Apr 27, 2011

Death of a Pushbike












Okay, sorry I've been away so long. I've spent a month making an 'artists' book.

Ahh, before I get jumped on..... that doesn't mean that I'm claiming to be an artist. It just means that I am making a book in the style of an artist's book. They are quite fashionable here. I can tell that because my local art shop no longer sells much art stuff like paints etc. It sells craft things. And all really, really, really really expensive. So expensive that us poor people can no longer afford to be painters - so it's lucky they don't sell paint.

See, it's a self fulfilling prophecy.

Now of course the book is fantastic. As you no doubt guessed from the above image, it's a rewrite of the Hansel and Gretel story from a feminist perspective with particular emphasis on diverse destinies and the intimate relationship of the the melodious noise the witch makes (as she is being burnt to death) to the alto tenor solos heard in many Post Modernist operas....




Before I started this 'artist's' book, I realised I didn't have a clue what I was doing, so I spent several minutes on an intensive internet search of book making methods. After much aaghing and ooohing and bottom scratching I decided to go with the Japanese Folding style book (JSFB). 

Now why a JFSB? 

Well, to my simple mind it looks easy. No fancy doody Coopernook stitches, no expensive book braces, no arithmetical challenges trying to work out how many folios of  blindfolded flour pages I would need for a 17 and a half  tonne tome. All I needed was a realy, really, really, really long piece of paper.

Well, the best laid plans of men and mice doth go astray.

Now if you don't know Japanes Folding books they are one step removed from scrolls. The difference being is that the JSFB is not rolled, but folded like an accordion. 

The book is about 5o pages long (not bad for four weeks work) and each page is landscaped A4 at 297mm long. So that means, from beginning to end, the book is approximately 15 metres long.

15 Meters? That's where the fun starts. 






Now the last time I played with glue and bits of paper I was about six and young enough to make the discovery that glue tasted pretty good. Apart from that, I recall that I was master of the wrinkle stick, the bubble grab, and the 'oh my thumb's stuck to the back of my ear' move..

Now a lot more than forty years later I have rediscovered that, although I can no longer lick the glue off my toes, I am still am a crappy "gluer."

Ahh, but why am I telling you this? It's because I have this theory that I need to put stuff in the blank black spaces between images.






But the really interesting part about making this book is this: You see,  I have discovered that only people who live in really long houses will be able to read it.

Okay, enough rambling.

About this image? 

Okay. To be truthful it's Giselda. You know, that  girl who was imprisoned in the tower and forced by an old witch named Mary to spin gold into straw. 

In this image Giselda has discovered that, by deconstructing her brother's push-bike and adding the pedals to the Spinning wheel, she can do the job in half the time.

 The raven's are, of course the witches pets, left there to spy on the girl's technique. 

Soon, courtesy of her push-bike pedal discovery (PBD), she will soon be replaced by machines and lose her job. She will then be given in wedlock to the first woodsman who wanders by. The woodman will feel sorry for her because of her left eye traumatic cataract, and the really bad scar she has at the base of her neck. They will have eighteen children, all of which will eventually become associated, in some way or the other, with various medical professions.

:) :)

Thank you so much  for looking at my work. Recently I had the honour of having some work posted, along with the wonderful image maker  Ces, on Illustration Poetry

One of the images from my artist's book is there.

Thanks Mita, you rock :)

Apr 9, 2011

Advice for Medieval Monks.












     Sorry I've been away, fell down a well again (as my friend the Labrat noticed). Whilst down the well I was thinking about my work and I realised that a lot of my images were ... err disturbing.  Not to mention the accompanying text.
    Well, they weren't disturbing to me, just to other people.

     Now, contrary to what it might indicate, this doesn't mean that I, personally, am disturbing. That would be like accusing my Wacom of being haunted, or my Cadmium Red Winsor and Newton pigment of being cruel.
    In fact I'm a fun loving guy who loves to grow flowers (dandeloins), vegetables (garlic chives) and rarely pulls the wings off flies -  unless they are really, really annoying me.
   It's just that I do medieval. I like to do Jungian Shadows. And I like teeth.
   Last week I did the Illustration Friday prompt "Duet". I'm sorry I didn't post it.
   It's at the end of this post - which is, you guessed it about the prompt 'Bottled".


   But in truth, this post is about thanking a few friends.
   I've turned off comments for this one. Instead of commenting, can you do me a big favour and visit   Ces and Bella who are organising a fund raiser for the recent Tsunami in Japan? It's a chance to aquire some of their amazing work and help people as well.
   You  can find Ces here. And Bella here.

.





       And my conscience has been bothering me. People I have met through blogging have been exceedingly wonderful to me. I don't know why, I don't think I deserved it one little bit. I've been lucky enough to have been honoured bt being featured on a few blogs - and you know what, I've never said thankyou in the appropriate manner.
      Ugh.





        So here goes. First up I'd like to say thankyou to my friend Janne Robberstad, who in October last year named me as an artist inspirational. Now Janne, if you haven't seen her work, is one of those people who can do anything - and I mean it - and do it with flair. You can see her post here.   Thanks Janne :)
       Please take a look at Janne's work.






Next I'd like to say thanks to Amalia. Amalia's blog 'Art Memoirs' feautures artists from around the world. She featured my work in December last year. The post is here.  Thanks Amalia, that means a wonderful amount to me. If you haven't seen Amalia's own art, then you aint seen nothing!




       And thirdly there's the wonderful Bella. Now I can't really give you a link to that post for various reasons (the main being the opening line of the post), but I can tell you her work is so gorgeous that her last post attracted about 130 comments!
     You can find Bella here.






     Now the last artist I'd like to thank is Jack Foster. If you think my work is odd, strange macabre, well Jack Foster, who makes me laugh like a kid when I see his work (I laugh with it not at it!) has managed to make a small story about it that proves that I am a fun loving guy after all. Thankyou Jack!!!
     Please have a look at his post. It cracked me up. And it makes me look nice.







And lastly, thanks so much to everyone who commented on my last few posts!  You are very kind.