Now who's the fairest of them all?

Hello lovelies! The next illustration for my  upcoming book Wounds: New Openings Into Old Stories which will be on display at my book launch is finished. 

This is a Snow White story as you may have guessed from the clue. The poem it represents is entitled Life's Rich Pageant.  I have always been curious as to why the stepmother was so jealous of her stepdaughter's beauty in Snow White, but as a woman who is nearly 50 years old I am beginning to understand. 

Men are allowed to age but women are not. We see this in Hollywood. An older man is a "silver fox" but a middle aged woman is too old to play the love interest of the leading man once she gets to a certain age. Case in point-- the actress Maggie Gyllenhaal was told that at age 37 she was too old to play the love interest of a 55 year old man in a film!

This poem deals with the fact that many women are told all of their lives that their only value is their looks. That at age 33 a husband might be considering trading his wife in for a younger model because her looks are fading.  In the poem the woman tries to punish her blond and sun kissed stepdaughter by giving her a makeover and forcing her into bulimia and beauty pageants.

In the traditional fairy tale her stepmother tries to kill her through lacing her corset too tight with coloured ribbons,  a poisoned comb and the poisoned apple. Here she gives her a makeover to look like the description of Snow White of the story -- as black as ebony, as red as blood and as white as snow. Black hair dye is more likely to give you bladder cancer and red lipstick contains lead. These are her poisons.

This ends up backfiring for both of them. 

Just a few more and then the illustrations will be done. I should be announcing the book launch date as soon as they are all done so stay tuned!

Mirror mirror on the wall

Hello lovelies! Here is the next clue for my companion artwork to accompany my upcoming book Wounds : New Openings Into Old Stories.  

This one is my take on a traditional fairy tale.  It has to do with aging and beauty and jealousy. Can you guess what it is?

 I am actually about half way done with this one as I forgot to post the clue. Oops! I have procrastinated on this one as it was such a tricky one to create an image that reflected the poem. I think when I finally decided what to do I just got stuck in and forgot the clue!

This one I hope will be finished on Sunday and then there are only three more plus the cover to make. Then I need to back them all and finish them around tbd edges with bias tape. Phew!

The curse has come upon me

Hello lovelies! The next companion  illustration for my upcoming book Wounds: New Openings Into Old Stories.  

I said in my clue post that it was a mythical creature associated with the moon and blood.  Well done if you said werewolf.

In many ways puberty for girls is like becoming a werewolf.  Not just because you sprout hair everywhere and are affected by the moon, but because starting your period is often referred to as getting "the curse."

I did some research about period art and there is some fascinating artwork out there where women use their own menstrual blood to paint. I wanted to figure out a way to replicate this in fabric. I did think briefly about  splattering paint. I wanted to try to create something menstrual as well as something like a horror film. I found this great open weave burgundy fabric which gave a bubbly splatter effect as well as being more the colour of menstrual blood as opposed to murder blood.


The title of the story is The Curse Has Come Upon Me Cried.  It is a play on a line from a famous poem. Can you name the poem?

The next illustration is a bit fiddly so may take until the weekend.

Blood moon

Hello lovelies! Here's the next clue for the next companion illustration  to accompany my upcoming book Wounds: New Openings Into Old Stories.  

This is a story about a a mythical creature associated with the moon and blood. I was particularly influenced by the amazing horror film Ginger Snaps if that helps.

This should be an easy one!

What were you wearing the night of the alleged assault?

Hello lovelies! I have just completed my next companion artwork for my upcoming book Wounds: New Openings Into Old Stories. 

Many of you guessed it would be a Red Riding Hood tale because of the red velvet fabric. This illustration is for my short story  The Trial of Emily Scarlett. This three part short story is a trial transcript and features her testimony, his testimony  and the verdict. It is based on the Brock Turner trial where "a young man with a promising future" got a very light sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. His own father said in his pleas for leniency that his son  should not be punished so severely for "20 minutes of action." It is also based on my own high school experience where athletes were allowed to sexually harass girls and suffered no repercussions because "boys will be boys" and to take our complaints seriously would mean we might lose the championship.

I wanted the illustration to be very simple. I found this gorgeous Christmas fabric in Swansea. I loved the forest green backdrop and the gold trees. It was a perfect way to suggest a forest. I wanted to give the feeling of how small and powerless she felt as the wolf loomed over her. I purposely did not give her any features on her face for this reason. Victim blaming takes away your voice. 

The lettering may be hard to read. Some of that is intentional.  I wanted a gold fabric to coordinate with the gold trees. It doesn't photograph particularly well as it is shiny, but it also has the effect of distorting the words. What a victim of sexual assault was wearing is a blurred lines issue and I wanted the text to reflect this distorted way of thinking. No matter what a person is wearing they do not want to be sexually assaulted.  

The next illustration is a quick one so should be done by Tuesday I hope. Stay tuned for a clue. 

To grandmother's house we go...

Hello lovelies! The next clue for the accompanying illustration for my upcoming book Wounds: New Openings Into Old Stories is here.

This clue should be very obvious because of the red velvet fabric and the forest-y background fabric. 

This is an interesting story that appears in three parts and deals with victim blaming. 

It is a fairly easy one to make so I hope to have it done by Sunday. 

She was defiled. She was unclean.

Hello lovelies! It has taken me ages to complete this companion illustration for my upcoming  book Wounds: New Openings Into Old Stories but it is finally ready. I am so pleased with it.

I gave you a hint that it was a mythical creature that was associated with virgins. Well done for those who guessed vampire.

This comes from the story The Call of the Owl which deals with the importance placed on virginity, especially in religious and rural communities and the consequences of breaking with culteral traditions . I was influenced by the play The Crucible about the Salem witch trials as well as descriptions of honour killings that I read about in the news.

This story takes place in winter and so I wanted a snowy scene. I ended up using iridescent sequins for snowflakes which i later felt quite bad about due to the fact that they are made of plastic, but i consoled myself with the fact that I will never buy them again.  I used the same shiny red fabric for blood as I did for my illustration about the glass slippers.

I have 7 more to go and then every story in the book will have artwork to go with it. I do hope you can come to the book launch and see it in person.