Janesse and Steve
Heather with the man in tails
The luscious hostess

After dinner in 1896

Conversations by candlelight
Mia and Heather chat it up
the girls
Reflections of the parlor

A Victorian New Year's Eve

The gambler's ballet -- Shaun was in the chips with the boys
Shaun and Mia in victorian dress and tails for their anniversary
Amazing what we can do to a borrowed dress and a second hand jacket
I'm drooling

Christmas day at the Bannan's

Giving a piggy back ride to Tristan
Clothes from Mormor for Liam's new doll
Liam gets a doll for Christmas, named Tristan
From whence shall come many a meal in our new home in NC.

Christmas pictures from our walk in the woods

Liam and I were taking a walk in the woods Christmas morning ... until he figured out we were NOT going to Dale's house, who lives at the end of a wooded lane. Still, I was able to get a couple of nice pictures of him, and he even decided to take one of me.
Liam's new tweed walking hat. 

Mindy ... the evil one

WARNING: parrots bite. Enough said.

Pictured is Stacy's Mindy who we are bird sitting while she cruises through the Caribbean.

Pre-Christmas

Heather shows a bit of knitting to Grandma Haller.
A Christmas present from Granddaddy and Granny Trish ... a new bike!

Post Holidays

Christmas was great with Heather's family and as we have bounced from Baltimore in the days before Christmas, to Dale's house on our way to Christmas eve services at Redeemer, though we never made it, since Dale and I were having such a great visit.

Since then, we have been holed up at Stacy's flat in Alexandria taking care of Mindy the parrot and practicing being domesticated.

It also occurred to us that we were suppose to be at a formal Victorian New Years Eve dinner at the home of Janesse and Steve in Baltimore last night, so a trip to the thrift store for some accessories for my kilt and to a costumer friends house for a dress for Heather and we were all set. Today, we've just relaxed with our friends on the Eastern Shore as the boys have got in some good play time.

From here, we are days away from heading to PA for a few days to visit Heather's brother, then we have to determine if we are heading to Canada or if we are going to have to head on down to NC to set up house, but for the mean time, here are a few picks from the past few weeks.

Nature photography moment

This, for those who have never seen one, is a screech owl
This is a screech owl sitting on my bare hand ...
This is a screech owl acting like he belongs on Heather's arm ....
... and hanging on her every word

Catching up news

BAY MINETTE, Ala. - Heather and I have been flowing with creativity since arriving in Alabama and made a recent trip to Ely's Fabric Warehouse on Springhill Ave., in Mobile, Ala. Rennies would drool over the possibilities for costumes that stand in spools everywhere, and with the exception of tartan, they have just about everything you can imagine.  We gathered some nice fabrics for two separate cloaks and a pirate costume for Liam.

I've been stripping down Harris and Donegal tweed sportcoats and turning them into argyll kilt jackets ... stay tuned for pictures soon. Heather is also nearing completion of my sweater. 

Tomorrow, we head to my dad's for a few days, before heading back here for my mom's birthday, then on to Tennessee to look at some possible places to land somewhat permanently.

Two more from Loime Studios growing portfolio

"Seo mo Leaba Mo Chuan is mo Run" (trans. This is my bed, my port and my dear) Taken from a Kíla song from their "Gamber's Ballet" CD.
"Báidin fheidhlimidh" (trans. Phillip's little Boat - pronounced Bawd-jen El-imee) Taken from a traditional song by the same name.

More artwork

Fear Fíréanta (The Righteous Man), from Salms 1
Pog mo phog (Kiss my Kiss) from Song of Songs 1
Sifreá agus Púá (Shiphrah and Puah) The midwives from Exodus 1 who protected the Hebrew mothers as they gave birth.

New artwork

For those who are Gaeilge challenged, the title means, "The Birds were Singing Today." The title is taken from a poem written by Bobby Sands on the 13th day of his confinement
"Dreas do chorn phioba meid-reac agus go beo" (Trans. Play the bagpipes mirthfully and beautifully) from the traditional song, "Rince Philip a Ceol."
Loime Studios Fancy Logo. This will be the logo for my studio and artwork. Loime means nakedness or openess.

THANKSGIVING!

Liam and his Granny work on dinner preparations.
Nothing says Celt like blue paint, a flowing cloak and a shamrock t-shirt
The entire clan gathers at the Mahoney home ... though we were a little light on people this year, though the Bells, Lathams, James, Brantleys, Zieglers, Williams, Calzettas, Halls and Pryzborskis were at least partially represented.

The Mastodon Drum

After several weeks of working on this mammoth piece of wood, we have reached a new plateau. After Eddie finished carving out the interior and sanding the exterior, we were left with 270 lbs of dense maplewood. I then took over creating a design, which took on a very Nordic/Celtic feel, incorporating a design from a Viking shield and lots of spirals. I carved in the designs then resanded and then started applying the colors. At the point this was taken I spent about 6 more hours applying color in very fine swirl patterns before my hand started cramping too much and Heather, Liam, Eddie and Meaghan all had to pitch in to help finish the design before I started oiling the drum the next morning and getting ready for the next phase.
Oh, yeah, and it started snowing ... a lot.
... but luckily I had a knightly dude to protect me.

Deakstock II poster

The Burning Bush

Kiss my kiss

"Pog mo phog" taken both from the Kila song, "Seo mo Leaba" and from the Song of Songs, comes Kiss my kiss which explores the many aspects of love that just can't be discussed in English.

The Nordic Horseman

"Marcach Lochlann" The Nordic Horseman, which some of you may have seen at DeakStock II. The original sold, but I am putting this on the website, and will probably offer it as a limited edition lythograph soon.

Heather's Birthday Tea

For Heather's 28th Birthday, we went to Old Town Occoquan, Va., for a lovely Sunday Brunch Tea. We were blessed with the presence of many friends, and well wishes from those who couldn't make it ... and here's a little photographic proof.

The Colonel and the Commander swill Earl Grey and Russian Caravan in the Pink Room
The ladies and gentlemen gather outside for a well hatted photo
Stacy looking mod
Man in Skirt with Pink Bicycle loving aging beauty with a foo-foo frills hat.

Playing Catch-up

BAY MINETTE, Ala. --- So we arrived back at mom's house for a few weeks around Thanksgiving. I completed the mastodon drum, or at least it's current state for a while and we left the comforts of Red Oak Mountain Road with Meaghan and Eddie yesterday and drove through the night to avoid two long days of riding in the car for Liam.

We have come equipped with plenty of projects ... Heather has wool for sweaters, I have tweed for jackets and somewhere in there we have some plaid for kilts, so hopefully when we leave here, I will have a work kilt, a hiking-in-the-woods kilt, and three new argyll jackets and a hoodie sweater. 

We also left Meaghan in charge of putting the website together for Loime Studios grand opening for business. Hopefully, that will be up on board soon as well, but for now, I'll try to get a few pictures up for everyone to see.

TV

So, quick note for everyone. I was scheduled to shoot a band on Tuesday and went to a TV studio where they were going on a show called ARTSCAPE. They were praising my work prior to me getting there and the producer decided to interview me as well, so after a 16 minute show, I have exceeded the Warhol Scale by a minute. Hopefully it won't be the height of my career, but for the moment, its a great boost. The drums are looking great and will be completed by Wednesday next when we head south for the holidays.

I'm getting a little quicker at this

We have returned from the hills of Virginia for the weekend for a baby shower, a soup get together and Heather's birthday tea which we'll be holding in old town Occaquan, Va, just outside of old town Alexandria.

I've been knee deep in creating illustrations to go into production soon, as well as carving a 270 lb. drum, which should be completed by next Friday and ready for the auction house. My artwork should go online in a few weeks, as I've got to photograph all the artwork and we have a few decisions to make about printing lithographs, marketing and e-commerce issues.

I'm also shooting an Irish pub band on Tuesday, but I'll try to make it to a wi-fi hookup and upload some new photos soon.

A return ... finally

Has it really been a month since I last logged in and wrote? I guess so. Its been a crazy scramble from where we're living in the Shenandoah mountains of Virginia to the Maryland Renaissance Festival since returning from Alabama. I've been pretty prolific with the artwork and am working on some drums as well with my partner in percussion Eddie. 

The long story made short, the faire has gone well for us and the Deakstock benefit raked in about $3600 for an old Marine who has fallen on hard times of late. I am getting ready to start my own website to market my artwork and today, I bought a new pair of leather pants and a dashiki. The beard is expanding, the child is growing, the wife is lovely as ever.

I'll try to stop the carousel in a week or so and fill in some details with some photographic evidence.