My NFAC ACEO entry, entitled
"Ophelia: Rosemary, that's for Remembrance" ( for auction link. Note the image above looks so much better than the photo I had to use for my
listing).
With the holidays behind us and things settling down a little around here, I was really motivated to enter this month's
Nibblefest Art Contest. For December's I'd "cheated", so to speak, by entering an older piece that fit the theme with only a little stretching, and November's Nibblefest I'd missed entirely, nada. And so it was that I was anticipating getting something together this time around. While I wasn't necessarily mad about the theme, "Letters, Symbols, Numbers", it seemed likely enough. Still, as the 20th of the month quickly approached I found myself without any real direction of where I wanted to go with this -- just what was my take on "Letters, Symbols, Numbers" anyway? Usually something-or-other pops into my head pretty quickly, but here I was just drawing (pun intended) a total blank. A few false starts in the studio revealed nothing and wasted my time. The 20th came and went, and I was ready to just talk myself into letting it go this month (again). That is until two ideas
finally came to mind that I actually liked and felt I could work with. Not to mention that it still wasn't too late to get in on a 5-day auction (never mind that I forgot to actually set my "5-day auctions" for 5-days, so they'll be running a little past the official end of the contest. Oops!)....
This first idea came to mind when I was pondering the concept of 'Symbols'. I was thinking of things around us that have symbolic natures to them, when flowers. with all their various meanings in olde folklore, came to mind. Which in turn lead me of course to 'Hamlet' (my favourite Shakespeare) and Ophelia and how in her highly confused and disturbed mental state she begins spouting off to anyone who will listen various flora and the concepts they represent. I thought about simply portraying Ophelia with all her pretty flowers and herbs -- but that seemed a little obtuse. In the end I chose to write her memorable "Rosemary, that's for Remembrance" line in script on the ACEO, and so we have 'Letters'...
Here is my auction description:
One of two ACEO original entries by me for this month's Nibblefest Art Contest (NFAC) (--the theme for January being 'Letters, Symbols, Numbers') features a character from what must be my personal favourite Shakespearean tale, the story of "Hamlet". Here we see Ophelia, Hamlet's girlfriend, climbing a willow tree that overhangs a small brook, shortly after she has recited one of her most memorable lines in the play....
Ophelia is very much in love with Hamlet, but his recent disturbingly bizarre behaviour has upset everyone at Elsinore's court, and she's no exception. Then he went on to seemingly abandon her, and that after (kind of accidentally) murdering her own dear father. Sheesh, with so much heartbreak is it any wonder she's become unhinged? She's been wandering about singing, playing with her flowers and not making a whole lot of sense -- telling the king and queen, "there's Rosemary, that's for remembrance". And now sadly, it wont be long before the branch breaks in her little tree, and she herself will become but a Memory, much to Hamlet's despair.....
