The Ghosts Who Sit Upon Imaginary Thrones

One of the delights of this year’s Eastercon was having Anne Sudworth in the art show again. I love her work, and would buy more of it if I had the walls on which to put it. One of the reasons Anne was at the convention was because she had a book coming out. That book is The Ghosts Who Sit Upon Imaginary Thrones, and it is beautiful.

I am, of course, utterly unsuited to review an art book. I know nothing about the techniques that go into producing work like this. I only know that the end result is achingly beautiful. I would just fill this review with pictures from the book, but wisely Anne makes sure that all images of her work that are online are of quite low resolution.

The book does also contain a number of Anne’s poems. I wasn’t aware that she wrote them before getting the book. Once again I am not a good person to review such things, but the poem that Anne wrote about sitting at her sister’s deathbed is heart-rending.

Of course when you are lost for words to describe something, the wise thing to do is find someone who has done the job well and quote them. The back of the book sports a quote from some chap called Nicholas Cage, who has apparently been in a movie or two. This is what he had to say:

“Anne Sudworth’s art awakens the inner glow I felt as a child when I beheld a tree for the first time under moonlight. She recalls in me a soft, light green illumination that restores my imagination; gives me strength in my adult life, and never stops burning no matter how dark the night gets. Like Graves’ ‘White Goddess’ her paintings are poetic, magical gifts direct from the source.”

Thanks Nick, couldn’t have put it better myself.

Sudworth is publishing the book herself, and it does not appear to have much in the way of distribution yet. Presumably it will be available from her website in due course.

And here is an image of the one Sudworth that I have a print of, in memory of a very special black cat.

Title: The Ghosts Who Sit Upon Imaginary Thrones
By: Anne Sudworth
Publisher: The Anne Sudworth Studio
Purchase links:
See here for information about buying books though Salon Futura