"Death, Grief, and Faery: Beckoning" 30"x22" ink on paper

Part of a series surrounding my grief over my mother's death in 2020 (of cancer.)  In it, I address my processing of this loss by drawing her spirit, Fae creatures, and myself interacting in various ways.  

This piece, titled "Beckoning", features my mother's spirit and me. Fairy rings are rings of mushrooms, or sometimes differently colored grass, that spring up in a circle. In the folklore of many countries they are dangerous places, and one should never, ever step inside them. In Irish belief, specifically, a person who steps inside a fairy ring may vanish from sight and be compelled to dance with the fae until that person dies of exhaustion, or may reappear thinking they have only spent an hour dancing with the fairies when in reality they have been gone for years. My intention with this piece is to illustrate the danger of dwelling too much on those who have passed. A little remembrance is good, but step with both feet inside that circle, and you may get sucked in, vanish from the world, become exhausted, and spend much too much time in that place.