Birdie

Birdie.

Digital illustration.

Two versions. May title them separately tomorrow. Prefer them as ovals!

x

Woodland Band

Digital drawing.

Second image is a screenshot of the work in progress: here you can see the individual, drawn parts in the background, ready to be arranged.

x

Pickwick

Pickwick

Digital drawing/illustration.

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

x

Buried Treasure

Buried Treasure

Digital drawing with lace.

.

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).

x

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.

x

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.

x

x

Magic Hour

Full Version

Detail

Digital painting with photo textures/collage

A twilit meeting at the Barrow, or Faery Brugh.

An invisible world which coexists with the world of humans.

The lights are the Daoine Sidhe.

The time is All Hallows Eve.

x

Witchwood

Version 1

Version 2

Digital collage/illustration

Title taken from The Strawbs. Magic inspired by Susanna Clarke.

Couldn't decide between versions: the second is over saturated.

x

Changeling

Changeling or The Fairy Host (I can't quite decide)

Digital painting with textures, for the Fairytales series.

Sometimes there's a story and I have no idea how to translate it via text. The image contains all that there is to know, yet the most vital details remain invisible. This involves a reconnection with what was once lost or misplaced. Who or what does she embrace? Her invisible kinfolk I suppose, an immortal prince or lord of forgotten lands. I wonder what she had to sacrifice in order to reach them.... x

Fenn

Digital painting and photo textures.

A gathering of like-minds.

For Fairytales.

xxx