I hope I’ll be able to make a few more in this series before the deadline is over, but this is how things stand at the moment for my Alphabet Soup submission. The weather conditions have been poor for daylight photography over the past few days, and I’ve been getting some very strange results. (Everything from a ground the colour of sun-browned newspaper to the blacks coming out as blue!) This morning I caught a few moments of clear-ish sky, and the following images, while not perfect, better convey the collages as they appear to the human, as opposed to the camera eye.
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Can’t decide between the V ist für Vogel images, and so I’ll include both. This being a work-in-progress, I don’t suppose that Lucy and Shellie will object to two versions of one letter. If I do manage to squeeze in another letter or two, you’ll have to wait until the exhibition to see them, as I should hold back something in the interests of ‘surprise’!
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And while we’re on the subject, visitors interested in Alphabet Soup might enjoy clicking HERE for news of an exhibition in Berlin that has taken to the street! My thanks to Marta for this.
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Working on these two Hansel & Gretel projects…the enamelware and the alphabet… have made me realise just how much I’d love to illustrate a book of fairy tales. No offers for such a venture have ever come my way, but you never know. Here’s hoping!
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Oh, those are satisfying… And I shall look forward to your fairy tale book!
Ho ho! Having read and relished your poem The Nesting Doll, which has the distinctive flavours of dark fairy tales, I wonder whether ‘my’ fairy tale book may in reality evolve into a book of new fairy tales by Youmans, with illustrations by Hicks-Jenkins. It’s a thought! (And a damned good one!)
I love the darker V. It gives the feel of the depths of the forest and the little bird has spotted those crumbs in a small clearing, then the moon comes out from behind clouds and the bird jerks his head up bread crumb in beak, instantly aware to make sure he is alone. That would be a great entry for ‘guess the fairy tale’ hmm maybe a future exhibition…
Well, you’ve sold me on that!
you should just make a fairytale book, then publish it! it will be an instant success, you have created a fabulous style for it, very alive and very unique!
Ah my sweet Zoe, I wish I shared your optimism that all I have to do is make it for it to be a huge success. While I feel that fairy tales and I are going to get together creatively at some point, I hope it might be in some manner other than the self-publishing option. Right now I probably need to develop the themes a tad more before trying to promote the idea further. This is a project that’s evolved from collage/drawings to an enamelware nursery service to a German alphabet primer. What next?
These are great fun. Well done!
Why thank you Harry. Glad you like ’em.
Are you thinking of putting in a submission yourself? The idea is to be as simple or as complicated as you like, and so there will be a wide range of work on display from line drawings to fully-worked-up paintings. There’s still time, and I bet you’d do it extremely well! If you fancy taking up the challenge and producing a few letters (I think five is the minimum) you can contact Lucy at:
lucy-dot-kmptn-at- gmail-dot-com