Jennet Device

I recently watched a documentary called The Pendle Witch Child about A 9 year old girl who testified against her whole family in a witchcraft trial in 1612.
Read her story here

I was so inspired by this story and the fact this young child condemned and most probably watched her own mother and family members hang.
Jennet eventually ended up on trial for witchcraft herself years later.
Here is my interpretation of her.

Etsy and Vintage Halloween

I have recently developed an addiction to Etsy, I've been buying some interesting new additions to my collection and generally browsing for hours.

during one late night Etsy binge I stumbled into the world of vintage Halloween items, and I just love them! I have been drooling over vintage boxed costumes from Collegeville and Ben Cooper.
I bought this lovely 1950s Devil costume, it has abit of a Casper the Friendly Ghost style to it.

It's inspired me to start drawing again, I have an idea for a series of images that i'll produce as small prints based on this vintage Halloween vibe I'm loving at the moment.
Today I found an old piece of backing card from a picture frame and I loved the old. browned paper, so I did a quick sketch on this.

Disfigured

I was sorting my old bureau out and I found an unfinished piece of work from years ago, I must have not liked it at the time and shoved it in the bureau, but on seeing it again I loved it and really wanted to finish it.

This was what I had to start me off, I got my super fine liners out again and got to work on it.
I'm really happy with the results, seeing as I haven't done any drawing in way too long

I will be back!

I feel I've been neglecting this blog lately, I've recently started a new job and my modelling is going from strength to strength, but I have plenty of things to post here over the next few months.

I love these collage images by French Poet and Screenwriter Jacques Prevert, I love them, especially the first one.

                                                                           La Lune

Childrens Stories Illustrated

Over the past few weeks i've been working on a series of illustrations based on some of my favourite traditional childrens stories.

Little Red Riding Hood
"Oh Grandma, what big Teeth you have"



The Three little Pigs
"The Wolf blew the house down and ate the first little pig"



Goldilocks and the three Bears
"I know who's been sleeping in my bed" Said little bear, "and she's still here"



Hansel and Gretel
"Gretel pushed her in and ran away, the godless witch was burned to death"



Little Red Shoes
"The executioner struck off her feet with the little red shoes, but the shoes danced away with the little feet across the feilds"



Gerda and the Reindeer
"Gerda ran over to the Reindeer, threw her arms around its neck, and laying her cheek against its soft muzzle, said 'please help me to find my friend'

Abit of my own stuff

I've just realised its been a long time since I posted my own artwork on here, and in the last couple of months I have done a few pieces that i am really happy with, so I thought i'd share them

Calvin Black

Calvin Black was a folk artist who lived in California's Mojave Desert and created more than 80 life-size female dolls, each with its own personality, function, and costume. He also built the "Bird Cage Theater," where the dolls perform and sing in voices recorded by the artist.

Possum Trot was a roadside attraction operated for more than twenty-five years by Calvin and Ruby Black. During the Depression, the Blacks, born and raised in the Deep South, headed to California to try their fortunes. In 1953, they moved to a parcel of land near Yermo that they had bought, sight unseen, through a magazine advertisement. Their land, as it turned out, was in the Mojave Desert on a desolate stretch of Highway 15. The Blacks, planning to take advantage of the growing popularity of car travel, opened a rock and mineral shop but did little business. To attract customers, Calvin created an evolving environment that eventually included a carousel and other wind-driven constructions, totem poles, a model train that stretched along the highway, and wooden dolls that posed in tableaux, drove carriages across the shop's roof, and kicked their legs and waved their arms.

Calvin carved and painted the dolls, using fragments of redwood scavenged from fallen telephone poles for the heads and bodies and pine for the legs, arms, and noses. Ruby fashioned clothes for the girls from cast-off dresses and fabric found in the local dump. The Blacks' fifty-seven dolls became the center of their world, and Calvin devised a "Fantasy Doll Show" in a ramshackle building named The Bird Cage Theater. Inspired by his previous work in a carnival, Calvin composed entertaining songs, music, and dialogue that he warbled in a high-pitched voice. He installed tape recorders into the singing figures and attached moving rods to some of their arms and legs to make them dance. The childless couple lavished attention on their dolls, buying them perfume and jewelry from tips that visitors were encouraged to leave for their favorites.


to see a short film about Possum trot, go here http://www.folkstreams.net/film,105