Marchesa Casati (update)

In my post of 6th Nov 09. I wrote about the delight of Chris's photograph of my 'Medusa' mask appearing in the new book 'Portraits of a Muse' about the delicious Marchesa Casati!  Well I now have a copy of the book in my hot and trembling hand and am even more delighted :)

I am so thrilled that the picture has a full page all to itself ! I wasn't expecting that at all. I thought we might just be tucked away somewhere ;) There's a little bit of blurb about me and the Marchesa's influence on my masks and both Chris and I get a lovely mention in the special thank you section :)

The book itself is gorgeous. A large format art book lavishly illustrated with loads of amazing pictures,  paintings and photos. I shall go and run around excitedly a bit more now ..lol ;)

'Portrait Of  The Marchesa Casati With a Greyhound'  By Giovanni Boldini 1908

Edit: Oops... I thought I'd missed something out, trust me to forget ;) Thank you Laetitia :)))x

You can  get hold of a copy of  the book 'The Marchesa Casati: Portraits of a Muse' by Scott D Ryersson & Michael Yaccarino...here.  Or via  most other good book sellers :))

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The past in the present... Part 1

These winter months after Yule  always make me a little sad and a little nostalgic. I find myself turning to my creative equivalent of comfort food :) Delving into those artists and writers whose creations first captivated and inspired me many years ago and whose influence has remained always. They have become so dear to me. So I thought I would share just a small selection.

Going way back into the mists of time ;) I was given a copy of  'The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshoppers Feast' by Alan Aldridge as a Christmas present in 1973!

The illustrations are utterly gorgeous. If you search online you can find a fair few of them but here is a tiny taster just to tempt you:)

There were also two sequels, ' The Peacock's Party' and 'The Lion's Cavacade' All show off Alan Aldridge's  rich and astonishing illustrations perfectly. If you look around you can still pick up second-hand copies and to immerse yourself in these delicious pictures is definitely a serious winter pick me up :)

Moving forward in time a bit to the early 1980's...... I was lucky enough to discover a copy of  'Vali Myers Drawings 1949-1979', in one of those sort of discount bookshops (they used to sell end of print runs, seconds  etc) that seemed to be all over the pace in London. It cost me £2.50... still one of the best bargins I've ever had!! I'd never seen any of Vali's work before and it took my breath away with it's sheer beauty and power. I was hooked and began to try and find out all I could about this extraordinary woman.

Vali Myers

Sadly not much of her art is available to see online. And the book of her paintings is very scarce nowadays. But in 2007  'Vali Myers: A Memoir' by Gianni Menichetti was published and is well worth a read!

I can lose myself in these visions during those wonderful long winter evenings:)

There is more to come soon.............