Who's There?

Whoopie Ti-Yi-Yo. A collage I made about 10 yrs. ago.

Hello To Fall, Goodbye To The Boogel

Well, yay yay, it is the first day of Fall and I am finding my mind turning seriously to pumpkins, leaves, Halloween, skeletons and mummies. Evidently, others are doing the same since I just sold the art altar I made to the Boogel, pictured above. In case you are curious, a Boogel is a cross between an angel and a Boo. I will miss the Boogel altar, but if I get too lonely I can make a visit anytime to another Boogel who flies over the bar at Poe's Tavern on Sullivan's Island. He's better known as Devil Dude. (pictured below.) He supervises unruly patrons and keeps the spirit of Edgar Allan on tap.

April, The Spring Ho

I've never been a huge fan of Spring, being more of a dark, winter soul. I decided to do a gift at Christmas for my friend who loves Spring, thinking it may be good therapy...make me more of a refreshing, Spring oriented person. Well, this is what came out. It's April, the Spring Ho. She's gone to live with Matt. Hope they are having a wonderful Spring.

The Beautiful Woman Without Mercy

I met a lady in the meads
Full beautiful, a faery's child;
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci
John Keats, 1819

The life mask of John Keats. Everyone should have one of these done.



I was thinking of John Keats after having a discussion about him with a friend in a bar on St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick's led to Ireland led to Scotland led to suffering led to Keats-and all this leads to my affection for Pre-Raphaelite artists who loved the inspiration of Keats. I came home and re-read Keats' La Belle Dame Sans Merci. It is late autumn, the location is England in the age of Chivalry, and a lovesick knight tells the story of a beautiful Faery's child he encounters. They cavort in a meadow, she lures him to sleep, then abandons him, leaving him forever doomed to remain on the hillside wishing for her return. Poor Knight is definitely associated with images of death, especially the lily on his forehead...I don't think there is much question that he represents the ailing poet. The question is this: is the Woman without Mercy, death herself, symbolic of the tuberculosis that Keats knew was draining the life from him when he wrote this poem, or is she the beloved friend, Fanny Brawne, his true love whom he broke his engagement with after learning of his disease, or maybe she is his conflicting other love, the witty Isabella Jones whom he met on holiday. Keats died less than two years after writing La Belle Dame, racked with tuberculosis which he caught while nursing his most beloved brother. He lived a short life, was penniless at his death, but the man knew love. I think La Dame may not be any of those named above, but love herself, lacking the mercy to go with him.

Here she is, "the large and in charge" version as represented by Frank Cowper- putting that hair back up after putting young Knight to sleep with her charms. I love the combination of the poppies and sleep. Sort of like Wizard of Oz... Tin-Man asleep in the poppy field.

The polite, "let's hold hands and then we'll take a long nap" Walter Crane version. Walter keeps it clean.. he was mainly a children's illustrator.

Whoa Nelly....The Frank Dicksee interpretation with a holding back, less willing Knight. "She put me under a spell and I had nothing to do with any of it"

The master, Waterhouse, demonstrating a little Avatar inspired "Haloing" with the hair. Waterhouse always gets it right.. and his knights are the best. Look at the bare (light) feet, the wild eyes, the faded purple in the dress, the Knights clenched fist, and look who's wearing her heart on her sleeve.

Shakespeare's Thinking Cap

A Shakespeare collage I did a few years ago showing him with his thinking cap on.


Jayce T. Tromsness definitely had his thinking cap on to direct the excellent version of the Scottish Play seen at the Warehouse Theatre in Greenville last night. It was the night of the falling canes as three times during the performance canes fell to the floor in the audience making a large kaboom, frightening theatre goers and actors alike. Three times.. it was the three witches, each having a go. The play's setting was war ravaged Bosnia in the 90's. "It has been said that Shakespeare is all about food and sex....and it's true... appetite and desire." Bravo.

The Real Eyes of William, I Hope.

Soest's portrait of Shakespeare


I am looking forward to going to the Warehouse Theatre this week for a viewing of the "Scottish Play", so I have Mr. Shakespeare on my mind. It appears to me that every portrait of Shakespeare is different; he doesn't really look like the same man in any of them. I only recently discovered this portrait of him by the Dutch painter, Gerard Soest. What I love about this painting is the Dutch style realism of the eyes and mouth. So many of Shakespeare's portraits have the exaggerated large rounded eyes and prim mouths which were popular in 17th century English paintings-I guess our equivalent would be botoxed foreheads and veneered teeth. He looks mature here, but hasn't reached the days where he is a little portly and completely bald. He looks real and he looks like a man who knows something he's not telling, even though he is dying to tell. He looks like a man who is a little tired from writing late-night sonnets to the Fair Gentleman and the Dark Lady and I like it very much.
And then, with great disappointment, I learn that this portrait of Shakespeare was probably painted 30 years after his death. It is even rumored be a portrait of another man who resembled Shakespeare, or more likely, to be the artist's copy of the recently discovered Chandos portrait. Soest was never a popular painter in the fashionable circles of his time...maybe because he preferred to present his subjects as they really were. Maybe Shakespeare allowed the very young, up and coming Soest to do a portrait and then dismissed it due to its unfashionable realism. Later, in middle age, the Soest decides it's time to show his stuff after the Bard is no longer around to express his displeasure, so after a few touch ups, presents his most famous client. Not that likely, but I still like it and hope that maybe the more realistic Dutch painter saw the real eyes and wanted to leave a more accurate representation of the man.