After my Textual Intervention lecture, in which we were looking at Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast, and Puss in Boots, I am in a very fairy tale mood. I have written many pieces on fairy tales over the years as I absolute adore them, I did my year 13 art course on them, too. So today instead of writing, I'm going to post a few of my fairy tale inspired art pieces, and then later some pieces of writing I have done. Hope you enjoy.
This piece was inspired by Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber. Her dress features the main motifs of the story, which are: marriage hence the gold rings, the key as this leads her to the bloody chamber, and the skulls which relates to death and danger. The words around the woman are some of the more explicit pieces of language that Carter uses (everyone was particularly giggly at 'orgasm') as well as the most important, like 'forbidden' and 'lust'. Notice the number 3, a magic number in fairy tales - Bluebeard had three wives before this woman, and now he has three dead wives in his bloody chamber. The art style is based on Liselotte Watkins, who does the illustrations for Tamora Pierce's fantasy books. I had originally started the course by doing the traditional fairy tales and traditional drawing styles but my teacher wanted something more 'edgy'. And what is more edgy than Angela Carter?
Oh, by the way, if you haven't read The Bloody Chamber I would highly recommend it, especially if you love fairy tales, Carter gives them a funky twist. However, as I now have to read it for University, I absolutely despise it! I have to write an essay Carter's work, sexual politics, and moral pornography. Fun.
The following photographs were taken at my friend's house. She lives in an amazing house with a huge garden; it has an orchard, a field, a croquet lawn, a vegetable patch, everything! These photos were inspired by the stories of King Arthur, and after writing The Act of Love, I was really into the tale of the Lady of Shalott, who did not receive Lancelot's love and ended up dying; so a happy ending all round. I printed off these photos as well as others and made them into a little book. But as I mentioned earlier, my teacher wanted something more daring and so was only marginally interested in these, even though they took me a long time to do. Yeah, I didn't like my art teacher very much, she was a right meanie!
The girl who plays The Fair Maid of Astolat, who's real name is Eleanor, is actually called Elly herself, and did her role as fair maid very well. The blue dress she is wearing was made by my mum for my 16th birthday - it was a fairy tale theme as all the heroines in Disney seemed to be 16 years old. I would love to wear it more, but it's hard to find a reason for wearing a princess dress in everyday life!
The girl in the white dress is my friend, Izzy. She is playing the beautiful Guinevere as she searches for her secret beloved, Lancelot. The dress she is wearing was also made by my mum for my 13th birthday, which I shared with Izzy. We had a black and white themed masquerade at this very house, in this very garden. I had the most extravagant dress, as everyone else had just bought theirs off the high street. Looking back on it now I feel very foolish, as I was only 13 but acted like I was much older.
Oh, by the way, if you haven't read The Bloody Chamber I would highly recommend it, especially if you love fairy tales, Carter gives them a funky twist. However, as I now have to read it for University, I absolutely despise it! I have to write an essay Carter's work, sexual politics, and moral pornography. Fun.
The following photographs were taken at my friend's house. She lives in an amazing house with a huge garden; it has an orchard, a field, a croquet lawn, a vegetable patch, everything! These photos were inspired by the stories of King Arthur, and after writing The Act of Love, I was really into the tale of the Lady of Shalott, who did not receive Lancelot's love and ended up dying; so a happy ending all round. I printed off these photos as well as others and made them into a little book. But as I mentioned earlier, my teacher wanted something more daring and so was only marginally interested in these, even though they took me a long time to do. Yeah, I didn't like my art teacher very much, she was a right meanie!
The girl who plays The Fair Maid of Astolat, who's real name is Eleanor, is actually called Elly herself, and did her role as fair maid very well. The blue dress she is wearing was made by my mum for my 16th birthday - it was a fairy tale theme as all the heroines in Disney seemed to be 16 years old. I would love to wear it more, but it's hard to find a reason for wearing a princess dress in everyday life!
The girl in the white dress is my friend, Izzy. She is playing the beautiful Guinevere as she searches for her secret beloved, Lancelot. The dress she is wearing was also made by my mum for my 13th birthday, which I shared with Izzy. We had a black and white themed masquerade at this very house, in this very garden. I had the most extravagant dress, as everyone else had just bought theirs off the high street. Looking back on it now I feel very foolish, as I was only 13 but acted like I was much older.
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