“You have made her owls; she will go hunting.”

Huw Halfbacon pronouces the curse in Alan Garner’s The Owl Service

The inside back captures the point at which Blodeuwedd is being transmogrified from human to avian form.

The frame, normally submerged under layers of horsehair, hessian and other fabrics, is exposed and polished. Its tack holes can clearly be seen as blemishes in the surface of the wood, testament to its history. Click or tap on the images below to see larger versions.

The shape of the frame at the top suggested the shape of an owl’s head so I used the frame to enclose the image.

Within the image are meadowsweet, oak and broom, from which she was created. Sculpting the head slightly helped with making the framed image work in three dimensions.

The shaping for the head was achieved using traditional upholstery methods – cattle hair and hessian. Further layers were added over this substrate.

Acknoweldgements

Frankie Saundry – model for Blodeuwedd
David Heke – photography and image manipulation to realise my concept

Here they are hard at work whilst I directed the shoot:

Big love to both of you, I couldn’t have done it without you!

Next – take a look at the seat.