The Goose Girl

This fairy tale, another dark masterpiece of the Brothers Grimm, is the favorite of my little sister.  As I noted below, it has all of the elements of a good yarn: a fairy, a magical horse, a girl separated from her mother.  The princess is cast down by her maid, who takes the true bride's place on her intended's arm.  The true princess is forced to become the goose girl to make her way, and the false princess kills the girl's horse, the only tie to her homeland.  Of course, deception never pays, and the king realizes the goose girl, resplendent in her beauty, is the true bride of his son:

"But the old king begged so hard, that she had no peace till she had told him all the tale, from beginning to end, word for word. And it was very lucky for her that she did so, for when she had done the king ordered royal clothes to be put upon her, and gazed on her with wonder, she was so beautiful. Then he called his son and told him that he had only a false bride; for that she was merely a waiting-maid, while the true bride stood by. And the young king rejoiced when he saw her beauty, and heard how meek and patient she had been; and without saying anything to the false bride, the king ordered a great feast to be got ready for all his court. The bridegroom sat at the top, with the false princess on one side, and the true one on the other; but nobody knew her again, for her beauty was quite dazzling to their eyes; and she did not seem at all like the little goose-girl, now that she had her brilliant dress on.
When they had eaten and drank, and were very merry, the old king said he would tell them a tale. So he began, and told all the story of the princess, as if it was one that he had once heard; and he asked the true waiting-maid what she thought ought to be done to anyone who would behave thus. ’Nothing better,’ said this false bride, ’than that she should be thrown into a cask stuck round with sharp nails, and that two white horses should be put to it, and should drag it from street to street till she was dead.’ ’Thou art she!’ said the old king; ’and as thou has judged thyself, so shall it be done to thee.’ And the young king was then married to his true wife, and they reigned over the kingdom in peace and happiness all their lives; and the good fairy came to see them, and restored the faithful Falada to life again."

I looked to the end of the tale, and imagine a scene not told by our Brothers Grimm: when she reenters the city with her geese and with her horse, Falada, who had watched over her even in his death.  I followed the pattern I set forth in my "Self Portrait with Fairy Tale" (see below in earlier posts), with a decorative border as part of the actual image itself.  I'm inspired by the richness of medieval tapestries and the constant juxtaposition of pattern that can be found on them.

"The Goose Girl" Pencil.  Copyright 2012 Jessica Marie Boehman

Places to Dream, Draw, and Work

I posted a few months ago about my studio space (http://hansmyhedgehogblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/where-i-work.html).  Since then I've decorated my office space as well. I had been holding off as it was just a place for work, the place where I research, check email, and prepare classes. But it was just so ugly.  Why not have two places to dream?  I hung a medieval sculpture reproduction, my Brementown Musicians, a 19th-century print of China, an angel drawing I made for my husband, two prints from Swan Bones Theatre, and my Ph.D. diploma.

The office (and the first time I've actually hung my Ph.D. diploma).

The desk. I've had it since 7th grade.

 By the bookcase, I arranged my stuffed creatures, board games, a pair of ceramic mandarin ducks, my Hans poster that I use in retail fairs, a drawing of us from my husband, a digital painting my little sis made in high school, and the 2012 Children's Book Week poster.

Bookcase.

The updated studio with new green desk.

A New Beginning

These past few weeks have been one of serious reflection for me and for the direction and future of my artistic endeavors.  As always, I go back to the beginning.

I will be developing the theme of "magical animals" that I have so far, but will move away from the cute to follow the fantastic instead.  I will be looking to take more inspiration from folk and fairytales, with my own twists on them, of course.  It feels right and we'll see where it goes.  The last drawing I did (see below) made me long to return to these roots.  An art teacher in college told me that I always had my head in the clouds.  He was right, but that's not a bad thing.  It's just who I am.

I've started work on my own version of the Goose Girl, the Grimm fairytale.  It's another dark story, but the elements are fantastic: a talking severed head of a horse, a princess cast down who now tends to the geese, but of course, she can command the wind.  Where artists of the past, see below, have looked to the scene of magic, like Arthur Rackham (one of my very favorites, seen below), I will look to the end of the tale, to happiness.

Arthur Rackham, The Goose Girl.

Penguins and Pillows

Before Christmas I had a small line of gorgeous plush holiday ornaments crafted by my extremely talented Aunt Judi.

Judi is getting to work on a new line of pillows for your couch, bed, or favorite arm chair.  They will have colorful borders and lots of contrasting fabrics.  They are soft and fluffy and really super cute.   Right now the pillows will only show my dancing animals, specifically, the penguin, elephant and bear.

Below is a very simple pillow, the first of its kind, with no border.  It will never be for sale as it sits on my bed in my home.  I also have a tiny dancing bear pillow to serve as a keepsake of working with my hilarious aunt.  I think I get my zaniness from her.

 

Penguin with Drum Pillow on my bed.

Penguin with drum pillow. Illustrated by Jessica Boehman, crafted with love by Aunt Judi.

Adapting the Brothers Grimm

I'm excessively fond of fairytales, folktales, and fables.  I love the dark, troubled and murky waters you land in when reading them.  They rarely have a fully happy ending; even if there is love, there is usually death.  The stories start with heartbreak, deceit, or loss and don't always resolve into something that sits gently in the corners of your mind.  But there is magic, too, made by animals who speak and bestow gifts, fairies and sprites who heal and kill, goblins who steal secrets and babies, and trolls who live under bridges and in the rocky fabric of the mountains of the cold, bleak subarctic lands. The rich stories, passed on by mouth until they were finally transcribed in numerous sources, speak to our shared cultural past.

One of my favorite fairy tales, as you now know, is Hans-My-Hedgehog.  The Brothers Grimm version is unrelentingly harsh.  The poor hedgehog boy is unwanted, untended, and unloved.  He finally flees and becomes a sort of king of the forest. He eventually, though his own cleverness, wins a princess, but is forced to have his skin of quills burned, turning his own human skin underneath charcoal-black, to be freed from his enchantment.

Anthony Minghella later retold several fairy stories when he penned them for Jim Henson's undertaking, The Storyteller.  In his rendition of Hans, he infused the characters with life, feeling, and love: we get glimpses of the pain of barrenness in a woman, the heartbreaking longing for a child, a wish and a wish answered.  A baby boy is born, part boy and part hedgehog, but the mother cherishes her baby.  But the father remained unmoved at the sight of his strange child:

“For every quill that he had on his body, Hans had an animal for a friend, as many friends as he had quills. He had a special way with these creatures and they loved him. He could talk to them. If his mother was looking for him, she would always go first to the place where the rooster strutted, a proud soldier of hens. Hans tended to this bird, polished his beak, combed his comb, and fed and fattened him, and it wasn’t long before the rooster was the biggest rooster you could imagine, a hugeness, a vast red rooster all plump and flush-feathered.  Whenever the sadness came, whenever he caught his reflection in a pool, and saw his strange beast-boy face, Hans would run to these friends and be among them, for they found him neither strange nor odd but magnificent.  “Father," he said in his flute voice, ”I want you to do some things for me. I want you to go to the village and have a saddle made for my rooster so I can ride him.  And I want some sheep and some cattle and some pigs. They would be happy to come with me where I go. Which is away. Which is to somewhere.  Where I can’t hurt no one and no one can hurt me.”

The boy grows to be the king of a fine sylvan castle, and does indeed win a princess.  In true fairytale fashion, it's not that easy.  She betrays him, he flees again.  The second winning will be done by her, proving her love for her wedded husband. 

I've made a self-portrait that weaves in two elements of my favorite fairytale: the rooster and the hedgehog.  In the background is text from the story.

"Self Portrait with Fairytale" Pencil.  Copyright 2012 Jessica Boehman

A Good First Year

Today marks the end of the first year of my little illustration shop (www.hansmyhedgehog.etsy.com).  What a year! A year ago, I knew nothing...I was researching backing boards, archival plastic sleeves, giclée printers, colored envelopes and papers, business card printers, you name it!  A year later, I did better than expected.  I met lots of new friends from two Etsy teams, I not only had my first show but had five of them!,  and I found a way to work color into my work that prints beautifully and doesn't compromise the integrity of my pencilwork.  I finally have a workspace in my home, and still more ideas than I have time to draw.  It's been a year of creativity and wonder, of lots of hours at the sketchpad, and even more trimming prints, assembling notecards, lining envelopes and stuffing packages. Lots of hours spent at Books of Wonder and the zoo becoming inspired by the natural world and by the work of amazing illustrators.

There's plans of expanding the line to include stuffed pillows, ornaments (currently in beta testing), and maybe even puppets (I still have to learn the latter, but look what can happen in a year!). 

Considering that this all took place after my teaching duties at two universities, I'm proud of what I've accomplished. I worried that I wouldn't persevere, or that I would fizzle out.  But it's been a gift that unwraps itself inside of my imagination bit by bit.  It speaks to me when I am not attending to it and grows when I work.  Hearing feedback online and seeing customers' faces in person lets me know I'm on the right track.  After many years of discontent in my worklife, this has brought me equilibrium. 

A year of thanks...

The Cold of Winter

Winter is still a pretty great time to visit the zoo.  There are no crowds, and though many of the animals are taking it easy, you can still enjoy yourself at the petting zoo.  There, the llamas, alpacas, cows, horses, pigs, sheep and goats still vie for your attention unabashedly.  My husband and I visited the Queens Zoo for the first time on New Year's Eve.  What better way to end the year than hanging with the animals?  We met some new friends.

Me and the alpaca at the Queens Zoo.  He only wants me for my pellets.

Seeing all of these animals wearing their winter coats, I was grateful for how their wool keeps me warm in the winter as well.  My favorite winter hat is a Peruvian style alpaca wool hat, died bright colors.  You won't miss me in a snow storm.  Some of my favorite pictures of my husband and I are in our Peruvian hats.  

Indeed, this basically served as our engagement photo, as we never had any taken. My little sister did a photo shoot with us in our hats on Black Friday 2009.

In our Peruvian hats.

Here I am again in my hat at Cromwell Manor Inn in Cornwall, NY for my birthday weekend this past November.  They had a hammock, cool fall air, a petting zoo next door at Jones Farm, and crisp blue skies.  Bliss.  

In the hammock in my hat.

So I made a drawing to show how animals may keep warm, too.  Here are many friends I've met recently: the alpaca and the sheep from Queens Zoo, the rooster and spotted pig from Jones Farm, and a winter goose from the Brooklyn Zoo.  May you all be warm, safe, happy and healthy in this New Year.

"Staying Warm" Pencil and digital color.  Copyright 2012 Jessica Boehman

It's amazing how much it looks like the hasty sketch I made on a yellow post-it note.

Initial sketch for "Staying warm"