Returns and Travels

Back in Nantes after attending the fifth annual International Video Dance Festival of Burgundy (France) where my stop motion animation work was screened as part of a video collage in honour of the centennial of the Nijinsky/Stravinsky ballet "Le Sacre du Printemps" (or "Rite of Spring" as it is known in English), a seminal work that created a riot at the time of its first performance in Paris. The collage goes on to screenings at other international festivals later this month and afterward. Of course I was thrilled to be a part of this homage to one of my favourite historical dance works and the festival's strong selection of offerings ranged from otherworldly beauty to laugh out loud humour created by an international roster of artists in dance and video. It was a pleasure to be present in this stimulating environment with other creators and dance aficianados from France and countries as diverse as Mexico and Hungary.

April thus far has been an exciting month for me in the way of exhibitions, collaborations and new work--- I'll be sharing more later. However, whilst at the festival I did find time during the days to do a bit of hiking and I'd like to take you on a walk through one of the hilly Burgundian forests with its magical ambiance and quiet peace. Jagged moss draped stumps transform into faery forts or elfin creatures that start up on every side from the thick blanket of winter pale leaves. The trees possess miniature doorways at ground level and above, that could easily be taken for portals into other worlds. A rich variety of shelf fungus and tiny mushrooms crop up all around, suggesting the near presence of elemental beings or the equally mystical but clearly elegant interweavings of natural order. In the midst of an economically depressed region, the natural beauty here remains strong and inspiring, the evergreen woods full of bird song and the uplifting scent of pine, the green fields bedecked with wildflowers and gentle white Charolais cattle.

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Spring has officially arrived and brought with it a trio of new goat kids at the Jardin des Plantes...

I've added a few spring favourites to my "micro garden" outside the apartment door...

  

 

   

 And soon it will be time to find places for everyone out of doors in the courtyard...

 

Inside the cats are still in their cozy winter mode, sleeping much and taking over all the most comfy chairs for long siestas.

 

Twiggy Miranda in her favourite place...

 

There's not much room here but still I manage to make and do quite a lot... This week began with some new fae furniture coming into the human world...

 

A fae seamstress' work table with tiny hand crank sewing machine, vintage style.

 A fae reader's corner for curling up with a good book and a cup of tea.

 A fae fireplace with cheery flames cut from dried Chinese lantern flowers and a basket of logs close at hand.

 

 I have also begun experimenting with some lovely naturally twisty wood, copper and quartz to make fae wands. ( Available on my Artemis Jane shop: http://www.artemisjane.etsy.com ).

 

Come and visit again soon...Flea market dolls await...

 

 

as do vintage bottles---mind the mischievous faery trying to squeeze free!---

and a shelf full of art and magical things..

Wishing you all a joyful spring!

Collage Animation

A trio of photos from a recent short film segment I created to celebrate the centennial of the riot provoking first performance of the Ballet Russe/Stravinsky work "Le Sacre du Printemps" (or "Rite of Spring" as it is sometimes known in English). As part of a larger collage of works by various choreographers/dancers/artists it will premiere at the International Video Dance Festival of Burgundy, France next month, after which I'll post a video here.

The puppets were created from vintage French art history magazines which my corner used bookshop sells for twenty centimes--- a steal for gorgeous full colour magazines on heavy stock! I always feel a bit guilty cutting them up but often find duplicates to keep for my own viewing pleasure. I mixed and matched parts from works ranging from Etruscan sculpture to medieval Spanish fresco to a Titian painting and added an actual hair extension braid to the central figure of "the chosen one" for a bit of variety. (The braid was fun to animate!).

All movements were still photographed one small motion at a time. Afterward all the many photos were altered in photoshop and an online editing program to create a more unique and encompassing  look to this 2D world. The final step was loading them into a video program and creating a continuous effect of movement with musical score.

Here's a link to some of my other earlier animations in 2 and 3D:
http://www.youtube.com/user/artemiscalliste/videos

I look forward to the coming of spring here and wish you all the best whatever the season, wherever you are!

Travels in Turkey

Wishing you all a happy and creative New Year filled with good things! It's been a long time since my last post--more than four months. To make up for my incredible laziness I'd like to share some photos from my recent trip to Turkey...a magical land with a winning combination of sea, mountains, a rich ancient history, lovely handcrafts and charming villages.

The photos in this post are from the site of the ancient Lycian city of Myra. Much there has been leveled by earthquakes over the more than two thousand years since the city was built but it still possesses the bulk of a fine stone amphitheatre and a beautiful collection of rock cut tombs carved out of the cliff face that towers over the site. There are also row upon row of carved stones from other buildings which are no longer standing. The intriguing bas relief faces and decorative motifs on these must have kept a small army of stone carvers busy over many years...

 Carved stone building parts, Myra, Turkey

More carved stones from fallen buildings

View of Myra's amphitheatre and the cliff with rock cut tombs behind it

Stone garland and figures

More beautiful decorative stone

Amphitheatre entrance

A rubble filled stairway in the amphitheatre

A bit of "out of character" carving on a building stone--maybe an example of ancient stone carver's graffiti?

A fallen lintel in the amphitheatre

More decorative carving

A tomb entrance

Rock cut tombs

Another tomb entrance

Virtuosity in stone

Tombs carved from solid rock in the cliff face more than two thousand years ago

Another entrance to the amphitheatre

 

 

 

Overview of the largest cluster of rupestrian tombs

 

 

 

 

Part of the amphitheatre

Some tombs are nearly free standing but still firmly rooted in the rock from which they were carved.

Faery Crowns

  

Thought I'd share a bit of what I've been making lately with natural materials...
Recently, for the first time, I've tried my hand at faery crown making. Here are some photos of the first two crowns I made. They are available as custom orders on my Pandora Jane shop and I've sold several already! They are quite sturdy so they can actually be securely worn for faery festivals, Rennaissance fests, parties and creative weddings. The crowns also look quite nice displayed on a shelf or in a cabinet of collectibles.
Here is the first one I made:

Kindly modeled by my lovely daughter

The second crown was a request from a friend, who asked for something a little more compact and with a bit of her favourite colour included. (Yes, it can be annoying if one is always getting wings and crowns snarled up in the household furnishings or poking one's friends whilst giving a hug!) So this one is a bit smaller---12 centimeters across the base---and is made from twigs, seashells and soft pink flamingo feathers I picked up on one of my sojourns in the South of France.

For some time now I had contemplated making a fae sized gramophone record player, maybe because I am in love with the human size version and only wish they weren't so pricey. The idea of listening to all those scratchy old discs with no need for electricity seems perfect for a picnic in the country and some impromptu waltzing beneath the trees, togged up in lovely Edwardian style.

Then there was a faery kitchen table that emerged, all ready for tea-time. The chair has a lovely green, velvety wisteria pod as its back panel and a tiny walnut shell basket sits nearby.

And lastly a faery girl, all in natural materials at the request of one of my regular customers on Pandora Jane.

If you'd like to see more please stop by for a visit at my Pandora Jane shop on Etsy. There are lots and lots of different photos of fae items both for sale and under the archive of sold pieces, which you can click to view in the shop's sidebar. (To go to my shop from here just click on the blog's sidebar link to the right under "Diana's etsy shops"--for some reason I'm having trouble making a clickable link today).