Art&Ghosts Blog

Spirited Away.....

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Christmas was weird.

On Christmas eve my sisters beloved cat died after a long and painful illness. Our spirits were pretty low to say the least. Ok, it was awful, devastating for us all, a Christmas that we are unlikely to ever forget...for very painful reasons. But, we are at least relieved to know that she isn't suffering now, and that we were lucky to have had her in our lives at all, if only for six short years.

So, I have decided to take a week out from my shop and take a little rest. A much needed holiday. A week of reading, relaxing, long, hot bubble baths and setting myself the surreal task of making strange little sketches in a previously untouched moleskine that I have been far too precious about 'defacing' for over six or seven months now (!). That ought to cheer me up a little. 

I have been making little photographs around the house these past few days. It took my mind off less pleasant (although understandable) associations. No new 'work', as yet, but i would like to share some of my favourite things from over the Christmas period...cards, gifts, self bought treasures, my kitten....

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Comforting oneself with dreaminess, and the perfection of the winter light...

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(Top left to bottom right)

1. Experiments with sugar paper. I call it sugar paper, but I have no idea what it is exactly. I just pushed it over the lens for fun. My old favourite pva glue streaked paper layer that ages photographs so nicely.

2. My Lounge Tree. Dawn light, silence all around. A beautiful moment. I try to photograph this tree each season because i adore it's many guises. Now it is resting. Soon, it shall be covered in wild pink blossom. And you know, i much prefer it this way, my skeleton tree, my fog-cloaked, bare-naked sweetheart)

3. My beautiful Marie Antoinette pendant (made by DarkEleganceDesigns) as featured in my last installment of The Wonder Cabinet. 

4. Me. Shortly after the bad news on Xmas eve. I chose to make a photomontage depicting the clouds dispersing, a rainbow forming through the centre. 

Still roaming through rainbow land after my fling with Lula Magazine last week.

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Oh! It's Miss Piggy........

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My precious new Piggy doll, a gift from Vanessa.

1. A fine example of Piggy Haircraft (as seen in the latest edition of Le Hogge magazine, Paris). Here she is sporting the notorious 'up do'. How versatile those locks!

2. The golden flowing waterfall 'do'. Such glamour.

3. Sporting my Blythe's afro. Moog, my Blythe doll is none too pleased. Miss Piggy, of course, interprets the Moog's recent display of hostility towards her as a hideous form of deep rooted jealousy. I am sure that she is right.

4. Her Jewellery. This lady likes to accessorize.p

Antlers, 

  

For some unknown reason, my face is kinda warped here. Or else it has warped quite naturally in reality without me noticing it. I love this Ikea blanket. I have been wearing it, sari fashion, since Christmas eve. I do not actually intend my self portraits to be an eternal advert for Ikea or the very lovely AshleyG, but this is the best spot in the house for light, you know....and Ikea suits my budget. It also happens to be the only home furnishings store within a three thousand mile radius of my town. 

His favourite game of recent days is tearing through the house with this clump of tinsel around his neck. It was due to be thrown away, but I couldn't bear the thought of parting him from it. The strangest little thing............

So, I hope that you have all experienced a very pleasant Christmas, and I shall be sending out heaps of my best wishes for the New Year!

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My latest (and last for now!) purchase, a hand carved fox mask by merimask. I will likely get landed with a tedious customs charge for this one, but I had to have it. Trust me.

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Enjoy!

xxxxxx

Over the Rainbow..

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Art & Ghosts in rainbow mood..........sugary, whimsical, lighthearted versions of previous images that I have been busy re-working for a piece in Lula magazine.

Multicoloured stripes are my new obsession.

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The Architecture of Dreams (Rainbow Version)

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The image does seem a little hazy, likely due to the fact that I used watercolour layers and a thin sheet of crepe paper over the original. I was going for an 'after the rain' effect.

See the original here.

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The Somnambulist (Rainbow Version)

 

Her favourite new outfit, it seems. Haven't been able to persuade her to wear anything else since. I'm having fun with these new combinations, and may attempt some more as soon as i have the free time to dabble!

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I may update within the next few days, but failing that, I would like to wish you all a most enjoyable, peaceful, supremely magical christmas!

Back soon xxxxxxxxxx

The Destiny of Trees, and other stories...

I appear to still be working with the 'nature' theme. Something stirs within me; my dreams, mysterious, are leading me through a vast, endless forest, populated with curious characters, ancient sounds, and that irresistible aura of adventure. Really.

And they tend not to quit on waking.

I have been furiously busy this past week (worrying myself purple over postal deadlines to boot). Working from home has this peculiar effect on me - it seems as though the work never stops. Ever. Perhaps I will get the hang of it eventually, who knows. At the very least i have enjoyed two exquisite, hedonistic, transcendental nights of unbridled self expression out of the past seven. I cannot complain, for somehow this 'restriction' tends to render the eventual creative liberty almost holy. I was literally drunk with inspiration by the time I could actually sit down and play with my pictures again. I imagine what might happen if you locked me up for a year then released me............it may strike you as over the top, but there's no denying a fact)

So, I continued (or elaborated upon) the nature theme. The concept of returning to nature, whether symbolically (as in the discovery of our true selves) or literally, as in a surrender to the passionate wilds (to which my heart belongs).

There.

And trees. They are a huge feature here. I am fiercely protective of them almost as much as i am of foxes. It often disturbs me, but so do most things that move me on a primitive level. A love that knows no restrictions, no bounds. And trees, they like me, too, I think. Well, they better had.

And this is the only way i know of translating such potent feelings - In pictures:

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And a Rose Grows Over the Stones

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Bliss is sifting through the rubble for that lost key.

OK, that wasn't entirely the point, nor was it terribly serious, but there is some truth in it. I think that i am attempting to illustrate the idea that the search for what we desire may as well be enjoyable...elevating even, an adventure. She knows, of course. She may appear blind, but this is simply my way of expressing the obvious; what she seeks in not without. The houses represent the self, although I'm sure that some of you are getting quite used to (or even bored with) my Jungian prattle by now.

I'm very fond of this image. It pleases almost as much as The Architecture of Dreams, which is possibly my all time favourite creation.

The Music Room

I love the idea of the hair becoming 'lyrical', or at least expressive of a state of mind. In this instance, we have very content hair that likes to dream. It has a penchant for sweet harmonies and sudden cessations of gravity. Poetry hair.

The Allure of Lost Lands

 

Something about this image moves me beyond words. It is the feeling alone that does this to me. Technically, I'm not so sure about her hair, or the horizon, yet it does not deviate remotely from the concept that inspired it. Liberation, a sense of belonging - to eternity, to the winds and the rain and the timelessness of the earth beneath your feet. The rhythm of the earth is in her blood. She is quite possibly Irish, of Erin, and not altogether mortal.

And now, a temporary break in the theme........some brand new anomalies and a portrait of 'Us':

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Penny Farthing

 

And finally, a somewhat deranged portrait of myself and the Kitten..

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A Portrait of Us

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This is hilarious! We both so seriously aspire to that luscious crimson love seat.

Heavily manipulated, apart from the boy.

Enjoy!

Loup xxxxxx