There’s much happening behind the scenes of Hina Luna lately and it’s been some time since I’ve given a glimpse past the curtain. You could say Spring is having its effect on things around here, stirring the pot of ideas, shaking out the rugs of the mind, opening the windows of creativity; Hina Luna is feeling activated and inspired; a vessel open.
In a bite sized update, some truly wonderful new treasures have been found and are incoming to the shop [including two of the most precious and beautiful oracle decks I’ve ever seen, see here and here], connections have been made with some stellar makers whose work I admire and whom you may see in the shop this year, and visions for a summer solstice collection of offerings is setting into motion — all good things that I am excited to share more of with you when the time comes!
[using earth pigments to hand paint custom imagery for the new website.]
The most revolutionary of all for Hina Luna this Spring season is a complete overhaul of the website. After five years on a simple platform that served my creative baby well in its infancy and supported it as it evolved and grew, the time has now come to level up. I’ll spare you the dry details of an artist deciding to be her own DIY website builder and the many [MANY] hours she spent equally on data input as well as hand drawing custom elements and image editing [because, Libra here] and the major serving of the “learn as you go” lesson she received, and I’ll skip to the part where I say things are now wrapping up quite nicely.
[photographing new imagery for the website]
Every corner of the existing site has been swept, scoured and revised [previous blog posts included, which have now been archived until the launch of the new site], and will soon be ready to welcome you on the next full moon [April 26th, 2021]. Full Moon Circle newsletter subscribers will be the first to know!
My work with Hina Luna has always felt so much deeper than that of being an online shop. [This might be a blog post to dive deeper into at another time]. The artworks I create from my home studio and the carefully curated treasures that I bring in are the face of a bigger, whole body. The newly renovated site will center more of the greater foundation that the shop rests upon, it exposes the tender heart that is the lifeline to the entire body. My intention is that when you visit this new online space that you will receive a clear impression of the ethos that inspires this body of work, understand the concepts that are being processed and formed behind the scenes, and that something will inspire you as you’re passing through, something you can carry with you as you continue on your day.
So in preparation for being seen whole-body, I’ve been meditating on this: what is there to see when you are seen in your entirety? It begs for authenticity, for self love, for openness.
A few posts ago we explored the seasonal exercise of personal spring cleaning for the sake of gaining clarity and a post after that we considered how we can surrender to the spirit of creativity. Well, yesterday I did both. Thank you springtime momentum! For my “spring cleaning”, I have been working the puzzle of putting language to the big ethereal concepts that are my “what” and “why”, which previously has felt so difficult to define. How does one sum up their soul-work in a sentence or two? I’ve said it before — I am fascinated by language and one of the many great lessons we’ve experienced this past year is that language has immense power and words are best chosen mindfully. [Perhaps another blog post for another time as this one goes deep. It’s etymology, it’s intention, it’s impact.] So, in working the puzzle of language to be able to define the “what” and the “why” of Hina Luna, this is where the pieces have landed at this phase:
Hina Luna [noun]: a devotion to simple pleasures, personal talismans, kitchen table culture, and ancestral connection; bridging connections between the concepts of body, altar, and home.
Then, inspired by this inquiry into the body as an altar as a home, and fully surrendering to a possession of creative inspiration, I created myself a logo design for the first time since Hina Luna’s early days in 2016 — and your’s will be the first eyes to see it!
Before I reveal the new design, let’s take a trip back in time to the first image that represented this journey. It’s not often that I drudge up old imagery, for reason similar to the lack of connection one may feel to the person they were a decade ago — Hina Luna has evolved. But for reason similar to the nostalgia and curiosity of flipping through old photographs and seeing the evolution of the baby in the photo to the person in the mirror right in front of you, here is the design from 2016 [hardly a lifetime ago and yet so much so]:
So there’s the “how it started”, and here’s the “how it’s going”:
The image of a vessel came to me so clearly earlier this week, almost as if it had been spoken in my ear. As a nod to my Tuscan ancestry, I began researching traditional clay vessels and found inspiration in the shapes of ancient Etruscan pottery. The amphora, which is often seen as a container with a rounded belly, pointed bottom and double handles, was traditionally used as a storage jar that held oil, wine, milk, or grain. As part of my exploration into body, altar, and home, this vessel resembles a body, a container for harboring spirit, a giver, a receiver of varying levels of fullness that ebbs and flows like the moon’s tides. It also naturally mirrors the pear-shape of an archaic fertility relic, which feels so symbolic for honoring creative force. The moon within reflects the moon above, the same and yet also balancing forces of difference; the new and the full. From within the full vessel, life grows up and out, reaching towards the light in the darkness.
This is the season Hina Luna is in in definition and in image; this is her body. During this activated time of making connections, bringing form to visions and dreams, and committing to the “why” of this work, I have been gaining clarity as to how best to share the whole big, beautiful body of this entity. It’s ever-evolving, as bodies tend to be, and on the next full moon, I look forward to sharing with you the new phase Hina Luna is in.