Tales from The Hanging Tree 2 - 'The Reparation Farm'
The character of Barbara Moore makes regular appearances in stories on Cruxforums, and those written and illustrated by Tree are no exception.
The Reparation Farm begins with a scene in which Barb is offered the option of being crucified:-
In the office of Chancellor Despard Wragg III Professor Moore is offered two options. She can be the ‘decoration’ for the UVM commencement ceremony…
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…or be sent to the Reparation Farm for five years. She asks why she is the only faculty member that gets such assignments. Chancellor Wragg answers honestly (with a touch of lust) “There is no staff that has a ‘tight little’ like yours, Professor Moore.”
Tree's illustration focuses on the figure of Alice, in the character of Barb, crucified on the neat joinery of Messaline's Premium French Crucifixion Wood, against a spectacularly colourful background of defocused flags and seated dignitaries. It is indeed a beautiful picture, but in the story, this is a fate which Barb hopes to avoid.
I am always interested to see my work reinterpreted, and of course, I recognised my figure of Alice from the 'Ivdaea Capta' series. In 'Ivdaea Capta' I have recreated Alice from her modelling photo shoots, and to date the series does not contain any Makar images. In 'Ivdaea Capta 13' (#2) I manipulated a composite figure using photos of Alice from the Crimean location shoots for Femjoy by Valery Anzilov. The major components of the head and lower body are recognisable from two series, entitled 'Droplets on my Skin' (#3) and 'Freedom' (#4.)
The head, arms, thorax, lower body, legs and feet. were all cut 'free-form' as individual components, and then pasted and blended in Windows Paint, since I didn't have Photoshop. The cross, titulus, ropes, nails and bloodstains were painted manually in Windows Paint, using the mouse as a brush. My background was chosen as a representation of the Qumran Hills in Judaea, with lighting appropriate to compliment the direct sunlight and shadows on the figure. There should be sunlight on the face, but I was pushing the limits of Paint and couldn't quite carry that off!
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