Remains of Kyle Castle barely stand - photo

Of Family Genealogy and stuff:

Oh dear! Guess this is all that remains of Kyle Castle in Great Britain and my Cowell-Kyle-Coel-Coil-Coyles-Coilus-Cole family members circa 2009 must be living elsewhere by now...let us hope.

A friend sent me this photo a while back and I don't know who snapped it. The pic may be from a website so if this is your work, you have only to let me know to receive a deserved photo cred, no problem!

Until then, I'll be sleeping in America where my ancestors migrated afar from their Old King Cole/King Coilus remembrances of long ago...such as...

King Coilus was King of the Britons in Roman times, I've read, and there were thought to be 3 of them - father, son, and grandson, at least one of which was an early astrologer. (This would apparently make me a late astrologer.)

In fact, if you know anything about Astrology charts, you're familiar with the terms Medium Coeli (Mc) and Immum Coeli (Ic) with 'coeli' meaning 'heavens' or 'sky.' Well, you'd be under the heavens and stars for certain if you slept a night in Kyle Castle!

Interestingly, the ancient city of Colchester may figure in to the legends somewhere, and although I've seen Colchester featured on PBS' Rick Steves travel program, I have yet to walk its narrow streets in search of a distant cousin or two. But I do know that if you say 'Kyle' or 'Kile' with the right accent, you get what in America sounds like 'Coil.'

And few believe its verity, yet I've read that when William the Conqueror first arrived in England one of his men struck the land (presumably with his sword) and is said to have been given the surname Strickland ('Strike land'.) Funny that, since my Dad's mother was a Strickland. William built Colchester Castle in 1076 on Roman ruins - the Temple of Claudius - to give it strength which must have worked since it's available for touching if you but go there and lay your hand upon it.

Yes, these old chieftains of Eire are sometimes known as Coel Hen - Coel the Old) which I assume to be an 'Old King Cole' reference, but who knows? It was all so many centuries ago.

Plus, it may be the case that King Coilus' daughter
Helen married - or birthed, I never remember which - Emperor Constantine and both of them went mad for Christianity as promoted by the Catholic Church. (I say that because in America my family has been firmly Protestant for as long as we can remember! Yet back across the ages and the seas to Ye Olde Country, who knows? Druids, perhaps? ;p)

Well, you may wish to merrily check out more ancient history about King Cole and Roman Britain at Wikipedia, but Bing or Google for more links and sites where some industrious folks have traced their lineages back to ancient Britain, but most are just full of misty history.

Now perhaps you've never read the Page in the sidebar column of my Word Press blog wherein I detail the harrowing evening of my entry into the space/time flux of Planet Earth. You see, a personal name asteroid Cowell arose that evening, a few minutes later I was born, then asteroid Judith arose a few minutes later.

And who synchronistically named the little squalling babe on that dark winter's night? My Dad, of course, for he obviously knew a fellow Cowell when he saw one!

~:~

Disclaimer: no ancient chieftains or merry fiddles were harmed in the typing of this post; spelling of author's family name has been slightly adjusted to echo its astrological spelling, Cowell, and 'Jude' is short for Judith. jc

Have you more Coel-Cowell-Coil-Kyle info? Contact: judecowell at gmail dot com

Red banded wrasse says, Fish Art as apparel? Yeah!

A small Red banded wrasse has floated in to say, check out my Zazzle Art Shop for botanically drawn fish designs on various products and apparel! Can fish make good mousepads? you ask. Why, yes they can and do.

Plus, here's a heads-up direct from me to you:

A new Links List has appeared in Secret Moon Art's sidebar column containing a few of my favorite Zazzle Shops - more will be added soon - so do swim over the 'net when you can and visit their wildlife offerings and wonderful nature paintings, too.

Or you may wish to check out my designs at Cafe Press, if you prefer their site.

After all, gift-giving season nears, y'know!

meander down Blue Winter's Path

Blue Winter's Path will be here soon...

Come browse my Fine Art America Portfolio of drawings before the snows set in!

~:~

Update Dec 21, 2009: my excellent friend, libramoon, has penned a few lines of lovely wintry prose to go with the above scene...I turn you over to libramoon:

Traveling eternal twilight's hidden path
ever verging on ecstatic realization
touch to cold, to wisping snow, to winter
dreams barely beneath faith-scented falling sky
echoing life, sending faint refrain from shadow
beyond the winds of winter's night.

Visit libramoon's e-zine Emerging Visions for cosmically inspired Art and amazing flash Poetry!

'2 Comets' Necktie from Zazzle.com

'2 Comets' Necktie from Zazzle.com

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Are mature artists welcome in the World of Art?

Is it more convenient for the world of Art and art auction houses if mature artists simply retire from their creative pursuits and fade fade away?

Still Prime Time? discusses the topic of artists' later works with Picasso as a prime example of what can happen when creative people dare to age and paint.

Does their work even hold up as being purchase-worthy?

Is the market for their efforts diluted by their extended availability?

Well, read the article for more details, but I say that humankind doesn't create Art as much as use it to express who we really are inside. And I didn't realize there were limitations on it because I thought we were meant to become more of who we are as our lives go on.

Actually some artists, famous and otherwise, use their involvement in the creative process - whatever medium they prefer - as a way of transcending life's difficulties such as illness, lack of resources, a dearth of love, a lonely lifestyle...you know - human problems. And if the world presents someone who wishes to purchase such artwork, who are auction houses or galleries to stop them? Should anyone's age be a factor in the transaction if the eyes are satisfied?

Okay, I'm babbling, and didn't expect to become this animated about the topic. Must be my middle-agedness speaking through a lifelong habit of drawing for which I will not apologize!

So whether you like my creations or not, I shall go on creating them, for not to transcribe the visualized images in my brain onto paper is more of a nuisance than to perpetrate whatever forms a blank sheet of paper conjures...such as this old favorite, Moonrise at the Crossroads, just in time for Oct 7, 2009's 160th anniversary of the mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe.

Oh! and Halloween approacheth you know.



Then, if you can take a bit of Poetry with your Art, here's a fresh rhyme just published today titled, An Ode to Readers of Poe, so curl up with your wine or tea cup - or your wine in a tea cup - and think of Edgar Allan Poe, Father of the Modern Detective Novel.

A Private Art Show for SkyWriter Readers!

Here are 7 drawings with astrological flavorings by Jude Cowell - you'll see that #5 is my illustration of the Sabian Symbol for 12 Cancer: 1. Pattillo Armadillo and the Dream of Green (children's book cover) 2. Diluvian Flux 3. Chiron Returns 2027-28 4. Neptune Ascends 5. A Chinese Woman Nursing a Baby with a Message 6. Lonely Wanderer (leaves his cave to share The Light) 7. Timeless Path (city Merit Award recipient, 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games) Click an image to enlarge: So who's Pattillo Armadillo? His dummy book was under consideration in 2004 a New York publishing house, but his hero's journey North didn't quite fit their list at that time. Kudos for the illustrations though! Many thanks to you, Donna Cunningham, and your SkyWriter readers for browsing my Astrology-tinged Cosmic and Moon Art drawings! Jude Cowell 10.1.09 @7:40 pm edt All images copyrighted by artist 2009+

Primula vialii says, 'view Jude's Zazzle Art Shop'

Here's a small clump of Primula vialii swaying under the moonlight with a fairy visitor nearby...

And be sure to check out my brand new Art Shop at Zazzle when you feel an Art browse coming on.

There you'll find Dreamyfish Wall Art Posters at the moment, and you're welcome to use Zazzle's spiffy Customize It! button to morph my designs into whatever products you wish...just click on the image you'd like to work with and Voila! we're design buds!

Cosmic, Moon, and Fairy images are coming to my Zazzle Shop very soon, so do check back often with a hopeful gleam in your aesthetically sensitive eye...

Jude Cowell 9.29.09

All Art copyrighted 2009+ so please play nice.

Purple trillium, a botanical drawing

Here's a close-up of my drawing, Purple trillium and yes, I know trillium usually grow in clumps but I wanted my drawing to feature the little fellow in his own cosmically inspired portrait...fairy visitor is complimentary!

This drawing displays my usual and favorite artistic blend of real (flower) with imaginary (fairy and scenery) so if you speak astrologese, you'll know it's a Saturn/Neptune kind of thing. Right?

Timeless Path

Timeless Path, my entry in a city exhibition during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia; recipient of a Merit Award.

This drawing sold as the exhibition opened yet through tech magic, you see here an image of it.

Effects are achieved with Prismacolor oil and Rexel Derwent watercolour pencils on black paper, and embossed with silver oil pencil by Spectracolor (aluminum, actuallly) which gives the drawing its depth, along with the spiritual quality that only black paper can bring.

If you like to draw, just try using black paper and see for yourself!

'Nine Leaves' for Twyla's Toilette

Funny, but Nine Leaves was the working title of this drawing which eventually morphed into a completed image that you may view if you like and are 17+ of age.

Not that its finished version, titled Twyla's Toilette, is racy in nature, but you just may encounter an Adult Content Warning from Blogger due to the sassier images in the Cosmic Persona Designs gallery...but it's all artsy drawings, no photography allowed (by me. Not interested, don't even ask.)

So just bravely click through if you wish to view Twyla at her dressing table with the Moon shining through the circular window...

Jude Cowell 9.8.09 1:40 am edt

(That's Coh' wull, not 'Cow' as in moo cow or Simon. Thnx for understanding.)

Masks as Art ~ Blue Masks

As a mask-as-art-theme lover myself, I find it impossible to rave enough over what I just discovered, so I simply say that you must rush yourself over to check out the progress of Jesse's Mask Project without the slightest hesitation or delay.

They're phantastic and blue!




Mask of the Cosmos, a drawing's image previously published here and elsewhere. No, it isn't The Art of Jesse but only my own, because that is what I had on hand and in file, and because masks are the theme of this post!

Were that there were more Art Masks in the world and much fewer of the psychological kind....

jc 9.5.09 8:02 pm edt Saturday, the Sabbath

Have you an 'Evening Path' to take?

Have you an Evening Path to take beside a lake for goodness' sake?
As shadows lengthen will you pine perhaps recline near fairy's vine?

A primrose fair is nestled there to ease all care beyond compare
I'll leave a sign for you to find a breadcrumb rhyme along Life's line.


Jude Cowell 2009+ 9.2.09 4:10 pm edt a fabled swan song nears...