Friday 30 March 2012

'Kindred Spirits' and inspiration


I’ve been working on something on and off for the last year and I'm not sure where it's going. At the moment there's a plan for a series of work called ‘Kindred Spirits’. The ideas are loosely connected to the concept of kindred spirits and also the idea of daemons such as in the Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’. The trilogy had a huge effect on me because reading them reminded me what it felt like to read as a child. The books asked the kind of questions that both children and philosophers ask - how and why we exist and where we go afterwards. Pullman's daemon is the soul's physical manifestation in the form of a creature which represents consciousness, acting as an inner dialogue and therefore a conscience. 


Work-in-progress for Kindred Spirit (drawing 1)

My first image is of a girl with the head of a rather vicious looking wolf on her head. Parallels with Red Riding Hood may come to mind, although there are many readings of that tale that don't really interest me here. Instead I prefer the view of the Native Americans, who consider the wolf to be the highest spiritual teacher of all animals. The wolf is a symbol of strength, loyalty and protectiveness. In "His Dark Materials" the daemon (until adolescence) can shape-shift into an animal which most reflects the emotions,situation or wims of its human.   


            Kindred Spirit (Drawing 1)


These are just some of the concepts and ideas which are running around inside my head for this particular work but how they are interpreted is entirely up to the viewer - please feel free to post comments, Angela x


Wednesday 28 March 2012

Inner worlds, fairy tales and make-believe

This is something I wrote ages ago but looked at again recently. It's (very) loosely based on Red Riding Hood, childhood imaginings and subversions and is written more as a stream of consciousness - kind of a way to get ideas out of my head and on paper. The images are of some of the  paintings which I did around the same time.


A Fairytale


She prays for something interesting to happen - days full of sun and laughter and the magical light from rainbows and dreams coming true. She is a girl unspoilt by love and longs for romance and fairy tales without realising their true horror. She is a child inspired by make-believe and pink dresses that rustle as she runs through the forest which grows out of her imagination....


             "The Wish" 


There she runs as silently as the breeze searching for the wolf. She draws her cloak around her tightly as the mood shifts and she sees the witches' hats moving in the distance. Twilight approaches fast, the magic hour, and she hears their shrill voices against the soft whisper of the wind through the trees.


As death plays around the corner she wonders if the wolf can smell her heart beating. In the menacing darkness the forest is haunted by black inky hues and children's nightmares and she knows if she strays into the realm of lurking wolves and preying witches she will be lost forever. But just as the wolf gets ready to pounce the keys on the piano begin to play like a dream coming true and through a gap in the trees a golden carriage pulled by 6 white horses flashes past like reality restored.


The carriage is filled with rose-wreathed princesses on their way to a ball but they throw her a wish and suddenly she is an enchantress, slaying dragons and turning witches into stardust, ruling her empire with wishful thinking and rainbows.


                  "The Enchantress"


As if by magic the forest is filled with a thousand butterflies and she follows their whispers of a promised getaway. She passes the house where the witches live, luring little children with the smell of fairy cakes and cute little kittens but she knows she must not stray from the path this time.


                  A study: "Make-believe Child"


As she flees the forest she can see the sky once more, the sun setting like a huge bloodstain in a pool of water - her face is pale and bewitched, there are flowers woven into her hair and her heart beats like the wolf's.


The End. 






  



Tuesday 13 March 2012

Studio playlist for sunny times

Today I am listening to;


Bon Iver - Blood Bank
Feist - 1234
Frank Sinatra - Moon River
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
Gotye - Somebody that I used to know
Emily and the Woods - Stealing your heart
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
Beck and Bat for Lashes - Lets get lost


On replay - Gotye

Monday 12 March 2012

Interludes, new beginnings and the smell of paint



I am full of the joys of spring today! The sun has been shining all day and more importantly I was free to go art material shopping and to work on some new drawings - a rare start to the week indeed.

Having left my studio earlier this year I am enjoying a little interlude at the moment. It's not nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be after 9 years of having a specific place to paint and whilst I miss the social aspect of working in an artist complex I particularly miss the smell of paint. I opened my paint box this weekend and drank in the delicious and slightly toxic smell of oil paints and had a massive pang of homesickness for painting. 

And then something quite amazing happened. One of those moments where things fall into place after a  a period of trying to move things on and not quite getting there...I (re)discovered acrylics. I've always said I hate working with acrylics - they don't really smell of anything for a start and they dry so quickly but that's also why they're so great! I hang my head in shame to all of my artist friends who have tried to tell me this so many times before. 

At the moment I am working on a series of work called "Paper Dolls" which is loosely based on the idea of the paper dolls I played with as a child; 




Also, I came across these beautiful drawings of Rodarte designs in Lula Magazine (issue 11) by Jenny Mortsell.


These are some of my drawings I did at the start of this project mixing patterned paper with drawing;




  

Below are what I am working on at the moment and they are either a duo or a trio (depending on whether or not I have the patience to complete a third). I imagine being almost identical that they are pretty impish pair and they certainly don't look particularly angelic. The clothes I have designed myself but instead of using patterned paper I will be handpainting the pattern. I look forward to having some to share very soon. In the meantime please feel free to leave comments, X