House No. 175: Cuckoo Clock

 

House No. 175: Cuckoo Clock
digital vector illustration
3 in. x 3 in.
175/365; 06/24/11

Today’s house is home to a cuckoo bird.

House No. 95: The Witch's House from Hansel and Gretel, No. 2

House No. 95: The Witch's House from Hansel and Gretel, No. 2

mixed media
 8 in. x 7.5 in. x 4 in.
095/365; 04/05/11

Yesterday's house would entice an adult with a sweet tooth, but would a kid care for Michel Cluizel chocolate, Leone Pastilles, and Choward's Violet Candies? That house would not even grab the attention of my husband. And so I rethought the candy house.

A witch with a penchant for kinder roast would have to do better marketing. Animal crackers and sugary sweets would do the trick.

Sugar buttons, by the way, are cute but have no discernable flavor and remind me of candy scabs. Just make them a deep red color, and the picking action would be perfect. Make them blood orange flavor. Halloween gory candy producers, you're welcome.

The rubber bonbon on the house gable was found in the street and found a place on my bulletin board collage at work for a while. I later discovered that they are ornaments for Crocs. Huh.

The pastry shop twine looks a bit like peppermint sticks as well, so here serves a double purpose of referencing pastry and candy. The witch could also use the twine for hog-tying children. Did I take that a bit too far? Prolly so. It's the Brother's Grimm, people. It's grim.

House No. 94: The Witch's House from Hansel and Gretel

House No. 94: The Witch's House from Hansel and Gretel

repurposed cardstock, candy wrappers, glue
6 in. x 6 in. x 7 in.
094/365; 04/04/11

 

This house has a cloying, almost sickeningly sweet smell. The violet candy wrapper makes it smell like flowers as well, and all those chocolate paper shingles smell very strong.  And yes, I am guilty of collecting a box full of these lovely wrappers. I am a magpie when it comes to shiny paper.

And so I return to my fairy tale houses today. Hansel and Gretel is a sick story, make no mistake. Two children are left by their father to die in the woods, are entrapped by a witch with an edible house, and are threatened with cannibalism. 

And yet we love gingerbread houses and put them up everywhere at Christmas time. I am as guilty as the next person. I have a small collection of gingerbread houses, and in fact, my sister and I have matching gingerbread house tattoos. I think that I am as attracted by the foreboding of the gingerbread house as I am by its preciousness. 

This duality of fairy tales, the sweet and the sinister, really fascinates me.

I love the complexity of fairy tales, and I am learning a lot more about them while working on these houses. Did you know about the Aarne–Thompson Index? I did not, but now that I do, I am a woman obsessed.

The Aarne–Thompson Index is a classification system for folktales that comparitively organizes (primarily European) folk stories by subject and groups and numbers them. It's amazing to consider the common themes that connect cultures and what we deem important knowledge.

Hansel and Gretel is such a complex story that it is even an opera.

Who thought fairy tales were just for children?

House No. 81: Hex House

House No. 81: Hex House

digital illustration

10 in. x 10 in.

081/365; 03/22/11

 

I love the hex signs of the Pennsylvania Dutch/German because they are so bright and fanciful. I took some liberties with my iconography, here, but I tried to keep to the color palette and simple shapes of the genuine articles.

House No. 4: The Dresden Walls

House No. 4: The Dresden Walls

repurposed paper, foil, and miscellaneous scrap on chipboard

6.5 in. x 6.5 in.

004/365; 01/04/11

Being a human magpie, I collect every shiny thing that I come across. I have organized boxes of paper, candy foils, laminated papers, the interiors of tea bag envelopes ...

For today's house, I thought that I'd break into my collection, which actually includes a few pieces of Dresden foil scrap that I didn't end up using. The metallic paper being an homage to the Dresden handicraft, I decided to make today's home in one of the styles of Saxony.

I find the most unique part of the house's collage, and what makes it look like the houses of that region, is the foiling of the half-timber that ornaments the walls.

Update 04/20/2011: Better photo.

Now with 100% more natural light.

 

Ahh. So much better.