelings and memories into consciousness. My main characters are cruelly tortured by karma (Vororbla), a mystical power beyond their reach. They experience a lot of emotional turmoil, but to release the past they need to understand their inner self/emotions. 'What do they really want?' Their story is a journey of learning, understanding that actions can and do affect others far beyond immediate time. That we are all connected and not as distant as we think. Actions create invisible ripples that spread through time, there is no running away from Vororbla.  Bea, Karian, and Chance, all need to find their inner strength and answers to questions of the heart, which lay hidden between the layers of the self, lost in the past and present. Only then will their future be decided. 

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo