Happy Halloween!

This is just one of the fabulous new pictures taken by Candee Photography in a spooky Halloween themed shoot with The Chantilly Belles last week! I am particularly impressed with the eerie blue lighting! We had real fun posing for this shoot and you can see a small selection from the day HERE.

The final collection will be online in the next few days, so I'll keep you posted, until then have a fun and spooky Halloween!

The Electric Michelangelo

Last week I picked up a fantastic book by chance from my local library. It was the cover that pulled me to it, so I guess that old saying 'never judge a book by it's cover' was wrong in this case.

The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall is a story about tattooing. But focuses on the turn of the 1900's making it's way through the 20's 30's and 40's all to finish in the 1970's. Just think how much tattooing has changed over all that time.

The story focuses on Cyril Parks, an unassuming lad who grows up in Morecambe amongst the seaside atmosphere of music halls fish and chips and the Northern working class taking their treasured holidays on the coast. He lives in a sea front guest house run by his no nonsense mother who frequently takes in consumptives so that they can enjoy the sea air.

As he grows older we meet his friends, join them on their mucky adventures and learn about the town's tattooist, the notorious Elliot Riley; a man with a reputation as a drunk with a bad mouth.
Cyril eventually becomes his apprentice and learns the art of tattooing the painful way. No sentiment is spared by Riley who is made up of equal parts of good and bad and treats Cy (as he is known) to all the dark recesses of his bitter life. Riley's one redeeming feature is his art. He is the best tattoo artist in the whole of North England and people come to him because he is a legend and it is this gift he passes on to Cy.

After both his mother and Riley pass away Cy emmigrates to New York, setting up shop as The Electric Michelangelo on Coney Island boardwalk, the macabre end of town complete with circus freak shows and fun fairs. It is here he meets and falls in love with Grace, an eastern European immigrant working as a bare back rider. She commissions him to tattoo her entire body with eyes.

This book was so atmospheric and brought up many issues for thought. Not only did I enjoy learning about the history of the art itself, which the author obviously had researched thoroughly, I was mesmerised by the idea that a female would want to alter her body so drastically and step away from the normal ideals of polite society! I read with eager morbid fascination as her body was slowly covered from ankle to neck in thick oultined eyes. Again the whole idea of a female body staring back at the viewer was an interesting concept and one that was quite shocking but admirable in its reasoning. Grace, feeling that by altering her body in this way, she is in command of how it is seen, forever challenging the male gaze.

The story has many twists and turns and ends very well but leaves you deep in thought for a long time afterwards. The fact that the book blends so perfeclty with my own research and studies of classic sailor tattoos and pin up girls was brilliant. There was whole pages dedicated to a mermaid tattoo who seemed to have a siren call to the men that chose her. The author goes into deep analysis of just why tattooing is so necessesary to create landmark occassions in peoples lives. She also goes into discussion of why tattoo shops thrive by the sea, combining myth and art into contemporary folklore. I totally loved this book and have added all the ideas and images it has given me to my growing list of inspirations to my new work.

Other news:

Last week I told you about The Chantilly Belles performance at The Lowry in aid of Comedy 4 Christies. I recieved some photos from the night's official photographer in my inbox yesterday so thought I'd share them with you. There are more to come too!

The Doctor doesn't quite know what to make of her creation

The Monster just can't help herself!

Bandages off!


Chantillystein!

Goddesses

Mrs Edward Mayer as Medusa

I'm loving working on my new water colour paintings inspired by sailor tattoos, pin-ups and nautical sayings. This week I was lucky enough to find out about a fabulous photographer called Madame Yevonde who was a pioneer of colour photography from the 1930's!

Her beautiful images fit perfectly with my current inspirations of dreamy, melancholy and melodramatic images and emotions evoked by the likes of French artists like Air and Pierre and Giles (see two posts ago). In fact I can see a lot of similarities between her work and that of the french photographic duo.

Madame Yevonde was a revolutionary, beginning her life as a devoted promoter of the suffragette movement and staying a supporter of women's rights throughout her life. By the age of 21 had set up her own photographic studio. Her photos were very different for their time, using props and costumes and friends as models (usually high society ladies, one even being the Prime minister's wife!) she created a new and exciting way of exploring women's social and sexual roles.

I particularly like her 'Goddesses' series from 1935, where the sitters are transformed by simple props and symbols into mythical women who's iconography has stayed strong throughout the ages.

The Hon Mrs Byran Guiness as Venus

Her images have the same otherworldly quality I am enjoying creating in my own work which I am infusing with a vintage and magical atmosphere.

'On the Rocks' finished but unframed

'All at Sea' in progress

What's more Yevonde did a study of nautical tattoos! I was so excited to find this out! She was interested in the symbolism behind both male and female tattoos and the strong sexual impulse they could both imply. She photographed the tattoos combined with knots, representing links and binding, and possibly exploring the relationship between the sexes.

Madame Yevonde is obviously a very important artist from the 20th Century and one I think may have been overshadowed by her male counterparts such as Man Ray, such is the irony! However I am now a proud owner of a beautiful exihibition catalogue and postcards of her work, which I am very happy about!

She's alive! ALIVE!!!

Taking a little break from my art work; This Sunday The Chantilly Bellles burlesque double act are performing at The Lowry in Salford at the Comedy 4 Christies event all in aid of Christies Hospital! We will be unwrapping our brand new monstrous act 'Chantillystein!' for the first time and performing alonside such comedy genius as Justin Moorhouse and Barbara Nice from Channel Four's award winning Phoenix Nights!

As we are keeping the details of this act secret until it's big debut all I can really reveal is that we have taken much inspiration from horror classics including The Bride Of Frankenstein! and this promises to be a brilliantly fun night!

Tickets cost £15 and can be bought from www.thelowry.com, the show starts at 8.00pm.

A bit about The Bride!:

It was the stunning Elsa Lanchester who played the Bride in the 1935 film made by Universal Studios. Although she made many films after The Bride of Frankenstein she will always be remembered for it as her defining moment. An unconventional beauty Lanchester was the perfect choice for the Monster's love interest. Her iconic hair flashed with white from the lightening bolts which gave her life was created by fixing a cage to her head and building hair pieces and her own hair around it.

Make up artist Jack P Pierce created the electric hairstyle and iconic make up for the film. Lanchester was later to remeber how Pierce took his work very seriously, wearing a white surgical smock while taking hours to perfect one of her neck scars that could be bought 'for ten cents from a joke shop'. Whatever he was like his work is amazing.

The actual film has been said by some to exceed that of the original 'Frankenstein' from 1931. It is a fab film and very funny in places, high camp and over acting abound, but if you are hoping to see a lot the Bride then you may be disappointed as she only appears in the last FIVE MINUTES! It just goes to prove how iconic her role was to cause such a stir and remain so influencial for over 70 years! I think she is beautiful.

For more info, 'Monsters: A celebration of the Classics From Universal Studios' is a great read!

PS, isn't it weird that the film is called the Bride of Frankenstein, when Frankenstein is the name of the doctor and the actual monster is nameless?