"Bowtruckle Bed & Breakfast"
altered art by Heather Castles
mixed media on vintage painting on canvas
61 x 91.5 cm (2 x 3 ft) canvas
81 x 111.5 cm (32 x 44 inch) vintage frame
There are six bowtruckles hiding in this painting, can you spot them all?
Bowtruckles are incredibly shy magical creatures who live in trees and eat insects. Did you know that a family of bowtruckles its called a branch? Too cute!
This branch of six individuals have been travelling with Newt Scamander in his suitcase full of endangered magical beasts. One of the bowtruckles, Pickett, had attachment issues so was frequently out with Newt on adventures. But I think the rest of them were well deserving of a little holiday after all that drama in North America! So I imagined what sort of place a bowtruckle would like to visit, and thought that a beautiful smelling bouquet of flowers would be the bowtruckle equivalent of a fancy B&B!
I was conscious to make this alteration very subtle to not detract from the pretty bouquet of flowers. So when you step back you can appreciate the glamorous bouquet and frame… and it’s not till you look more closely that you can spot the magical creatures hidden among the flowers.
The original vintage painting was by Maguire and collected in Toronto. In itself it is a beautiful and dramatic example of high realism, with gorgeous luminos flowers. In different lighting you can see the depth of colour as the light shines through the layers of paint. The canvas has some aging and fine cracking in the paint. The frame is in excellent condition, very large and very heavy.
Original art : The original surface is a painting on canvas by Maguire collected in Toronto. In itself it is a beautiful, dramatic example of high realism, beautiful luminosity in the flowers. The canvas has some aging and fine cracking in the paint. The frame is in excellent condition, very heavy.
Altered Muggle Art : With this collection, I’m capturing magical moments from my non-magical “muggle” point of view. By taking vintage artworks and altering them to depict magical places and creatures, I am creating a historical fiction around the idea that the world of wizards was real.
