Winter is strongly associated with storytelling, at least in my mind. In the past, before electric lighting and heating, the long nights affected people’s lives much more strongly, but to be honest, I still feel like there’s nothing better than curling with a good book (and a cat if available) on a winter night. It took me a while to choose which wintry tale to share this month, but Frau Holle’s just seemed right. There are several stories about this snow making lady, this one was written down by the Grimm Brothers.

This is a classic folktale in many ways, with a wicked stepmother and a very clear moral, but it’s also quite rare in that the pretty girl (I really wish they had names…) gets riches by her own actions, and without being hitched to a charming prince. Not all the stories collected by the Grimms have such a clear moral, but the lesson that working hard reaps rewards is an old and very popular one. Though I do feel kind of bad for the lazy sister, unlike some folktale stepsisters, she didn’t do any harm (well, except for depriving the world from a few snow days…), does sleeping in really deserve being covered with pitch for the rest of your life?…

As always, I chose some elements from the story to combine in the work, this story has a lot of fun visual details and I had a lot of fun putting them together. The image can basically be read from the bottom up and then returning from the top down.

At the bottom, right on the frame, we find the baker’s over full of bread. Both the over and bread were made with polymer clay and painted in acrylics. I’m really happy with the stone and bread textures and how the paint took them.

On top of the oven I added the apple tree. The trunk was made from scrunched paper (you might recognize the technique from The King and the Ju Ju Tree work).

The tree grows upwards with branches and leaves and one side heavy with apples. As you probably guessed, the image is halved between the sisters:

One side of the tree had its apples removed, matching the shower of gold above it to represent the pretty sister, while the apple-heavy half is matched by the shower of pitch that ‘rewarded’ the lazy sister.

The gold and the pitch were both made with a mix of embossing powders, a LOT of embossing powders to make them actually drip and flow. I did my best to show it in the video, but it was a bit tricky as I had to hold the base in and angle and keep the heat gun from blocking the camera… I love how textured these came out, the pitch really feels like it’s bubbling as it slowly drips down, and the gold has gorgeous details and swirls.

I added the spindle on the gold side because it was clearly associated with this sister. I bloodied it some to match the story details and used webbing to create the wool and stretched it over the image. It was helpful in holding the feathers, but mostly I just like the association of weaving and storytelling and including the threads in the collage.

Once you reach the top of the image, over the gold and pitch, you’ll find feathers falling down. I attached them so that they give the impression of falling, and around the middle of the image they are replaced by snowflakes (which you might recognize from my last video), suggesting the idea that the feathers from Frau Holle’s bed turn into snow. It’s very hard to capture the clear snowflakes in photos, but they really have a nice frosty feel to them.

I didn’t combine any human figures, though I’m still very tempted to paint Frau Holle herself. Even though she’s named in the title, she only has a small part in the story, with the pretty girl being more of the heroine of the tale, but I really like her figure. This mysterious magical grandmother with scary big teeth, living in some inbetween space and makes snow by fluffing her bedding. In this story she is mainly the vehicle for the girls (and us) to learn a lesson, but I keep imagining her walking around her little house, humming while she floats feathers around, maybe flashing a (very) toothy smile to the baking bread and ripe apples that lead to her door.

I hope you enjoyed this wintry story & art, till next time cuddle up warm and keep safe,

xx

Naama