Well, tonight, I thought I'd show you something else from a few years ago. This is a bit of a follow up to the previous post on Ashputtel, as this piece also came out of my lifelong fascination with fairy tales.... and also with hair!! I love hair, it's textures and colours.... and I really love long, rather wild hair.... so, when I've made models like this, the hair has always been really important. Mostly I've used synthetic stuff, ( Rapunzel's is a weird mixture of clay, and synthetic hair) but occasionally, kind friends have donated their own hair for artwork! ~ which is amazing, and really adds an extra dimension to a piece ~ although some people find it a bit creepy, I love it! The books in these photos, belonged to my dad, and I took the photos, not very long after he died, in 2005. My dad was a librarian, and a great collector of books, and his love of books was something he passed on to me, and my brothers. The copy of Peter Pan And Wendy that you can see, is a first edition, and very rare with the original dust jacket, like this .... but it's much more important to me because I vividy remember him reading it to me, as a wee girl, and I always loved the illustrations, by Mabel Lucie Atwell.
I find myself just staring at the photos; the composition of the hair, the colors, values, and to a certain extent trying to perceive her personality. Very much a piece of art that involves the viewer !!!
ReplyDeleteI love your mixed media piece here! I love the textures, the fabrics and the hair! So original-this is how/why I started making my art dolls-at somepoint I need a break from drawing and getting all the lines "right". I just need to work with another medium where I can "play" the piece out. I would love to see more. I love how your past with fairy tales and stories told by your father has influenced you as much as it has me. Trina did her own version of Rapunzel-it is very good so hopefully you can find it!
ReplyDeletexo!
Thank you Stephe, the personality and character of a figure is always vital to me, it's funny though, that seems to work itself out quite differently in three dimensions! ~ maybe because I've got no proper sculptural method or training, or it's all very much made up as I go along... and as Merle says, it's play! ~ I went through a longish phase, where I felt really stuck, and struggled to draw or paint at all, and making models like this is what kept me sane! ~ then the photographs bring another aspect to the piece, I had the image of a winding staircase of books, which I got really excited about! ~ and I'm not sure how well that really comes across, but the figure really belongs with the books, they're meant to be together!
ReplyDeleteHello Merle, glad you've found me! ~ oh yes!! that feeling of playing is absolutely blessed! ~ especially, like you say, when you feel you're struggling to get things "right" in drawing or painting. I've got a few of these pieces, and I will post more, or just send you photos, but there were lots I made, that I never even recorded, I just gave them away, or there was no room for them, and they got chucked out! several have become familiar spirits of my home, and dwell in unexpected corners! Yes, this piece feels like it comes really directly out of that childhood experience of discovering the wonder of stories and books, the love of books is a fundamental thing, in our family! and there's just nothing quite like the magic of your mum or dad reading you a bedtime story! ~ I found the cover image of Trina's Rapunzel, which looks great, but that's all I've seen so far. I also found Peter Pan illustrations by her, which I love!
ReplyDeleteBit late commenting! Typical me! But love this! Suzie xxx
ReplyDelete