Art&Ghosts Blog

Pretty Luminosty (an update)...........

Pretty Luminosity

 

A process of discovery............

Although i generally prefer people to interpret my images by looking into their own 'mirror' (metaphorically speaking) i actually feel as if i ought to share my own particular feelings about this picture.
This is a rare example of something coming together almost too completely; a concept taking on tangible form with a sort of miraculous accuracy. Basically, the process and the idea are pretty much identical. The image unfolded as a piece of work in complete sync with my realising what the work was actually about (although 2-dimensional, my images always  come about via a sort of timescale, like a moving/growing narrative).

So i got excited about it.

I will foolishly try to explain this.
Ok!
The three girls are all one and the same person (why three girls? i just like the number, it sounds right and it has a nice shape, amongst other things)
.............The girl wearing the blindfold represents the latent or unfulfilled aspects of the self. The girl in the far distance being the end-product, the fully realised, unshackled self.

And the girl in the middle...................is the girl in the middle.

What i love most about this image is the spatial relationship (both physically and spiritually)  between the three girls. Their facial expressions speak volumes. They are somehow aware of what is happening, or so it may seem...........the middle girl appears hesitant to walk away from the blindfolded girl, as though she is still intrigued by this particular aspect of her life. At the same time, her strange little face tells me that she has no intention of hanging around it for very long, either!
Perhaps she regards it with a mixture of pity and curiosity, or even a puzzled sense of unfamiliarity and recognition.
The middle girl is the most potent aspect of this image, for me. She is the bridge (as such) between two separate worlds, and possibly the one who has made the toughest of transitions.

The lanterns can be interpreted any way you like: illumination, guidance, revelation. Same thing really.
These lanterns remind me of certain scenes from the film Innocence (not one to miss, if you know what's good for you), and maybe there actually is a similarity in terms of why i chose to utilise them.......i'm not entirely sure.
(why five lanterns? i just like the number, it sounds right and it has a nice shape, amongst other things;)

.

........................................................

Ophelia

 

So, this is the way it goes: Ophelia got bored with ideas about death and decided to hitch a ride out of there on a discarded floating bathtub.
I mean, why not?

Dishing her toes in the stream without a care,
slowly idling her way to who-knows-where,
the flowers of suicide a-wilting in her hair.

But seriously, my MOMO doll has been crying out for this role since the day she arrived here. I am nothing short of delighted to have fulfilled her most cherished ambitions!

.

..........................................................

No Vacancies

 

I think you get the idea. Or at least i hope you get the idea.
Meet Ingrid, the girl who lives inside of her own head too much, or so they say.
I tell her to pay them no mind, and to keep on doing what she does best - playing with starlight and dreams.

She loves Maya Deren films and toasted fruit teacakes.
Not bad, eh?

................................................................................

StarHorse

 

A sparkly bunch of love and no mistake!
This began life as a regular reversed silhouette, but decided to get colorful and layered somewhere along the way. Some things are unpredictable, like myself.
And this, i ought to say, encapsulates everything that was beautiful about my childhood.
And the parts of it that never really left:)

..............................................................

Now i must retreat to my bedroom and catch up on some sleep.

♥ I will return soon with goodies galore and free lollipops ♥

Have a ball!
xxx

 

Which dreamed it........?

.

Hello again!
I seem to have been absent for such a long time, even longer than the time it has taken my poor mother to finally activate her typekey account) (speaking of dreams, it was a waking nightmare!)...........but this is sure to make her smile.

So, i thought i might prattle on about dreams for a while, my own dreams, their connection to my art. Not dreams in general, of course, that would take a couple of weeks at the most!

My dreams are either astoundingly terrifying or astoundingly weird. There is no real in-between. Occasionally they are quite beautiful, but for some reason, the beautiful, pleasurable dreams seem to fragment and dissolve upon waking, with much more frequency than the bad dreams do. I find this to be rather typical, really; perhaps fear leaves a more permanent impression, bah!

In many ways i am at a loss to even attempt an explanation, the connections are so ambiguous (god! how that word reminds me of art theory), so ridiculously mystifying that i will probably have a hard time making any sense whatsoever, but i like to punish myself, so here goes....I will do it with pictures.

The Changeling

.

I can't exactly explain why this image has a connection to my dreams, but it does illustrate where i am coming from when i try to express the feeling which accompanies them.
Something wildly evocative yet mysterious. Reality tinged with unreality. Something never truly fixed or decipherable. I usually refer to this as a sort of 'alchemy', but not this type of alchemy, just my own weird, unfathomable amalgamations in two dimensional form. 

I love to play with the subject material of dreams; much of the imagery in my poems, daydreams and artworks is certainly a derivative, and not always pretty! That would just be wishful thinking, surely.  
This particular picture is more concerned with the way i choose to interpret dreams, rather than an illustration of a dream. I have this strange habit of transforming the dark into something more palatable, ethereal, stories of unease into pretty little fairytales............and then again, if you consider this and this, you might come to the conclusion that i don't have too big a problem with the representation of darker subject material on its own terms at all.

(I had a long and hideous phase of dreams involving poltergeists. This image wrapped them up quite nicely indeed, and still has the power to freak me out)

Which dreamed it?

.
.

And yet it reminds me so much of Laura Palmer and Twin Peaks that i can't quite see beyond this now, back to my original concept. (yes, i can actually make myself small enough to fit inside of a dollshouse, it just takes a bit of practice, you know)
This is the closest i have gotten to actually making a direct rendition of a dream in pixels.
But which one of me is actually dreaming?
I do get the impression that the right 'me' is the stronger, the left being the more passive. Perhaps this is a sign that i need to learn how to take more control over my dreams, lucidly speaking:) .....but that would take the fun out of some dreams altogether, methinks.
I'm waffling again, i apologise.

Portrait Alice: The Madhatter

I love this picture, it is probably my favourite image from the portrait Alice set altogether.
You see, this time it is the Madhatter who has become the diminutive one, poor little thing (i adore reversals!)
Perhaps Alice introduced something ever-so-potent into his afternoon tea...(you will find that he is actually carrying an empty mug if you look closely enough).....a bit of a turn-around, i know, but i did actually dream this, in all honesty, except that I was the one sitting upon the table. I had been reading this at the time, so i suppose it makes sense.....if you think about it.


A small list of dream influenced motifs that seem to recur in my work:

Birds

Desert (thankyou Bryce!)

Trees

Floatiness (see suki in the sky for a good example)

Deserted buildings (Don't be tempted to analyse this one, it gives me the fear)

Rabbits (just in case you hadn't noticed)

And

I appear to have a strange interest in Top Hats.




************************************



Also, i cannot resist the urge to share my unadulterated joy after having purchased these two images today ( i feel that they truly belong to this present theme)  -
.




.
Both images are by the frighteningly gifted ohmycavalier

I'm so taken with this work that i can't find the right words to express it addequately. To be speechless is often quite the compliment:)

I also love this by missplum (look at those beady eyes!)

and this by sarahblank (more for my book of dreams..)



***************************************



I have a sneaky feeling that this post might turn out to be a little on the fragmented side, because i have become distracted by the singing of several top-hatted tomcats outside, performing a midnight rendition of 'Macbeth', Roman Polanski style......(one of my favourite films, actually)!

I'm extremely sorry if i make no sense whatsoever:))

I shall leave you with this...........

`Now, Kitty, let's consider who it was that dreamed it all. This is a serious question, my dear, and you should not go on licking your paw like that--as if Dinah hadn't washed you this morning! You see, Kitty, it must have been either me or the Red King. He was part of my dream, of course--but then I was part of his dream, too! Was it the Red King, Kitty? You were his wife, my dear, so you ought to know--Oh, Kitty, do help to settle it! I'm sure your paw can wait!' But the provoking kitten only began on the other paw, and pretended it hadn't heard the question.

Which do you think it was?'

............................

SweetDreams 

♥

xxx

17 Things........

.

...............You might not want to know about me, but shall unwittingly do so by the end of this post.

I had heard, if only briefly, about the 'tagging' craze, but like many things in this life, i hadn't imagined that it was ever going to happen to me.
(which means it pretty much will happen to me)
Well, it has, and doubly so, all in the space of 12 tiny hours.
Two very lovely blog friends (Marjorie and Kiwi) decided to tag me at practically the exact same time, so unlike the usual how-do-you-do, i have a grand total of seventeen to attend to all at once - and i am going to take a very deep breath, then begin......

.....after sharing my very latest little picture, that is ( I am ever so slightly incapacitated at the minute, so yes, there is only the one for tonight. And the nature of my incapacitation? Well my mind has been wandering far beyond the confines of photoshop cs2, and quite happily so -which doesn't happen every day i can tell you!)

I haven't yet decided upon a title for this work, i have a feeling that it isn't quite complete. Perhaps it is, there is definitely something quite 'contained' about these little ladies and their uncaged companions. Something they know which we do not, which is often the way it just goes with my characters. They are waiting for me to try and figure them out, and yet they couldn't care less what i think! 
I just love it when this happens. The image/scene becomes something like a little narrative that i have to follow, like following breadcrumbs through the forest, searching for the secret that the characters are keeping....i don't know....so luxuriously, to themselves.

..............................................................

But tonight isn't the night for secrets, evidently. My 17 Things beckon!

.

Okay. The first seven are to include

'7 random facts/habits about myself':

.

1.  I am, by nature, a night owl, preferring to go to sleep with the coming of the dawn.

2.  I collect stones in glass jars. And twigs, on occasion. Something i seem to have in common with my beloved Lady Fuchsia (Gormenghast).

3.  I can read upside-down and backwards without any confusion or difficulty at all, which i first discovered, much to everyone else's surprise, at the age of three.

4.  I love the colour red and the number 6.

5.  Contrary to what you might possibly assume after reading the previous two 'facts', i have not made a Faustian pact with the devil.

6.  I still have a 'baby tooth' in my head. The dentist said it was ok.  (?)

7.  I long to live in a cold climate. The more snow, ice and rain, the better.

Round two now, my '10 little known facts':

1.  I have a horrifying fear of those little holes in sieves, mincers, graters, anything of that sort. I have yet to discover what it actually means. Somebody once (quite innocently)
presented me with a plastic sheet that had thousands of tiny holes punctured into it.......within seconds i became a powerless, writhing mess at said persons feet.

2.  I am passionately in love with foxes. It isn't quite your average 'affliction': Just the mere sight of one can reduce me to tears, instantly.

3.  Up until the age of seven, i though i was a tree.
This isn't a little known fact, really, but it ought to be to my internet contacts. When the fatal day dawned, and i realised that my favourite tree on the farm where grew up was not actually a part of me, thinking my thoughts and feeling my feelings, i was seriously devastated. This one is a little difficult to explain without sounding crazy. Perhaps it relates to having recognised my individuality and separateness from the world around me, which i'm sure i may have read somewhere as being quite a common experience for children of a similar age. Maybe most people don't remember the actual occasion...?

4.  I get ridiculously excited each and every time i see a star in the sky, and positively ecstatic when the clouds roll back, revealing the moon.

5.  I have never understood why anybody would ever want to be famous.

6.  I have a middle name, Marie.

7.  My hair is naturally curly.   

8.  My emotions and feelings are in continuous conflict with my intellect.

9.  I am very fond of Shakespeare.

10.  I love everything about October; the onset of Autumn especially.


So there you have them. Little bits of Louise:)


...................................................................


Before i leap off into the starry dawn, i would like to share these:


My beautiful new MarmeeCraft purchase, 'Tendrils' (thankyou muchly, it is now perfectly framed!)

.

And two of my favourite etsy artists images from the past week...


At Sea in a Teacup by myfolklover

Kitty Blank Greetings Card by curioddities

.

And very very finally, a picture of myself, unmanipulated (it had to happen eventually) with my beloved little minx......

 

The grating coyness present in this image was not intended:))) But my mother likes it, because the appearance of a smile in a photograph of Louise is a very rare occurrence indeed!

nightynight

xxx

................................................................

Gotta tag some folks, as is the rules, so here goes:

Gill   Teresa   Maren  Kim 

This is to pass on either 7things or 10 things, not the 17 altogether!

If any of the above people do not wish to participate, or have already done so, please forgive me, i will remove your name right away:)

GhostsandArt

There's something about ghosts, it seems.

.

(Green Ghosts/The children of Green Knowe, by me:)

.

I am not really referring to the well-worn concept of the 'spook' here, but more so to my own impressions and feelings about ghosts.
To me, they are a beautiful metaphor; like fairies, in one sense, and really quite devoid of the usual macabre associations of which they are so famously related. I seem to have a natural predilection for all things spectral - this is quite evident in my obsession with ghost stories, ghost films and even more so, my art.

So what do they mean to me?
I'm still trying to work that one out! But i do believe that my fascination is primarily expressive of a more positive relationship to the theme, as opposed to a morbid fascination with fear, death and terror that might so readily spring to mind - although it must be said that i do enjoy cavorting with shadows on occasion, quite on purpose, because I am a law unto myself.  
I suppose, in many ways, that I'm leaning towards the poetical, the mysterious, the ethereal, the potential with my ghosts.
They allude to my dreams (in which i meet the deceased quite often), those fleeting wonders that assist inspiration, like thoughts and ideas made manifest...or almost.

And my cat likes ghosts, too, ok? especially White Ladies.

(I am also aware that the concept of 'ghosts' will have completely varied significance for each and every one of us (culturally, religious, etc). For some, they are the souls of the departed, electrical anomalies, the embodiment of horror, absolute stuff and nonsense, or manifestations of the unconscious mind, etc, etc. So i do not intend to start up a discussion about what ghosts actually are, by any means - i simply wish to waffle, as i am prone to do on occasion:)

The Playroom

I just like the idea of endless possibilities and potential. That child-like openness again, which i have mentioned before, creeping into my love of imagery and words. The above image encapsulates this very concept, for me. I was recalling a book from my childhood at the time, called 'The Children of Green Knowe' a story about a young boy who goes to stay with his old, eccentric aunt at an old English country house, haunted by the ghosts of three small children who had at one time occupied the very attic room where Tolly (the boy) now slept. Steeped in the type of fictional imagery that i adore (forests that whisper, rooms with secrets, hidden doors and curious creatures that inhabit ancient trees), this particular book, and it's long lost BBC dramatised accompaniment, must have had a great effect on me. And so have many other such stories and films; dark perhaps, yet rarely devoid of warmth, love and adventure.

Little Apparition


And this little wraith is one of my favourite ghosts of all. The stairs had collapsed inside of my dollshouse, so i decided to make the most of it! I cannot decide whether she is a visiting apparition, exploring the rooms of a home she once knew, or whether she is suspended in time, stranded at the scene of a previous existence which is no longer a part of this world.

I am also enchanted by the possibility of her actually being a living creature, dreaming this scene in which she appears as a projection of her self.
I have often flirted with this idea, especially after dreaming about the areas where i grew up. We had a farm, surrounded by fields and streams, rambling woods and long, winding dirt paths that lead to who knows where (I still perceive it with a child's mind). And when i dream of this place, which is quite often, i can almost imagine myself actually appearing there, as a sort of transparent, hazy figure, snooping around the hedgerows and apple trees...... which aren't even there anymore - they eventually tore it all apart and built a housing estate over the landscape of my memories, but such is life:(

The ghosts of memory - perhaps the most haunting of all.



Bridey's Ghosts (Garden Dreams)

These were taken from a project that i worked on with a friend, consisting of paper collage, photography and crepe paper.
'Bridey's Ghosts' was the story of a girl's transition from innocence and naivete towards self knowledge and awareness. The process is painful but also quite beautiful, and that, of course was the entire point. The images utilised the ghost metaphor throughout; allowing me to express the inexpressible, capturing those essential yet intangible landmarks and awakenings integral to a young womans life - in much the same way as a fairytale might utilise the motif of a frog becoming a prince, as a metaphor for transition.

And so it seems, my ghosts are quite as often constructs of the mind and emotions, a visual representation of the transient, just as often as they are products of a playful imagination. I dare say they make up the more thoughtful, 'intellectual' portion of my works, at the same time attempting to throttle the intellect into giving itself up to the impossible.

I'm left handed, you know, it causes havoc ^_^

And my last ghostly offering for the evening....


Mirror with a Memory



What do YOU see in the glass?


I so wish that i could elaborate more on this theme, perhaps it could be part of another blog post.....especially my thoughts and musings with regards to the use of ghosts in film, literature and so on. But time will not allow it, alas, so please accept the following spectral weblinks as a humble expression of my apologies - i have some long, overdue art to attend to...and a handful of ghosts besides;)



**********************************



And now for those ghostie links...you know you want to:)


.  Ghosts in film

.  More ghosts in film

.  Ghosts in photography (like, really) sheesh!

.  The Ghost Story

.  Phantasmagoria (again!)

.  Edith Wharton - The Ghost Feeler

.  The Virago Book of Victorian Ghost Stories

.  Symbolist Art

.  Arthur Machen, also here

.  Ghostly Showgirls by gilfling

.  Print of Ghost by shannondzikas

.  The Ghostly Cradle by MarmeeCraft

.  Dancing Ghosts Mobile by collabolabo

.  Untitled Apple Doll Print by thisisblaise



**************************************




On that note i will leave you for the night!
Enjoy your bedtime reading:)

take care

xxx