Muses: Pia van Ravestein

Self Portrait in Snail by *Ravenari on deviantART

I’ve been thinking about starting a series of posts on some of the people who inspire me.  Each of them act in their own way as muse and inspiration.  Some of them I’m blessed enough to know in real life.  Others I’ve exchange occasional emails and instant messages with.  Others I’ve only interacted with through the art that they create.

All of them are people who burn brightly in the world, who share something of themselves.  All of them are firebirds.

I have a long list of muses.  So many, that it would be logical to think that I would find it difficult to know where to begin.  In reality, it’s very simple.

The first muse, firebird incarnate, is Pia van Ravestein (Ravenari at Deviantart, with originals available at Etsy).

I am truly blessed in this life to be able to call P a friend both online and offline.  I honestly cannot remember how we actually started talking to each other.  It was almost certainly at livejournal – honestly, it almost feels as though I’ve known P forever.

Not only is she an amazingly talented artist (Seriously, if you’ve never seen her work before, stop reading this right now and go and look at her gallery at Deviantart.  I challenge you to not find at least a half dozen pieces you want to buy.  And then challenge you to buy some prints and support an amazing artist), she’s also an incredibly talented writer.  She’s been to some dark places in life and yet she continues to shine with this amazing light.  A light that she would probably deny exists most of the time, but which glows through everything that she creates.

Knowing P has inspired me spiritually as well as creatively and made me really think about how I move through this world.

I’m lucky enough to own several of her original artworks  as well as many prints.  Check below the jump for some of her amazing work.

(And for the record, she has no idea I’m making this post.)

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Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.