Tag Archives: plant art

New Sigilla Magica and Plant Papers

8 Mar

In 2021 I reworked some designs in my Sigilla Magica series. I also continued experimenting with applying plants unto paper, by placing whole plant parts on the paper and then soaking everything in coffee and plant extracts. See videos of the process on my instagram. In a final step, the new sigils were drawn with india ink on the papers. The new series was done with Black Henbane, Deadly Nightshade and High John the Conqueror root. I created three pieces of each. I am proud to say that one edition is now in the hands of a collector in Bavaria and the second one has recently been purchased by photographer and friend Cyril Helnwein in Ireland. Thanks guys for supporting my art!

If you are interested in publishing my work or wish to purchase originals, please e-mail me at contact[@]wiebkerost.com

Plant Negatives, 2021: Aconitum napellus, Circaea lutetiana, Hyoscyamus niger

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ROOT Art Exhibition Online

22 Dec

ROOT is the inaugural exhibition hosted by The Organic Centre & creatively coordinated by artist Sarah Ellen Lundy as part of the pairs ongoing collaborative ‘Project Earth’.

https://www.rootexhibition.com/

 

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New Artwork and Music

4 Aug

Spent the night and all morning preparing new pieces of paper with coffee, wormwood tincture and fresh leaves from my datura plants. Now the paper is drying, then has to be pressed and then can be drawn on with ink. I am planning on a small series of inked sigils and perhaps one or two realistic datura plant drawings. Besides this, I yet have to prepare the paper for my next mandrake series and I also have a few new tinctures in the making. Meanwhile, here are my most recent ink drawings from past weeks (all sold and shipped):

“Black Mandrake”, India ink on stained paper, 2017
“Wolfsbane”, India ink on stained paper, 2017
“Belladonna”, India Ink on stained paper, 2017

While working with the datura I was blessed with new music by a lady, who creates audio-visual compositions inspired by the same plants that I grow and revere in my art. The project goes by the name CHTHONIA. I was given six tracks, to which I did not listen consciously, but rather had them running in the background. Yet there were moments, where I’d listen up and think, “well, this strangely harmonizes with how I perceive the plant’s character”. A very interesting experiment and endeavor, of which I hope we will soon hear more.

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Solstice Serpent Seal

13 Jun

Solstice Serpent Seal by X.A.121

Only one week left until midsummer! This seal is dedicated to the rituals surrounding the summer solstice, when the sun reaches it’s annual zenith. The seal is inspired by the viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare) herb and adorns the vessels containing the solstice incense, which you can order from my etsy shop and which will also go up at the mail-order site in a few hours. Below is a preview of how the blend looks:

Summer Solstice Incense

Summer Solstice Incense

The ingredients are the herbs and flowers traditionally associated with the summer solstice. The incense blend evokes in particular a vision of a summer meadow at dusk: bushes of blue flowering viper’s bugloss cover the ground and transform into nests of serpents. Plantain, thistle and St. John’s wort grow at its side. Nearby, the fragrant yellow flowers of the evening primrose glow in the evening light and emit their sweet scent into the sweltry air, attracting the most wondrous kind of fairy folks…

Use this incense blend for cleansing, purification and letting go of the old, for protection, renewal, celebrating the night, inspired dreaming and creativity. The blend can also aid in decision making: cast out the serpent as a symbol of “evil” or embrace it as a symbol of wisdom and become a serpent yourself.

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Plant Riddle #3 – Solution

30 Dec

As a reminder, I gave the following hints:

This time the herb I’m looking for is not a poisonous one – quite the contrary! It is a classic healing herb, which belongs in any herbal apothecary. A giant in the garden, its name relative is associated with an adversarial hero, who helped man and offended the gods…

The riddle included an illustration, which was to aid in finding the answer. Here is the drawing again:

riddle-no3

 

The illustration hinted at the legend of Prometheus, who stole the fire from the olymp in the shaft of a Giant Fennel (Ferula communis). The drawing also shows the planetary ruler (Mercury) and associated element (Fire), which apply to both herbs. Hence the relative I was looking for, was the Common Fennel (Feoniculum vulgare). I admit this time the riddle was a little more tricky.

Thanks to everyone, who commented and shared their ideas! It was great fun reading your remarks and seeing the chain of thoughts that lead most of you to the right answer. Other suggestions included angelica, dill, chamomile and yarrow. Since Angelica had been mentioned often, I’m sharing here for comparison my sigillum for it:

Angelica

Angelica

Some of you recognized, the difference in foliage and some other elements. I feel inspired though to give this image, which is already a bit older, a make-over and add planetary as well as some more hints at its folkloristic and magical attributions…

For more info about these herbs, please visit my new blog dedicated solely to the Green.

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