Art + General + Music + Nature

Sharing some pictures of me, taken last weekend. As you may know already, besides music and illustration I love to hike in Nature and create Fantasy inspired photography as a way to tell short stories (sometimes motivational).

It is chilly outside... It may snow again tonight! We are all summoning Spring but Winter is still sitting on the throne...
But every season has its own magic, I love the way snow can transform everything overnight. I somehow welcome and need that "change" too... It is like when you wake up and everything has been covered by clean and pure white snow so you can walk on a new untrodden path. You can set your course, chose your way... Every possibility lies before you. And I am sure many of you will understand what I mean. ;). Maybe even the footprints that you leave will help others to follow.
Dare to venture... our souls are wild...!

Is there snow where you live?

Photos of me taken by Héctor Corcín  February 2018. My fantasy photography is usually in collaboration with him (sometimes other fellow photographers as well). We often film on these locations and we use these footage on our own music videos too, so it´s all part of the same project in that way :)

Cloak by myself, antlers by Costurero Real

Random fact about me

• I was born in the Canary Islands, where snow is such a rare event :).

Above: Iberian Wolf (Picture from http://defensaloboiberico.org

Canis Lupus Signatus, the Iberian Wolf,  It is a subspecies of wolf endemic  from the North of Spain. Lookt at it well, in its uniqueness! :( Almost extinct once, populations recovered, though it still remains to be vulnerable and endangered.  In the 50´s and 60´s Francoist Government tried to wipe it out and almost succeeded, a few packs saved the species from extinction and it slowly recovered. Still,  despite knowing our past mistake, our Spanish Government still allows the hunting down of a percentage of them each year, not adding the constant "poaching"... when are we going to learn?. Honestly when someone asks me about my political inclinations I've been voting for the animals party since ages, because they still do not have representation. Isn't this a beautiful creature? Well, look at him well, because some time from now it might not be... If we see the number of species gone the last 200 years, it gives me chills of terror

I confess sometimes I watch on youtube footage of already extinct animals.. it´s like I don't want to forget... when you see  the Thylacine moving in film, you almost feel like it might be still somewhere, yet it is not... It is not, EXTINCTION means GONE, FOREVER... even cloning back extinct animals in the near future, would not be the exact thing that we lost.  And once than, they can say "what a pity" but there is no undo button for extinction.

HOW SELFISH WE ARE AS A SPECIES... wild animals belong in the forest, we hunt them down as if they were an unwanted molestation, animals do belong to Nature, it´s us plaguing it.  We have destroyed our environment (and keep on doing it while our blinded race to the point of no return draws to a fatal conclusion). But we still treat a few thousands animals as "plagues" when millions of us fill the Earth with garbaga. If I meet a wild boar, I hike regularly and I have read how to make precautions, I don´t blame the animal, I try my best, in respect to cross our paths in peace (one of the most beautiful experience in my recent hikes was to stumble with a sounder of boar in the mist)... but first option for many, let´s kill it, let´s hunt it, as scientists, we have ways to treat catch and release them with treatments so they are less fertile. There is no need to get rid of them by hunting or killing, it could be done ANOTHER WAY. More let´s get trained about what to do and don´t if we find a wild animal... an teach respect to all creatures, and find SOLUTIONS that don´t imply torturing, killing, hunting and destroying endangered species like the Iberian Wolf is. Aren´t you so smart and clever HUMAN? Don´t you say that something merciful is HUMANE in your language (such a lying concept)... Look at these eyes, don't look away.

Iberian Wolf wikipedia entry

Status: VULNERABLE

Sigh, back from a week visit to Barcelona... Oh my god, How I miss the city and my friends there...! It was not long enough and I'm already yearning to return. It's been a couple of years I moved to Navarra, Spain, and though the Nature and forests here and gorgeous, still I miss my former home-town too much.... Said that I want to thank to all the friends that had time to spend with me in this brief visit :). As one of the highlights my friend Vany Miranda kidnapped me into this Steampunk-Vodoo-Witchy photo shoot, very fitting for the forthcoming Halloween... SO MUCH FUN! as you can see in the pictures :)

It was really darker and different set for me, to play a witch among book of spells, poisons and even a crystal ball to foresee the future... :). But don't worry, I won't curse you if you're good with me :) ;-) Happy Halloween/Samhain/All Hallows´eve

Credits for all the pictures below:

Photographer: Alassie from El Costurero Real
Props by Felix Goggles and  Marc Zorrilla from Crisálida Creaciones
Models: me, Priscilla Hernandez (blonde) and Vany Miranda

Garments: Vany's by herself, all I'm wearing is from El Costurero Real

Taken at 274Km Studio (Barcelona, Spain)

As it is about witches I also share my cover of Come little Children from  Hocus Pocus

Last picture: our assistant Felix Goggles from Factoria Goggles.

Oh what a lovely afternoon! And what a delicious treat we got from nature! We had plans to go somewhere else but sadly the place was closed and we were forced to change our plans, so accidentally stopped by a lovely forest full of shrubs fully loaded of ripening wild berries!

And I return with half a box of wild blackberries, and I ate hands full of them. Vivid colourful and lovely little packages of health, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins... such a gift!. Thank you Mother Nature! Now I have some tough decisions to make... pie? jam? hmmm LOL a wealth of yummy possibilities!

Our purple stained hands revealed us guilty of gluttony! :) Nom! Nom! Nom!

Above: me collecting blackberries... sometimes painful but rewarding! :)

pd. All pictures above by Héctor Corcín.

Above: Ritva (October 2011-December 2014)

Ritva is gone... she left us last Christmas Eve and we buried her with her sister Tuula in Christmas day. She fought stubbornly and was a loving creature until her last breath. She covered me with kisses and groomed her sister Taika in farewell, and there she was gone... :( 3 years and 3 months my strong birch branch is flying now free in the wind (that´s what Ritva means because she was mostly white and light grey). We have dealt with a lot of sadness during this holiday season, we miss them both (our fufunchis Tuula and Ritva) so much! :(  Ritva was so strong and she proved she loved to live and made her own decision to fight until the end. She showed us she wanted so and it's also a worthy lesson to make us appreciate the gift of life a little bit more.  Taika is still here, mourning and really sad, she´s not coping very well to be alone and I really do not wish to grow old on her own, wondering if we must allow new "life" in, but missing my girls so dearly.  I want to think of a place where I can be with them again, with Kira, with Toto and with my fufunchis. That´s all I long and wish for if it could exist, but meanwhile it can exist in my heart, my imagination and in my dreams, and they are indeed still around me.

Here me singing to Ritva "you'll be in my heart" I sang it to her in her last moments too, she was turning 3 in the video but though she was already frail she leaves almost three months more.

I love you Tuula. I love you Ritva... the wind and the birch branch. Mummy, Daddy and Taika miss you.

Your love lives in me and so you live too!

Here you can see many videos of my fufunchis 1.0 Tuula and Ritva since they were babies. I'm happy to think they had a happy life, they indeed were very loved.

As some of you know I enjoy fantasy costumes, I have the pleasure to wear pretty things I've been endorsed or even made myself :) and I also keep a blog of fantasy costumes for fun. Said that, as it's pretty obvious I love to Cosplay a lot being my preferred style fairy of course. I really had a hard week, my rat Ritva got sick and underwent surgery, and sleep deprivation and stress did wrong on my energy that needed very much to be boosted.  My baby is doing better :) and now wants attention all the time. She's so cutteeee. And I'm so relieved.

Above: Ritva... "Mum, I'm feeling better, but I enjoy the extra care. More cuddles....!

But I reached my top of stress so I took one day to record with my ensemble and create music, what makes me feel better almost inmediately and then  me and my friend (also make up artist Arashi Hyou) organized a mini-cosplay wig party just to mess around and have fun and have chocolate hehe :) And I'm sharing some snippets and candids right now, though there are a couple of pictures from the photoshoot I'll work on and will share later on, these are the way they were taken.

It made me wonder how different we can look by simply changing our hair, or the colour of our eyes. It´s almost scary LOL

Above: me with red  short red hair wig. I can´t barely recognize myself LOL... :) Still I'm devoted to long hair, always, but like the dark lush read on me.

My contact lenses are courtesy of Kiwiberry 1 Collection :) (thank you). These are brown-orange. Feel tempted of a lush green or purple, or light gray right now... hmmm. must check their site again, they really have affordable cute lenses. It wasn't intended but with this look It reminded me of my own "little red Riding hood" drawing I painted some time back. Definitely wolf-eyes! There is no color correction in this photography except for the light we used when it was taken, so that's how the contact lenses look like with no alteration.  I have a lolita wavy wig in a tone darker than my natural, :) I love fringe, not intending to dye but starting to think "fringe" can be an option :) As I said, though not intended I thought of the Red Riding Hood I painted myself some time back

Here's the drawing I'm referring to

me and Arashi waving "hi" on an instant shot we networked when we were having fun. The white wig is from Lockshop wigs and you'll see it soon on me (next videoclip hint hint LOL hahhaa)

Lots of fun LOL

Above: getting silly, but don't worry, among hundreds there's like "two serious" pictures hahah you might see soon XD

Above: me and Arashi on a cell instant shot :) we shared in our networks when we were having fun! Another me! Many faces, one heart :) <3

Still more make overs LOL hahha :)

Last thursday me and some friends had fun in a photoshoot with reknown spanish photographer Rebeca Saray. We all gathered in El Costurero Real workshop where Alassie arranged our hairs and spent all day working hard in 14 different stylisms, hairdos and make ups,  then me and friends were photographed in 274 Km studio (Barcelona).

It was exhausting, friendly and cozy :) and indeed we all had a great time

All these snippets I share in this entry are silly pictures I took with my hand camera, for the final and proper pictures we have to wait still quite a bit :) but you can make an idea of what might come out :) and the great time we shared :)

This is before taking any pictures, when we were rehearsing poses, I made the dress. The wings were also designed by me and manufactured by Enchanted costumes.

Had a great fun with all my friends Duncan Trisquel, Felix Goggles, Vany Miranda, Wui de Lue,  Nimue Arianhrod, Dramian Corvus and Jafet that were photographed too. Thanks everyone for the super-funny (though exhausting) day :)

Above: Vany Miranda and me. She was teaching me to strike a pose... :) by the way I handmade the butterfly feather eyelashes :) and dress :). Make up and hair by Alassie :), pendant by Inner Fae Creations :)

Above: Wui de Lue, me and Duncan fooling around the camera, of course I say again these are not the proper shots, for the serious and good ones we must wait till Rebeca finish the edition :) but I'm sure it will worth the wait. You can guess we had loooooooooooots of fun :)

And when I returned, I had a hard time washing my face and disarranging the hairdo, snif... it felt like Cinderella at midnight. :)

this is me and Tuula in my bathroom mirror... mirror mirror on the well who´s the fairiest of them all? Of course my beautiful rat Tuula :) she needs no make up :)

Sorry that it has been a little while I've not updated the blog :) as you all may know already we have also a microblog and a message board in the site and thus somehow I've been a bit lazy with this section, so probably there  and in the front pannel news you can get to know a bit of what's happened lately. But one important event has committed me to write an entry, my father Emilio Hernandez Pais has left me, suddenly, last week, unexpectedly and at the best of his life due to a heart stroke. He finally left us 22nd of August. He helped so much people, he was joyful, friendly and in his own particular way, very wise. When young he travelled the whole world working in a ship, then he invested and bought his own fishing boat. During my childhood I was the daughter of the captain of a little fishing boat with a dozen working sailors. I remember those time fondly. He worked all his life, in a cab, and at the end as massage therapist like my grandfather was (and my family was quite acknowledged for our healing power somehow). Like me, He loved painting and in fact he was quite well known for his landscapes, specially those showcasing the wild beauty of my native island La Palma and sea landscapes. He was a person that always lived his way and always lived intensely, and in fact he did till the very last moment leaving at his best. My father didn't know much about music but loved playing an old guitar he had and that I hope I'll bring soon home, thus I'm encouraged to learn guitar now and I've started taking lessons in order to be ready to play my father´s guitar when the time comes. Sounds like a challenge. I am not sure if my style of music was his favourite, but he always supported me without question, and I was moved by all the people lovely comments at the funeral of things my father had told them about my work, and I felt proud and moved, and encouraged. And I miss you, Dad, really, a lot. My  grandfather (daddy's father) was such a good man, and I hope they find a way to be together if only in my dreams and hope for it. Safe journey, papa! :( We will miss you.

Above: My father Emilio Hernandez Pais (1944-2012)

Above: painting of "La caldera de Taburiente" made by my father

But if something I've learnt about love and remembrance, is to treasure every memory, I won't let any detail to fade to hurt less, but will find the  courage to make it into joy, I'll learn to remember you to summon a smile. I'll try to learn to do it  even through the pain of not having you close,

Almost a decade ago, my companion, my dog and little sister Kira left me, still I cry for her, but also fills my heart with joy to think that I shared such lovely time with such wonderful spirit. I love Kira so dearly. Love is not a thing that understands death, but I can tell you, love is so very real. It's not an utopic term, and it never fades.

Above: me and Kira

Summer has always been for me a time where my beloved ones have left my side, thus I confess it's not my favourite season of the year despite being a lover of bathing in the sea. June took me Kira, August my father and a September Toto. So looking forward the leaves to fall because summer´s  sun is jealous of things too bright and has taken them away from me.

Also yesterday 5th September it was one year  that my golden ball Totonika Nova died, she healed me in so many ways. :( We just uploaded a video and I've put the song I composed for her "Totonika Nova" as free download in her site "a thing so small and yet a life so big"

I now enjoy my time with my two fufunchis (my rats) Tuula and Ritva and try to think about life and that there is no short or long life, just LIVE, life is intense, vibrant, take the most of it and live. My father taught me that, and taught me to be brave to try to pursue my dreams. Thank you papa

I love you Daddy,

I love you Kira

I love you Totonika

Everything stays, you're here, safe with me.

And now I'm going to burn a candle, for love, and for remembrance

Yay, totally exhausted but happy, back from Mallorca Fantastica Festival (Mallorca, Spain) with the award for Best Fantasy illustration for FRAYING BONDS one of the illustrations featured in my upcoming album THE UNDERLIVING that i'm sharing very soon. It was really great to bring back the award, specially cos I'm far more recognized as musician than as illustrator and for a change (despite the fact me and my cello player performed a couple of songs) get an illustration award. Watching it printed huge and hanging in the street with my name on it was a big boost. I've posted a picture of the banner here :

Met several new friends and artists, like Enrique Toribio (photographer) and also  writer Salvador Sainz, came back with lots of gifts (the books of Joana Pol and Cristina Puig) and wonderful leaves necklaces from a new friend Marta :) from floripondios.es. Lovely lovely items!  I'm in love with them. And above all had a lovely time with my band member and cello player Biel :) who is from the island  so we could rehearse a bit for upcoming faeriecon in the states.

Remember I see some of you in a month at FAERIECON (usa) more info at http://faeriecon.com

We are still crowdfunding, so please consider to spread the word about theunderliving.com and make a little contribution, no donation is small, there are people that have donated a single dollar cos it´s what they could and I'm equally grateful.

I feel the UNDERLIVING WORLD is finally rising...rising...