The Forest’s Daughter

‘For long years the forest sung to her as she slept. It sung of black earth, clean airs, deep water, and the endurance of trees. But then it sang of iron teeth, fuming machines, and flesh that bleeds red. And she awoke.’
(part of my story in progress)

Acrylics, watercolour, pastel, colour pencil, and gold paste on 300gsm watercolour paper; approx. 5.5 x 8.5 inches
Prints and nice things available here.

A (very abbreviated) making of:

The Fair Folk

Some of the illustrations for the perfume collection: ‘Fair Folk‘, by CocoaPink Bath & Body, Autumn/Winter 2019, and some of the story snippets the artwork inspired.

The Fairy King by Soni Alcorn-Hender

The Fairy King by Soni Alcorn-Hender

The Fairy King

“The entire Faerie Court was known to be a sinuous knot of depravity, but the worst in all of this – or perhaps by their standards, the best – was their King. It was said he could lead an entire village into voluptuous disarray simply by walking through it on a May morning.
Casanova himself chronicled some of the King’s exploits, but his unfinished book was rudely seized and, ‘for the good of humanity’, it was supposedly burned. Though many believe the manuscript still exists to this day, and is kept in the vaults of a shockingly famous building where it quietly causes the air to sparkle and the stones to blush.”

Pastel pencils on A3 toned paper.
Shiny things of the shiny king can be found here.

‘Fairy King’ scent:
Their noble lord. He is the most gracious, most generous, and most wicked of them all.
A crown of ivy and lavender, a staff of oak; green mosses, softest leather, bewitching elf musk.

 

The Proud Queen by Soni Alcorn-Hender

The Proud Queen by Soni Alcorn-Hender

The Proud Queen of Faerie.

“Those who met her, and survived, couldn’t agree if the Queen was fantastically evil or just exquisitely insane. Some said both. Yet amid the tales of carnage and curious horror are accounts of a few mortals upon whom she lavished gifts and affection – though whether they were her lovers or just favoured pets we may never know. But it’s recorded that the Queen gave them lands and fine houses, though nothing remains of them now, and that with easy violence she destroyed their enemies and rivals, and anyone else her chosen ones pointed a finger at. In the fairy-haunted lands of medieval England, it was well known one must not upset those who are loved by fairies.”

Pastel pencils on A3 toned paper.
Prints available here.

The ‘Proud Queen’ scent:
She rules all that is strange and dangerous, poisonous and beautiful.
Foxgloves, opium poppies, bitter nightshade, green roses of hellebore, oleander’s apricot notes, and innocent orange blossom, with a breath of raspberries, white chocolate, marshmallow, and warm white musk.

 

The Changeling by Soni Alcorn-Hender

The Changeling by Soni Alcorn-Hender

The Changeling

‘The Changeling looked like any human, except perhaps for her eyes which were those of a wild thing. She was known also for her constant companionship of animals: sleek, dark creatures with silver eyes.’

Pastel pencils and acrylic on A3 painted paper.
Prints and dark delicious things

Dark Changeling scent:
Oh beautiful monsterling, to which world do you belong?
Sugary dark cherries surrounded by night forests, incense, dragon’s blood, and wolf’s musk.

 

The Black Prince by Soni Alcorn-Hender

The Black Prince by Soni Alcorn-Hender

The Black Prince:

“One of the farthest, darkest edges of Faerie was the Rose Kingdom where velvet blooms filled starlit gardens.
Their king was a sombre tyrant who grew even harsher after his wife’s death, and took to leaving his lands for months at a time. To the amazement of his court he suddenly returned one midwinter’s night with an infant son held in his arms, and would speak no word of the boy’s mother.
The court whispered she must have been a demon or vampire countess, which was why the Prince grew so wicked, cold and strong, even for a fairy. (For fairies are, as I’ve noted before, a largely cruel and despicable race).
They said that under his touch red roses became black, which was how he got his title.
But the Queen from the court of the Death’s Head Moth was delighted with him, and took him into her personal service as Master of Information, for he was exquisitely talented in gaining both secrets and silence, and here was permitted to perfect his dreadful arts.”

Pastel pencils and acrylic on A3 painted paper.
Prints and dark delicious things can be found here.

The ‘Black Prince’ scent:

Roses, leather, love and sin,
to wrap a fairy princeling in.
~Black roses, Black amber, black vanilla, black leather.

Circe, Goddess of Enchantment

´Circe, Goddess of Enchantment, Soni Alcorn-Hender

Circe, ancient Greek goddess of enchantments and herbs, made famous by Homer’s Odyssey and the memorable welcome she gave to Osysseus’s crew.
Trespassers upon her island were offered sweet wine laced with a potion that packed a beastly hangover, literally.
The pig, lion, and wolf motif are used a few times (on her tripod, the writing on her arm) as those are what she turned men into – and is doing right at the moment of this scene in fact.
She’s entwined and crowned in Enchanter’s Nightshade, a plant from the Circaea family, named in her honour. Her crown is also decorated with the seed heads of opium poppies.

The original painting was mixed media over acrylics, A3 size (29×42 cms, approx 11.5×16.5 inches)

Prints available here.

Work in progress pics:

Spirit of Spring

Spirit of Spring, Soni Alcorn-Hender

Painting was done in *everything*. I mean just Everything. (Pencil, acrylic, pastel, gouache, acrylic ink, pearl paint, gold paste, gold leaf, *and evidently everything within arm’s radius of my desk*) on paper, 21×29 cms.
(She has flappy lamb’s ears because she is a deer-ish/ lamb-ish lady, not an Elf, hence the little hoofies. :) )

Work in progress shots:

Prints and pretty things available here.

Elemental of Fire & Revenge

Fire Elemental by Soni Alcorn-Hender

From a series of paintings embodying the four elements as human(ish) characters: Fire, the Spirit of Revenge.
Acrylics, gesso, and liquid gold on paper; size A3 (30×42 cms or 12×17 inches.)
Created for Perna Studios (to be printed as a basecard) for their trading card set ‘Elementals’.

Prints and shiny things available here.

(Gallery of work in progress) :

Mermaids of the Deep: Antarctic Volcanic Octopus

This monstrous little she-creature is part of a small, on-going series inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft and different sea creatures.
This one takes after an astonishing ghostly white octopus found a mile and a half under the sea, in the frozen black and crushing depths at the bottom of the Antarctic Ocean. There they survive on the vents of volcanically-heated water erupting from under the seabed. That’s about as extreme as it gets. If we tried to visit we’d be simultaneously boiled, frozen, and pulped.
So my Antarctic Octopus mermaid is a force to be reckoned with: pictured here resting sweetly on the skull of a much larger foe that she vanquished before breakfast.

21x29cms, acrylics and gold leaf, digitally-added frame.
Prints and pretty things available here!

Antarctic volcanic Octopus mermaid, Soni Alcorn-Hender

Mermaids of the Deep: Egyptian Starfish

My deep-sea monster ladies are inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft and various sea creatures; this one a starfish – specifically the ‘Egyptian sea star’, which then suggested a sunken (or sinking) Egyptian temple for her to haunt.
(The statue is based on a particular pharaoh, extra points if you know which.)

Prints and shiny things available here!

Egyptian sea star Starfish mermaid Soni Alcorn-Hender

Little Greek goddesses

Hera and Aphrodite

Hera, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Aphrodite, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Aphrodite and Hera work in progress, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Aphrodite and Hera work in progress

Sketch cards (artist returns) for the Perna Studio set ‘Classic Mythology II’.
Acrylics, pearl media, crystals, 22k gold and silver leaf. 2.5×3.5 inches

The Demon’s Ball

Illustration (10×12″ acrylics on canvas-board) for Perna Studio’s trading card set: Halloween 2015. Detail images below (click the images see their stories.)

The Demon's Ball

.

Now available on REDBUBBLE here.

Demon Ball goodies on RedBubble, Soni Alcorn-Hender

Some of the Demon Ball goodies on RedBubble