And thank you so much to Annamita Virosa (annamitavirosa.wordpress.com) for nominating me a fifth time for this award! Check our Annamita’s awesome doodles and dream memories.
To view the post from my first and second nominations, click here, here, and here.
I’d like to apologize in advanced for my answers to David and Annamita’s questions — I found a number of these queries a bit confusing. But I tried to answer to the best of my ability!
As I mentioned previously, I continue to accept these awards because I love being able to share/promote other talented WordPress bloggers by nominating them. So please take a look at the list of nominations below!!
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Rules
Post eleven facts about yourself.
Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and create eleven questions for people you’ve nominated.
Choose eleven people to give this award to and link them in your post.
A few weeks ago, I finished the pen work for my first zine. I’ve been very busy recently, but hope that sometime soon I’ll be able to get this zine scanned, printed, and watercolored. Then, once The Flea plush toy is ready, I’m planning on opening my online store!
Here are a few closeups of some pen work for the zine:
As I mentioned before, my first zine is an illustrated Pre-Raphaelite poem. The poem will remain a secret until closer to the zine’s release. But I’ll give one free copy to the first person who can correctly guess which poem it is.
I’ve realized that I made this contest a little bit too hard. Thusly, I added a few more hints (#4 and #5). Also, be sure to check the comments of my post First Zine Progress and Contest!! for even more hints. I will be shocked if no one produces the correct answer this time!
For a chance to win, either leave a comment below or (if you’d like to keep your guess secret from other contestants) shoot me an e-mail at gegallas@hotmail.com — subject “First Zine Contest.”
Best of luck!!
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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
Here are a few closeups of some pencil work for the zine:
As I mentioned before, my first zine is an illustrated Pre-Raphaelite poem. The poem will remain a secret until closer to the zine’s release. But I’ll give one free copy to the first person who can correctly guess which poem it is.
For a chance to win, either leave a comment below or (if you’d like to keep your guess secret from other contestants) shoot me an e-mail at gegallas@hotmail.com — subject “First Zine Contest.”
Best of luck!!
***
For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following images or video!!
One of my favorite operas is Jacques Offenbach‘s The Tales of Hoffmann(Les contes d’Hoffmann). This opera is a fantastical retelling of the life of the German Romantic author E. T. A. Hoffmann, casting Hoffmann as the protagonist of his own stories.
Placido Domingo performing the “Chanson de Kleinzach” aria.
Désirée Rancatore performing ”Les oiseaux dans la charmille.”
Through The Tales of Hoffmann, I developed an interest in Hoffmann and his stories, quickly leading me to Sigmund Freud’s The Uncanny. In Freud’s essay, he uses many of the same Hoffmann stories as Offenbach, but in this case to prove a psychological point (not that Offenbach’s opera isn’t deeply psychological). If I remember correctly, Freud even mentions Offenbach’s opera.
Portrait of E. T. A. Hoffmann
I’m sure you are all wondering, “What does all this have to do with The Nutcracker?” Well, little do most people know, E. T. A. Hoffmann wrote in 1816 one of the earliest versions of The Nutcracker story, entitled The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Nussknacker und Mausekönig).
Alexandre Dumas was also a fan of Hoffmann, employing allusions to Hoffmann’s stories in The Count of Monte Cristo. Dumas even went as far as creating a revision to Hoffmann’s Nutcracker in 1844 called History of The Nutcracker (Histoire d’un casse-noisette), or The Tale of the Nutcracker.
Towards the end of the 19th Century, Hoffmann’s Nutcracker was adapted to ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, perhaps the most famous incarnation of the tale. I write this post because my dad purchased tickets to the San Francisco Ballet to see The Nutcracker at the end of the month. Perhaps later I’ll add my thoughts on the production to this post.
Tchaikovsky’s music is always wonderful, if not a little too overplayed for the holidays. A lot of people tend to associate The March from The Nutcracker or The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy not with Tchaikovsky, but with the thousands of Christmas commercials that use these pieces. This also happens with The Chinese Tea Dance from The Nutcracker with Disney’s Fantasia and The Sleeping Beauty Waltz with Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.
I believe the most creative and exciting production of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker is Mark Morris’s The Hard Nut. The Hard Nut is set in 1950s America with a very retro feel inspired by the comic artist Charles Burns — a strange but brilliant compliment to the classical music. I hope to one day be able to attend a live performance.
Advertisement for The Hard Nut.
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For many years, I have been fascinated by modern Japan — everything from the Meiji period (1868 – 1912) to current day. One of my favorite periods is a rather short one known as Taishō (1912 – 1926). What strikes me most about Taishō is the amazing blend of Japanese and Western aesthetics.
I think my interest in Taishō really began when I read Yukio Mishima’s novel Spring Snow (Haru no Yuki). This novel is actually a period piece — published in 1969, but set around 1912 – 1914. Mishima gives a detailed look at the Japanese class system of the period through a romantic tragedy (although I’m not sure Mishima saw this story as such).
My interest in Taishō developed further through a series of college courses on modern Japanese literature. I even did a project involving costume designs for a Taishō-set short story, involving research on fashion of the period from Kimonos and beyond.
I also find advertisements from this period interesting. Actually, the Shiseido ads from the 1900s through the 1930s are really remarkable! You can find out more about these ads on MIT’s Visualizing Cultures website.
Anyway, I just wanted to share a number of my favorite images:
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following images!!
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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
Portrait of E. T. A. Hoffmann
First Zine Progress and Contest: Round Two!!
Related Posts: First Zine and Future Shop and First Zine Progress and Contest!!
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A few weeks ago, I finished the pen work for my first zine. I’ve been very busy recently, but hope that sometime soon I’ll be able to get this zine scanned, printed, and watercolored. Then, once The Flea plush toy is ready, I’m planning on opening my online store!
Here are a few closeups of some pen work for the zine:
As I mentioned before, my first zine is an illustrated Pre-Raphaelite poem. The poem will remain a secret until closer to the zine’s release. But I’ll give one free copy to the first person who can correctly guess which poem it is.
I’ve realized that I made this contest a little bit too hard. Thusly, I added a few more hints (#4 and #5). Also, be sure to check the comments of my post First Zine Progress and Contest!! for even more hints. I will be shocked if no one produces the correct answer this time!
Hint #1: The Seven Deadly Sins.
Hint #2: The poem is not “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti.
Hint #3: More specifically than Hint #1 — The Seven Princes of Hell.
Hint #4: More specifically than Hint #3 — Mammon.
Hint #5: The poem was written by ONE of the three original Pre-Raphaelites — either William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, or Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
For a chance to win, either leave a comment below or (if you’d like to keep your guess secret from other contestants) shoot me an e-mail at gegallas@hotmail.com — subject “First Zine Contest.”
Best of luck!!
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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
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Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas
20 comments | tags: 19th Century, Abstract, Abstraction, Alternative, Alternative Press, Appearance, Art, Artwork, Author, Bizarre, Black and White, Blog, Book, Booklet, Cats, Christina Rossetti, Classical, Collaborate, Collaboration, Comic book, Comics, Comment, Concept, Contest, Creative, Creativity, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Demons, Depiction, Design, Devils, Doodle, Doodles, Drawing, Drawings, E-mail, Edward Burne-Jones, Endeavor, English, Etsy, Fiction, First, Frederic George Stephens, Free, Freelance, Fun, Goblin Market, Graphic, Graphic Design, Graphic Novel, Handmade, Historical, History, Idea, Illustrate, Illustration, Illustrator, Image, Imagination, Ink, John Everett Millais, Killed, Literary, Literature, London, Luck, Lyrics, Mixed Media, Mythology, Notebook, Notion, Paint, Painters, Pamphlet, Paper, Paper Art, Pen, Pen and Ink, Pencil, Period, Photo, Photograph, Photography, Picture, Picture Book, Pictures, Poem, Poet, Poetry, Poets, Project, Ring, Romantic, Rome, Secret, Self-published, Shop, Sketch, Sketchbook, Sketches, Small Press, Snake, Store, Storenvy, Strange, Surprise, Surreal, Symbol, Symbols, The First Reich, The Poet and the Flea, The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, The Pre-Raphaelites, The Seven Deadly Sins, The Seven Princes of Hell, Thmoas Woolner, Time, Verses, Victorian, Victorian Period, Vision, Visual, Watercolor, Watercolour, Wilhelm Reich, William Blake, William Holman Hunt, William Michael Roessetti, William Morris, Win, Wing, Wings, Words, Writer, Zine, Zines | posted in Announcement, Contest, Illustration/Design, Shop, Zines