One day he came to her and said, “I must go away for a time. Invite your family here if you like. You may ride in the woods, charge the cooks to set a feast, you may do anything you like, anything your heart desires. In fact, here is my ring of keys. You may open any and every door to the storerooms, the money rooms, any door in the castle; but this little tiny key, the one with the scrollwork on top, do not use.” 1
In this part of the story, the younger sister is now married to Bluebeard. He tells her he is going away and hands her the keys to the castle, saying she is free to try any key except the smallest, most ornate one.
I think we all know this is not going to go well! Her sisters come to visit and together they go through the castle, trying all the keys. Of course, they are curious about what door fits the little key. The door itself actually alerts them to it’s presence by closing with a soft little thud. What they find behind that door is not pretty!
What I Was Thinking
The description of the castle is one of many floors and many, many doors. The sisters swing open door after door discovering many different things. I wanted to convey that feeling, which while fun, was likely a little overwhelming, too. This is a fairytale of sorts and I wanted it to feel a bit jumbled, that it was a search, that it was indoors so very different from the outdoor picnic setting, I knew that it would feel a bit surreal.
The Collage Elements
Anthropologie catalogs certainly had a lot of doors, as did Architectural Digest.
I like that every door is a different size and type. It feels jumbled which I think alludes to going about searching and discovering which keys go to which doors.
There are some random furniture items. I figure in a castle, you’re gonna have stuff all about the place.
Anthropologie came through with the same model walking in front of a door looking perplexed. In another catalog I had save, there were also all the random keys on chains! I was very happy about this. You can also see more of the hexagonal template I used for the ‘stone’ in the background.
The door in the hallway next to the pink couch is, in my mind, the forbidden door. It’s smaller and has that far away, dream feel where the hallway just keeps getting longer. While searching through the catalogs for the umpteenth time, I stumbled on the image of the rabbit. It suddenly struck me as a way to kind of mark which door I felt was the forbidden one because it alludes to pulling the rabbit out of a hat and Bluebeard is often thought of as a failed magician.
The Look and Feel
Finish Notes
Generally, I like it. I think more texture would have been good. It feels a little flat but that could also be the surreal aspect.
I struggled here because what I saw in my head was initially too literal and I wasn’t sure how to get that done. When I started actually cutting out doors and placing them, I realized I was stuck in my head and that the jumble worked. As seems to be an ongoing lesson for me, get out of your head and do. You can’t (always) think your way out of something, especially art.
**Looking back at this spread when I finished the the others, I realized I had no flowers in this one so I went back to add some.
For her, I added some fresh white flowers above her door. At this point, she still has her innocence because she doesn’t know what’s behind that door so her flowers are still real and untouched. The flowers I chose for him are glossy and showy.
Working Notes
I created a template for the hexagonal ‘stone’ pattern. I wanted a few of these scattered around the page and also realized on at least one of the other spreads because they were also inside the castle. In a way I wish I had chosen gray paint as that is a stereotypical shade for a castle but the warmth is nice.
The Bluebeard Series
- Bluebeard – Beginning Again
- Spread 1 – The Ensnaring “Romance”
- Spread 2 – The Search for the Forbidden Door (you are here!)
- Spread 3 – The Bloody Key
- Spread 4 – Do You See Our Brothers?
- Spread 5 – The Gruesome End (spoiler alert)
1 – Quote is from
Pinkoles Este, Ph.D., Clarissa. “Stalking the Intruder: The Beginning Initiation”. Women Who Run With The Wolves, Ballantine Books, 1992, pp. 41. (affiliate link)
