House No. 91: Kejserens nye Palads (The Emperor's New Palace)

House No. 91: The Castle from Kejserens nye Palads  (The Emperor's New Palace)

mixed media
roughly 18 in. x 12 in.
091/365; 04/01/11

Continuing with my fairytale-themed houses, today’s house is based on the Danish folktale, Kejserens nye Palads by Hans Christian Anderson.  As you can see, this house is one of my most work-intensive and elaborate to date.

I am most proud of the detail work on the leaded windows and the masonry work of the castle, as you can see in this detail, below.

Again, as in Rapunzel’s Tower, I tried to use materials that reflect the story from a contemporary perspective. In this case, I want to reflect the current American political lexicon, populace perspective, and media in Emperor Kejserens’s castle. I think the medium speaks for itself, here.

Update: Happy April Fools Day!  The Danish Kejserens nye Palads, as was disclosed in the Google Translation link, translates as The Emperor's New Palace. Thanks for playing along!

House No. 85: Nut House

House No. 85: Nut House
walnut shell, polymer clay, glue, paper, ink, acrylic paint
1.5 in. x 2 in. x 1.5 in.
085/365; 03/26/11

Welcome to the nut house. 

The werepanda was my photographer for this house. He said the bee in the last photo was necessary to show scale.

I think that the fact that the house is a walnut is pretty indicative, but the werepanda argues that the walnut could be freakishly huge. Well, the bee could be africanized and also freakishly huge, but it's not. It's a deceased honey bee from our hive, and it's a pretty standard three-stripe Italian hybrid.