Sweet Sweet Life: pure beauty :: isabella baudelaire

Hello, again, sweets! I'm so excited!

Oh, my goodness. Look (just look!) at these beautiful laser-cut shadow puppets from Holland-based Isabella's Art!:

pippi longstocking!

a dream steamboat

thumbelina

a little prince (he's riding a wolf! so cool!)

But that's just the tip of the iceberg! The best part is that Isabella Baudelaire, the 24 year old Dutch artist who specializes in portraying folklore, myths and legends and creates these and many other beautiful illustrations, has a blog...But it isn't any ordinary blog...in this blog (enchantingly titled Over the Hills and Far Away) you can "find everything about myths and legends. Read the entire stories behind the illustrations, find articles about monsters and magical objects, listen to beautiful folk songs and much more!"

Oh, yay!

It's really, really lovely, and she will illustrate your own story for you, if you win her contest. (She does this all the time, and the results are incredibly lovely... Go See!)

In her blog, here, sweet Isabella explains why she loves myths and folktales so very much, and why she concentrates on illustrating these and not other stories. She says, "Maybe I'm attracted because these stories are as old as mankind which gives me a feeling of being connected with the past. Maybe because it makes me understand human desires, frustrations, hope and love and in this way learn to understand myself. Maybe because I am seeking for a way to escape reality every once in a while, like many of us do when they read a good book. But I know for certain that I am mainly attracted to these stories because of there pure beauty. No literary work has the attraction or beauty of oral tradition. Simply because a writer is constantly busy with writing a good story, having a strong plot and making beautiful sentences.
In legends all of these things don't matter they are purely coming from the heart of the narrator, or in case of music the singer. They reflect their emotions, being it fear or happiness. These stories are not only his story but the story of the people, of a country, of mankind and therefore so much bigger and greater."

Be still my heart. I love this, so very, very much. So beautifully put, and her love for what she does shines through in each piece.

Be sure to check this out, my friends: Isabella's shop and blog. You will love it too, I just know it.

Cheers!

xoxox.