and paper shoes all in a row………….
November 22, 2009
Carol, Carol quite contrary, how does your garden grow?
with silver bells and cockle shells and paper “shoes” all in a row
Painting with words – tutorial
November 22, 2009
Sunday what a sunday, the wind is howling and the rain is coming down in sheets, so happy to b e indoors and in the warm. From my window I can see people walking their dogs on the common, looking miserable and wet, not the dogs though they dont seem to mind. I decided I would like to try some new painting effects with Photoshop, and here it is.
Using an image of my daughter Kirsty and her partner Yao I used a paint brush made of their names, some masks and hey presto. Actually it was a piece of cake because I followed a tutorial on adobe ! click here to access.
I love photoshop, but there is much to learn and it does seem overwhelming at times,however playing with all the filters, paint brushes etc and making something pleasing is very satisfying.
Dia de los Muertos
November 21, 2009
Day of the Dead, its passed now, November 1st. Inspired by Moctezuma exhibition at the British Museum.
A day to celebrate the deceased and enjoy their memories. I like this, it s a day when families go to clean up and decorative their ancestors graves, everyone comes out, street vendors selling sugar skulls, music, fiesta, brightly coloured paper ornaments. I picked up a few paper skeletons whilst at the museum, it was really interesting, although it lacked something, cant quite put my finger on it.
Playing around with the images I came up with the following
,
kathy dalwood studio blog
November 21, 2009
I came across Kathy’s inspiring blog this morning, sipping my coffee, reading emails, checking through updates etc, as one does, croissant dunking with one hand and tapping with the other. Wonderful creative image this, an idyllic french mademoiselle is being revealed in the cast concrete…….. an extreme hard edge material. Her soft smooth flesh, her alluring smile, the swirling swag of her skirt, the delicate flowers……. all so perfect. There are many like this fully completed and more, I recommend you visit her site, there is much here to inspire
Vivienne Westwood
November 21, 2009
Mmmmmmm I like this, a new purchase I think
The Frog by Hillaire Belloc
November 20, 2009
A priceless ode to Billy Bandyknees – especially for my dear friend Seanpaul whos frogs appear in the image and were my inspiration for this blog
Selected verses from
The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts
- Be kind and tender to the Frog,
- And do not call him names,
- As “Slimy skin,” or “Polly-wog,”
- Or likewise “Ugly James,”
- Or “Gap-a-grin,” or “Toad-gone-wrong,”
- Or “Bill Bandy-knees”:
- The Frog is justly sensitive
- To epithets like these.
- No animal will more repay
- A treatment kind and fair;
- At least so lonely people say
- Who keep a frog (and, by the way,
- They are extremely rare).
by Hillaire Belloc
Mr Kapoor’s work – just in case you don’t get to go see the Anish Kapoor exhibition
November 20, 2009
I sauntered around Anish Kapoor’s exhibition last Sunday at the Royal Academy, London, rather amazed and wowed by the colour and scale of it all. However as the days have gone by, and now its Friday, I cannot seem to get the “red” out of my mind especially the huge leviathan that glides so slowly that you don’t even realise its moving……… Its blood, its pain, anger, anguish, sorrow and oh so SILENT. Is it the pain and suffering in the world that we choose not to notice as we go about sleepwalking in our daily life. Or is the red congealed petroleum jelly / wax/ blood train shaped like a giant loaf of bread really our “daily bread” is this what we are being fed by the media onslaught…….. Oh gosh I could go on with some totally over the top metaphors that would be unprintable here, my creative mind gone wild
Morphing 7
November 19, 2009
this image was part of a morphing series which started out as small eggs, all I could do for a few weeks was to draw these shapes. They were full, ripe, bursting to take on a new life, but frustratingly I could not seem to move. Then one day, I drew them with sprouting life, like seeds germinating, the floodgates opened and the small egg shaped “seeds” grew long tendrils, and gradually morphed into fluid body shapes . Unusually never with heads, just long “searching” tendrils, both male and female forms who nurtured “eggs” of their own,
This time I felt the need to create a tributary, take one of the images into a new direction, chose morphed image no. 7 and these are the results
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Anish Amour
November 18, 2009
Aren’t these magnificent………………. Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy was amazing, only had my iphone to sneak a few pics, they all turned out rubbish, guess its because cameras are not allowed! I thoroughly recommend you go visit the show before it closes in December, it really is quite something.
Anish Amour, originally uploaded by carolg2007.
If you go down to the woods today ……. dream
November 14, 2009
“The greatest achievement was at first, and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities”
James Allen (statesman)
so when you go for a walk in this deep dark woods of the soul, listen………… underfoot things are stirring.
I took creative inspiration from the quote and created this image. Its layered from photographs I have taken in nature, ferns unfurling, grasses swaying, teasels drying in the hot sun and sketches that I drew from my own souls journey .
YOu can see more on this image at http://www.livingenergyhealer.com
Transformation, from 3D to a wall of mosaics
November 11, 2009
Persephone needed to keep moving, she rose from the depths and transformed herself from three dimension to a creative wall design and then a a mosaic design to cover a full wall………….
Persephone
November 8, 2009
`playing with a ball of clay this afternoon, cant believe she appeared, a sense of real strength sprung from my fingers, she feels so free, so free its scary, there is a part of me thats down with Persephone ………….
Addendum: I just realised that I went to see Julia Cameron speak (artists way book) the previous day, it was quite challenging and bought up a lot of childhood images, I see now my “form” is my unconscious self that is bursting to get out. There is nothing to be afraid of.
Prayer to Persephone
Be to her, Persephone,
All the things I might not be:
Take her head upon your knee.
She that was so proud and wild,
Flippant, arrogant and free,
She that had no need of me,
Is a little lonely child
Lost in Hell,—Persephone,
Take her head upon your knee:
Say to her, “My dear, my dear,
It is not so dreadful here.” Edna St. Vincent Millay
All the things I might not be:
Take her head upon your knee.
She that was so proud and wild,
Flippant, arrogant and free,
She that had no need of me,
Is a little lonely child
Lost in Hell,—Persephone,
Take her head upon your knee:
Say to her, “My dear, my dear,
It is not so dreadful here.” Edna St. Vincent Millay
Flickr: Your Photostream.
The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron at Alternatives
November 7, 2009
I am just home from day spent with Julia Cameron at Alternatives, London.
This book inspired me some years back when it was offered for sale when I completed the Hoffman Process. However, it was a year or so later before I actually picked up the book and 6 months after that I decided to make a start on the 12 week programme. I made a start but didnt finish the entire book, however the morning pages part of the programme I kept up for some while, and then then that wained.
Then Alternative in London posted in their newsletter that Julia was coming to London to teach her programmed in the UK for the first time, I jumped at the chance and today my enthusiasm to complete the 12 weeks has been re-ignited.
For those of you who dont know about the morning pages or the artists dates which form the pivotal tools in creative recovery please follow this link http://www.theartistsway.com/pdfs/basictools.pdf
Les Trois Inventeurs – Michel Ocelot
November 5, 2009
A really charming, whimsical and creative piece of paper cut animation by Michel Ocelot
Brilliant animation
November 3, 2009
Live Dulcima peformance combined with a whimsical and beautiful 1926 Animation, a wonderful evening spent at the De la Warr Pavillion last Frida. . The Adventures of Prince Achmed was the first feature length animation film in the history of the cinema. It is a ‘silhouette film’. Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981) was the inventor of this genre. Work on The Adventures of Prince Achmed began in 1923. It was released in 1926. This wonderful animation film is full of adventure, lyrical sensuality, magic and romance, playful humour, strong female characters, exciting bat- tles and sinister evil. The story was inspired by elements taken from the Tale of the 1001 Arabian Nights. The Adventures of Prince Achmed is one of those rare and timeless films that appeal across the complete age range. The beauty and intricate detail of Reiniger’s exquisite filigree artwork is of the highest quality. She was inspired by Chinese and Indonesian shadow plays and adapted this ancient art for the cinema. The distinctive combination of silhouette characters, colour tinted landscapes and backgrounds is unique and profoundly evocative and seductive. Moreover, the use of silhouette characters leaves the imagination free to soar in response to the sensuality and magic of the story. We are treated to a splendid cast: Prince Achmed, Princess Peri Banu, the Witch of the Fiery Mountain, the Evil Sorcerer, The Magic Horse, Aladdin,xPrincess Dinarzade and The Caliph. The fact that all the characters are silhouettes is fundamental to the essence and power of the film. The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a captivat ing and beautiful work of art. It is a magnificent example of stop frame animation and consists of three hundred thousand separate frames. It is undoubtedly one of the shining gems in the history of cinema and is widely acknowledged as a masterpiece. It is the ‘haute couture’ of animation. Lotte Reiniger was a pioneer who dedicated her life to creating silhouettes. She made more than eighty animation films. The original prints of The Adventures of Prince Achmed featured colour-tinted backgrounds. Working from surviving nitrate prints, German and British archivists restored the film and managed to incorporate the original tinted backgrounds, which in their dynamic interaction with the silhouette characters are crucial to the aesthetic of the film. Prints available just prior to the restoration had only been in black and white. Geoff Smith’s new score for The Adventures of Prince Achmed has been inspired and led by Lotte Reiniger’s genius. He has attempted to do justice to her achievement. For the performance of the soundtrack Geoff uses numerous prototype Hammered dulcimers, one being the first ‘Fluid dulcimer’ incorporating his revolutionary ‘microtonal fluid tuning mechanism’ patent, without which it would have been impossible to compose and perform the soundtrack. For further information regarding this invention and some of its historic implications please refer to the Guardian newspa- per article ‘Composer reinvents the piano’.
Geoff Smith’s pioneering score for The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a revelation in the composition and performance of live music for animation. He has dedicated himself to exploring the wider spectrum of musical choices that his invention offers, so that in the composition of the score it has been possible to respond in more intimate, expressive and expanded detail to this unique and uplifting film. His immensely dynamic score illuminates and emphasises Lotte Reiniger’s aesthetic obsession, consummate artistry and passionate commitment to story telling.
