10/04/2015

Inspired by... "Not Before Sundown"



It's again the 10th of the month and time for the "Inspired by" creation! But what is Inspired by? Every month awesome Marsha and I choose a subject to be inspired by. It can be a movie (link)an item (link)a designer (link), a painting (link) or a piece of music (link). Then we make something inspired by that theme or a piece of art and share it with you and each other on the 10th of the month.

 

We usually know the challenges well before hand. Last time we knew the exact source really late, but this time we knew it months back as the challenge needed some extra time. We went reading again! This time we chose a novel I had already read some years ago and that was really powerful to me. It's a story by Johanna Sinisalo called either "Not Before Sundown" or "Troll - A Love Story" depending the country of publication. The story however is the same but the name changes. The original title is "Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi" which refers to a known Finnish children's song about a troll and a sun fairy.

It seem's we are having a magic realism phase as the last challenge we did also revolved around that theme. Johanna Sinisalo is a Finnish writer that embraces that genre in her story telling. In this book she's describing a parallel reality that's very much like our world and our time with one huge difference. Trolls aren't creatures out of children's books but actual animals inhabiting the Nordic forests. What makes the most impact on me is how she's quoted several writings among the story. Some of the quotes are straight from the books, others edited cleverly so that the snippet talks about trolls.

The book tells a story of Mikael, a hip photographer and a young troll. The tone of the story is romantic and quite sexual at times. There's several characters and the story is told via many individuals - each paragraph has a title after the person whose point of view the happenings are told.


I really like the way Sinisalo weaves her story. I really liked the book the first time I read it and liked it now again. Such a source of inspiration comes with a problem - what to be inspired by. There's plenty to use as the source. There's a add campaign Mikael does, there's detailed information how the troll looks like but what really caught my attention this time reading the story was the scent that plays a great part in the events. Trolls in the book have a strong scent that people mix up with an aftershave. It's strong, intriguing. Something woody, something like juniper berries.

So what I created this time was a perfume bottle for such a scent. My guide was the woody feeling. The scent is also referred as "something new from Calvin Klein" so the bottle should have a contemporary vibe and some straight lines also. It's like forest meets Klein, forest is growing on Klein.


I started with a rectangular shaped bottle and turned it green using alcohol inks. I could also have used a green bottle from the begin with but I wanted the bottle to have a lively surface. Like light playing in a forest floor, coming through the leaves.

On top I then added different embellishments using gel medium. I tried to keep the elements masculine and woody but with a touch of mystique also. I then treated the embellishments and the top of the bottle with black gesso and then started to layer the colors on top. I used gold and green as in my mind the scent would be colored so. Rich gold of the musk or equivalent, strong, powerful scent and then greens of the lighter forest inspired scents. On top I added also a little glitter to have that magical touch.

But enough about my project - let's all go and see what Marsha has made this time! Here's the link to her post (link)! It's always so wonderful to see how the same source of inspiration turns into such different projects but still there's always something combining the two. Can't wait to see the project Marsha has created this time! Might it be green?

Thank you so much for stopping by today! It's absolutely thrilling to see people visit my blog! I'm really grateful and honored for each visit!


Materials: Prima Marketing, Tattered Angels, Ranger, Epiphany Crafts

8 comments:

Marsha Valk said...

No... It's not green :-). There is a tiny bit of green, but that wasn't intentional... Hahaha. I think I lost the ability to fantasize... Anyway: this, dear Riikka, is very clever!!!! And it's beautiful!!! You aced it again!!!

Kathy Bradley said...

Riika,
I so enjoyed your blog post today and the bottle is so very, very gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.

Val-Belle said...

WOW! Iove the challenge, your inspiration and the end product. Not only do I want to alter a bottle I also want to buy that book and read it :D Thank you for SOOOOOO much inspiration here <3

Caroline said...

So pleased I came by to find out more.. What a fascinating story & you write brilliantly, with energy, I want to read the book too now. Saying that, like Marsha, I am not normally drawn to fantasy books. Anyway, I ramble & digress a little...
I have already said on fb that I think your piece is Devine! The colours are super lush (like a Forrest of course, lol). What I find exceptional is your creativity. Rikka, I have followed you for perhaps a year & every time you fascinate & delight! Tysm for both the book insights & all the inspiration! You Rock! C

Riikka Kovasin said...

No you definitely did not loose it - your project is ingenious and really about fantasizing! :)

Riikka Kovasin said...

Thank you Kathy for all your sweet comments! <3

Riikka Kovasin said...

Thank you so much for the lovely comment Val! :)

Riikka Kovasin said...

Thank you so much for the comment Caroline! It's humbling to hear that I have inspired you to find out more :D The book is not fantasy like Lord of the Rings, but it has that supernatural vibe :) Thank you so much for the kind words!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...