Karisgonegonzo

Karisgonegonzo 𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐔𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑
Art 🖤 Folklore 🖤 Fantasy
𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑜
𝑂𝑥𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑙

🦁There’s a lion on the loose…….🦁Suns out, puns out…..last month I had a roarsome time illustrating this handsome cat!. A...
29/05/2026

🦁There’s a lion on the loose…….🦁

Suns out, puns out…..last month I had a roarsome time illustrating this handsome cat!. Adorning his coat from mane to tail in botanicals, every nook and cranny hides a floral fancy……I can’t wait to reveal him in full herbaceous splendour, but not just yet. So here’s some process. I was super lucky with weather and allowed him to prowl wild and free as I worked on his design.

It was nice to discover some of my chosen species growing about him too, a lovely sprig of ‘Borage’ made for excellent drawing reference!. Borago officinalis is deeply rooted in folklore as the "herb of courage". Historically, it was used to banish melancholy, comfort the heart, and bolster the bravery of warriors and travelers. It is believed the Celtic word borrach (meaning "courage") gave the plant its name. Celtic warriors steeped borage in wine to work up a fiery adrenaline before combat.
So a more than apt plant for my beautiful beast!

I ain't ‘lion’ when I say how excited I am to be part of with this summer! Harlow, Epping and Loughton will come alive with a wild burst of colour, creativity and community spirit as the Lions on the Loose art trail takes over our streets and green spaces!

The lion, a symbol of strength, courage, and unity, perfectly embodies the values of St Clare Hospice and the spirit of the communities it serves across West Essex and the borders of eastern Hertfordshire.

🖤Selling my wares during the witching hour……..🖤This Friday night myself and some arty folk shall be putting the ‘kraft’ ...
28/05/2026

🖤Selling my wares during the witching hour……..🖤

This Friday night myself and some arty folk shall be putting the ‘kraft’ into more than just beer……Come join for pints, pizza and potential print sales? Shop as you shot, mooch as you munch, dance as you erm…glance…..at the art……..

Sourdough pizza / cocktails / craft beers / arty wares / DJ

I’ll be Botley
May Midnight Market
Friday 29th, 7pm-midnight

The big question is, can I eat pizza, skull a cocktail and crank all once whilst manning the karisgongonzo stall and twerking by the light of the moon?. Come along to find out…..

25/05/2026

🍃The seeds of this exhibition were foraged, then planted firmly in my arty noggin last autumn….🍃

A wonderfully wet and windy walk over Wittenham Clumps played a crucial role in the inception of this strange personal project ‘Into the Nettle Patch’.

My lovely friend Susanna Illingworth and myself fell deep down into the forager’s rabbithole…She went mushroom mad, filling her pockets with chicken of the woods and turkey tail. We braved the flesh of berries from purple to red, washed down with a heavy Oxfordshire shower…..I became fascinated by the magical and medicinal properties of nettles , swiping a baby leaf and gobbling it whole. Nettles and other common plants and weeds which we tend to overlook hide lost wisdom. And I soon began to notice their personalities hanging tight to stems and branches.

I set about making potions, mixing magic with folklore and tales with truths…..some were edible, others were collage…..As someone who has excelled in the art of growing an abundance of weeds (and not too much else,) for decades-finding fantastical properties here along the towpath, free and fresh for the picking, well…..I was hooked.

And so my cunning woman was born. With black card stock and a ragged scrap of lace from an old dress well beyond her heyday, this tiny forager’s story began to take form. It unravelled itself onto parchment scroll, in silhouette, her voice just about audible as she reached up tentatively into sharp holly trees., inviting luck and curses, all at once…..


🌸💚 FINAL DAY!!💚🌸 I am still here. The boat is open 11-6pm for the last day of my ‘Into the nettle patch’ exhibition. And...
25/05/2026

🌸💚 FINAL DAY!!💚🌸



I am still here. The boat is open 11-6pm for the last day of my ‘Into the nettle patch’ exhibition. And one more Crankie performance at 4pm.

There shall be sunshine and weeds, and Faeries for sure
There shall be a Karis with some wyrd folklore
So get yourself here, at the edge, where it’s at
For an art mooch, a cuppa, or tangential chat!

I’ll be here all day hanging out the hatch with one of my shadow friends so please come say hi. It has been an absolute pleasure luring towpath traipsters into my lair of wares.

Can’t wait to see you!

By far this has been the favoured print during which is pretty sweet as she was my chosen hero image and I plastered he...
25/05/2026

By far this has been the favoured print during which is pretty sweet as she was my chosen hero image and I plastered her peculiar eyeless face all over the towpath. But what’s her story?

🗣️SLANDER 🗣️
In the Victorian floriography; language of flowers- nettles (Urtica dioica) signify slander, betrayal, and disdain.. The ‘burning’ sensation of malicious gossip! This prompt was more than enough for my mind to go on a vision quest……the nettle lies across the tongue as a punishment. You can fold the leaf using a technique to crush the silica hairs, allowing you to eat it up without getting stung, and they taste nice, sort of earthy cucumber with a spec of spinach…..

The red admiral butterfly hangs as a jewel around our protagonist's neck. This species (Vanessa Atalanta), is reliant on the nettle patch as its primary larval host plant, without it, the ecosystem cannot flourish.

For me, this piece represents a transformation, perhaps she repents and learns her lesson….take caution before setting out to sting, your words-have the power to nourish……or to cause anguish…..

I love hearing other people’s interpretations, and however different they are, I’m happy she got some tongues wagging……

There are a few prints/cards left and art guides too, all here aboard for one more day!

A4 prints £15 / A6 cards £5 / Art guides £10

🐦‍⬛Cardboard corvid crafts are calling🖤 Probably a little over engineered in the end….let’s say my pivots and joins are ...
24/05/2026

🐦‍⬛Cardboard corvid crafts are calling🖤 Probably a little over engineered in the end….let’s say my pivots and joins are not how the crow flies......but a great experiment in achieving subtle movements through articulation, and I figured something out eventually using two rods.

Hand-making little shadow pieces like this brings me so much joy. A few shapes cut out here and there, a split pin to create a hinge…….some jiggery pokery, and voila, it’s alive and about to peck your innards out……

You can see my raven in all her cameo glory during the Crankie show ‘Feed the Echo’ 4pm 24th/25th May aboard Lady Banbury. The final stint of

💙💜✨Witch’s Thimble✨💜💙 Acrylic on battered canvasHarebell / Old Man’s Bell / Faery Cup / Scottish BluebellCampanula Rotun...
21/05/2026

💙💜✨Witch’s Thimble✨💜💙 Acrylic on battered canvas
Harebell / Old Man’s Bell / Faery Cup / Scottish Bluebell
Campanula Rotunifolia

in this image, a spell is cast. a witch concocts sap of the harebell to shapeshift. a warning not to pick my delicate purple cups, take heed, ring my bells to awaken the spirits and invite mischief.....

👉Available aboard:
A4 prints £15 / A6 greeting cards £5 / Art Guides £10👈

Traditions suggest that these flowers were named because they grew where hares frquented, whilst other creepier accounts detail witches using the plant’s milky sap to turn into the animal....

Famed 17th Century Scottish ‘Witch’ Isobel Gowdie confessed to using this specific rhyme to change into a hare;

I shall go into a hare,
With sorrow and sych and meickle care;
And I shall go in the Devil’s name,
Ay while I come home again’
The harebell does indeed produce a distinctive milky white sap if their leaves or stems are plucked, called milk-ort, meaning ’milk herb’. Claimed to be one of the ingredients in the flying ointments cooked up by witches.

Interestingly, the sap was used as a remedy for earaches and to treat symptoms of depression

Known as the ‘scottish bluebell’, the harebell had a common name in Scotland ‘Aul man’s bell’, and ‘the Aul man’ was a nickname for the devil himself.

A superstition I read and particularly liked was that harebells rang to warn rabbits of foxes:

Ring! The littl’ rabbit’s eyes
In the morning clear
Moisten to the melodies
They alone can hear.

artprintsp

20/05/2026

More stories lurk aboard Lady Banbury……..we are part way through and it has been lovely so far. If you find yourself down near these parts, amongst the leafy spies, tread carefully through the nettle patch, creep past Wolvercote lock and happen across the old butty. I’ll be waiting to invite you in for a curious time……some peculiar folklore, and perhaps a spot of special nettle brew as a spell is cast.

Opening hours are 11-6pm with a Crankie show daily at 4pm. Come take a peep through the porthole…….ring the bells and awaken the faeries.

🍃Willow the White🍃This painting depicts my niece, Willow by name and by nature. she wears a willow crown atop her head, ...
18/05/2026

🍃Willow the White🍃
This painting depicts my niece, Willow by name and by nature. she wears a willow crown atop her head, its branches hide two primordial eggs, one of which has hatched the sun, the other awaits cosmic birth to the earth.

✨The myth of the red eggs✨
Willow symbolism in druidry is prolific, and as legend goes, the universe hatched from two scarlet snake eggs, with one containing the sun, and the other forming the earth. They were hidden within the branches of the white willow, one of the seven sacred trees of the Druids. Considered the ‘tree of enchantment’, it was believed to have roots which reached down into the otherworld. A gateway between life and death, it was both protector aswell as a danger, posessing magical powers which the druids harnessed to enhance intuition and spiritual insight.

🖤Why red eggs?🖤
In my attempt to unravel this myth, I wasn’t surprised to find what I believe to be a good contender for an explanation of sorts. The more I delve into folklore and mythologies, the ever present nature and its truths shine through the seemingly odd practices and make sense afterall. Natural reddish berry-like galls do sometimes appear on willow leaves, they are caused by sawflies and do indeed look like tiny red eggs. The colour red and the egg symbology and found on a tree already connected to deep knowledge, prophecy and poetic inspirition, it’s possible the story also has a physical root in reality…..maybe?

Cultural Legacy
Traditionally, in Spring rituals the red snake eggs were replaced by painted hen’s eggs and eaten at Beltane, perhaps a precursor to today’s easter egg hunting festivities.

A4 prints available aboard (£15) during

More wyrd plant lore inside my little exhibition booklet (£10) for anyone who likes diving into where my ideas are rooted…..

Thank you to the wonderful for a lovely hand crafted willow crown which made for an excellent exhibition prop! It needs dusting off for some summer Morris action…..

16/05/2026

Hatches are open! Welcome aboard Lady Banbury for

Ring the bells and awaken the florescent pink boat faery!

Into the Nettle patch exhibition and art market, plus a Crankie show at 4pm (I'm literally dusting off my Crankie and performing surgery on my shadow puppets right this minute!)

Be lovely to see you

💚Open 11-6pm 💚

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