"Thorn Rose" by Errol Le Cain

Thorn Rose is the Brothers Grimm version of Sleeping Beauty (titled Little Brier-Rose) and one of my favorite illustrators, Errol Le Cain, created a stunning set of illustrations for it. Being the current hot topic fairy tale in entertainment at the moment (and that I haven't ever posted more than a couple of these illustrations), I thought I'd treat you to the set.

I decided to include most of the close-ups I found as well, so you can really see the detail in the illustrations (not just "bits" but design motifs, story touches, uses of shadow and shape and much more. It's really amazing to see how much is in these drawings and yet they're still beautiful to look at without being overwhelming.

Does it look familiar? Maybe you remember Botticelli’s Prima Vera. The branches are very much like the windows we see later, though less thorny.

Botticelli's Prima Vera

This also shows the arrival of the evil fairy at the christening. She is furious at being left out. You cant see it so clearly in this picture, but she is surrounded by autumn leaves, a nice contrast to the springtime of the “prima vera” fairies.

The thirteenth fairy's wings are like a wind-bufffeted, decaying flower turning into a storm cloud. In fact, the whole aspect of the thirteenth fairy recalls a storm. Also note the dragon staff she has as well.

Notice the evil fairy overlooking this, sitting up there on her little dragon, while the good fairy sadly looks on the destruction, toting a spindle-like wand. Also note the babyBrier Rose reaching out to the spindles as they go by below...

Can you see the little devil-fairy-imps that surround her?

Check that window design - an echo of the wall of thorns to come

As a bonus, I found a wonderful paper on Errol Le Cain's illustration as manuscript illumination by Veronica Ortenberg West-Harling and I am posting some excerpts from it below. (You can read the whole article which goes into much more depth, HERE.)

…all of these carry out a strong medievalist flavour in their choice of decoration and visual cues. First and foremost of these cues is the repeated representation of the fairyland multi-turreted castle, whether as a background illustration in the opening or closing pages in King Arthur's Sword and in Molly Whuppie (where it serves as a contrast to the Giant's house in the forest), or as the main focus of the story in Thorn Rose, Cinderella, and Twelve Dancing Princesses. This leitmotif is joined by a variety of medieval images, constructed from various sources, most notably in Thorn Rose, where the opening page weaves subtly in a picture based on late medieval French and Italian costumed ladies, in front of a tent with pennant, as seen in the Lady with the Unicorn tapestries or in paintings by Uccello, moving about in a millefleurs landscape* of the kind so often seen in such tapestries of hunting or courtly love parties. The next page fairy procession, also travelling through the forest at night in a millefleurs setting, includes a fairy riding a unicorn. 

The fifteenth-century setting continues through the castle style and courtiers' dress, and develops the Gothic theme of nature as it encroaches more and more on the palace through the growing wall of thorns, until the prince arrives, a hundred years later, correctly attired in Renaissance dress, to wake up the princess. All full-page illustrations in Sir Orfeo refer specifically to a fifteenth-century court: headdresses, caparisoned horses, knights in Crusader tabards are all present. This medieval fantasy style is used by Le Cain for the upper socialechelons of king, princesses and courtiers, often appearing seated at banquets, dressedin the appropriate brocades, furs and headgear. By contrast, a second type of medievalinspiration, used for the 'below stairs' folk, for example the castle's kitchen in Thorn Rose, or the giant's house in Molly Whuppie, comes from Flemish painting, especially Brueghel, in imitation of the peasants' costumes, activities and human types (the fat cook, the kitchen maid plucking a fowl, the round-faced children). 

Fascinating stuff! While I've been aware that one of the reasons I love Le Cain's work is because it reminds me of tapestries such as The Lady and the Unicorn series, I'd never thought about the motifs and more in such detail. The more I see, the more I see - the balance of shapes and colors, the repeated motifs, the repeated patterns and layouts echoing various pages - it's astonishing work.

I remain in awe of this illustration every time I see it.
Do I detect a Klmit influence in there as well? If so, I LOVE this version of the style.

 Notice her hair has been spun into the spiderwebs, and the stained glass shadows on her blankets.

The article, in which the author has obviously looked at the medieval motif and tapestry aspects in great detail, is very interesting and well worth the read, especially if you are interested in design or illustration. Recommended!

*Millefleurs landscape - I even like how it sounds. I'm all inspired to paint a whole wall  in this tapestry-like background! Unfortunately, I don't think our landlord would be quite as thrilled (though you never know...)

Jo Henwood Talks About What Makes A Fairy Tale (& Is There Such a Thing As An Australian Fairy Tale?)

Jo Henwood, co-founder of the Australian Fairy Tale Society talked to Mitch Byatt on 2ser Real Radio (Australian online radio and podcast station) about what fairy tales are and if there is such a thing as an Australian Fairy Tale, before the conference on Monday. Although intended to promote the inaugural conference, the conversation is still fascinating and Ms. Henwood has a real talent for explaining things simply, succinctly and, best of all, with the intrigue of a storyteller that makes you want to hear more.

Incidentally, at the conference on Monday, Ms. Henwood told the story of Thumbelina with an Aussie twist. As seen on Facebook in response to the event :

Wonderful thought provoking papers. And Jo Henwood telling Thumbelina as the child stolen by the dingo.

I really hope the recording of the events went as planned and I'll eventually be able to hear and see all these things!

In any event, I thought it was worth preserving the interview audio, since it's relevant to fairy tales beyond the conference and beyond Oz, and added a few extra visuals along the way the illustrate some of her points (especially for those people who aren't familiar with things like Cinderella variants or know who May Gibbs is). It's a very quick slap-dash presentation (on my part - the audio content is wonderful) but hopefully you'll forgive my lack of available time to do this perfectly and will enjoy it anyway. (My apologies to Ms. Henwood in particular for not representing her chat better but I wanted to make sure I could share it while relevant.)

This seems to be only an excerpt from a longer interview but a lot is said in a short time. If I ever find the rest I'll share the audio for that too. I'd love to hear it

Here it is:

Stay tuned for a small but special selection of (the many!) Aussie artists and writers working in fairy tales these days over the coming week.

The Inaugural Australian Fairy Tale Society Conference Has Begun!

Wishing my fellow Aussies a wonderful beginning for what will undoubtedly be "an awfully big adventure!"

Congratulations to Reilly McCarron and Jo Henwood, and to all who helped make the dream of the Australian Fairy Tale Society become reality.

We're looking forward to reports from today's first conference (of many conferences and events to come...).

For those who see this post in time today and wish to follow along from afar, (or would like to catch up later), AFTS will be tweeting updates using the #AFTSConf hashtag on Twitter.

Here's the program again (remember to allow for the time difference if you're checking in from anywhere not in the same time zone as Sydney, Australia if you want to follow along live):

Event: Monash Fairy Tale Salon to Explore Fairy Tale Migrations

On Monday, June 9th, Belinda Calderone, chief organizer of the Monash Fairy Tale Salon (an academic-based fairy tale salon in Australia, inspired by the old French gatherings such as were frequented by fairy tale luminaries Charles Perrault & Countess d'Aulnoy), will be speaking at the Inaugural AFTS Conference, on the subject of how fairy tales have migrated across lands, with particular attention to those that made the journey to Australia.

The talk, titled Strange Lands: The transportation of European Fairy Tales in to the Australian Landscape, will essentially be a condensed consideration of the subject that will be explored in a special half-day event, later in June with the rest of the Monash Fairy Tale Salon.

When: Sunday June 29, 2014
Where: Caulfield, VIC, Australia

Since the poster is a little small, I'll transcribe the print for you here:

As part of the Glen Elra Storytelling Festival, the Monash Fairy Tale Salon, a staff and postgraduate reading group at Monash University, will be hosting a day exploring fairy tale migrations, with a special focus on Australian tales. The four-hour event will include academic papers as well as fairy tale readings and performances. For the bold at heart, come dressed as your favorite fairy tale character and be in the running to win a prize! This free event is open to anyone who has a love of fairy tales.

Registration for Transporting Tales, is now open. To register, just RSVP to arts-fairytale AT monash DOT edu and they will put you on the list.

In case you missed it, the event is open to ANYONE who loves fairy tales and is FREE! (It would also help if you lived in Victoria, Australia.)

I sincerely wish I could be there and will watch for any reports of the event that I can share with you.

(I need to find an LA-based fairy tale salon stat!)

Ask Baba Yaga: Am I Actually Better Than Everyone Else or Just Extremely Arrogant?

Baba Yaga 1966 by Blair Lent (aka Ernest Small)

I'm just going to leave this one here... I will say one thing: Baba Yaga always knows what to say!

This week's question and answer (via poet and oracle Taisia Kitaiskaia* of The Hairpin):

(Originally posted at The Hairpin HERE)

"..take a stroll..."  
She said it extremely nicely, all things considered (no "eat you own teeth so you are more aware of your smile" or anything), but then she could see the scared one inside. 

(I'm still kind of surprised Baba Yaga didn't make "grind your bones" noises but maybe the sound of the person doing that to themselves was more than enough for the Yaga.)

What do you think of Baba Yaga's advice?

Want to ask Baba Yaga a question of your own?

You can!

There's now an email address where you can send your questions

directly to Baba Yaga herself.

AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com

To encourage Baba Yaga to continue imparting her no-bones-about-it wisdom (ok, there may be some gristle in there... bones too), I suggest we not to leave her box empty... 

Thank you Baba Yaga (& Taisia).

* Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. Born in Russia and raised in America, she's had her poems and translations published in Narrative Magazine, Poetry International, and others.