I HAVE PAINTED a new painting, four inches tall this time, and containing the most bent of bodies I have yet portrayed: A mountain song for my wordless son. It is made on the slice of wood that lay directly up the branch from the slice on which the blackberry wedding pendant was painted.I cannot explain what it is about, see in it what you see...
There was a sitting-up-til-midnight to finish all the Telling the Bees artwork, which is now swimming amid the cogs at the printing mill. It is always lovely to make a work for myself after working on a work for somebody else. But I've started to go cross-eyed with these ever diminishing paintings, and get cross with the tiny hairs of the paintbrush that at this minuscule level seem like tree trunks to a beetle. The next painting will be bigger!
*POST SCRIPT* Prints available here.
An entire novel upon a piece of wood.
ReplyDeleteLovely, Rima.
It's lovely. Broody!
ReplyDeleteSorry about the cross-eyes. I hope they're finding their natural gaze equilibrium again! Love to you both.
Anna x
ps: very, very excited and want to wear the pendant now. But saving it. ;-)
Oh Rima.
ReplyDeleteStunning.
This is a new favourite. The little faces are just exquisite.
Exquisite...
C x
As always your work speaks a thousand stories :-) I hope you are well in your house on wheels! We have found ourselves on steady ground, for a while anyhow ;-) x
ReplyDeleteThe echos of a story from an old aboriginal shaman and the child who spoke only in silent heart murmurs.
ReplyDelete~lovely~
For some reason I found this painting makes me feel so incredibly sad. In a very primal ancient way. I can't explain it, but that's quite a skill Rima, evoking such strong emotion in so small a painting. Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful and joyful image to me! Thank you for sharing your journey. Leah
ReplyDeleteRima, What I see may not seem like a happy thing, but it could be a memorial type of image to me. I see the child I lost many years ago in miscarriage, and the feeling that shows through in the face of the Mum I am. A beautiful and tender painting.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful work, very tender.
ReplyDeleteYour ability to do small work is amazing, I was painting a dolls face the other day and am still cross eyed.
I think this is the most beautiful title for any piece of work that I have ever seen ... an incredibly beautiful and moving piece of work from an incredible and beautiful woman, my missus Rima ...
ReplyDeletex Tui x
This is beautiful ! But... i think that the girl with legs like wheels is more bent that these two, isn't she ? :-)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, i've just made my very first purchase on etsy, and it had to be something very special to me : one of your illustrations... thank you so much for your vibrant art !
Wonderful ! And of course reminds me of motherhood and my own tiny boy. It makes me think of the transition from pre-verbal to verbal in children. The songs we sing, the things we repeat, the little rituals that we think meaningless, which suddenly become the first things our children say back to us. Tal is now anything but wordless :0) but your picture captures so well that feeling of desperate love.
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful! In it I see a mother nurturing and protecting her son in utero.. silenty, it speaks of fertility!
ReplyDeleteI've been looking around and feasting many senses here at The Hermitage.. came over to visit from Fairysteps. Your artwork, words and home are incredible.. a very talented lady, best wishes to you :)
So, so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAnother gorgeous piece Rima, I am becoming a BIG fan of both your beautiful artwork and your lovely, lyrical writing. I wonder, which came first, the idea for the painting or the title? This one feels as if it's come from somewhere ancient and deep, and somehow you KNOW what it means, even if you don't understand it! Sometimes I have a strange phrase pop into my head and I carry it about for a bit, wondering whether it will be a painting, or perhaps a song or a poem...sometimes they never quite find a home! Please say hello and thank you to Tui, I just bought his CD the other day and it's been on constant replay ever since...beautiful!
ReplyDeleteSo full of emotion. So full of story.
ReplyDeleteIt is very beautiful and evocative Rima. It kind of reminds me of life and death at the same time. And I would like to say that I think that her son is still in her womb and silent because he has yet to be born, the portrayal of him outside of the the womb being figurative, but I kind of think that I am going to have to go with the opposite, that he is enveloped in an earthy womb and silent because he is no longer with her but dead and buried and that the song is a kind of lament. She just looks so sad. This is a bit melancholy, I know, but that is where my mind is tonight.
ReplyDeleteI love it Rima!
Erin :)
another fascinating work rima!
ReplyDeletethough, you should rest for a while from your work. its better to have a nap for better creativity!
Thank you also for the link about vladimir gvozdariki....he is truly a master!
:)
Just beautiful...
ReplyDeleteI love this piece. It speaks so clearly to what I give to my children.
ReplyDeleteSuch melancholy in the faces, just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHello Rima,
ReplyDeleteYour work is beautifull. Since I discovered your blog, I just can't stop coming back to it. Your work is very inspiring. This new one is particulary touching.
Moniue Lemieux
Quebec, Canada
www.coeurdecerise.com
it's absolutely amazing! their faces are talking without words as well.
ReplyDeleteI love looking at you paintings, they evoke many feelings and leave me wondering.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to tell you I happened upon your blog one day, and fell in love with it, your work, your home....
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing it all with admiring strangers.
I love the fine detail in your work (even though I know you must suffer eye strain to achieve such fine results)
ReplyDeleteThe colours are so mellow and the subject always original.
Beautiful!
The tiny hairs of the paintbrush and your colossal talent have created a wonderful art piece. What I thought when I saw it, before reading your post, was... "oh Rima will have a baby!"...Then I read the post. I believe my thought was because I see in it my own desire of motherhood when I first wished my baby. (sorry for the "non-perfect" english!)
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Joana
Did you chose that shape or did it chose you? It is very womblike and touches the mother in all of us, even if we are way past childbearing. It is exquisite and induces very profound thoughts and feelings.
ReplyDeleteThis is so amazingly beautiful. I see a Mother's deep and enduring love in her expression. I hope my son sees that in my face too :)
ReplyDeletex
i might imagine a woman who is childless and imagining.
ReplyDeleteHello, Rima. To me, it means you are with child and I am happy for you. It is a beautiful painting.
ReplyDeleteWhat a mother can see in that painting needs no words of explanation. <3 It's wonderful.
ReplyDeleteCe que j'y vois... L'amour d'une mère pour son fils ! Elle souhaiterait bien revenir dans ce stade foetal dans lequel se trouvait l'enfant pour qu'il puisse l'entendre et parler... Elle lui donne avec son coeur et ses yeux la parole ! C'est moi qui n'ai pas de paroles pour exprimer cet amour unique entre une mère et son enfant !
ReplyDeleteSorry for my english Rima !
Bonne journée pleine d'étoiles...
Amitiés...
Jeff
Held in the safety of silence, both at the beginning and at the end...no words are needed, none are spoken. The soft embrace a shield against any pain or fear
ReplyDeletereveals in the child's closed eyes the trust inspired by the love expressed,a silent song that only the soul can hear...and that only you could have captured.
This is incredibly beautiful, moving and so small! I can see this one on a much bigger scale, it's so lovely it really should take up more space in the world!x
ReplyDeleteIt is what it is - beautiful!
ReplyDeleteOh Rima.....
ReplyDeleteYou have painted the story of my wordless child and me. Cocooned together, trying to touch buy him not wanting it, deserted by his father, siblings and our whole circle of friends, neighbors and extended family. You have painted the relationship of mother and child and autism. Only me, only him and the world had to be inside the house, on his terms and at his speed. His language art. He drew always, drew only using yellow pencils and printer paper. He endure the captivity of school, many times escaping to home and me. Teachers, his father and others screamed force, make, demand, expect. We learned of it 12 yrs ago and today he is in University, in Fine Arts, independent, busing, looking for oart time work....
It never felt like a burden. Dad joined family counseling, siblings started to see what I knew was there.
Please Rima, offer this as a print in your Etsy store.
I lurk and read your blog alot.
Yours Janet
You have created a lovely, lyrical and evocative piece here. Our world is full of babies right now, babies that come into our lives little by little, firstly by scan printouts, xrays, investigations, slowly revealing themselves. Each one a tiny miracle, just like your painting.
ReplyDeleteWhat soft expressions on their faces.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy your bigger work and get your eyes feeling normal again.
Oh Rima, this is so beautiful and touching. It's incredible how many different intepretations it has awaken. To me this is like a dream, multidimensional and haunting, full of emotion, but impossible to fully capture in words.
ReplyDeleteToday I wrote to my blog about my dream to live in the tiny house on the wheels, insipired by you. I hope it's okay with you that I mentioned your name and put a link to your blog. If you feel like it, you may read in it here: http://aureadama.blogspot.com/2009/09/dreaming-of-house.html
It is always gratifying for me to visit your blog, is one of my favorites because it always leads me to travel to distant lands and makes me dream ...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful work
Hugs
They reach out so tenderly towards each other. I'm in love with this work.
ReplyDeleteDrawn from a most exquisite mind....
ReplyDeleteabsolutely amazing, truly.
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful painting!
ReplyDeleteA beatiful and profound womb of tenderness
ReplyDeleteStunning work Rima...really beautiful!
ReplyDeleteSo very lovely Rima.
ReplyDeleteLittle is, indeed exquisite, but I can quite understand the eye strain.
Oh Rima, what joyfulness must come from creating such a piece of art as as this that touches and speaks to so many so deeply and in such unique but connected ways. It is a tiny, marvelous masterpiece!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Vicki
p.s. I also wish that I would one day find a print of this in your Etsy shop.
This picture reminds me of the pain of miscarriages I've had, and the loving pains of mothers who's precious babies died before being born.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog very much, about time blogger recognized it :)
Wow! This is amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteWow...I just kind of lost it looking at this. I lost my son 3 years ago to preterm(very preterm) labor. There are so many words and songs that would have past my lips and fell on his precious ears...had we only had time. My healing process has been a long one and will never truly be over but it's moments of grace like this that bring understanding in ways that are inexplicable. Have you ever heard of Elephant Revival? This painting immediately made me think of their music...Especially 3 paricular tracks...Currach, Ring Around the Moon and Sing to the Mountain..There is something very synergistic about your painting and their music..You should take a listen on their website...Thank you for sharing this...
ReplyDeleteany male commenters here?
ReplyDeleteThe child seems not only wordless but sightless. Fallen on his knees he seems rooted while the mother is a winged bird. But he is redeemed by his ability to hear music AND lyrics. Mom provides for the wordless not just the soundless. The son is nurtured by the words and the music coming from the mountain to his personal valley and will awake and arise to ascend the mountain
ReplyDeleteThis image seems to me both sad and hopeful. It reminds me of my little nephew, who is 4 years old and yet to say his first words. It would almost be a relief for him to be diagnosed with something, so there would be a clear path to follow in getting him functioning closer to normal. For now, though, he tends to 'sing', humming and warbling melodies from programs he's watched or music he's listened to.
ReplyDeletethis makes me want to cry...from remembering and lost hopes. it expresses what i wasn't able to.
ReplyDelete