Fantasy In the Forest (Faire Ring)

Andrea Wolfe

Interview by L. Valena

February 3, 2022

Can you start by describing the prompt that you responded to?

The image that I received was a beautiful ring. It looked like a diamond ring that was being held up or displayed in the crack of a log. When I first saw it, I think I was going more towards a 'bridal in the woods' kind of thing -- like a woodsy wedding, or something like that. And then I just started thinking about a ring, a ring in the woods. So I got to fairy ring. And once I got to fairy ring I was all into that. That's how I came to the idea of a mushroom circle.

With the star in the middle, I was trying to represent the stone of the ring. I had an idea of what I wanted -- you can see how I changed it. It almost looked like a snowflake originally. I use a lot of symbols in my artwork. Sometimes I'll make a piece of art, and then when it's missing that thing, I'll search for symbols for whatever happens to be the topic of the painting. When I searched for fairy symbols, I found several. They're all really cool and beautiful, but this one gave the same visual of the stone of the ring -- that star. So it kind of worked out perfectly.

So this symbol is a fairy symbol?

It's also called an elven symbol, or a fairy star.

Do you know where it comes from originally?

It looks like this seven-pointed star comes from a lot of different places. Pagan, Christian... if you search it, it comes up in different belief systems. But they're all pretty similar. Each of the points represents things like honesty and integrity. Symbols are so cool.

I love the emphasis on the pentacle in the Pagan tradition, with each point representing earth, water, fire, air, and ether (spirit). The idea that spirit is equally important to the other elements is so crucial for that belief system and resonates with me a lot.

A lot of my artwork touches that. Everyone experiences it differently, but for example, mother in law calls my work etheric. I think that's a pretty cool description -- I like that.

Tell me more about fairy rings. Is that something that has come up for you in the past?

Not at all. I'm more of an angel girl, I'm not so much a fairy girl. I have been doing a few fairy things. Last summer a made a whole bunch of little fairy doors and started putting them on trees around my cottage. And then I saw online this post -- someone had made this big human-sized circle made out of branches. And it said, "If you came upon this in the forest, would you walk through it?" And I showed it to my husband, and he created one for me out of a vine. It's this gigantic wreath that we have between two trees. I guess I dabble a little bit with fairies.

It sounds like magic is an important part of your life.

I believe in magic.

I do too! And how about mushrooms -- have you done any previous work about mushrooms?

Honestly, no! When I searched for fairy rings, I didn't realize that mushrooms play a part. When you see mushroom circles in the forest... Oh my god. I said that I don't do fairies, but I guess I do! A lot of time when we go for walks, I'll say, "Fairies live over there!" Do you know when you see mossy cool spots? I'll wave to the fairies. I think those cool little mossy nooks as being where the fairies live, I didn't realize that fairy rings involve mushrooms. So now this summer I'll be looking for mushrooms!

Tell me more about your process! Can you talk more about how you came to this particular image, and ideated on it?

I started with the mushrooms, just doing the rough circle. I went in with the idea of the fairy ring, but when I make something I don't have a plan for color. I really allow myself to be led. My background was yellow to start -- I thought this would be yellow and green. And then I just follow. There is no plan at all. Even when I'm detailing. That's my favorite part, is putting in the detail, but I truly don't know where it's going.

That's wonderful. I think a lot of people really struggle to bring in that quality of allowing.

It's something I learned to do. I started that process through meditation. I started doing meditation art, with a pad of paper and a bag of pencil crayons. I would just get my hand into the pencil crayons, and then just do whatever shape came to me. It's one of those things where you really have to trust. A lot of times when I do a piece of artwork, the thing that I think ruined it, is often the key point in the process. I have accepted that if I finish something and I don't like it, I can just throw primer over it. I'll sit with paintings for a long time because I'm afraid to make that mistake. And then finally, I realize that it's just sitting there, so I'll just do it and see what happens. That's when the cool stuff happens. That's when the magic happens.

When we realize we're not really in control, right?

Exactly. That's what they say -- that's where masterpieces come from.

Do you have any advice for another artist approaching this project for the first time?

Honestly, I think the key is what we just talked about. Follow your lead, and trust it. You can always put primer over it. Take another picture. Trust the lead.

Call Number: M43VA | M46VA.woFa

Andrea Wolfe is an artist who is inspired by love and energy in the world and the people around her. She loves sunrises, sunsets, shimmering water, breaking waves, and all things that sparkle. She loves to dance, to give and receive hugs, and is known to ask, “So, what’s your story?”