“The Kingdom of the Heartstone is a series of monoprints set in the fairytale world of Queen Hattie and the Heartstone. Each work is part of an unfolding myth that follows Hattie, a young Queen who powers her realm—the Kingdom of the Anahata—through an unbroken stream of love and joy. But when she is overtaken by nightmares and the weight of her duties, Hattie vanishes into the forest, leaving her kingdom to slowly fade.
Sun/Moon Father/Mother, the first prints in the series, depict the cosmic parents of Queen Hattie—a single being joined in love. The pair move and walk as one, speak as two, and love their daughter—and the entire Kingdom of the Anahata—with the infinitude of the cosmos. They do not always understand Hattie’s fragile humanity, but remain steadfast by her side as her tale unfolds.
Each of these monoprints is an original painting in it’s own right. Drawn and painted onto glass over and over again throughout the monotyping process, I then took each of them to my studio and spent days addressing them as an individual works using paint, ink, charcoal, crayon, oil pastel and gold leaf to create a series that could be rich enough to encompass the fairytale world of Queen Hattie.
Fairytale, fable and parable are all elemental languages which speak to our psyches at their depths. Archetypal languages which accompany us to places that logic and reason never can.The Fairytale of Queen Hattie is part of my artistic practice of writing fictional narratives, drawing their characters, and mapping out their worlds through picture books, exhibitions, and films”.
—Swoon
