MEET THE DANCING UNIQUORNS — MAGICAL UNICORN ART
How Did the Dancing Uniquorns Get Started?
The Dancing Uniquorns began — quite by accident (or by “Divine Inspiration") — in the summer of 2016. I had begun my Mellie's Car Art video series on YouTube, teaching people how to make art anywhere and anytime by literally making art while sitting in the driver’s seat of my car. More and more, I was exploring making marks that brought me JOY, and also doing energy work while painting.
A friend and fellow entrepreneur called ME the "Dancing Uniquorn" after seeing this dancing video, where I’m wearing my favorite Twilight Sparkle unicorn hat...
And "Uniquorn" of course is a merging of “unique” + “unicorn.” Because I don't do anything by the book. I’m not stuffy nor slick and “professional.” I’m playful and colorful and fully ME — and I encourage my clients/students to "Claim [their unique] Magic," too!
Why Unicorns, Mellie?
One of the #junicorn pieces I created in June 2018 — I created a piece of original unicorn artwork every day during the month of June!
I was always obsessed with horses and unicorns as a kid. Rainbow Brite's rainbow horse, Starlite, was a favorite stuffed toy with velvety hooves and a sparkly star on her forehead. She-Ra's pegasus unicorn, Swift Wind, was another cherished prize. Even Barbie had her own horse - which, of course, I loved more than Barbie herself (that saddle and bridle and those pink plastic horseshoes…). And don't get me started on my collection of Breyer's horses, or all the horse-themed drawings I made, novels I read, and stories I wrote!
I remember getting my first "How to Draw Horses" book, and following each step to the letter. That, of course, was before I knew it was okay to have my own style. When I was paralyzed if I wasn’t following a "how to" manual to help me "do it right" and therefore, of course, be approved of.
The Oracle Deck…
Anyway, in the autumn of 2016, my own style of unicorn art more fully emerged. I’d been abruptly laid off from a job at a drowning local company that October, and the sketchy unicorn characters I'd begun over the summer blossomed into a full-fledged oracle deck (the 5th I'd designed and published) in just ONE MONTH! Now THAT's what I call inspiration — and being on a magical roll! The Dancing Uniquorns were insisting on a strong presence.
Raw Original Footage…
In case you haven't read it, I did a blog post in 2017 describing in detail the evolution of my unicorn artwork, period. My unicorns have continued to evolve in many ways (new series, new media, new styles) since then!
You can watch this original, informal video I created way back in October 2016, where I explain my then-revelations on following the flow. I show my original sketchbook pieces, as well as some of the artwork for what became my Oracle Deck.
The #inktober UNIQUORN SERIES
Finally available as gorgeous vinyl stickers, the #inktober Dancing Uniquorns came about during #Inktober of 2017. (If you’ve never heard of #inktober, it’s a daily art challenge that takes place during October and usually incorporates ink in some way.) I chose to explore drawing with my new (at the time) fountain brush pens.
I took inspiration from the names of different watercolor pigments/pans to create a new themed unicorn illustration each day during October 2017.
I then created vector illustrations from my original handdrawn, handpainted pieces and made them available on joyful products and apparel in my RedBubble shop (they are SO MUCH FUN on mugs, by the way).
Unicorn PATTERNS!
Then, I found the surface pattern design courses on Skillshare by the lovely Bonnie Christine, and was inspired to create my own unicorn pegasus surface pattern collection. I've made them available on products and apparel on Society6. Even though Society6 thoroughly rips off the artists (whereas RedBubble allows artists to set and receive decent commissions), Redbubble doesn't offer all-over-print shirts like these (which I've purchased and wear myself, of course!).
These patterns were part of a personal and magical surface pattern collection I created:
Uniquorns on PARADE!
In the summer of 2018, I decided to participate in #junicorn (creating a piece of unicorn artwork every day for the month of June). I was inspired by a paper swatch I’d received along with some gorgeous, luscious earth mineral pigment watercolors by Kim Gish at Wildthorne.
Playing with that paper sample, her watercolors, and my unicorns created the series of what become more than 70 small individual pieces, many of which I mounted on gessoed cradled wooden panels (many are also available as cute vinyl stickers now, as well).
You can see all these mounted unicorn pieces in a line, under my larger unicorn canvases, in this video preview of my 2018 show at Bonfire Coffee:
Artist’s Statement
Here is the Artist's Statement I wrote for the Bonfire show... I’ll leave you with this for now:
ARTIST’S STATEMENT by MELLIE TEST:
Unicorns represent magic. They guide you to remember your own innocence and magic within by reigniting wonder and delight; the unicorns remind us to lighten up and not take ourselves so seriously. They bring back joy.
When we get consumed with fixing our problems, we forget to look up and notice how much still sparkles around us. The unicorns remind us that there IS still sparkle and joy, even in the darkest of times. And it lies within us; we are all powerful, creative beings at our cores.
When we allow the unicorns to guide us back to our innocence (the natural innocence we’ve often chosen or felt forced to abandon since childhood), we remember who we really are. We are available to and able to recognize new possibilities. Our lives open up into full bloom. And THAT is true magic.
