Brigitte West

Illustrator & general maker living in Maine. I appreciate re-posts, just please give me credit!  Art is ©2017-2018 Brigitte West except where otherwise noted & may not be printed, re-distributed, or modified without written authorization. Thanks!

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Happy Pride to all my fellow queers, with a special shout-out to all the teen queers figuring things out-- be strong, stay safe, find your people, and accept yourself!

©2018 Brigitte West, mixed media

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My illustrations for Schirin Oeding’s essay, Seeds of Home, in Taproot Magazine’s Sept. 2017 issue, TRADE. In the essay, Oeding talks about her personal experience working with Middle Eastern refugees while she was living in Germany. Oeding, a graduate student of ecological agriculture, volunteered in programs which hoped to foster community through small-scale agriculture and cooking. In scientific yet sensitive detail, the essay takes on what an integral part food and farming can play in our cultural identity-- both in the global historicity of small-scale sustainable agriculture and the intimate feelings of homesickness when people are separated from the comfort of their native foods.

Art by Brigitte West, 2017.

gouache & coloured pencil

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It’s finally feeling like Spring (and even a bit of Summer) in Maine!

Easter Egger Nest by Brigitte West

2017, gouache on paper

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Happy belated Mother’s Day?!

Madonna by Brigitte West

mixed media, 2018

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Hey internet, just FYI: henceforth, what once was my personal blog is now my slightly-more-formal art/illustration blog! I’ll be updating every once in awhile with news about new projects, press, and ~merchandise~. 

You can also catch me on Instagram @brigitte.west

and check out my Society6 shop for prints and other good stuff.

I always appreciate re-posts or just hearing from people! 

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Murasaki Shikibu

Art by velvetcouch (tumblr, society6)

Around the year 1000, an aristocratic Japanese woman wrote The Tale of Genji which some consider to be the first novel ever written.  It is groundbreaking as the first example of a work of fiction which explored the inner thoughts and motivations of characters.  The author’s exact name is unknown, but this she is generally known as Murasaki Shikibu and she is believed to have been a member of the Fujiwara clan.  The Tale of Genji is set at the Heian court where Murasaki served as a lady in waiting to Empress Soshi.  

The teenage Empress Soshi was a great fan of literature and she served as a patron to numerous female writers.  At the time, Chinese was the intellectual language of Japan.  Murasaki and other Heian female authors wrote in kana, a written form of Japanese.  These popular works were instrumental in the development of formal written Japanese.

Although she is best known for The Tale of Genji, Murasaki also wrote The Diary of Lady Murasaki and Poetic Memoirs, a collection of 128 poems.