Dear England,

You have been difficult, but you have also been a dream.

(P.S. Thanks for introducing me to the Italian Gothics.)

Sincerely,
-Maddy Rupard

Quelques Drawing Projects of Late

Pt I.

For me there should be a saying, "You can't make something from everything." There are so many things that I have checked off in my head as awesome, and so I try to mix them all together in my work, and then it often turns out feeling a bit like a funfetti cake or something. What started as the Snow Queen (and may yet still be the theme) has been contaminated by too many dreams, cool paintings I have seen in museums, sisters, songs, etcetera. I just do not know how to edit things out and form it into something tangible, so I just keep taping things to my wall.

Pt II.

I was walking across the bridge to the Westminster tube station on a sweaty Saturday, when I decided to look up. Thank goodness, for I beheld and fell instantly in love with this charioted woman. Here is Queen Boudicca (Bo-de-see-a), who finds herself fiercely memorialized in dark marble, at a good 20 foot height above the crowd that is generally always surrounding this touristy area. 

With her two daughters and her manic horses she is forever stuck in the moments before she charges up the path to Parliament to demand the freedom of her Celtic people. She was victorious this time, but she and her daughters were eventually captured and  killed by Roman soldiers in 61 A.D. She had nothing to do with my studio project and yet had been on my mind for a few weeks. I came back to Westminster one afternoon and stared at her for about three hours, and could've easily done it for a few dozen more. 

Two Saturday Quickies.

Two weekend paintings based off a Tudor portrait of Katherine Parr and Waterhouse's Circe. This is part of a collaboration with Madeline Mcneil and Becca Zabbawa. Something else is yet to be added to them. It felt nice to work loose and fast for once.

Sneedronningen Scraps.

More to come soon. Sketches and WIP for the "Sneedronningen" project or better known as the "Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen, an old Danish story that is full of so many interesting images that I want to try my hand at.  This is a few tries of a certain pose for my Gerda character. I am in London for the next few months and the internet situation here in the BYU Centre is laughable, so if things are a bit sparse, that's why. Thanks to anyone who stops by and just takes time to look. London is "so diverting", but hopefully I'll have a good series to post by the time Christmas comes around.

Stories and women.

The Unfox.

A little doodle inspired by some recent current events.

Colleen Image Ideas

"Well they took me in
And shod my feet and taught me prayers for chastity,
And said my name would be Colleen
and that I was blessed among all women to have forgotten everything."