C. MARIA PLIEGER: BIOGRAPHY OF A FAIRY ARTIST
I paint in two styles, the gothic-fairy-fantasy one that dominates this website, and a whimsical feel-good folk art style that appeases and soothes my inner child. It's an interesting process which has a lot to do with my attempts to balance myself and my life, I think, and I find that techniques I pick up while painting in one style tend to leach over into the other. Maybe they'll eventually meet in the middle and merge, as I become a perfectly balanced person? One can dream....
On the other hand, what would a perfectly balanced person paint? Would there be any need to paint at all? In which case, I would rather continue to be a little quirky and "off," thank you, like any true self-respecting artist.
The Changeling: a Fractured Fairy Tale
First,
a confession: I'm an imposter. The fairies kidnapped the
real C. Maria Plieger as a new-born infant, and left me
in her place. My parents, who didn't believe in fairies,
consequently never caught on, though they often suspected
something was awry.
Oh yes, I've had at least as many lessons to learn as a
real human child, if not more. Human children, in fact,
often seemed to be born knowing things I didn't.
And why, you ask, did the Good Folk trade me in?
Frankly, I didn't make a very good fairy either. To this
day, I still haven't mastered flitting, dew-gathering, nor
bee-calling.
How I Discovered Fairy Lore: a Grimm Tale
When I was very young, I had fairy tales read to me, most
notably those of the Brothers Grimm, which were just dark
and scary enough to pique a small child's imagination without
scarring that child permanently.
When slightly older, I was taken to the Vancouver Public
Library, where left to my own devices, I discovered and
immersed myself in the world of fairy lore. This left me
pleasantly warped for life, and I subsequently spent much
of my childhood drawing and painting fairies, elves, dragons,
and other fantastical creatures.
Readings and Writings
As I grew older, I read more "grown-up" fairy
tales, such as Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy and
T. H. White's brilliant tetralogy The Once and Future
King. The latter four books about the life of King
Arthur comprise my all-time favorite fantasy writings.
I am a commercially published fantasy author (which means,
in short, that I got paid). My short stories have appeared
in the book Writers of the Future Volume VIII and
the magazine Tomorrow Speculative Fiction. I am listed
in The
Locus Index to Science Fiction.
Whimsies and Passions
As well as reading, I spent much of my childhood painting
and drawing. The most common subjects of my art, besides
horses, were creatures that lived only in my head, such
as fairies and dragons. (Though come to think of it, horses
lived mostly in my head too, as I rarely got close to a
real one, and might as well have been coveting unicorns.
This period of frustration and lack of gratification really
helped develop my imagination, though, as I had a magnificent
imaginary horse.
North Country Fair
I live in rural north-central British Columbia, Canada,
with a fair number of furry beasts both large and small,
and a (necessarily) very understanding husband.
Thank you very much for coming by.
2005 Copyright © C.
Maria Plieger
