Month of Fear - Darkness

It's the final challenge for Month of Fear!  And for Halloween day we did the challege, Darkness.

This is a new type of book for me, a Jacob's ladder book. I painted each panel with a bad luck image. This is one of my smallest yet, measuring 1.5 inches square. It's really best seeing it in motion, so here's another video.
 

A video posted by Alice Stanne (@stannedbyme) on Oct 31, 2016 at 1:02pm PDT

Ireland Sketchbook

At the beginning of October my family returned from a two week trip to the western coast of Ireland. My father is in an American folk band, Betty & the Baby Boomers, who have been traveling to Clifden, Ireland for the past 20 years to play music in their Annual Arts Festival. We spent the first week in Clifden, going to concerts, plays, poetry readings and art talks in pubs and theaters. The second week we traveled north up the coast to Donegal.

 

I brought a small 4 x 6 watercolor sketchbook I took everywhere and promised myself I would fill. I made it about 50% of the way through, but I'm still happy. It's more loose sketching than I would normally do in two weeks time. So here's a selection of sketches from the trip.

Month of Fear - Wicked

It's another Month of Fear! Those of you who are familiar with MoF know it's a weekly art challenge for the month of October with plenty of spooky themes and a variety of artists  that post every day.

The first challenge was Wicked.

For the Wicked challenge I drew inspiration from Roald Dahl’s creepy short story “The Landlady,” about a lodger who doesn’t quite seem to realize the danger he is in from his cryptic, taxidermy loving landlady. I made a small pop up book (2 x 3.5 inches) illustrated with watercolor paintings.

So many of my books are becoming so interactive that I think the best way to experience them is with a video, so I made one with my phone.

Pop up book selfies are hard! #wicked #monthoffear #monthoffearart

A video posted by Alice Stanne (@stannedbyme) on Oct 12, 2016 at 10:08am PDT

Month of Love - Heroes

Another Month of Love is here! This week's challenge was Heroes.

When I was a kid my dad used to sing us the song “Come Take a Trip in My Airship;” a song about a pilot who takes away a young lady away from all this in his airship. But whenever my dad sang it me as a kid he replaced all the ‘hes’ with ‘shes.’ Suddenly there was a woman flying through the universe having adventures and when she decided to settle down she asked the man to marry her. I loved this strong, empowered sky captain and wanted to capture the chorus of the song in a book. This was my first star book (the name comes from the star shape it creates when viewed from above while open).

Don't forget to check it out on Month of Love and see all the other incredible art that's being made!

Some sketches for the airship:

Month of Fear - Danse Macabre

It's my final piece, and the final day of Month of Fear!

When I was younger I spent a lot of time at my younger sister’s ballet recitals. Though most of it was a snooze-fest for me, the best performance was the little kids who had absolutely no coordination but were trying their damndest. This inspired my Danse Macabre piece, which I didn’t research much, but I’m sure obviously translates to “Dances Adorably”. I started with a mummy but as these characters devolved it didn’t really fit anymore, I would like to try and add it in for the classic horror film superfecta.

Slipcase Week - Day 3: The Little Books of Fear

Today features a set of books each made for the Month of Fear blog. Since both are about my fears, I decided to made them into their own little series, drawing inspiration from the set of Golden Books I had growing up.

Slipcase Week - Day 2: Tudor Safari

Today's slipcase was made for the Tudor Safari board book I did a while back. It features a watercolor and gold acrylic painted crown with paper cut outs.

Tiny Tunnel Book

Tunnel book inside frame measures 1.5 x 2.75in

Watercolor on Arches paper, handcut

Month of Love - Forbidden Fruit

I may have skipped last week's challenge for Month of Love, but I'm back this week with the final 'Forbidden Fruit' challenge.

I have been really into the design of vintage seed packets lately, so I decided to do some packets for the seeds of fruits featured as forbidden fruits in mythology. Here’s the classic apple from the story of Adam and Eve. Also the pomegranate eaten by Persephone that keeps her in Hades six months of the year.

Month of Love - Diamonds

This weeks challenge for the Month of Love was 'Diamonds' so I got my inspiration from that classic Paul Simon song Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, I call it Honey Take Me Dancing.

Each frame was painted and handmade by wrapping paper around a book board frame. All painting was done in watercolor.

Month of Love - Love Thy Neighbor

It's time for another Month of Love! The first week's challenge is Love Thy Neighbor. As per usual, I decided to move forward with a tiny book.

I decided make a book focusing on homes around the world. They’re all different, as every culture and region builds a home that suits a certain purpose. But we’re all neighbors on this one earth we’ve got.

We've moved over to a new website and platform so update your links and check out all the fabulous art at monthofloveart.com

Happy Holidays!

Month of Fear - What Are You Afraid Of?

Have you noticed a change in the air? Crisper leaves? More ads for pumpkin flavored things at the coffee shop? Well, ladies and gents, it's October and that means it's time for another Month of Fear! It's the same story as before, a piece a week, inspired by different challenges. This week was "What Are You Afraid Of?"

Though I guess I'm technically an "adult" I still find myself afraid of the dark. It makes me jumpy, anxious, and I find myself walking a little more quickly than usual towards the nearest light.

I decided to double down on this challenge month, and have challenged myself to make not just an illustration a week, but a book a week (albeit probably pretty tiny books). The panels on this one measure in at just 2.25 x 2.25 inches.

Be sure to check out Month of Fear and see the incredible work coming in from so many artists:

http://monthoffear.blogspot.com/

Tudor Safari

This month I've been watching lots of historical dramas and my favorite part is all the incredible costumes and sets. It inspired me to do a few small paintings to fill an empty demo board book I had left over from the semester. At first I just started a drawing of an elephant in Elizabethan garb, when I realized there was a pun at hand, and Elizaphant I was created. Followed by Hyenra VIII, Meery I and Elkward VI, the whole Tudor clan. They were then placed in the book in chronological order of coronation.

Stretched Watercolor Paper

This week, looking for a way to change things up, I tried out a new method: stretching watercolor paper on canvas stretcher bars. I have always been a bit jealous of the way a canvas can have such a complete feeling, no framing or matting necessary. The end result was quite successful.

I've never found it particularly necessary to stretch my watercolor paper given the small size of my work and the restricted amount of water I use but with the canvas finish it may be my new way to prep for most of my painting work.

And though it's just a test piece, it's wall ready with some of our other work around the house.

Coming Soon...

Next month my books and butterflies will be available to buy at the MassArt spring sale, running from May 4th to 10th. Below is a sampling of what will be available for purchase.

Your very own small butterfly collection. Each butterfly is hand painted in watercolor and pinned into a handmade box lined with cork. Every boxes lid contains the name of the butterfly as well as a carved indent of its shape.

These blank sketchbooks are inspired by old furniture from auction catalogues. Each book is wrapped in hand drawn paste paper and decorated with a  cut paper piece of furniture. Pages of soft drawing paper are sewn into a durable spine of bookcloth.

Month of Love - Fetish

This weeks theme was Fetishes, so I chose to do Formicophilia, which is apparently an attraction to insects. I basically just used it as an excuse to make more bugs in a box, though these ones are a bit more risque than the butterflies.

Month of Love - Favorite Love Story

Another week, another Month of Love piece! This week's theme was Favorite Love Story...

I guess 'favorite' and 'love story' might not be the best words to describe to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. It's more like most unforgettable heartbreak of my young life. The books definitely do not qualify as love stories but for some reason the way they ended really stuck with me. I was also probably very jealous that people's souls were animals who hung around their person, talking with them and being their closest friends.

Another Month of Love!

It's February again, which means it's time for another Month of Love! This year there are even more artists doing a piece a week featuring a variety of lovey-dovey themes. This weeks theme was #nofilter Valentine.

I decided to do some cynical true meanings of various traditional Valentine's candies. These are worth looking at big, since some of the text is so small. And don't forget to check out all the other great work at monthoflove.blogspot.com

Butterfly Collection

I finished painting these butterflies a long time ago, like October-long-time-ago. But I was waiting on all the other elements to come together. Finally, one day the Goodwill, I found a small shadow box for $3 (that's a price you cannot beat) from which I stripped out the kitschy elements of the interior and painted over the slightly scuffed exterior. I glued a strip of cork board in the back and took a handful of pins from the fashion department at work. Then my butterfly collection finally came together:

I would love to make several more of these smaller boxes, I have plenty of leftover painted butterflies that wouldn't fit in this box.