Red Balloon

The Red Balloon - Digital Redux
http://fav.me/d327jjg

Today's look at old stuff actually spans several years. We are going to start with the digital redux of The Red Balloom that was done for a calendar project back in 2010. The original version was a linoleum block print from 2004 done first on rice paper, transferred using a spoon, with black ink and then on stonehenge paper, transferred using a press, with red ink. 

The Red Balloon - Black
 https://www.deviantart.com/ryuyujin/art/Red-Balloon-Nichol-Final-10833144

The Red Balloon - Redhttps://www.deviantart.com/ryuyujin/art/Red-Balloon-Nichol-Final-Red-11537090

Red Balloon has many hidden meanings and a lot of symbology crammed into it even though it is a simple design. It is also very personal. One could almost call it a self portrait in a way, given the history. Red Balloon features a faceless version of the character Nichol from my Duo Ninja/Three Worlds stories. She is not human. MANY MANY MANY of the characters in those stories are not or are half breeds. Nichol is half wind demoness and half Yuki-onna. She is also a Deity of Death at the point of her life being depicted in the print. Think of Deities of Death like Grimm Reapers but not quite. It is their job to help collect, sooth and guide newly dead souls to their proper places in the spirit or demon world. An actual Reaper can cause death, sometimes in mass, not just collect souls. Nichol is a particularly scary Deity of Death in that she finds the act of collecting souls a highly intimate, sometimes sexual one and specializes in collecting the souls of fallen soldiers. She is actually quite a sweetheart and she is a super nice, amazingly mundane individual in personality though. 

She is the half sibling to Noel, sharing the same father. Noel is half wind demon and half angel. Though they did not know the other existed in their youths, they became fast friends once they finally met, both easily accepting the other as family. Noel is one of my muses, especially when I was going through the later part of high school and the early parts of collage. I started doodling him, often without a face, whenever I had a chance and he's who I thought of whenever I was asked to create a self portrait in art class. In fact faceless versions of him pop up in several of my self portraits and still do to this day. He's got a long complicated story in the Duo Ninja/Three Worlds Universe which I will save for another time. Red Balloon in a way symbolizes missing and being away from family as well as passing on of the touch in a sense. 

The Red Balloon is also inspired by the painting The Red Balloon by Paul Klee. I studied Paul Klee heavily in collage and there was always something about his whimsy and nostalgia even in his political pieces that always spoke to my heart. The Red Balloon is my favorite of his works and would remind me of where I was originally born and watching the air balloons in the park with my mom and dad before we moved to Iowa. 

And finally, the Red Balloon also has some political undertones as it was also inspired by the song 99 Luftballoons by Nena which I liked simply for its sound and historical context and was something I grew up with until the song took on a completely new meaning for me in September 2001. The song stuck with me like never before afterward as I worked through issues with the world around me, previously undiagnosed life long chronic depression (which I am still dealing with even to this day), aggression issues, a devastating house fire, identity issues (no not sexual or gender identity issues but actual who the hell am I and who am I supposed to be identity issues. I was born a girl, I identify as a girl, I am a girl, even if my muse and ego is male-ish. I can fall in love with both dudes and dudettes and seem quite boyish at times. Old school tom boy here. BUT I am only sexually attracted to the dudes and I have never questioned that, thank you very much), and my own mother's health issues at the time. 

In short, The Red Balloon is a personal mess wrapped in a simplistic design that no one who doesn't know me well will probably never get or fully understand. ^^;