Desirée Isphording
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sphinxmuse.bsky.social
Desirée Isphording
@sphinxmuse.bsky.social
130 followers 380 following 27 posts
Creator of mythopoetic art & illustration, crafter of leather masks & adornments, animist, taphophile, gardener • she/her

DesireeIsphording.com
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sphinxmuse.bsky.social
Phantom Stream
Colored pencil & soft pastel on toned paper
16 x 21 inches
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I often struggle with titles for my pieces, but this one arrived with the initial sketches. It was inspired by an experience I had visiting a dilapidated barn in the Lehigh Valley of PA.
An abandoned barn looms in the distance, surrounded by an overgrown field. The needle of a lighting rod is still set atop the center of the barn’s gambrel roof. The sky is overcast. Dry, golden grass is smoothed into ridges and mounds which swirl into the foreground. There are twigs and bare-branched saplings which pierce the tawny carpet, including one thorny tree in the center of the composition. Leaning against this tree is a rusted, decorative arrow with a blue glass panel set into its tail. It is pointed down into the earth. The arrow is from an antique lightning rod and served as a weather vane. To the right of the tree, closer to the foreground, is a spectral figure in a state of transformation between man and bear. His back is to the viewer, and he appears to be standing in water which flows around his hips, obscuring his lower body. In the bottom left are three Brook Trout which are suspended, swimming upstream towards the figure. The landscape is rendered in warm, earthy shades that contrast with the ethereal hues of the figure, fish, and water ripples which are drawn in blue, turquoise, and violet.
August 9, 2025 at 6:58 PM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
QRP with your skull art 💀

Ancestor • 2023
Tooled & formed leather; leather stains; acrylic paint
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This mask was inspired by the tradition of painted skulls in the Alpine regions of Central Europe.
Photo of a leather skull mask which has the words “memento mori” embossed in red, Gothic script across the forehead. Below the writing are two thorny rose stems which cross at the center, above the eye sockets. Stylized pink roses adorn the stems. The mask is positioned in a tree whose leaves have turned yellow in autumn. Two red ribbons drape behind the mask. Photo of a leather skull mask which has the words “memento mori” embossed in red, Gothic script across the forehead. Below the writing are two thorny rose stems which cross at the center, above the eye sockets. Stylized pink roses adorn the stems. Two red ribbons drape behind the mask. The mask is sitting on a mossy stone in dappled forest light. Photo of a leather skull mask in profile which has the words “memento mori” embossed in red, Gothic script across the forehead. Below the writing are two thorny rose stems which cross at the center, above the eye sockets. Stylized pink roses adorn the stems. The mask is positioned in a tree whose leaves have turned yellow in autumn. Two red ribbons drape behind the mask.
July 31, 2025 at 12:43 AM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
These are early sketches of my new piece, Phantom Stream. It’s taken a little over a year, but the drawing is complete! In addition to the doodles themselves, there are other Eostre eggs for the finished piece included this photo.
A photo showing two overlapping sketchbooks in the center. The books are open with one displaying a sketch in colored pencil of a human figure superimposed with that of a bear. The lower half of the figure dissolves into a fluid substance. Two trout float in the flowing shapes and lines to the lower left of the figure. Before the human/bear figure is a tree, and a barn is shown in the distant fields. The sketchbooks are sitting on a weathered wood surface which has cracked yellow paint in places. Placed diagonally over the main sketchbook, to the right of the drawing, is a rusty metal object, an antique weathervane arrow.
July 27, 2025 at 6:41 PM
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I’m not sure if this guy’s new bunny ears are a permanent feature or if they’ll fall off after they flower.
The photograph shows a central cactus with two, rabbit-ear like growths extending from the top of the plant. It is surrounded by other plants including a sedum with small, bulbous leaves and an opuntia cactus in the foreground. Part of the rim of the yellow pot in which they’re growing is visible in the background.
June 5, 2025 at 2:39 PM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
This was the first image I created in autumn of 2024 for the Folktale Week series, but the last to be posted. Despite my longstanding love of cemeteries, I realized I rarely incorporate them into my art. This piece helps to rectify that.
A square-format drawing illustrating an old cemetery. A large willow tree stands at the left, its draping boughs hang over two headstones in the foreground. The one on the right is based on that of David Grim (1726-1790), located at Salem Bellman’s Union Church. It is tall, narrow, and carved with a stylized urn at the top and a pair of twisted pillars framing a panel where worn text has been inscribed. The one on the left is drawn from the foot stone of Andrew Robeson (1654-1720), the first person interred at St. Gabriel’s Episcopal. This gravestone is carved with a skull atop an hourglass laid on its side and a set of crossed bones. The top of this gravestone is an inverted crescent detailed with zig-zagging lines, forming a series of triangles. Both memorials are located in Berks County, PA. The base of these stones is completely obscured by a thick mist which swirls around and behind them. In the mid ground the stone wall which encloses the cemetery runs horizontally across the image. The background shows rolling hills with more mist arising from the valleys. The image is framed by a thin border in the form of a garter snake which still has portions of its shed skin attached, and there is a small banner at the center bottom on which the word “mist” is written.
April 22, 2025 at 1:29 AM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
Chapter 2: Gate
Colored pencil, watercolor, & acrylic on toned paper
7 ½ x 7 ½ inches
✶
The second of a series of seven illustrations based on the Folktale Week 2024 prompts.
A square-format drawing illustrating an old cemetery enclosed by a low, stone wall. The point of view is from within the graveyard’s boundaries, with a side wall extended towards the lower right corner in perspective. It bleeds off the image and continues into the next illustration in the series, Chapter 3: Blight. The back wall runs horizontally across the mid ground. It’s punctuated by a metal gate which has been left ajar. A thick mist rolls in from the left side of the image, obscuring the bases of two headstones. In the upper left, there are a few boughs of a willow tree. In the center foreground is a long, stone grave marker with an arched top that has been pushed aside to reveal part of a staircase which descends into the earth. Just outside of the cemetery on the right are five long rows of apple trees. Leaves fall from some of the them. Virginia Creeper vine grows from within the cemetery and scales the side wall, facing the orchard. While the leaves inside the graveyard are healthy, those that grow on top of the wall have died. The image is framed by a thin border in the form of a garter snake adorned with six rings, and there is a small banner at the center bottom on which the word “gate” is written.
April 12, 2025 at 9:42 PM
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Chapter 3: Blight
Colored pencil, watercolor, & acrylic on toned paper
7 ½ x 7 ½ inches
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The trail from Chapter 4 runs beside an orchard and a low stone wall. All is not well here – a strange blight has stricken the trees, causing leaves to fall in midsummer and the fruit to rot.
A square-format drawing illustrating a low stone wall in the immediate foreground on the lower left, behind which is an orchard in the mid ground. The trees are in parallel rows in a hilly landscape. A strange blight has stricken the trees, causing leaves to fall in midsummer and the fruit to rot. Even the Virginia Creeper vine which scales the wall is affected. The leaves which broach the top are shriveled and blackened. The Yellowjackets from Chapter 6 appear again, mulling over the decaying apples. Two insects are on an apple in a tree in the upper right side of the image. This apple has dark spots that make it resemble a skull. Someone has left half of a crosswise-sliced apple on top of the wall, exposing its pentagram of seeds, and three wasps gathered on the fruit wonder how it is unspoiled. The image is framed by a thin border in the form of a garter snake with most of its belly turned upwards, exposing horizontal scales, and there is a small, tattered banner at the center bottom on which the word “blight” is written.
April 5, 2025 at 7:50 PM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
Chapter 4: Trail
Colored pencil, watercolor, & acrylic on toned paper
7 ½ x 7 ½ inches
✶
Brendle & Troxell’s 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘴𝘺𝘭𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘎𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘬 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦-𝘜𝘱𝘰𝘯-𝘢-𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘔𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 tells of a snake “that took its tail in its mouth and rolled through the forests as a hoop.”
A square-format drawing illustrating a Timber Rattlesnake grasping his tail in his mouth, rolling like a hoop down a narrow, dirt road. On the right side of the image is a conifer forest with several ferns at the base of the trees. There is a glimpse of a small ravine in the woods which continues into another artwork of this series, Chapter 5: Depth. The trail borders the edge of the wood, framed on its right side by a split-rail fence in a state of disrepair. Acting as a lookout and a road-marker, there is a stone carved with a primitive face and Pennsylvania Dutch style heart which sits at the edge of the road and the forest. One of its eyes is closed, while the other is open, watching the Hoop Snake roll along the trail. In this distance are rolling hills and farmland. The road can be seen winding its way through the valley. The image is framed by a thin border in the form of a garter snake who has been draped with beaded strands, and there is a small banner at the center bottom on which the word “trail” is written.
April 3, 2025 at 4:17 PM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
Chapter 5: Depth
Colored pencil, watercolor, & acrylic on toned paper
7 ½ x 7 ½ inches
✶
In a grove of conifers, a spring marks the terminus of a steep ravine. The faces carved into the boulders are inspired by soul effigies depicted on Pennsylvania German gravestones.
A square-format drawing illustrating a mysterious spring nestled into the forest. A steep, narrow ravine runs from the lower left corner towards the center right of the image. The bottom of the ravine is obscured, so its true depth is unknown to the viewer. The crevasse ends at an outcrop of boulders and smaller stones over which water flows and descends into the ravine. Three stylized faces are carved into the stones. Water falls from the open mouth of the central, largest face. In the right foreground is a large stone with a carving depicting a waxing crescent moon with a face (this boulder continues into the left side of another drawing, Chapter 6: Bone). The image is framed by a thin border in the form of a snake who has a snail balanced on its tail, and there is a small banner at the center bottom on which the word “depth” is written.
March 26, 2025 at 12:21 AM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
Chapter 6: Bone
Colored pencil, watercolor, & acrylic on toned paper
7 ½ x 7 ½ inches
✶
While the goat-headed figure in Chapter 7 is a King of the Field, land cultivated using settler agricultural techniques, this panel contrasts him with a King of the Forest in the form of a skeletal stag.
A square-format drawing illustrating a glowing, skeletal deer with antlers formed of a flowing, incandescent substance in the mid ground. The stag walks towards conifer trees positioned on the left edge of the composition while looking back towards the right, where a part of a goat’s horn is depicted (the right side of the image continues into another drawing, Chapter 7: Blossom). The background shows rolling hills with a patchwork of farmland. A portion of a dry-stacked, low stone wall is in the left foreground. A swarm of Yellowjackets flies over the wall and towards the stag’s mouth. There are stylized flowers in the lower and upper right side. The image is framed by a thin border in the form of a snake with feathers, and there is a small banner at the center bottom on which the word “bone” is written.
March 15, 2025 at 10:36 PM
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This is the time of year for crouching low to the ground, intently searching the earth for signs of new growth.

Like this little Clustered Mountain Mint:
A photograph showing four small, green shoots surrounded by brown leaves, twigs, and soil.
March 9, 2025 at 6:30 PM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
Chapter 7: Blossom
Colored pencil, watercolor, & acrylic on toned paper
7 ½ x 7 ½ inches
✶
This is one of 7 drawings based on the 2024 Folktale Week prompts. I’m posting them in reverse order of their creation.
A drawing of a goat-headed figure in an old style of farmer’s attire (striped shirt, suspenders, and bandana) offering one of his horns up as a cornucopia. A variety of stylized flowers burst out from the interior of the horn. There are also flowers in his hair encircling his other horn, which remains on his head. The image is framed by a thin border in the form of a snake, and there is a small banner at the center bottom on which the word “blossom” is written.
March 8, 2025 at 8:58 PM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
QRT with your Sphinx art

Threshold Sphinx • 2023
Colored pencil & watercolor on toned paper
9 x 10⅛ inches
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Artwork depicting a portrait of a sphinx. Her skin is a warm gold tone. She wears an intricate, Egyptian-inspired headdress that transforms from scales to feathers and into the starry sky. Her clawed hand tears into the foreground, revealing more of the sky. A hellebore with black flowers emerges from the negative space of the test marks. The plant grows in a crescent shape that frames the sphinx’s face.
February 26, 2025 at 5:16 PM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
It’s National Boston Terrier day. To celebrate, here’s a portrait of my pup, Dozer, I made a few years ago.
A drawing of a Boston Terrier dog in colored pencil and watercolor on the page of a sketchbook
February 20, 2025 at 1:03 AM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
The Owl Witch • 2022
Tooled & formed leather; leather stains; acrylic paint
✶
This is the 2nd leather mask I’ve made. The patterns on her face are based on Urnes-style Norse knot work.
Front view of a leather mask in the form of a Barn Owl face. There are mirrored pairs of interlacing Norse knotwork near the center of the face. Three-quarter view of a leather mask in the form of a Barn Owl face. There are mirrored pairs of interlacing Norse knotwork near the center of the mask. There are wood runes and feathers in the foreground. Side view of a leather mask in the form of a Barn Owl face. There are mirrored pairs of interlacing Norse knotwork near the center of the mask. There are wooden runes and feathers in the foreground.
February 9, 2025 at 5:14 PM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
“Polypore” | 2023
Watercolor, pastel, & colored pencil on hot press watercolor paper
7 x 10 inches
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This spirit emerged from the mesmerizing pattern of concentric bands that characterize Turkey tail mushrooms (𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳) .
Artwork featuring a central, human-like face which melds into Turkey tail mushrooms brackets, which surround it.
February 2, 2025 at 4:02 PM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
Hi there!
These are my favorite pieces from 2024. I focused on incorporating local landscapes, including historic buildings, into my art – a trend I plan to continue. One features a covered bridge and the other a PA standard barn. Both are mixed media (primarily colored pencil) on wood panel.
Artwork of a Barn Owl Woman holding a sickle and Pokeweed branch on the left. She’s in front of a Pennsylvania standard style barn. The evening sky and waning moon are in the background. An artwork of a Cottontail Rabbit who is severing the red string by which she’s bound using a pair of bird-shaped scissors. The cut ends of the string spark with fire. In the background there is a snowy scene with a covered bridge partially engulfed in flames.
January 26, 2025 at 7:10 PM
sphinxmuse.bsky.social
I’ve had Sennelier’s Caput Mortuum in my watercolor collection for a while, and have become enamored with the color. Upon starting a new project, I decided to work with a monochromatic scheme centered on it, which has proved easier said than done. This has been my palette for the past few months:
A collection of colored pencils, a tube of acryla-gouache, and pan of watercolor in shades of caput mortuum, which is a violet-brown color.
January 19, 2025 at 3:56 PM