If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be a crow.
Henry Ward Beecher
There aren’t actually any crows in my Christmas collection. In our cultural symbolism there is no connection between crows and Christmas. Halloween has crows and Christmas has - doves, I guess? But both appear in this newsletter and I liked the alliteration of the three hard “C” consonants in the title. This month I’ve been participating in the Instagram challenge #birdtober2023 and Day 29 was Artists Choice. So I had to do a black bird — a drawing of a crow in ink and watercolor. I often get an itch to paint, draw, stitch, etc. black birds, particularly in the fall. Did you know that almost every culture worldwide has some kind of mythology/folklore around crows? There’s the well-known death association, which most likely arose because Corvids eat carrion. But crows also symbolize intelligence, wisdom and intuition. They’re often seen as messengers between the material and spiritual realms. One tradition states that if a crow crosses your path, pause and reflect for a moment. It’s a sign to take stock of how well your life is aligning with your spiritual or intuitive values and perhaps alter your course. Crows represent change. Death is change, of course, but it’s part of a cycle — the precursor to rebirth and transformation. Maybe we should have crows in our Christmas decor. There’re no crows but there is a little black dog in this year’s collection of Christmas Whimsy Boxes. Whimsy boxes are small shadow-box type vignettes featuring vintage Christmas cards, wallpaper and ornaments. This year I added glitter-lined strips of text to enhance each box’s theme. There is also a series of tree ornaments inspired by tiny 1950’s wood angel skiers from Italy, and three small grapevine wreaths. I want to give newsletter subscribers first dibs. If you see something you like, reply to this email. I can take payment by Venmo or Zelle and arrange shipping if needed. In November I’ll be putting them on my Etsy shop, The Muse and The Magpie. The Etsy shop is due for a revamp — in fact it’s been on a long “vacation” while I focused on the booth, but . . . On Saturday I got a text from Larry at Peak Boutique, where I’ve had a booth for about six months. They are closing — tomorrow! I’m disappointed but not really surprised. The Rolesville area is being rapidly developed, but it’s at the beginning stages of growth and the customer base just isn’t there yet, which was reflected in sales. So now what? Cue my favorite line from The Sound of Music: whenever God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window . . . (right, Lord?) I’m trying to remember if I noticed any crows the last time I was there . . . In November Matt and I will be transferring the contents of The Muse and The Magpie booth to our bonus room (sorry, daughters). I’m thinking about expanding my Etsy shop to include vintage, and I’ll be looking around for other vending opportunities. I can picture in my mind the type of place I’m thinking of (I think of it as “the art of home” retail genre), but can’t picture opening and running it myself. (I have enough experience working in shops to know that being the sole proprietor of one will be the end of my own art practice.) In my ideal world a place like The Luckett’s Store, of Leesburg, VA will materialize in the Triangle. Lucketts is a treasure trove of antiques, original art, up-cycled and vintage furnishings and a carefully curated selection of home goods. They have vendor spaces but are nearly four hours away from Raleigh, which isn’t workable. Locally, Neuse General Store comes close but is currently full. Any suggestions, insight to share, general encouragement? All are welcome. Thank you for reading the newsletter — your companionship on this journey means the world to me. Enjoy the Christmas collection and happy Halloween! Rebecca
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