
I am also an artist/crafter/poet/photographer and this I do during evenings and on week ends.
You can follow my online presence through these social media sites: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Etsy / Flickr
Or just send me an email: mayfifth1935@gmail.com
List of published work and publicity appears at the end of this post.
I create craft items from recycled paper and card, and I'm very fortunate that working in a museum, departments have regular clear-outs and our recycling rooms are often filled with beautiful old stationary and packing materials. My most popular crafted items over the years have been circular hang-able postcards [or "talismans", as I like to call them], brooches made from recycled cardboard and calendars at Christmas. I'm also a bit of a thrift addict and love to create something from nothing that becomes a sellable item, in this respect I'm very proud of my decorated tins and lids.
Floral scull talisman with vintage ribbon loop for hanging The reverse is blank for writing on |
"Alice" brooches made from recycled cardboard Image used is by John Tenniel |
Decorated vintage tin lid Words by Robert Louis Stephenson |
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Calendar made from recycled cardboard |
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Cover by Dorothy M. Wheeler |
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MargaretTarrant [1888-1959] Peter and his friend |
I discovered the illustrations of Margaret Tarrant in my twenties and even though she remains a first love, many others hold my artist's heart including Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Cicely Mary Barker, Dorothy M. Wheeler, Anne Anderson and Florence Anderson.

I am an avid reader and inspired by contemporary fantasy writers. A great love is Carlos Ruiz Zafon as I find his writing exquisite. I remember reading The Shadow of the Wind [while listening to Ludovico Einaudi's Eden Rock album] and being transported completely out of myself. He has a way of writing characters that you care and empathize with after just a few brief lines. I am interested in historical automata and so loved his haunting page-turner, The Watcher in the Shadows. I also enjoyed Catherynne M.Valente's poignant, whimsical Fairyland series. I recently read the somewhat grittier Some kind of fairy tale by the late, great Graham Joyce and loved it so much, I now intend to read all his other stories. A strand that weaves its way through Joyce's story is the subject of lost time, or a length of time that cannot be accounted for and I'm drawn to stories concerning this type of supernatural time slip. I also love science fantasy and adored Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series but my absolute science fantasy love affaire is with the masterful, Tad Williams. His Memory, Sorrow & Thorn series is one of the most exciting and romantic stories I've ever read [and re-read 3 times].![]() |
From the diaries of Charles Altamont Doyle |
My readings about Doyle then led me to discover that his father, Charles Altamont Doyle suffered terribly from depression and alcoholism, spending many years [and eventually dying] in a mental asylum. While incarcerated, he kept an illustrated diary chronicling the fairy folk who he believed plagued him [The Doyle Diary by Michael Baker (Paddington Press, New York & London), 1978]. This diary is full of fantastical creatures drawn in a very specific style that stare and giggle from the page in a most unsettling way. Moreover, Charles Altamont Doyle's brother [Conan Doyle's uncle] was the prolific fairy painter Richard Doyle and his fame during his own lifetime cannot have been easy for the depressive alcoholic. All this led me further down the path of artistic mental fragility to the case of another fairy artist Richard Dadd who, after a complete mental breakdown and the murder of his father, spent many years incarcerated in the now notorious Bethlem Royal Hospital [and later, until his death, at the newly established Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital]. It's not for everyone of course but I find all this gothic darkness fascinating and it is, at times present in my work, see my Damsels scull series and illustrated poems Lilith and Black Hearted Beauties [you will find an index of my poetry posts further down that will save you time scrolling]. I tend to live in the past, never more happy when looking through photo albums, reading old diaries, or closing my eyes and walking through rooms in houses we inhabited when I was little. The past draws me to itself, it hovers close by, calling me to sun filled summers surrounded by beloved relatives now long gone. This tendency to look back is probably why ideas and theories associated with faerie have such a hold on me.
I am an obsessive cinema goer and I'll basically watch anything except horror and war films. Classic films I love to watch over and over again include: The Holly and the Ivy [1952], Now Voyager [1942], Ziegfeld Girl [1941], It's a Wonderful Life [1946] and Young at Heart [1954]. More recently I adored the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films but [apart from their visual excellence] have been very disappointed with the Chronicles of Narnia films so far. Unsurprisingly, I adore magic films like Peggy Sue Got Married [1986], Practical Magic [1998], Bell Book and Candle [1958] and of course, all the Harry Potter films
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Dad as a toddler with his dad David |
As you will now realize, I am very sentimental and this is especially true of my cats. The first I ever had was called "Puss", mum says she wandered into the kitchen as a kitten when I was a toddler and we grew up together, she was eighteen when she died and it broke my heart. My poem, Under the weight of a distant gaze, is based on her being in heaven but still keeping an eye on me.
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Marlon Savage |
I'm going be updating this post so drop by again in a month or two.
See below for indexes listing selected work, just to save you searching because I'm so kind and thoughtful.
Scroll to the bottom for list of published works.
Mayfifth1935 photography portfolios
Damsels
Dolls
Flora
Portraits
Toys
Mayfifth1935 poem posts index
Black Hearted Beauties
Courage
Lilith
Parisien Parfumerie
Under the weight of a distant gaze
Published
work
2014
October
The
Ghastling Book 2 [p.50-53]
Whim Online
September
Thistle Magazine
1,000 Follower Giveaway!
June
Whim Online Magazine
Issue 6
Mayfifth “Beloved Dream” poem [page 125]
Thistle Magazine
The Wilderness
Issue [page 117]
April
Whim Online
Whim Online Magazine
Issue 5
Mayfifth “Courage” poem [page 66]
Ballad Of
March
Thistle Magazine
The Courage
Issue [page 77]
2013
December
Thistle Magazine
The Magic Issue
[page 59]
Activities:
Craft fairs
15/12/2012 Oh so crafty! Craft Fair at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
29/09/2012 Monstrous Productions Craft Fair at Ten Feet Tall, Cardiff
04/09/2012 Cardiff Steampunk Craft Fair at the Owain Glyndwr Pub, Cardiff
27/05/2012 Be kind rewind Craft Fair at Jacobs Market, Cardiff
22/04/2012 Be kind rewind Craft Fair at Jacobs Market, Cardiff
03/12/2011 Oh so crafty! Craft Fair at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
18/06/2011 Craft Fair at the Mackintosh Centre, Roath, Cardiff
11/12/2010 Craft Fair at Milkwood, Lochaber Street , Cardiff
06/11/2010
Christmas Craft Fair at National Waterfront Museum ,
Swansea
Artist shows
06/11/2012 -
15/01/2013 Washington
Art Gallery
Christmas Show