Where Sunsets are Longer

Only my second witch of the year! Appalling, isn't it, but soon I'll share the client projects I've had this year and then you'll understand. ;)

This witch is the latest character for 'Good Witches Bad Witches', brought to you by Tall Tales Productions. She's a Russian witch.






Warning - I'm about to gush about a passionate love of Russian culture. Skip past the next paragraph if you're diabetic.

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This Russian witch is second in importance only to my English witch. Most of you know I am an English girl currently residing in Los Angeles, but you didn't know I am also part Russian. I have always had an affinity for the culture. I studied Russian at school (and still believe it's the most attractive language), grew up listening to Red Army Choir, Borodin (The Polovtsian Dances is my favourite piece of music of all time),Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. I've eaten blini with caviar, paskha and many other Russian dishes through life and celebrate St Nicholas' Day. Dr Zhivago is one of my 'desert island' films and I've always found Александр Годунов jaw-droppingly wonderful. (To digress further, my teenage crush was Андрей Подошьян). In short - I adore Russia and anything Russian. The poetry, the music, the ballet, the architecture, the balalaika.... everything.
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I put a lot of thought and planning into this witch because even though I love Russian folklore and fairy tales, like all my other characters I want to carve out something of my own and not do an homage to Baba Yaga for example.
She wears a quilted shawl (with Kandinsky inspired design), a red silk scarf with bat motif, ushanka hat, bear skins (yeah, pretty sick), and pushes a pram (American English - 'baby cart' / 'stroller') full of Russian blue cats, which are her 'familiars' (witch's pets).

She's designed and sculpted in 1:12 scale by myself using clay over wire and other mixed media. Soon you'll be able to watch a video of me making her at the Tall Tales Productions YouTube Channel, but until then, here are some photos! PS The next witch will be Greek...


A little note to my Russian friends and fans...
Мои русские друзья, это послание для вас...

Если вы умеете читать на английском, то могли знать что я частично русская и абсолютно обожаю русскую культуру. Я настолько люблю все русское, что возможно даже я буду жить в России и заведу там семью вместо Англии! Я создаю персонажы в виде ведьм со всего мира для проекта "Хорошие ведьмы Плохие ведьмы" и я уже создала английскую ведьму, шотландскую, французскую, итальянскую и так далее, и сейчас я создала русскую. Это не Баба Яга, это мой собственный дизайн персонажа к моему собственному фильму который в процессе развития с Tall Tales Productions. Я сделала её руками, используя застывающийся клей и проволоку. Она может показаться немного пугающей, но я надеюсь вы воспримите её с хорошем чувством юмора. Спасибо огромное что проявляете интерес к моей работе, и если вы хотите видеть больше, то пожалуйста загляните на мою страничку в Facebook, Instagram и Twitter и VK, и так же я размещу видео как я делаю эту ведьмочку на моем YouTube канале очень скоро!
Спасибо вам!
Каролин МакФарлейн-Уотс. x

Blog post title quote - “But Sasha was from Russia, where the sunsets are longer, the dawns less sudden and sentences are often left unfinished from doubt as how to best end them.” 
― Virginia Woolf, Orlando

From Russia with Love

Been away awhile.... and so to catch up...

Just returned to LA from a 3 week vacation to find my copy of another Russian magazine I am featured in.

The last Russian feature I did was for a magazine called 'The Art of Miniatures' (Nov 2013 issue) and, disappointing to me, was published in English. This last magazine, called 'довольно куклы' was published in Russian (Dec 2013 issue). As someone who is 1/8 Russian I was fairly chuffed to see it. Take a look at the excerpt below!

I also had a few other magazine features (including 2 front covers) lately as well, which I always appreciate. See some snippets below or you can see them all to date on this 'About' section of my blog as well.

Coming up...
I will share photos of the finished miniature model of the thatched cottage (which I actually completed a couple of months ago but haven't had time to write about). Will also post a video demo of myself using Celluclay to achieve the thatch.

And in my personal life...
Holidayed in the Canary Isles with family and returned a few days ago. Only a 4 hour plane trip from London and the weather was very similar to LA, albeit with a touch of humidity. Interesting volcanic landscapes, camel rides and wonderful people. Loved it but still I'm happy to be back here in LA and able to get on with things. 3 weeks away from clay / paints / computers and I start to get really fidgety. ;)