I wish I'd done this

Image source: http://www.beatricealemagna.com/books/la-gigantesque-petite-chose/ [08.05.2012]

 I have mentioned Beatrice Alamagna in a previous post, and I have always made it known that she has a huge influence on my practice. Her work is beautiful and her large picture books such as La gigantesque petite chose, and Un lion a paris provide a perfect showcase for her illustrations.

This is an image taken from Beatrice Alemagna’s book ‘La gigantesque petite chose” Sadly I can not speak or read French which is the language this book is printed in, but I have found a small translation/summary of the text.

"This album is the story of a little thing, fragile and volatile unobtrusive, a thing we can not do without, we can not see or come from, who sometimes are denied the door of his heart and his mind. For many reasons for fear, because we lost it one day and we are afraid to suffer again. It is found in the laughter of a child in a sound, smell, a lost memory, a look, among others, in the rustling of leaves, a ray of sunshine. This wonderful and magical thing that sometimes you can not recognize that, once lost, this gigantic little thing without which life is not worth really worth living: happiness!"(luc, online translation)
 
What have I taken from this?

Happiness is in the small and gigantic moments in our lives, they cannot really be measured in terms of the impact they have had on us. What I guess Alemagna is really saying is that happiness is everywhere, it is in a piece of music, a particular object or a scent. Her illustrations capture these precious moments beautifully. They are almost like flicking through an old photo album; they have all the emotions held within a memory.

Her illustrations marry collage and drawing together, creating beautiful landscapes and building relationships between characters. Her images are almost a narrative within a narrative; each element is there to portray the story she has written; yet they all have lives of their own. This is what always marvels me about the scenes she creates; all of the characters have their own story to tell.  Their ‘rosey’ cheeks give them warmth and life, as do their unique poses. I can’t help but to wonder what each of them are thinking or what they will do when they walk out of the page.

Why do I wish I had done this?

I wish that I could create such believable characters. I can understand exactly what each of them is supposed to be doing, even though their forms may not directly resemble a realistic human figure. Each texture compliments one another, as do the colours. Soft pencil marks sit alongside cut out textures and line drawings, and they all work together! Again something that is hard to achieve when working with mixed media, I often find that there is one element that tends to stick out like a sore thumb, and making everything work as one whole image can be challenging.

I use a lot of collage within my work it is something I really enjoy doing, although I have struggled with it; mostly when it comes to the figure. Each shape has to be well informed, an arm needs be drawn several times, cut out several times and layered amongst other elements all created in the same way. I often find myself going back to basics and dong some observational drawing just to remember how I would draw a man smiling for example, before being able to adapt it in to collage. Alemagna's work is important reference for material for me, to study the faces she creates and the shapes she uses to describe the body. I admire her work for the skill she has in combining mixed media as well as how the make me feel. I immediately smile when I see a Beatrice Alemgna illustration- Oh I wish I could have that effect!

Luc. J, Online, Translation
Available at : http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://librairiesandales.hautetfort.com/archive/2011/09/17/la-gigantesque-petite-chose.html&ei=OlupT9-5N4mI8gPylYDeBA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDwQ7gEwAQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3DLa%2Bgigantesque%2Bpetite%2Bchose%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DcwU%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Dimvns