In the garden

Here are some of my favourite edited Ebony Tower pics from Brittany.

Possibilities:

1. framed in black ebony frames of different sizes – like the burning flower pic by Matt Collinshaw. Picture them all close together like scenes in a narrative with maybe some lines from the book scrawled next to them in pencil on the wall or with the sound installation whispered next to them that I still haven’t got round to doing (the victor hugo poem that matched our scene read by my french friend).

2. printed large on aluminium or fabric.

3. constructing a type of deep case/frame/box for each picture so the viewer gets some of that sense of looking through/spying to see the image.

Sequence shots

Here are the sequence shots for the sketches/painting ideas we talked about. The link to the all the boys love mandy lane clip they are from is here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBXCcyZOorc

we talked about  Andrew Wyeths Helga Suite style wise possibly suiting the images, softness, ink, and making sure it didn’t end up looking like a serial killers notebook!

progress report

thought I’d post a couple of clearer pics than the one I sent on my phone. I was all ready to give up on the wings and flowers but gave them one last chance with the wings positioned differently and the flowers inside the cage and it works a lot better. I’m quite liking it but Rob is not sure – thinks it may look contrived. What do you think? Obviously I’ve not spent time working on suspending the flowers and wings properly in these pics – it’s just a rough idea. Oh and the feathers that look like an exploded bird at the bottom of the cage will of course be removed!

Notes from book – Diana p.90:

“As if I’m under a spell”

“Just the thought of leaving my little forest womb. Somehow here, everything remains possible. I’m just scared of making a decision.”

“do you wish you had?” “It’s too late for wishing”

Diana is the one very obviously trapped by her fears and seduced by the beauty of coet but as David’s desires are awakened he also comes to realise he has built a safe cage for himself in the outside world in terms of his life and his art. In that sense Diana is the rescuer from the Sleeping Beauty tale who awakens him with a kiss.

Inspiring

Burning Flowers II, Mat Collishaw, 2003

“Central to Mat Collishaw’s work are the themes of illusion and desire, which he uses to draw us into an arena where every-day conventions are broken down and questioned”

She murmured, “glimpses”

reclaimed window frame, vintage lace fragments, gold thread, nails, rope

Second pic shows with some consideration to lighting.

Notes:

A shadow of a face, hair streaked with gold, a closing door, “I wanted you to”

Beauty, longing, being on the outside looking in. Desire to go somewhere impossible.

Missed opportunity/moment. Loss.

Memory/vision of unobtained or unobtainable beauty – better to have seen or not seen.

Perspectives

Preservation of secrets. Elusive.

Time passed.

Lace – purity and chastity but also synonymous with sexuality.

Provides a veiling, an obscuring of true self

finished bed piece

Untitled, 2009. Reclaimed cast iron bed, 300 peacock feathers, thread.

 

Notes:

“The undeclared knowledge of a shared imagination hung in the air; in her half hidden figure against the light on the floor behind, in the silence, the bed in the corner, the thousand ghosts of old rooms”   (p.95)

The secret tension. The immediacy and palpability of that moment. The enormity of the beauty.  “wanted so sharply”

Heightened state of connectedness & sensation. An exquisite perfume.

Desire & fear.

Delicate and beautiful but also potentially powerful and dangerous.

Connections with barely perceptable physical contact. A connection that precedes and transcends the physical one. A dissolving of boundaries and seperateness – a oneness.

Breath. Stillness. Focus, Intensity.

A certainty of emotion in conflict with an anxiety of action.

Fleeting glimpse

Fleeting Glimpse in progress. Oil on Canvas

I feel that the twisted and distorted form is starting to take shape slowly and the surface is building. I hope to get a sense of a fleeting glimpse, a glance down as you jump the stream and what you see is not quite reality. I realise that the position of the viewer is of looking down at this reflection, it is the the viewer looking back at themselves. As well as a sense of movement and of the reflected tree canopy I hope that there will be a sense of a form that should not balance and feels forever about to topple.

fleeting Glimpse - detail

cyanotype prints

I meant to mention these to you a while back. Was talking to my friend Ange at a baby shower and she mentioned cyanotype prints. Went away and had a look at some and really like the painterly finish and almost dream sequence feel they have, both which would fit in with the book. Tempting to have a play but although I like the idea of them in themselves not convinced they would fit in with everything else going on. Mixing chemicals does sound fun though – I may not be able to resist  :)

Cyantoype print by David Rushmar

Dusk by Victor Hugo

Under The Yews

just thought it was worth having this pic of yours here to see while we are discussing the blur photos you posted below

Under The Yews, Dean Melbourne