One does not ask questions of a Fairy Tale.

THE GYPSY CHRONICLES     ALISON MACKIE     EXCERPT      
ILLUSTRATIONS      
               


Old Fashioned Values rub shoulders against Modernity
creating a certain frisson in this charming

Spanish Style Tale.


Ernest Hole
Images Spain

W
hen I set out to produce a bed time story for grown ups I realized that pictures would be essential. I wanted the magic of the words to be magnified by the illustrations upon the page.

Days were spent searching the internet, looking for the type of images which most closely reflected the feel of the book.

When at last I came across the vintage postcards  shown above, their playful sense of love, hope and innocence had me at once under their spell.

Without hesitation I contacted Ernest Hole from Images Spain and he generously allowed me their use. Ernest is but one of the many helping hands behind the scenes whose involvement has helped to make The Gypsy Chronicles what it is ~ which is to say very special indeed.  He has in his archives boxes and boxes of old Spanish images, most of which have not seen the light of day for decades. The rest can be seen on his remarkable website. ImagesSpain dot com.

About Ernest, he is a British Expat who moved to Spain 18 years ago. He resides in a 16th Centurh Palace in Malaga. The Palace is too large for just one man, says he, and so over the years he has transformed it into something of a boutique hotel, which he rents to tourists. Take the virtual tour at TorroxTownhouse dot co dot uk.

               


I placed vintage postcards alongside modern photography,  intentionally blurring the line between old and new.


Angicaro:
Self Portrait Artist

Carolina Briceneo is a self portrait photographer who uses her body to express what is inside of her heart. And because her heart is rare and beautiful, so too is her art.
As she points out: The Body is pure, it is only the mind which corrupts.

I came across her work while surfing the net and was struck at once by the combination of talent, beauty and vision in her self portraits.
There was something within her aspect - a quiet dignity to the way she portrayed her semi-nude self that (I feel) is lacking in modern sexuality.

In The Gypsy Chronicles I turn the Gypsy stereotype of 'wanton sexuality' upside down. Many are those who, in scanning the book cover, will wait with every turn of the page for a scene of gratuitous sexuality. It never arrives!  They assume (wrongly!) that there is "heat between the sheets" of my little book. What the reader gets instead is completely unexpected, and better.

To promise one thing, and give something even better  in its place is a neat Gypsy trick!
See the book cover here: http://thegypsychronicles.com/Documents/Cover_Feb4_spread_proof_final%5B1%5D.pdf



Illustration to right represents character Estrella de la Flamenca, a 27 year old Flamenco goddess who also happens to be a virgin. She is waiting for the right man: Her husband, of course!
"Better alone than poorly accompanied," says she...
In an era where too many young women are giving away their virginity so freely and so soon, my message is clear: Wait.