Altered Muggle Art : Dog and Pony Show
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| "Dog and Pony Show" | Original | Prints | Digital | Watch it being painted |
At Hogwarts, a herd of thestrals live in the Forbidden Forest, under the care of the gameskeeper, Hagrid. His cowardly boar hound at his side, Hagrid would daily feed the deathly looking creatures meat. Now I knew that Hagrid could see the thestrals, because he had witnessed death of loved ones in his life… but I wondered, could Fang see the thestrals?
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About the original art...
The print I'm working on is of the original horses and dog painting by master artist George Stubbs (1724 - 1806), who you'll discover if you do a quick search liked to paint horses... a lot! I collected this vintage print in Australia while on a holiday! It travelled all the way back home to Canada, so has made quite a journey already. The print and frame were produced c1980, and over the years it has slowly lost its vibrant colour due to sun and environmental damage. I decided to keep the original faded colours as it worked well with the ethereal feel of the thestrals. I cleaned and touched up parts where I felt it was necessary, but left some scuffs and marks on the print as part of the vintage look.
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I wanted to capture a moment when Fang was within scent of the magical beasts… they can see him, but it’s unclear whether he can see them. The thestral closest is relaxed, wings at her side. But the larger thestral is protective, wings up asserting himself over this new creature that has wandered so close.
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Frame : The original vintage frame is sturdy. Made of wood with some detailing on the inside trim. The frame was in very good condition, with only a minor crack and chips which I repaired and touched up. It has been rewired and is ready to display on the wall. It is not heavy.
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Muggle artist studies along the way...
I painted studies on pages from an old vintage book, to prepare for my altered painting featuring Thestrals and Fang. I had a vintage picture book which was in "well loved" shape (kids had drawn in it,) and the chapter heads were all of ponies running along the beach. I enjoyed experimenting with painting the different positions of the wings, the transparency, the skeletal figures. There were a few unique illustrations in the story that also suited being transformed, so I had fun with those as well.
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| Original studies and sketches |
Did you ever draw little flip-animation in the corner of a books pages when you were a kid? It was a happy accident that after painting 17 studies, I realized I had enough to make a little flip animation. (Had I known I would animate it, I would have adjusted the legs a bit too!) You can watch the reel here.
The canvas above is what I call my "cast-off canvas." I keep one nearby to brush excess paint off as I'm working, to keep it out of my water bucket... which keeps it out of the waterways. The texture and colours build up, and I'm left with an interesting abstract at the end. Sometimes I add these to my gallery wall, and sometimes I grab them and use them for the next painting. I make notes on the back of which paintings have bits of their colours added to the cast-off canvas.
Before & After below.
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| Collect original studies |
I also like to do studies in rough materials like charcoal on vintage paper... the loose, quick drawings let me quickly study poses and expression without the pressure of properly finishing them.
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Why Thestrals?
I chose thestrals because I love them from Harry Potter. The first few movies you see the students arriving to the school in carriages, and they’re magically—seemingly magially— being pulled along with no horses in front of them. And it isn’t until later on in the series, when Harry goes to get onto the carriage, and sees this deathly looking creature standing in front of him… he kind of freaks out!
Then Luna says to him, “You’re just as sane as I am! I can see them, too.” And then he discovers there’s this whole herd of these creatures called thestrals living by the school and Hagrid’s been taking care of them.
They can only be seen if you have witnessed death. I think that’s quite an amazing camouflage technique for a magical creature. Because they’re so creepy looking, very skeletal and deathly themselves. You’d imagine people would just not want them around and be very scared of them.
It’s quite a vulnerable thing to go through grief. You would develop an empathy for others having gone through that yourself. So I think it’s kindof sweet that these creatures choose that method of camouflage, to only to be able to be seen by people who have been through grief.
Art Drop March 31st
Thank you so much for visiting my collection of new artwork & prints featuring thestrals. It was a lovely experience studying these magical creatures from my muggle artist point of view, altering small illustrations in a picture book before moving onto the larger painting "Dog and Pony Show."
These are a continuation of studying magical creatures from my muggle artist point of view. I imagine that through history the magical world might have spilled into ours and artists might have unknowingly capture those moments in their art through our history. By taking real vintage artworks and subtly altering them to include magical places and creatures, I am creating a magical historical fiction. -- Heather
