The Blue Lady Roughs

Roughs
Following research into the story of 'the blue lady' I decided to start roughing around some ideas. I wanted to focus on the aspect of her looking for her pearls.

Paintings

Character

I am in two minds whether or not to include characters in the final scenes, but for now I have having fun playing around with ideas. For the final images I may just focus on the scenes in relation to things that are about to happen or just happened.

Harris Burdick - 'The Third Floor Bedroom' Stories

The Third Floor Bedroom - 'it all began when someone left the window open'

1. Greta Gervasoni's story, age 8.

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/harrisburdick/readers_stories.html

A long time ago there was an ancient cottage in which lived a family.

In the morning mum and dad always used to go in the yard to work, And the two children stayed with their grandfather. One afternoon it was raining so the two children played in their bedroom with their grandfather Luciano, who was very clever at the Chinese shadows game. The two children were fascinated about that game and they tried to learn haw to make a bird. At the end of the evening Sandy the little girl was very good at doing this game and looking on the wallpaper her brother and her grandfather noticed that Sandy's shadows hands were exactly the same shape as the birds on the wallpaper. While they were looking at the wallpaper Sandy made her birds wings flying and simultaneously one bird on the paper became alive and tried to move its wings. The next day the bird near the empty space on the wallpaper was found by the family with a followed wing. They thought that it tried all night long to follow the missing bird! The magic of that night never came back but it stayed in their mind for ever.

The End

2. Jamie H's story - Honor Winner – Grades 2-3.

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/harrisburdick/submit_story.html

             It all began when someone left the window open in Steve’s room.  On the wall were pictures of birds.  One of the birds came to life.  Then Steve came in.  He closed the window without noticing the bird.  The bird fell to the floor.  Plop!  Next, Steve’s sister, Kim, came into his room.  She saw the bird on the floor.
            “Why’s there a dead bird on the floor?” asked Kim.  Steve looked at the bird and yelled for Mom.
            Mom came upstairs to Steve’s room, “Why did you call me?  Also, why is it so hot in here?”  She opened the window.
            Then, the birds were all flying.  Steve and Kim were catching birds.  Some of the birds flew out of the window.
            “I’ll close the window!”  Kim shouted.
            “Don’t!!!!”  Steve yelled.  Slam!  Plop!  Crash!  Boom!  Thud!  Every bird fell on the floor.
            “Here we go again!”  they both said.  Mom told Dad.  Dad told Uncle Jerry.  Jerry told Aunt Ant, and they all kept telling people.
            They tried everything that they could think of—luring them with birdseed, taping the wall, and calling the animal rescue organization, but nothing worked.
            Kim had an idea.  Dad put a sign on the house.  It said “Grand Opening!”  Next, crowds of people came to the house.  Only one room door had a sign that said, “Museum.”  The crowd saw birds flying everywhere in there.  The window was open, and the curtain covered it.  The family smiled.  “What a perfect day,” Dad whispered.

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick - Chris Van Allsburg

Andersen Press 9781849392792

Van Allsburg, C (1984) 'The Mysteries of Harris Burdick', London, Anderson Press.

https://www.clpe.org.uk/sites/default/files/Wordless%20Picture%20Books.pdf

'The premise behind this unique book of pictures is that the fourteen drawings within it were left with a publisher by a man named Harris Burdick who subsequently disappeared. Each black and white drawing purports to be a single illustration from a different story. Each one has a title and a brief caption but otherwise the only clues to the context are in the pictures themselves, providing a great stimulus for children’s own creative writing.' 

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/harrisburdick/readers_stories.html

The stories on this page were all written by young writers who were inspired by the illustrations in The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.

Read them, and then see where your imagination takes you!

Rachel Lefebre, Age: 10Captain ToryOne night in 312 Maple Street a man told his grandchild of the legend of Captain Tory. It all started on a dark night on the OREALLY ship of Captain Tory's crew. The men were on lower deck telling tall tales . . .READ MORE >

Alex Treadaway, Age: 13The HarpGrandfather rocked slowly on the rocker, descending back and rising slowly. His dark eyes were cast down on the boy before him. The wrinkles that decorated his lips and skin were sagging. His hair . . .READ MORE >

Greta Gervasoni, Age: 8The Third Floor BedroomA long time ago there was an ancient cottage in which lived a family. In the morning mum and dad always used to go in the yard to work, and the two children stayed with their grandfather. One afternoon . . .READ MORE >

Dasha Homeyer & Dylan Walsh, Ages: 14The House on Maple StreetDr. Fleinenstein lived alone in his 1800s style house on Maple Street. Every day, he would get up very early for work. He worked only in his house in the attic. He never stepped outside, only . . .READ MORE >

Caitlin Pickhaver, Age: 11The Third Floor BedroomIt was a warm night, so I opened the window. I never thought that leaving the window open would lead to what it led to . . .READ MORE >

Mark Penrose, Age: 11The HarpOnce upon a time in the city of New York, a small American boy, age 12 and a half, was reading a fairy tale about an ancient harp . . .READ MORE >

*Reflective Summary - GIFs & Tone*

Creating GIFs from penny dreadful stories has been the starting point for more ideas around the themes of ambiguity and mystery. The subtle movements included within the GIFs helped me to think about reducing down more predictable imagery of what people associate with a ghost story. I think so far, I have been using more obvious interpretations to note down what I think about in relation to penny-bloods. 

Developing my practical work and thinking about the final outcome, I want to move away from the typical colours and motifs I associate with this subject matter and start thinking about the images in a way that they will be more open to interpretation, as in accordance with my research. Also, the penny-blood stories are more likely to be known to a viewer already, therefore influencing their ideas, such as 'The Flying Dutchman'. As I continue I want to create scenes that imply a more suggestive and less definite meaning.

Pam Smy - Thornhill

The aesthetic tone and practical application of the images found in graphic novel 'Thornhill' are relevant to the themes and theories around composition and tone I have been looking at so far. The absence of colour lends itself to ambiguity and the viewer's understanding of the atmosphere described by the arrangement of the frame and the elements within it. Of course, the lack of colour could also be representative of the bleakness within the narrative of the story.

The Visual Narrative Reader - Neil Cohn

Cohn, N (2016) 'The Visual Narrative Reader', London & New York, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Visual Narrative Theory

• pg.2 - 'in all channels we use systematic patterns stored in our long-term memories: words and idioms are systematic patterns of sound mapped to meanings...'
• 'Gestural emblems are systematic meaningful manual expressions (like 'OK' or 'thumbs up')...'
• Drawings also use systematic patterns whether as conventional ways of drawing people, houses or stick figures...'
• pg. 3 - 'Just as spoken languages and sign languages differ from around the world, we should expect that different visual languages manifest in unique cultural contexts.'

Sequential Imagery

• pg.1 - 'Drawing is a uniquely human capacity for expressing meaning'.
• 'This unique capacity for image-making is pushed further by the use of sequential images to convey meanings beyond single expressions'.
• 'Sequential visual narratives date at least as far back as cave paintings and have appeared in numerous cultural artefacts - woven into tapestries, painted on pottery, and drawn in sand, among others'.

The Flying Dutchman GIF

Final GIF Idea

This GIF is made up of a lot more frames compared to the last one. Although, it was a lot simpler to put together. I decided to add in a bit of a fade to show that the flying dutchman is a 'ghost ship' - without it, I felt it looked a bit more like a real ship sailing past.

The Flying Dutchman

The idea behind this image (to be made into a gif) is compositionally very simple, which I like. Making each element separately will enable me to move things around much easier. I think the window of a circle works well, it could be interpreted as a porthole or through the lens of a telescope - either idea is relevant to the story of 'The Flying Dutchman'.

The Ghost Story 1840-1920, A Cultural History

Smith, A (2010) 'The Ghost Story: 1840-1920, A Cultural History', Manchester, Manchester University Press.

Notes

Dickens on Ghosts - 

'always elude us. Doubtful and scant of proof at first, doubtful and scant of proof still, all mankind's experience of them is, that their alleged appearances have been, in all ages, marvellous, exceptional, and resting on imperfect grounds of proof; that in vast numbers of cases they are known to be delusions superintended by a well-understood, and by no means uncommon disease'.

Sasha Handley in Visions of an Unseen World: Ghost beliefs and Ghost Stories in Eighteenth-Century England (2007) maps the development of the belief in ghosts from the medieval period to the eighteenth century.
- religious connections between religious notions of the ghostly in both Catholic and Protestant contexts..
- For Handley, 'Ghost stories, whether real or imagined, were good for thinking with'.

Seeing the spectre: an economic theory of the ghost story
Gothic Marx

• Pg. 11 - 'Marx developed his theory of 'The Fetishism of Commodities' in Capital (1867), where he argues that an object, in the example of a table, contains the labour (life) which produced it. The question is one of visibility, an issue that is central to notions of spectrality:

A commodity appears, at first sight, a very trivial thing, and easily understood. Its analysis shows that it is, in reality, a very queer thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties [...]. Yet, for all that, the table continues to be that common, everyday thing, wood. But, so soon as it steps forth as a commodity, it is changed into something transcendent. It not only stands with its feet on the ground, but, in relation to all other commodities, it stands on its head, and evolves out of its wooden brain grotesque ideas.'

Final Squire GIF

I had a lot of fun with this image! Making it into a gif was a last minute decision, it was quite easy to manipulate the eyes and candle flame. I may experiment with this a bit more, making my images into a series of simple gifs - I really enjoyed making this one!

Looking into the story of 'The Flying Dutchman', I thought adding a little suggestion of this in the form of the ship in a bottle, tying in nicely with what I plan to do within the series of images. At the moment, I am doing a series of 3 but I think I might end up making a few more.

Squire

Final Image - The Ghost and the Bonesetter

I wanted to focus on the tone of the image first and foremost, thinking about the composition in terms of the things I have found out in regards to rules and how to give an image more of an impact. I placed the eyes within the rule of thirds, with the intention of making this into a gif.

Squire Tests

Experiments with my scanned in paintings. I played around with the character a bit more, adding beards and changing the face slightly to fit in with the atmosphere I want to create.

The Blue Lady - Temple Newsam

I contacted Temple Newsam in relation to the ghost of 'The Blue Lady' who is said to haunt the manor house. Deborah, who is one of the tour guides, kindly emailed me back with more details on the story.

Mary Ingram our Blue Lady. Mary (1638 – 1652) was the daughter of Sir Thomas Ingram, later Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Lady Frances Ingram (nee Bellasyse). The traditional Story is that one day, while returning to Temple Newsam House after visiting relatives at Barrowby near Garforth, Leeds her coach was attacked by Highwaymen. All her valuables were taken including her precious pearl necklace. The pearls were a Christening present from her Grandfather, Sir Arthur Ingram who had purchased Temple Newsam in 1622. The shock of the incident quite unbalanced her mind and she had no recollection of the attack. Today we would have diagnosed her condition as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. At the time, of course, this was unheard of. Mary was repeatedly found by family and servants in great distress asking “where are my pearls?, Where are my pearls?” She began searching everywhere, in draws, under the beds and even under carpets! A Doctor was consulted and advised the family to remove her from the scene of the crime and her mind would be restored. They removed to London but Mary’s condition only worsened. Mary died aged only 14 and is buried in Westminster Abbey, London.

We do have a portrait of a young lady here in the House, we believe is Mary, attributed to the artist Sir Peter Lely and hangs in our Gothic room. Many people say they have seen Mary still looking for her Pearls  (as her spirt can’t settle). On these occasions She appears with a blue mist / aura all around her.

Focus practical work on portraits??

*Reflective Summary - Practical & Theory Synthesis*

The legacy of the ghost story has been vital to my investigation so far. Looking at all the reasons why they were and remain so popular has helped to inform the work I am producing. The curiosity with eerie tales and the macabre is definitely something I want to take with me as I move forward with the project. I want to continue testing and experimenting with imagery and thinking about how I can bring everything together. Printed books, paintings, and the link between have helped me to think more about the content of my work. Writing more of my essay, I am realising the importance of what I am arguing - that images can tell just as much (if not more) of a narrative as written words. Although I love written narrative as much as visual, I disagree with the opinion that text is more important. According to the well-known saying, 'a picture paints a thousand words', and even if that image stems from a piece of text, the image itself is more than capable of telling a story - sometimes even more capable, as it is culturally inclusive.

Levi Pinfold - Horses of Briar Hill

After looking at 'Black Dog' in Waterstones, I researched more into Pinfold's other works. I came across 'Horses of Briar Hill' on his website, which encompasses all the things I am looking at in regards to my own practical project.

http://www.levipinfold.com

Wordless Narrative

• Makes you wonder what is happening outside of the frame. 
• What just happened and what will happen next. 
• Not so obvious within the actual frame, that is the power of a single image narrative.

Tone - Ghostly and Mysterious

Lighting

Waterstones Visit

Picture Books

Black Dog - Levi Pinfold



The use of scale and consideration of the general atmosphere of the images drew me to 'Black Dog'. Throughout the book is a real dynamic sense of composition, in relation to the dog, which I love. The actual textures and way the image have been done also adds to the charm and tone of the story.

The Wolf, The Duck & The Mouse - Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen



Jon Klassen is of course one of my favourite children's book illustrators, not only for his general aesthetic 'style' but for the wit and humour he often includes within his work.

Norse Myths - Kevin Crossley-Holland & Jeffrey Alan Love



I came across this book in a different section of the book shop, but I really liked the use of fairly simply placed shape and texture, as well as the limitations of colour.

Hortense and the Shadow - Natalia & Lauren O'Hara



I LOVE this book, it is so beautiful! I have followed the O'Hara sisters on instagram for a while now and today was the first time I had seen their published work in the flesh! This book in particular is so charming, and the compositions and storytelling really add to the overall tone of the book.

Penny Dreadful Stories - Paintings

Focusing primarily on ideas around the penny dreadful story I listened to 'The Ghost and the Bonesetter' I have started to paint separate elements of the story, including the character of the squire, who is within a portrait painting, and later escapes the frame.

GIFS
I like the idea of making very simple gifs, including small movements - but this is something I may explore more when I am happy with the composed imagery.

Squire & Moving Image Roughs

Ideas for GIFs - based on penny dreadful stories

Dickens Illustrations

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/i/illustrations-for-dickens-novels/

Robert Seymour (1800-1836)
Early illustrations - The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837).

Hablot Knight Browne (1815-1882)
Also known as 'Phiz' to go with Dickens' 'Boz', he took over from the work of Seymour, after his suicide.

George Cruikshank (1792-1878)
Long term collaborator.

Luke Fildes (1844-1927)

The Ghost and the Bonesetter - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

http://halfpennydreadfuls.com/penny-dreadfuls/stories

Whilst researching into penny dreadfuls and how/why they were so popular in the Victorian era, I came across some audio plays of the stories. I listened to 'The Ghost and the Bonesetter' and really liked the description of the setting, it added to the tone and atmosphere for me. The character of the squire hidden in the portrait painting was a really interesting idea for me, and one I would like to explore further in my practical project.

After this, I looked into who Le Fanu was and how he influenced storytelling. He was the leading ghost story writer of the 19th century and M. R. James described Le Fanu as 'absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories'.

Penny Dreadful Illustration

The images accompanying the penny-bloods were often scenes from what was happening in the stories. Here are some examples -

'The Banshee appears' illustrated by R. Prowse

'The Whiteboys' in the 'Halfpenny Miscellany' (1862)

Penny Dreadfuls

Penny dreadfuls - old editorials, make more modern- tell the story

https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/guildhall-library/collections/Pages/Bloods-and-Penny-Dreadfuls.aspx

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/penny-dreadful-the-flying-dutchman

https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/penny-dreadfuls



The Flying Dutchman

• 'The illustrations were an essential element, as much an advertising tool as art. One regular reader said, ‘You see’s an engraving of a man hung up, burning over a fire, and some…go mad if they couldn’t learn what he’d been doing, who he was, and all about him.’ It is not surprising, therefore, that one publisher’s standing instruction to his illustrators was, ‘more blood – much more blood!’'
• 'One of the most prolific writers of penny dreadfuls was Thomas Peckett Prest (1810–1859). The Flying Dutchman; or, the Demon Ship of 1839 was not the only, or the first, book version of the folk tale that was turned by composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883) into an opera two years later (inspired by another source). Stories of ghost ships had a long tradition, as in the 1797 poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834). However, Prest’s lively version of the tale, full of action and simple characters – and several illustrations – is in a much more populist vein.'

The Open Door - Charlotte Riddell

The Story

Haunted house - ghost keeps opening a particular locked door.

Protagonist is sent to try and keep the door shut overnight.

Sketchbook Paintings - developing ideas

I painted some elements from the story, at the moment I am just developing the visual style the illustrations will eventually have. 

I want them to be mysterious but at the moment this way of working is a bit obvious for the subject matter. The final illustrations should be ambiguous and mysterious but I don't want the theme to really clear to a viewer.