Neglected Murderess -- MAY DAY

It is the lovely month of May and rain is pitter pattering on my window. If it is the merry month of May, it is time for ....... Edward Gorey and his highlighted Murder Mistress Lettice Finding. *applause* *applause* As always we start with the before photo of this eerie drawing by the master of suspense and mystery.

"Lettice Finding shot Edgar Cutlet whose mistress she was, during the interval of a touring company production of Rosmersholm in Manchester in 1934." Now, first of all Ibsen is gonna cause you some angst and a little depression. Come on folks, remember The Doll House? Remember Hedda Gabler? This Norwegian hunk obviously had a hankering for this type of woman, especially in Hedda. When I saw that production recently I was ready to go on and pull the trigger for Hedda - yes she had the gun aimed at herself! Henrik, Henrik, who done you wrong? (OK, enough of my ramblin'.)


When researching Lettice and Edgar, I came upon an interesting factoid..... love that word... regarding "The Ballad of Lettice Finding & Oscar Cutlet." This is worth a visit over to YouTube. Here is an animated music video for Huxley Vertical Cabaret Nouveau animated and directed by Eric Power of Clear Productions. The story and art work were inspired by whom-other-than our very own Edward Gorey and his illustration of Lettice. You should go over there right now and have the music playing in the background while you lament this post on dear "he done her wrong" Lettice. Love the music and the animation!


OHHHH Poor Lettice. Here is my interpretation of the events that lead to her infamous shot heard through the theatre (or where ever you want her to be)..... OK I did add a new wrinkle to the story and I will let you figure that one out. For Edgar, I used background leftovers from my paperwhimsy quote challenges. I wanted to clean stuff up and use instead of toss. I also love printing the images for the challenges off on dictionary paper. Gale rocks at paperwhimsy! (Gale, I apologize if I wasn't suppose to use these images - not sure of all the rules just yet!)

For the illustration, I used one of the my digisheets from paperwhimsy. I love these curtains and used them once before on Miss March. This time I cut out the "center" and sewed them onto the illustration. I then added some left over fringe which I thought worked well for the "theatre."

I debated about adding "paint" to this month and after "thoughtfully" reviewing - OK I am exaggerating here..... I did succumb to the paint and once again used Claudine Hellmuth Studio paint, landscape green. I found the "gun" on images and give credit here to Eric Power of Clear Productions. I found the gun before I found the YouTube rendition!

And the mystery I added....... oh well, why not. Off to grocery shopping in the rain and then back to finish up my last Rolodex card so I can mail them off tomorrow. Laundry almost done. I LOVE you EDWARD GOREY. Oh how I do! Hmmmmmm.... what if...... and so my dear friends, with stars in her eyes she heads out into the storm (I love my make-believe worlds as long as I am not driving in them...).

Good night, sweet prince, may visions of sugarplums dance in your head!