Black Walnut Magazine
Dance the Dance of the Walnut Grove

By Carol Ochs

Carol Ochs, Artist

Enchantasies - Bewitching Witch Art!  There's a little witch in all of us.....how little is YOUR witch?

www.enchantasies.com

I've always thought of paintbrushes as magic wands, you just never know what will come flying out of them!  And I enjoy celebrating that little witch in all of us!  The art I paint captures that certain magic, that spirited nuance, the witch we recognize within ...or the witch we perhaps WISH to be! 

SO WHY DO YOU PAINT WITCHES?

My passion for the magical life was first ignited (as a child) by a love of children's literature, fairy tales, and the beautiful illustrations within...... and I've always adored witch tales, T.V. shows like "Bewitched", and movies about witches.  Halloween is my favorite holiday and I can't remember a single one when I wasn't dressed-up as I still do to this day...as a witch!  My childhood was filled with fanciful imaginings, flying a broom or umbrella off a hill in the wind, forever mixing potions, playing with my pets, drawing & painting unseen worlds ....a childhood never quite left behind.

I'm also intrigued & amused by why it seems that interesting women who are the least bit non-conformists, speak their mind, do or see things differently, often find themselves labeled "witch"....usually in a not-so-nice way intended to stifle them or make them feel like an outcast.  In my earliest recollections, I vividly recall the stereotypical so-called "witches" of any neighborhood I ever lived in.  You know who she is....often living in a house that's spooky or different from other houses, cloaked in gorgeous tangled gardens, a plethora of pets about, interesting scents emanating from within...very "into" Halloween. While my childhood friends would be suspicious and frightened of this type woman, I wanted to BE HER! 

ART BACKGROUND

I'm self-taught in art at what I call The Hard-Knock University of Practice.  I prefer watercolor and acrylics, pen & ink....and I am taking a stab at learning digital art just for the challenge of it, but my heart lies with traditional mediums.  After establishing my first art website Wild Oaks Art (fairy, mermaid, and other fanciful creatures),  I decided to develop a venue specifically for my witchy endeavors.  I conjured "enchanted" with "fantasies"...and "Enchantasies" was born.

INSPIRATION

Aside from my already-described attraction to the magical life.....I'm inspired by most anything enchanted, mystical, romantic, beautiful, or that lurks behind trees.  Music. History, myth and legend. I love to people-watch. Sensing souls lost in fantasy or a dream-moment; moods I see in others lit by a feeling I relate to myself.  Any vision I want to hold and capture in a painting.  Forests or wild gardens are especially inspirational and make me feel electrifyingly alive in a sixth sense sort of way...it's where I feel most at-home. 

SPIRITUAL BELIEFS

People often ask what my religious beliefs are because of my art...re: witches, witchcraft, or they ask... "Do you believe in hocus pocus, practice spell-casting?"  I'm a religious *mutt* of sorts.  I was raised Roman Catholic and embrace most tenants of that faith, as well as that of many faiths, including Old Religions that pre-date Christianity, religions that honored the Earth.  I keep my mind open and most prefer to embrace something the Dalai Lama espouses, "My religion is kindness."  For what more need any religion embody???

My interest in the realm of the witch over the years has brought me in attunement with, and to study what is oft referred to as Green Witchcraft or Wise Woman Ways, the study of plants, herbs, flowers, the natural world and it's power to nourish, heal and enhance our lives.  I've employed much of this knowledge in another of my crafts ...soapmaking (<--you're welcome to visit our website www.simplysoap.com for artisan handmade herbal soaps, as well as our new Wylde Wytch Soaps and Ancient Alchemy soap lines!).  It's inspired my appreciation for how the Ancients before us lived by, honored, and celebrated the seasons and Earth. 

For Enchantasies, I paint imagery of free-spirited women who fully own themselves, perhaps don't quite conform, are maybe a bit eccentric, bask in their individuality, are confident in their identity; are either self-proclaimed witches, or women whom others historically refer to as witches.  I strive to provide painted imagery that matches what many feel is "them"...much as I have always felt, beginning as a child!

I live with my darling husband and last child (still home) out of three, in San Diego, in a cottage surrounded by fairy-filled gardens.  I'm lucky enough to have a workshop and art studio to play in, so I can conjure & work from home.  I'm a simple person; I  feel gifted with the love & friendship that surrounds me, the joy of possibility that a blank sheet of paper and several tubes of paints can bring, or oils, herbs and essential oils to mix and create with. 

Little things that can make my day.....a hike in the hills, toes buried in mud in my garden, a full moon picnic, crisp sheets, my animal family piled up on the bed surrounding me in warmth while I dive into a book into the wee hours.  Soap & herbal potion scents waft from my home and lure passers-by near...asking, "What is that divine smell?" A broom and umbrella still stand tilted at the door jam, ready for the next windy day.  And I am VERY into Halloween!  Apparently you can go through the motions of growing-up, but you still are who you always already were as a child!  At least in my case.

PSSSST!  I also believe we all have at least a bit of artist in us and I encourage others to pick up a paintbrush and let yourself out!  Make some magic YOURSELF!

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