Lost in a Sleeve of Pink

One of my more whimsical fascinations are characters from fairy tales or fantasy stories. Elves, fairies, ethereal creatures of beauty and a bit of magic.

As a child, I was always dancing, pretending I was a flower fairy or some such glittery illusion. A few times I was cast as a pixie or a fairy in theatrical plays as I grew up, and it gave me a thrill to wear pointy ears and characterize the mischievous elven sprites.

While fairies and pixies are fun, my favorite of all fantasy races were elves - of the Tolkien variety. His elves are tall and fair, skilled and wise, immortal and yet delicate. They captured my imagination and to this day I still long to explore Rivendell or wander through Lothlorien, even though I know they are fictional places.

But doesn't it say somewhere that things are real if only you believe in them?

As I grew older, I gained a few skills of my own and sewed a couple of elven dresses for myself. They are probably my favorites of my costumes - long, flowing fabric, with gorgeous sleeves! Oh, the sleeves where the most exciting part. Annoying to wear for every day, I would imagine, but when you are pretending to be an elegant, ancient elf? You want the long sleeves.

This month I have been indulging in my extremely nerdy obsession with all things Middle Earth by participating in "Middle Earth March" on Instagram. Oh, it's a bit silly to be sure, but it has brought me so much joy to take pictures and follow the prompts pertaining to Tolkien and his works and share them with fellow nerds.

One of the prompts was "Which Middle-earth race are you?" and with no hesitation I knew I had to say elf! Obviously this meant I needed to try on one of my elven dresses and take some fresh pictures.

Photo shoots of costume dresses become slightly more complicated when you live by yourself and need to rely on selfies - not to mention having to remain indoors because it's still winter here.

In a way it was a good thing no one was observing me as I experimented with angles and lighting to get the effect I was after. I'm sure it looked comical! I'm by no means a skilled photographer, as I take pictures relying on instinct and I'm sure a professional would pick the technique - or lack of - apart. Nevertheless, they are close enough for my purposes and I was quite pleased by how some of them turned out.

Being I could only take these pictures from an arms-length away, it was nearly impossible to include an entire sleeve. I had to get the sleeves!

Imagination took over, and the sleeves were used in new ways, draping about for dramatic effect around my face.

Looking at these pictures, I see a visual representation of a place in my imagination, where maybe I do live in a hazy pink cloud of elven dreams. Perhaps in that world I dance by the sea, singing songs with my kinfolk and resting in the promise of forever.

There all is serene.

There I find joy.

"We do not want merely to see beauty... we want something else which can hardly be put into words-to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. That is why we have peopled air and earth and water with gods and goddesses, and nymphs and elves." ~C.S. Lewis