What makes us curious about curiosites?

Hello lovely people,

I have put a new object on Etsy. I am still railing against the whiteness and tastefulness of Etsy by using backgrounds as dark and detailed as much as possible or what I can get away with.

 This eyeball necklace does not belong against a tasteful white background, it belong to the utter darkness and chaos of our souls. You can find it here by following the bunny.....

Follow the bunny....

I was recently asked what makes my objects curious and why was I drawn to them. Generally I make objects out of instinct and it just feels natural to make objects that are not considered to be necessarily pretty. The question did make me think about why I create what I do and is particularly poignant as I am taking my first tentative steps as a full time artist.  I feel that the stabilizers have come off (no full time income and no longer a student) and I am now wheeling around on my own. When I had my stabilizers removed from my bike as a child I fell into a rose bush straight away.  Lets hope this does not become a metaphor for my new life. So why curios?

Here is an artistic statement I have been working on.

I make objects that do not quite belong; the curiosities are the outsider, the other. Just like how we feel sometimes. They tend to have a theatrical aesthetic with a decayed fragility and reflect the human condition such as anxieties juxtaposed with humour and the grotesque.

Writing this reminded me of my favourite book I read as a child

Whilst my female (at least I think it was just female) classmates were reading Sweet Valley High I was reading Horror books and books like this. I blame this book... An automaton that play chess why that is magical! But it has been suggested that it was really controlled by rather small people inside. Even more strange!

Tired of raising your hat? Well this a mechanical hat will do this for you! Or how about a look into the future 70's style? In the future we will be made from plastic. So close to the truth but it is normally for vanity rather than for health. 

Isn't it rather wonderfully bizarre? Perhaps when viewing curiosities and all things odd it allows us to marvel at the absurd. The bonkers things that humans can come up with or what nature can throw at us.The curious objects does not quite belong in our world. There is a tension between viewing an object that is familiar but is not like us. In one way we try to empathise with the object but in another way we cannot. It is familiar but it is not, it is real but it is also part of our imagination creating an uncanny feeling. This evokes an interest that makes us curious about what we are seeing. I hope that my objects create a response like this when people view my work.

 Children can be fascinated with the gross and they are ok with it. As adults we try and live in a more defined and rule driven world where our imagination does not come out to play as often. A curiosity allows us to come out and play. We all need to play sometimes.

Your from the circus,

Sarah.

Ahoy there clowns,

So much has happened this month or so. I have got married hooray! Had a honeymoon double hooray! Decided to take a break from studying after five long years sort of hooray. This month has been quite chaotic in which most of the time I had an image of a cat on a unicycle going round and round that kept popping up in my mind. Make of that what you will.Some times you just have to try and not get stressed out. Our cat Cherry suggest a good book and some chocolate helps.

In terms of arty work I am beginning to get more commissions. I feel that it is such an honour to get a commission as there are so many super talented artists out there. One of the commissions I have been working was based on a carnival theme in which I was asked to make conjoined clowns. I decided that the clowns would not like each other and due to their tempers and general bad behaviour they ended up wearing a strait jacket. So may I introduce an act so astonishing, amazing, awe inspiring that you will give up watching Emmerdale and do something less boring instead......

The Fickle Brothers......

 Behold! A carnival act that will leave you confused

Perhaps you may feel rather bemused

The conjoined Fickle Twins dislike each other
It is hard to believe that they really are brothers

For the Fickle Twins are rather temperamental
And their moods are not coincidental

For when one twin is up, the other is down
Resembling a roller coaster ride at the fairground

This absurdity of moods poses a real predicament
As it makes the Fickle twins life rather difficult

It is not the conjoined element that makes them irritable
Its just that they find each other rather incorrigible

They have diagnosed each other as a having a malfunction
The doctor diagnosed them both as having a mood dysfunction

One claimed that the other has rapid cycling
The other claims his twin is rather stifling

Twin one is in an elevated mood
Twin two sticks his tongue out and behaves rather rude

Twin two is now feeling overly grandiose
Whilst twin one is feeling rather morose

Twin one is in an irritable mood
Twin two then refers him to the famous Mr Boo!

This continuous swing of moods has made them snap!
So now they have to be strapped,

Into a strait jacket you see
They could of just sorted this out over a nice cup of tea. 

(Written by the Uncanny brothers. Please do not copy or re-use without permission. Or I shall send the clowns round!)

A nice cup of tea can do wonders!

Yours from the Circus,

Sarah.

Lilith the Snake Girl

Salutations fellow strange people,

I am in a bit of a pickle at the moment and cannot seem to get into a rhythm of work, study and play. Imagine if you will cats on unicycles juggling literature books, half made art pieces and a wedding to plan to the sound of circus music.I wonder what everyone elses unicycles look like?

I have taken a side step from the circus aesthetic and have explored art within a biblical nature. Hieronymus Bosch is an artist that has always fascinated me. The sense of foreboding, death and of course temptations of the flesh is a rather common theme within his work. The painting God presenting Eve to Adam sparked an interest in the role of Eve. Particularly the temptation of Eve by the serpent.

 I am also began to look at Mythology for inspiration and found Lilith dating backing to the Babylonian religion. Lilith is not particularly represented in a positive light in the bible and her insubordinate behaviour towards Adam made her an threat. So she has been depicted as a seductress, murderer and demon like creature. However it does beat being made from Adams rib, poor Eve. Lilith's character interested me more, so I began to play around with some imagery. The final outcome is a hybrid of a snake and woman.

Lilith

Lilith the Snake Girl will charm and seduce
But beware if she offers her delectable fruit

To take a bite of the ruby red apple
Will leave you insane and permanently shackled!

I have suggested that she is made from apples as they spill out from her torso.

Kept the colours earthy.

Full pouty lips for the badly behaved Lilith.

I also concentrated on detail such as modelling the scales and leaves.

The image of Lilith is used alot in literature and art.( Dante Gabriel Rossetti had a thing about her). In one story she leaves Adam in the garden of Eden perhaps bored of paradise only to return wearing a snakes skin to convince Adam and Eve to eat the apple. I wanted to create a Lilith that was a rather tongue in cheek she devil with a nod to the way she has been  depicted in art and literature. You can find the naughty Lilith by following the bunny to my Etsy store.

Follow the Bunny 

Yours from the Circus

Sarah

How does one convey emotion?

Ahoy me hearties!

Today is Pirate day, shiver me timbers and all that. I have been enjoying the last rays of sunshine before autumn sets in.

Tea and Battenberg cake. Nom nom nom.

I also had an adventure to the wonderful town of Whitby where I shall be getting married this year. (I cannot believe how fast this year has gone). Every time we visit Whitby I fall even more in love with the place. For a start they have an pirate ship.

Ship shape!

Beautiful skies,

and to finish it off we saw a rainbow over the sea.

 I was also half expecting to see a glitter Unicorn as well. However Whitby has a dark and Gothic reputation to keep up thanks to Bram Stoker and some magical cats. So no glittery Unicorns.

 So I am now back at home amongst the cats and orderly chaos.I am still continuing with exploring different emotions within my work. The next step is to match the emotion to the pose of figure. One idea is to restrict the movement to convey the feeling you can have with anxiety. So how could I convey this? As I was covering a piece I am working on to protect it from paint splashes the shape of the fabric gave me an idea.

The fabric created an interesting shape with the feet just showing at the bottom. Perhaps the idea of wrapping fabric gives an claustrophobic feel to the figure. The other idea is to keep the wire frame I do for my figures rather than building up.

This could make the figure seem more delicate and frail.I have already started to experiment with this idea by adding a spring neck to one of my figures.

This has added movement to the head as it now wobbles. The figure is placed in a box (like an Jack in a box)and is angled to one side to suggest movement. I am hoping that the combination of the box and movement will suggest the feelings related to agoraphobia and anxiety. We shall see.....

Hope you are all having a fun Pirate day,

Yours from the Circus,

Sarah.

Kitsch decor, Jesters and a rather cute zombie.

Hola!

The change of seasons is upon us and I can feel my favourite time of year approaching. Autumn for me is a magical time of year with the trees and plants turning into rusty shades and preparing to go to sleep, cosy nights in watching horror films, cats not going out so much so you can cuddle them more  (if you can put up with the scratches afterwards) and of course Halloween.

 The weather here is still rather warm and I spent one afternoon in the garden watching various buzzy insects and cats who were looking rather serious when stalking in the garden.

Back of a buzzy insect that clearly disliked me being in its space. 

As the seasons change I tend to focus more on the home and think about what I could do next. Although I don't like to theme rooms I do like to put objects and decor together that kinda makes sense. To me anyway! So I am thinking about what to do with our jade wall in the living room and have begun to add more objects. I am a minimalists nightmare!

Could there be such thing as a tropical circus with religious kitsch? I feel that is the look I am aiming for. I also placed some of my own work to see how it works as decor.

I may have to think about using jade green with my work on Etsy. In other news I am working hard but seem to be producing little. I am finding this a bit frustrating and wondering if I should change my approach slightly.  The medical madness is still continuing with an OCD bottle of pills and also zombie madness on building blocks. Behold two new characters in the studio.

Here are the finished versions

 Introducing Mr Boos marvellous miracle medicine.

When checking once is never enough...

OCD Pills

Tastes like chicken only not...

Flesh eating zombie cuteness.

You can find these delectable delightful objects at their regular haunt at Etsy by following the bunny,

Follow the Bunny

Yours from the circus,

Sarah.

Salutations Clowns,

The once tidy studio now looks like this.....

This week has been about OCD in the studio, a disorder that I am rather familiar with. I decided to explore my OCD within the circus aesthetic to see what I would come up with. I have wanted to continue with the idea of hybrids and merge objects that are related to disorders or treatment. A part of my OCD is centred around locking doors before going out. I have to continuously check the door and count as I am doing this, a habit that intensifies if I am feeling particularly anxious. If I don't then in my mind all sort of terrible catastrophes happen such as the Apocalypse or Piers Morgan visiting....cough.... I think you get the general idea. It is particularly embarrassing when you leave the house and whilst my partner or friends are waiting for me I am performing the ritual of counting and checking the door. So with this in mind I started to play around with the idea of a hybrid with a head and key. Here are some drawings I did before making the keys. Note that the syringe is another idea. :-)

And here are the final pieces.....

OCD KEY

Check door
Check door
Check door
Check door

You can never be sure....

 

INSANI-KEY
For people with OCD........

A little bit of madness helps....

You can find these items by following the bunny at Etsy...

Follow the Bunny 

Yours from the Circus,

Sarah.

Etsy, Betsy, Studio, Monster,Plague Doctor and a bloody bottle.

Ahoy there me hearties,

This week has gone faster than a Tortie Cat wearing a zooming device. I have lots of projects bubbling away in my studio and not enough hours. So I needed a bit of a tidy up to clear the mind and arrange my work area more. Behold the new and slightly tidy studio.

Continuing with work our trees in our garden provided a useful place to hang paper that has been awashed with a magical liquid known as tea. This is for the tags I make that go with the characters.

I also left two heads outside to see if they will decay.

You cannot go wrong with a bit of decay

That is what I say.

In the ever enlightening world of Etsy I have put four items up. Inspired by my trips to wondrous Whitby I have created two one eyed sea monsters. One is for wear or decoration.

Ahoy there me hearties

 A specimen from the deepest darkest depth of the seas captured by Captain Panic Attack. 

You cannot get this sort of thing in Ikea. 

The Plague Doctor Medicine spoon……….

He is ready to hang on your wall or if you are feeling adventurous you can even wear him around your neck! Fancy that.

 Introducing Mr Boos Marvellous Miracle Miraculous Medicine Meat Juice. Used by the Ole Victorian physicians Meat juice has an array of healthy benefits. Such as to conserve weakened vital forces and the power to strengthen and sustain. Nice!

(Please note this is all pretend - I'm actually a vegetarian!)

Or you could add it to your macabre collection of curiosities. (if you have one).

And remember the three M's
Method
Meat
Morality

You can find these life changing items by following the bunny

FOLLOW THE BUNNY 

The Victorians had some rather funny views and so do we. 

Yours from the Circus,

Sarah