Be a Queen

Be an Alice in Wonderland Queen for the day. Off with your head and all that.
Here I've been very lazy, I've taken art work pre-made from Somerset Studio's latest magazine and then used a cut out card from The Unemployed Philosopher's Guild. And then randomly added snippets of what the Queen banters on about.

If truth be told I am covering up a mistake underneath, you can see part of it at the top which I have tried to conveniently attach/join to the new art work.

Canvasses of New Zealand themed paper tole collage

Here are three canvasses my artist Tatjana Stefanovic completed in 2007. I've been sorting out my studio and found them nestled amongst other things in my wunderkammer.

Here she has used paper tole sheets, combined with vintage images and NZ themed artifacts (e.g. paua shell pieces, wooden Maori motif laser cut chip representing the kite). She has also cut up old scrapbook papers and cards.

The Golden Cockerel

This post today is a bit different. I have done art journalling of a Russian fairy-tale, but because you won't be able to read my handwriting I have typed out the story below for you to enjoy. So grab yourself a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy this fairy-tale.

The Golden Cockerel

A Russian folk story that was made into Rimsky-Korsakov’s Opera: Le Coq D’or

Many hundreds of years ago King Dodon held his Court in old Muscovy. His city was built with the most extravagant fantasy; his palace was sumptuous: his peace-loving people were loyal and he had two sons.

But there was one disturbing factor – the war like neighbours. The worry and expense of organising defence oppressed and bored his majesty, and the advice of his experienced general conflicted with that proffered by his sons, the Princes Guidon and Afron.

Prince Guidon one day suggested consulting the stars; and immediately an astrologer appeared. This personage declared that he could provide King Dodon with a Golden Cockerel, which would send out messages of warning should danger threaten. King Dodon found this solution to his problems difficult to accept at first, but when the Golden Cockerel was produced, and after being presented, declared in a clear voice that his majesty could reign in peace, he was delighted. He accepted the offer of the magical bird, and asked the astrologer to name his reward.

On hearing this question the astrologer began to talk of legal indebtedness and documents – subjects which bored the king to such a degree that he summarily dismissed the astrologer before getting anything settled.

The Golden Cockerel having been installed, King Dodon sank into his luxurious bed and relapsed into slumber, only broken by a dream of a beautiful woman. But soon the Golden Cockerel sounded the alert, and the king’s sons set out at the head of the troops. Their armies fared badly; and in a short while the Golden Cockerel again cried its warming, and the old king was obliged to shake off his lethargy and put on his armour – which had been so long neglected that it was rusty and too small for his ample figure – and sally forth at the head of the remaining troops, followed by the prayers of his loving people, who begged him to avoid running into danger.

When King Dodon reached the scene of action he found tragic proof of the enemy’s success. Corpses were strewn in every direction, and in the centre of the grisly field lay the bodies of his two sons, the Prince Guidon and Afron, each transfixed by a sword, having slain each other by a misapprehension.

At this sight the old king was overcome with grief and burst into tears; but when he had mastered his sorrows sufficiently to look up, his eyes met an astonishing sight. From the stricken field a pavilion, draped in lovely silks, had risen magically; and while the soldiers were apprehensively preparing to defend themselves against attack, a lovely sorceress, the Queen of Shemakhan, stepped forth and invited Dodon and his general to feast with her. The general demurred, and Dodon dismissed him.

The queen then begun to make love to the old king, and he forgot his double bereavement and the nearness of the enemy. In obedience to the cajolings of the sorceress, Dodon even tried to sing and to dance, and, indifferent to the absurd figure he presented, continued to caper and prance until he fell to the ground exhausted yet foolishly triumphant, for the Queen of Shemakhan had promised to become his bride.

A royal procession was then formed to bring the king and his betrothed back to his capital. Dodon and the sorceress rode in a great golden chariot, and their cortège included soldiers, slaves, grotesque giants, dwarfs and one-eyed and dog-headed attendants. A rapturous welcome awaited them on the return to the capital, though the bride’s air of boredom was noticeable to everyone except the besotted king. As soon as they arrived, the sky became overcast, and a clap of thunder heralded the appearance of the astrologer, come to claim his reward for the Golden Cockerel – no less than a demand for the queen of Shemakhan.

At first Dodon imagined this to be a jest, but when he realised that it was a serious claim, he was so overcome with wrath that he struck out with his sceptre at the astrologer – then, feared for the possible results of this rash, impetuous deed, he turned to his bride for consideration, only to be met with peals of laugher, and, which he cowered beneath her scorn, the Golden Cockerel flew towards Dodon and struck him dead with its beak. Thunder sounded once more, night veiled the city; and when the darkness lifted, the Golden Cockerel, the queen and the astrologer had vanished and the sorrowing people were left with the body of their dead king.

More images:

Poster from Bolshoi Russian Ballet and Opera

Kitzeh Golden Cockerel

Pierrot clown ATCs

This is a 7 Gypsies ATC stand that I am currently working on.
So far I have done some pierrot clown ATCs.
These ATCs have primarily been made by just using up odd scraps that were homeless, so I've given them a home as their own ATC and they are now mounted onto a special stand.

I will have more to post shortly.

Doodle Art

I belong to a drawing group and every fortnight we get together just to draw.

So last night it was doodle time for me, the first doodle double page spread was inspired by Indian type images. Originally I was drawings eyes, then a mask and somehow a veil (so that has become somewhat Arabian Nights looking). The opposite page I traced my hand and then added detail to the nails including nail jewellery.

The next two pages were inspired by The Golden Cockerell (a Russian folk story), these two pages didn't quite gel, but it was more about experimenting with colours and shapes more than anything else.

Laptop Make-over

Well my laptop was getting a little grimy and messy so I thought it was about time I changed its skin.

I've done another 'decopatched' job on my laptop - this time in blue.

I never Imagined ...

This was a scrapbook album that I was going to enter into the Basic Grey competition from the USA, but unfortunately it was not open to us (as in international).

The brief for the competition was entitled "I never imagined...."

So I thought of all the things I never imagined of myself say as a little girl; had no inkling I would ever even want to do the stuff I did. I did, however, used to play pretend haberdashery shops in a huge make believe city I had called Little Town with my brother (he would own other shops). That was the closest to matching craft and art store I had for eight years.

As for my overseas excursions, they were always bizarre and I think I was too young to really know the 'at risk' situations I would put myself through. But thanks to God's angels I survived.

So here are the pics.

Front cover:

The back cover.

PS: Photos of me were my niece's experimentation with sepia shots and styling.

More from this books can be found here: paulastenberg.blogspot.com/2008/11/paper-engineered-scrapbook-pages_17.html

Chaos - Do you really want to see my studio?

Okay I know many of you have seen people's studios and I've always been reluctant to show mine. Because it is always in a perpetual mess, total chaos, but my children have been sorting it out for me, labelling special cubby holes, putting all my inks together, powders together, glues, mediums, what have you.

The studio is also serving as a store room for when I shut down my shops, so there are often props etc lying around the place. Below is the entrance way from the hallway in our home, it's a cubby hole of various arts and craft books.

Here I have my plastic bags full of papers, stickers, etc all themed onto wooden rimu racks.

Another view with some of the props that came from my shop in Mt Eden.

Some of my toy theatres above. Do you like my walls, they are a bit in your face? I got them painted into red and turquoise, very vibrant, I wanted colour stimulation. My family was saying NOooooo, then they liked it.

More cubbyholes.

My ribbon rack and Rimu storage unit. And here's another one underneath.

A better view I think. Those are baskets full of fabric scraps, ribbons, wool, silk flowers, embroidered motifs, in fact anything soft.

More cubbyholes (didn't I say that before?), oh well, here's the heater too (it's autumn now).

And the work table, which I have not tidied up. I mean, who has a clear and tidy work table? No one right? So there you go just a glimpse into my working surroundings, chaotic to say the least.

No boundaries

Today I have been using up old stickers and sheets of plain newsprint which I had brayed ink onto.

The old stickers have been randomly stuck down, lots of hearts, hard core love taking a walk on the wild side sticker and a banner declaring no boundaries. They have been fairly nestled close together to create a group or unity on the page, rather than filling in space.

On the otherside is a card which has had some hot poker work done on it, some wax seals and then stamping.

On to both pages chalks were smudged in between a lashing of hair spray. Chalks were brown, grey and red.

Amazon

Demita a client of mine has given me (painted me) a wee small gift. It is so lovely of her.
She is an illustrator water colourist and mainly illustrates fairies, angels, mermaids and biblical scenes.

She has done a beautiful job. Anyway she has made me this work as being symbolic of the 'mythological' me as she calls it. It is an amazon. So she has made my head swell a bit (lol).
What really puzzled me was that I had spent the weekend learning all about amazon warrior women, and she had no idea I was researching the topic, and viola she makes me this.

If you are not in the know of what an amazonian is, don't worry I didn't know until a couple of years ago (Wonder Woman apparently was based off one of them). This was done completely from her imagination, with no pose from me .... can't quite see myself crouching that, ummm immodestly?? Her real attention to detail was the add on of my dimples under my eyes, errgh I hate those dimples.

But for those that like tid bits of information, here you go, these are just web references that I found in my research (these women are good for in comics):

Answers.com: Greek mythology. A member of a nation of women warriors reputed to have lived in Scythia, were around the Baltic Sea.

Ariosto's Orlando Furioso contains a country of warrior women, ruled by Queen Orontea; the epic describes an origin much like that in Greek myth, in that the women abandoned by a band of warriors and unfaithful lovers, rallied together to form a nation from which men were severely reduced, to prevent them from regaining power. [um, I'm brought up in the traditional conservative patriarchal family, so this is not me].

Columbia Encyclopaedia: The amazons had a matriarchal society, in which women fought and governed while men performed the household tasks. [Okay that is a bit too close to home – not the fighting but I've got a house husband].

Wordsmith Words: a tall, aggressive, strong willed woman [Okay not really tall, unless I have high shoes on and then yes; aggressive - no, but I don't back down if bullied and will stand up to men or women who may threaten me or diss me; strong willed - does that mean I like my own way and I'm always right? - ah then yes, LOL who am I kidding?].

Jules Verne: Atlantis Revisited (again)

One of my illustrators (Guy Horton aka Moskon of the not so famous Moskon Review) who illustrated this toy theatre (paid him $1,500) also does comics, and this is an example of his work below which I have also used to incorporate into the sunken city of Atlantis.

Here is his comic which he did while doing my Jules Verne 20K Leagues Under the Sea drawings.

What I have done is used some of his work (I did get his permission) like the Mermaid, the fish and the divers to add into my latest Atlantis scene (again artistic licence).

Atlantis Scene: Jule Verne 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Gradually getting the last of my toy theatres scenes finally finished. It takes me awhile as I need to have the inspiration and get up and go to start the altering of these scenes.

In the meantime enjoy what I've done (I'll have some other photos soon to put up) but these will do for now.

I'm not sure about the acetate background to the first panel, it kind of almost looks like the diver has a halo. I may yet re-alter that.

These images  below were before shots with the acetate not cut into.