From Paris to Purgatory

My two most recent projects have taken me from the Moulin Rouge to the Catholic's purgatory with the anima sola. It's been a very split personality kind of a week. ;)

I created a mini theater featuring can-can dancers of the Moulin Rouge. I am fascinated by Paris when the Moulin Rouge first opened, the idea of the bohemian lifestyle and the mingling of the artists, the dancers/singers, philosophers, and poets. It's a romanticized vision I’m sure but I’m still enamored of it. Here are a few pictures I came across while researching:

 And here is my version of the theater:

My other project was a nicho style shadow box featuring an image of the anima sola. I was raised Catholic and even though I’m no longer a Christian I’m still drawn to religious images and stories of the Saints. The anima sola seems to be an image that started as a lost soul in purgatory but it also has stories linking it to different religions and cultures. In doing research the one story that struck me is its tie to lost love or unrequited love. That is something I can definitely identify with so I started the piece from there. Here’s the completed shadow box:

Dark Fairies, Nichos, and Love

I finally finished the clock case shadow box.  I created an enchanted forest with a skull fairy.  I love the idea of a fierce race of dark fairies creating chaos and mayhem wherever they go.  They are the Skull fairies because they collect skulls.  I think they are grave robbing fairies but I wouldn't want to wander into the woods alone at night while they were gathered there they will get their skulls anyway they can. ;)  Of course their revelries are bacchanalian and my little fairy has been caught the morning after holding her tiny acorn cup and still reeling from the night before.

I started a new project today I found a wooden box with a lid that holds a photo at a thrift store.  The shape reminds me of a nicho so I'm playing around with some ideas to figure out what would best suit it.

It's almost Valentine's Day to all the couples out there may your Love be Eternal.

                                                

Inspiration and Ideas

I just completed a custom order for a friend.  He wanted a gift for his Mom's birthday.  The style was not my usual style but it's fun to sometimes make something completely different and in doing so I got an idea for a box that is in my style.

I'm working on a project now that is another clock case shadow box.  I'm trying to figure out what will go inside the clock.  I want to do something new not another haunted house graveyard theme.  But it needs to be small enough to fit in the case.  Here's some pictures of the project so far.

Not to long ago I finished a Vampire Theater shadow box.  I love the idea of a Victorian theater in London just for vampires.  I think they would take the common drawing room plays of the day and give them a Vamp twist.  The graveyard replacing the drawing room and a vampire version of Oscar Wilde writing brilliant and witty dialog.  The scene I created in the shadow box was a bit of a comedy.  I envisioned the play where the woman vampire spurned her current lover for a new monster which is why the male vampire in the shadow box is holding a heart in his hand.  I think the vampires would go in for some really graphic props!   

Yesterday I listed a new item in my shop, a mixed media picture.  I was inspired to make the picture when I came across an old writing exercise I had done.  It was to tell a story in one sentence.  This was the sentence:  Standing in front of unblemished glass uncorrupted skin pure and smooth between the violence tracing the residue of kisses, the imprint of lips at the base of her throat, the taste of him melting like ash on her tongue as she longs to be the kind of girl love doesn’t bleed dry.  I found a vintage photo that went perfect with it and created the piece from there.