Holidays...

 

 

A long overdue 'bits & bobs' post, which usually consist of images of my kitty and small detail snaps from around the house, etc. Most of these were taken over the holiday period/last couple of weeks. The snow didn't stick around for too long, sadly, although the snowfall itself has been quite constant over the past week or so. The new computer, which arrived on the 11th of December, was a gift from my family (marking a very special occasion), the likes of which I may never experience again! I still can't quite believe that it is here.

Face plate by Donna Wilson.

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Bookmark download

Mrs Pickwick bookmark

Free high resolution bookmark download featuring Mrs Pickwick the overly anxious owl.

Clicking on the small image above will take you to the larger version.

Please note, the image is for personal use only (non commercial).

Enjoy x

Laura's Dream

 

 Digital drawing.

Will add text tomorrow, I am so sleepy now.

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Pickwick

Pickwick

Digital drawing/illustration.

I'm not quite sure what to say! :)

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Buried Treasure

Buried Treasure

Digital drawing with lace.

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A psychic/magical process, largely influenced by two wonderful books: Old Peter's Russian Tales & The Shadow and Evil in Fairytales by Marie Louise Von Franz (a remarkable Jungian writer). Have been reading both over the holiday period and also getting to grips with a new computer system and software - my first upgrade in over 8 years! I was absolutely terrified of the change, yet moving forward has opened up an entire new world of wonders for me. These last few images are quite possibly evidence of that, although I am still learning so not quite achieving exactly what I set out to do. But it doesn't matter, because I am in love!

I really want to create a new series/folder for these works: there's something of my love for Lotte Reiniger, Yuri Norstein here.....they're not quite silhouettes, nor animated, but they are somehow connected to the movement of the music that I have been working to. As I work, the images move and dance and shimmer, and a story forms as the image progresses. There's something special about Russian fairytales. I'm not sure that I can explain exactly what that is, but I am really taken by the descriptions of nature, how nature and the elements play such an integral part. They are populated by so many exquisite magical creatures. And this influence ties in so neatly with the writings of Von Franz: magical creatures/forces of nature as symbolic manifestations of the (collective and personal) unconscious.

I feel the desire to work primarily with animals & magical creatures more than ever, even if I don't exactly intend to abandon my little girls completely......I just feel that I may have grown away from the child as a central motif, perhaps something within me has progressed past this - The girls are powerful but always mute. Pretty, yet detached. Immobile. I want them to transform somehow, to explode out of their silence. I think that my previous image 'Revenge of the Girls' kind of illustrates that to some extent. They are simply changing.

The 'Buried Treasure' here is a symbol of (as is usual with me) a recovery of what lies lost or hidden. Potent forces underground. The girls possess magical little gardening forks and have dug out their hearts......they are supported by a constellated horse and two black shadow horses in the background (wearing spiked crowns, which I don't think you can discern at this resolution).

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Revenge of the Girls

Revenge of the Girls

Detail

Revenge of the Girls ver.2

So, I decided to confuse you by not being able to make up my mind which version to stick with. Again. Kind of experimental, rough sketches, playing with newly designed brushes and textures, drawn mostly free-hand and incorporating (instead of deleting) flaws/mistakes.

The scene depicts a world of ghosts and dreams: the girls revealing their true nature (not necessarily a bad thing), or transforming into nature, which they are both attuned to & protective of. I prefer the first version visually, although the second version feels more in keeping with the theme (transforming instead of already transformed).

Inspired by 'The Bears Revenge' by Moulettes, which I am really enjoying working to at the moment. You can listen to a sample here.

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Ophelia

Digital illustration and collage.

Sometimes I try to interperet feelings instead of ideas or stories, although the three often merge together somehow, almost of their own accord. Sometimes it is as though the image comes alive and takes control of its own destiny. And sometimes I have no idea what I'm talking about! My Ophelia represents longing and buried emotion, something about to chrysalise.....positively. She is an effort to recall what I myself cannot.

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Pierrot

 Pierrot

Digital illustration/painting for the Portraits series.

I'm working on a pierrot themed commission at the moment, so decided to create one for myself. I would love to say more about it, but I am stupendously tired (insomnia phase) so plan to run myself a bubble bath instead. x

Winter woods

Digital illustration/silhouette with photo textures.

Will hopefully add description tomorrow x

Kiki Smith

"I found this anthropormorphizing of animals interesting: the human attributes we give to animals, and the animal attributes we take on as humans to construct our identity. I am trying to think about this relationship between nature and human nature, their different objects." Kiki Smith 1998.

I have only just discovered this artist's work, and yet it feels so familiar, almost as if I had relocated something which was lost or hidden, or perhaps forgotten? There's also that curious sensation of awe, or fear; because what you have found appears to speak your own language yet with so much more clarity and precision than you are able to translate through your own work.

And then there's this huge sense of relief, almost like euphoria, because there's still so much more to learn.

(Discover Kiki Smith)