Poppets!

Poppet is accompanying the Gransden Brownies on their Pack Holiday this year!

My Mum is a pack leader and requested a cover sheet for their diaries featuring Poppet, but as their theme is Folktales and Legends I couldn’t resist adding some little fact sheets as well. This also means that after years of confusion I finally know how to pronounce Bwbachod, which is one of the names sixes can have. Fortunately I was a Gnome, which is a lot easier.

(Gnomes forever!)

Rapunzel and Cinderella

Whoa you guys it's my birthday today! I'm 23! Do I seem older and wiser?

Not that I have any special birthday art though. These are the final 4 art cards in the fairy tales series I mentioned, finally finished in preparation for the Bristol Ferment Farmer's Market, although I didn't find time to post them beforehand.

The top set is Rapunzel. In the version I had, the witch finds out about the prince because Rapunzel gets pregnant. She cuts off Rapunzel's hair, kicks her out, and uses the hair to trick the prince so she can drop him off the tower. It still has a happy ending though.

The bottom set is Cinderella, which is incredibly gruesome! The wicked stepsisters cut bits off their feet to make the slipper fit. It's also the spirit of Cinderella's mother, in the form of two doves, that gives her the gown and slippers in the first place.

I didn't sell any of these in the end, so I've put them up for sale in my Etsy shop. Maybe you should buy one to make me happy on my birthday! Although I have just made an entire coffee cake which I have all to myself, so I'm already pretty happy.

Art Cards - Fairy Tales

These are some art cards I painted to sell at Bristol Expo. Originally there were going to be 14, all based on German fairy tales (so no Beauty and the Beast), but I only had time for 10. Rapunzel and Cinderella are still to be completed.

1 and 2 are Snow White and Rose Red. I mentioned in an earlier post that I imagine Rose Red looking a lot like my sister because we used to play a make-believe game based on the story, recently she told me that she remembers it too.

3 and 4 are Snow White. I love painting her, I like to interpret the 'hair black as ebony, skin white as snow, lips red as blood' thing literally.

5 and 6 are Little Red Riding Hood. I tried to make her look German, and make the forest look like it could be a scary place, since it would have been back when the tale was written.

7 and 8 are The Frog King, or Iron Henry. That's probably my all-time favourite fairy tale, I always imagined the princess to be only 12 or so (I think because the frog addresses her as 'King's daughter, youngest daughter'), and I liked the traditional description of the prince as 'a king's son with kind eyes'. Also the version where she throws the frog against the wall is vastly superior to the kissing version in every conceivable way.

9 and 10 are Sleeping Beauty. I find that story pretty creepy, but it's got some nice imagery. In the version I was told the prince can only get through the thorns because the 100 years are up, and on the way though he can see skeletons of other men who've tried to get through and died in there. I'd like to do a bigger version of that some time.

I'd never tried selling originals at cons before, so I was pleased to sell two of them. I put the rest up for sale in my online shop.

snow white and rose red

I got a brown paper sketchbook so I could try drawing with highlights as well as shading. I'm not sure if it's really for me, but I'll try to fill the book up anyway.

Snow White and Rose Red was one of my favourite fairy tales when I was little. They're usually depicted as a blonde with very pale skin and a black-haired girl with rosy cheeks. I'm fairly sure I imagine them as a blonde and a redhead because I have vague memories of playing a make-believe game based on the story with my little sister, who has fiery red hair. (As a child I had pale blonde hair.)

In other news, I now have a day job, hooray! I'm working as a waitress in a vintage tea room, so if you're in Bath you should come and find us up near the fashion museum, if you want to see me in a headscarf and bright red lipstick.

Postcards

These are some postcards I made to take to the London Book Fair this year.  There's actually 15 of them, but 5 are pictures from Alaizabel so you've all seen them already.  These 5 are in a style I developed for children's work, although they're still a bit dingy in terms of colour palette because that's what I liked as a child.  I'll upload the other 5 in a little while.

Snow White

These are from a project last year, illustrating Snow White.  They're a little gruesome, but I like them.