Back to photostream

Welcome to Paul Taggart’s Elphen Chronicles

Available now to watch, this 'Welcome' video in Paul Taggart's official account on Vimeo - vimeo.com/328285064

 

“Welcome to my studio in the Highlands of Scotland from where we bring you ‘Paul Taggart’s Elphen Chronicles’.

 

As a child, I was very solitary and often played, on my own, in my Grandmother’s garden. This was full of wild flowers and weeds, but in its depths there was an area, or a swathe, of green grass. It grew in a perfect circle and it was inevitable that I would sit in its very centre. Half closing my eyes I would suddenly be surrounded by a host of blue butterflies; these flew in a clockwise direction, it seemed, around me and I was entranced by their magic.

 

As an adult I always wanted to capture the essence of this magic, which is how, in the mid-nineties, I found myself bringing to life the mysterious creatures that are the Elphen. During the light of day, I would take up my brush and watercolour paints to work on a set of eighteen unique illustrations that were enchanting me. As I painted, the story of Elphen began to develop in my mind. I became so engrossed that all other paintings and books were forsaken in order to free my imagination and allow me to concentrate on completing my first book in the Elphen Chronicles, in which I recount a particular legend involving the Elphen Swarm Leader, Lacewing and an itinerant artist, by the name of Artimus Glin.

 

However, it had always been my hope to set aside enough time to work on a collection of oil paintings, with which to depict and chronicle another significant Elphen event. Fast forward a few years later and once again, the lure of the Elphen was too great to resist. I began work on another unique collection of Masterworks oil paintings - twenty in all - which were to take me well over five years to create.

 

As before, the Elphen folklore of ‘Webstrand, the Tooth Gatherer’ took over my life, as I worked on these all-important Masterworks. The composition for each Elphen portrait and scene-setting painting was originally based on my first draft of the narrative. Soon, however, I found myself changing the interpretation of the story within these paintings, as the world of ‘Webstrand, the Tooth Gatherer’ took hold. Ultimately the developing paintings had an ever-changing influence on the story until both my paintings and story reached a natural conclusion.

 

But this was merely the completion of the first stage for we were about to embark on the next exciting phase. The book had to be designed. We had a million ideas to explore. Why not some dedicated Elphen music? At the very least the Elphen song, which comes into the story? Our ‘wish’ list was growing as we added special items; the studio was filling with examples of uniquely produced work by talented craftspeople. What if we filmed the work-in-progress to share online so that people could peek behind-the-scenes at the various creative processes?

 

So where are we now? First off, the final and unique design for my lavishly illustrated book, ‘Webstrand, the Tooth Gatherer’, has been completed by Sunita Gahir, our Design Director for which I produced a further, one-hundred-and-sixteen, vignette oil paintings. Quite different to my Masterworks, these vignettes, scattered throughout the book, portray even more insight into the Elphen folklore of ‘Webstrand, the Tooth Gatherer’.

 

And how about something else that’s a little bit different, something unique to us? A new concept; something that reflects the work we’ve been doing online for many years. An illustrated audio-book maybe – or - what about something more than that?

 

Welcome to our Artists First Edition, Video-StoryBook. All nine chapters – AVAILABLE NOW from Paul Taggart’s official account on Vimeo - vimeo.com/ondemand/elphenchroniclestwo We refer to this as the Artist’s First Edition, because the entire Video-StoryBook was created, filmed and produced by us, in our own studio, here in the Highlands of Scotland. Video-StoryBook ‘Webstrand, the Tooth Gatherer’ from Paul Taggart’s Elphen Chronicles.”

 

As ever, this welcome comes with best wishes and all Elphen Happiness, from Eileen and myself, Sunita and Liza, not to mention our Elphen friends, Webstrand and Starfire

 

Paul Taggart

Artist : Author : Presenter : Producer

www.elphen.com

If you would like to be kept up-to-date please register on our main website – www.artworkshopwithpaul.com

or hit the FOLLOW button on Paul Taggart’s official account on Vimeo – www.vimeo.com/artworkshopwithpaul

 

+ Want to know more?

+ Click here for MORE FREE-TO-VIEW Behind-the-Scenes Bonus Features & Feature Trailers from ‘Paul Taggart’s Elphen Chronicles’ - vimeo.com/channels/elphenchronicles

+ Watch Paul Taggart at his easel, painting his Elphen originals in our ‘Watch & Wander’ series – vimeo.com/artworkshopwithpaul/vod_pages

 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2019 – Paul Taggart has asserted his Rights as the Sole Artist & Author of Paul Taggart’s Elphen Chronicles. ALL RIGHTS (including Music) owned by Paul W. Taggart, Eileen M. Tunnell, Sunita J. Gahir [The Three Quills]

 

 

965 views
0 faves
1 comment
Uploaded on November 20, 2019
Taken on November 20, 2019