'Nightshade' mask

Atropa Belladonna or Deadly Nightshade. She is the first to bloom  in my Poison Garden series, but she will appear again later in another form. A plant so full on intrigue and so wrapped in herblore and magic, she still has many faces to show me.

I will be offering her for sale in my Etsy shop soon along with some others both old and new.

Photo: Chris Dean. Mask: Tanith Hicks

Photo: Chris Dean. Mask: Tanith Hicks

Just wanted to add a little piccie I took myself to show the black glass beads that hang from the Nightshade flowers.  Please note that the colours of the mask are much more true in Chris's photos :)

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Wrapping myself in words

Books are vital to me, my head is full of them, and being a librarian, my days are full of them as well ;) When I'm working on my masks  I always feel such a strong need to immerse myself in words that follow the paths that my art is travelling down.  I search urgently, dipping into volumes and flitting restlessly from book to book until I find the ones that wrap me tightly in their pages!

As I  begin to pull together all my ideas for my Witches/Poison Garden of masks, all lovingly tended by my Witch/Crow mask (this is just my working title for her at the moment), I'm also gathering books around myself to feed and inspire me on my creative journey.  I've just begun 'John Saturnall's Feast' by Lawrence Norfolk

I'm already hooked, this is a new author for me and I like his writing style very much!

I'm looking forward to delving into 'The Poison Garden' by Sarah Singleton.

'The Poison Diaries & The Poison Diaries: Nightshade' by Maryrose Wood

It doesn't concern me whether books are written for adults, teenagers or children, I just read what I'm drawn to :)

These last two novels were inspired by the very wonderful 'The Poison Diaries' by The Duchess of Northumberland, illustrated by Colin Stimpson , which was in turn inspired by the Duchess's beautiful but deadly Poison Garden at Alnwick Castle.

So just a few to keep me company so far, and I haven't even touched on the non-fiction titles yet,  but a vital part of what helps me in my art :))

Flowerings

The first buds in my Poison Garden are beginning to unfurl. Here are ' Deadly Nightshade' (Atropa Belladonna) and one of her dark sisters, 'Bleeding Heart' (Dicentra Spectabilis). Still very much works in progress but won't be too long before I can start to paint them :) Making their respective flowers to add to their decoration will be quite a challenge and I've still not quite decieded what medium to use. Perhaps paperclay, though mulberry paper may work for Nightshade....... I'm not sure.

I'm also working on 2 larger pieces (full face masks) . 'Lady Laudanum' as mistress of poppies is another of my poison plants. Also 'Visions' a very personal mask who is not part of this series. It will be a little while longer before they progressed enough to share :)

When finished these will be for sale on my Etsy page.

Nightshade

Bleeding Heart

Naughty Spider never likes to think that something is happening that might not actually involve him, so he just had to help out ;)

Succubus

 

Photographer: Chris Dean. Mask & Model: Tanith

Materials: Paper, wire, glass beads, acrylic paint, bronze powders. 

NEW MASKS should be coming very soon. I'm working on a series inspired by beautiful and mysterious plants with a darker reputation! At present Belladonna (Deadly Nightshade), Bleeding Hearts and Opium Poppies are beginning to bloom ;). Will  have some work in progress pictures to show shortly.