Monday 3 May 2010

Babes in the Wood


THIS BLUE PENCIL that has been sharpened regularly during my hard working spring, sprung once from the branches of a tree, as I was reminded here when my knife met a little knot in the wood. Here in the village we had weekend Mayday celebrations: a fair where I and others sold wares; morrises and maypoles were danced and daffodils yellowed all the shop windows. A little drizzle came in its English way to the fair too. And the maypole ribbons in my brain are still spinning. All the colours of things I have to get done are merging in a mad spiral of panic. Inside my head there are little girls and boys spinning in their beginning-of-summer costumes and their giggles have tumbled out onto my drawing board.
Littl'uns amongst trees has been a theme of recently completed commissions.. and I thought I would show you a couple.


First of all a little watercolour a bit like a gentle nursery rhyme. In it Rue and Noah, two little yellow-haired boys-of-the-woods run through the trees hand in hand. The painting was commissioned by their mum Helen for their dad Jim on his birthday. And a lovely family they are too. The words either side of the illustration are Rue's. He has been singing his own version of a couple of nursery rhymes that don't quite match but which his ma thought would be lovely in the picture.



So there they run. In pencil and watercolour.... Here for you are some of the pencil drawing stages and the painted thing in its completion. I had photos of the boys to work from, but as is usual for me with commissions like this, I like to try to make portrait-ish sorts of images, but they are translated into my world somehow, rather than being slavish copies.



A light spring breeze has blown over this. It is gentler in tone and more playful than my work often can be. Less heavy. I don't know why.

(click to enlarge)


I do struggle with trees when my paintings are not set in deep midwinter. You see there is the problem of leaves, and how on earth to do them! You cannot possibly paint them all, but it has to somehow look as if you have. I am lucky to have the staggeringly brilliant illustrator Virginia Lee as a neighbour and friend, and I must say I would be very happy to be able to paint trees just half as well as she can! I have looked at many different artists' trees, the great Russian turn of the century illustrator Ivan Bilibin for example, who managed to achieve incredible leaved trees with just flat areas of colour, drawing no doubt on his experience as a stage set designer. For these trees I ended up taking inspiration from Samuel Palmer's Early Morning (1825), and for reminding me of Samuel Palmer's wonderful bucolic work I have my dear friend the wonderful artist of paint and felt and melancholic toys Gretel Parker to thank!

(click to enlarge)


No soon as I had wrapped up this little treasure, I leaped into the branches of the next commission, time ticking on as ever and terrifying Eight-Legged Deadlines creeping out of every corner toward me tapping their watches.



This next painting was to be the biggest watercolour I had ever painted, and so I had to order in paper specially, from the excellent Paper People in Devon.


A lady called Margaret had once bought a print from me in Scotland and wanted to celebrate the first birthday of her baby daughter Anja by placing her inside my painting. She asked for something almost filling an A1 sheet of paper, a horse chestnut tree, in which baby Anja was to sleep, curled inside a conker shell, and gathered all around she asked for woodland animals and fairy folk.


Now I must add a note here about 'fairies'.. though I fear it should take a longer paragraph than I have time to write just now. Many folk assume that my work is fairy-ish. But it isn't. You'll not find a gossamer wing, no matter how hard you look, in any of my paintings! Old wise folk, gnarled gnomes, riddles and stories of strange-goings-on are much more my cup of tea. I find there is far too much pink and glitter, too much superficial fairy (or indeed faery) fancy about these days. You must understand I do feel my work is rooted in an old magic, in stories of oddness, the wild creatures and disappearances, the other realms in the fairytales. But so much nowadays isn't that, and consequently I deliberately avoid wings and all their insubstantial fluff. Perhaps it is a dislike for the flimsy fakery I feel in the depiction of many fairies. I feel they need to be wilder, earthier and more unnerving. And this is pretty much the sort of thing I told Margaret when she asked for fairies. I said well I'll paint woodland folk, I'll paint little men with knobbly noses and funny little hats. That sort of thing. Just not fairies. You see to me these strange little people are indeed people.. the odd ones, the marginal ones, the ones who are not noticed or noticed for the wrong reasons. They are my fairies.


I hope that makes sense? Margaret understood and let me set to work depicting a gathering of these little folk.
It took yonks longer than I had planned... weeks and weeks. And I found it overwhelming at times. I sent Margaret a very rough sketch, as she asked for one, but usually I do much of my workings out in the final piece, it seems to suit me better. Gradually the painting took shape. Little folk appeared in corners and branches offering baby sleeping Anja conkers as gifts. And amongst the roots and branches sat fox and badger and squirrel, owl and mouse and hedgehog.
Anja is watched over from above by sun and moon and a kind yellow bird. It is an honour to make an artwork for one so young. I hope Anja grows up with fond memories of the strange little people who brought her horse chestnuts on her first birthday. I hope she remembers them and is kind to them.

(click to enlarge)

Anja in the Horse Chestnut - print available here

(do click on the images to enlarge and see them all in detail)


This large creation was posted off just in time for baby Anja's Mayday first birthday and I have the astonishingly talented illustrator David Wyatt to thank for the use of his large scanner! Without which I wouldn't be able to show you this in such good quality. David's rather brilliant at doing trees too, and goblins :)

And to complete the forest tale, I bring you photographs from a trip I took a few weeks back with friends Miriam and Damien and their own dear babes in the woods... to Wistman's Wood, the most incredible mossy wonderland of trees I have ever seen. Truly I understood then where all the tales of being pisky-led had come from.


You approach the little forest from across moorland, eventually half noticing in the distance a grey patch of shrubbery... can you see it? Far off where those two hills meet....


That is Wistman's Wood believe it or not. It looks like nothing more than a clump of dry gorse or low shrubs until you get close and step inside. When you do, your whole world turns green.


Green hairy moss covers everything: the granite boulders and tree trunks gnarled as a fairytale. It isn't big these days Wistman's Wood. Centuries ago it covered miles of moorland.
And it was easy to become lost inside.


Now this enchanting copse of stunted and gnarled ancient English oak trees is small enough that you can see beyond it to the moor and river, giving an eerie sense of I'm not sure what.


There are many legends and tales about this Wood. It is an unusual and enigmatic place. I am told that a particular moss grows only here and two other places in Europe. You can read in depth folklore about the wood here. Of particular interest to me is the supposed origin of the name. Wistman's Wood is derived they say from Wisht-Man's Wood, this refers to the Devonshire word Wisht meaning pixie-led or haunted. Others relate it to wissen, the Saxon / German to know. "From the same etymon comes also wise: ‘sapient; judging rightly; having much knowledge' Thus Wissman’s or Wistman’s Wood signifies Silva Sapientium, ‘the wood of wisemen.’"


Whatever it means it was a wonderful place to experience. The trees themselves look like wise men. I shall return there when the weather warms with my pencil and sketchbook on a quiet day, and perhaps I shall come back to show what I drew...


That's the wood, and so to the babe...
I have just enjoyed a happy weekend with my brother Jan and his lovely Maria who came to visit me here in Dartmoor and enjoy the May celebrations. With them came a kicking seven month old bump, my first niece or nephew who will make its little self known in July, and begin wandering in the mossy forest of this world

83 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done :D

Fx

Anonymous said...

Stunningly beautiful work as always. I'd love to spend a day in those woods, so magical!

steven said...

i love stepping across the threshold of your world. steven

Shelley Noble said...

Achingly profoundly deeply beautiful all.

Snippety Giblets said...

You never fail to astound me !! Both your paintings are wonderful but the one for Anja is truly amazing. I love what you said about the whole "faery" issue too :0)

On the subject of leaves I've always admired David Inshaw's work in that respect:

http://www.galleryontheusk.co.uk/acatalog/DAVID_INSHAW.html

His painting "Our Days Were a Joy..." was in the Bristol museum when I lived there and I spent many an afternoon going to marvel at it.

Wistmans Wood looks WONDERFUL !! And I keep forgetting to ask if you've ever read "Little Big"....
xxx

Pippa said...

O, truly tree-mendous, Rima! I am still gathering thoughts to e-mail you. Hoping all is wondrous your way! The May merrymaking sounds magnificent and that woodland is such a fairy glade. Such a beautiful post x x x x x

yew tree nights said...

Hey Rima,

The watercolour for Anja is absolutely spectacular! That is exactly the kind of painting a growing girl should have around to grow up with. I'm sure it will be something she'll hold dear. And I'm so pleased to be able to see all of the different personalities close up... at first glance I was taken with the sun, but now I wouldn't be able to choose between them.
Such a gorgeous post... all mossy and then the lovely watercolours... it's too good! And how lovely to be able to go off to sketch in a forest like that... oh!

Anonymous said...

Congratulation!
I like your work very much.

Windsongs and Wordhoards said...

Oh that Anja painting! Just utterly wonderful, I love it! I will have to go back for a longer look! I love the baby in the conker shell and just all of it!

I also have a first of May daughter, and just survived her 6th birthday Robin Hood party!(will post about later...)
Talking of woods, Wistman's Wood is exactly the kind of place I'd expect to find you wandering Rima! It looks wonderfully wizened and wild, I'd love to go there...
( I agree with you about the fairies too...)
Lovely post, best wishes
Carrie...

Kathryn Dyche said...

Wow, I love seeing how your work enfolds and what a beautiful piece to have to celebrate a first birthday.

Wistmans Woods looks like a truly magical place, where dreams and imagination can run amuck.

Catherine said...

How wonderful!!! Anja is a very lucky baby to be able to have this in her room. This is going to be one of my favorites of yours.

I want one too. I do hope you will offer a print of it in your ETSY shop very soon. As soon as I see it there I will order one.

Runic Rhyme said...

Hey! I'm glad you exist :]

jamjar said...

beautiful, beautiful work. - I do know what you mean about painting trees!! Always enjoy seeing pictures of Wistmans Wood, magical.

artymess said...

Rima your words and pictures move me ........thank you ..you truly are a beautiful spirit..Lorna

Anonymous said...

Lovely creations. A1 wow that's huge!

The wood of the wise men full of gnarled oaks and boulders. Yes love it! Such a prefect name for a beautiful and curious place. Oh to go back in time and see it in pre-history.

Peacocks and Sunflowers said...

Beautiful! the wood looks familiar - could it be? http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005m44b It looks like a magical place - with or without the time-lapse wizardry!

yew tree nights said...

Hey again,

Was working away and thinking away and some things from your post mixed in with my other thoughts... so I thought I'd come back to say good on you for your discussion of fairies above. One of the things that first charmed me about your blog was that you somewhere had written you were interested in *this* fairyland.
And now back to work for me... or perhaps to bed... I just saw the time! Well, good morning!

Laurel said...

Oh, I would have bought a print of that second commission in an instant--although perhaps you don't sell prints of commissions. I hope one day you do something like it again that I could buy for my own child, as I cannot afford to commission your work myself ... unfortunately!

A.Smith said...

what a wonderful gift to a child to grow up looking at herself with the real faes.

Like you I too believe that gossamer wings are reserved for flying insects not faes. I want to go to sleep on that mossy wonder and share my blanket with the real faes who without a doubt live there. You are still the most able translator I know of the language spoken by others, invisible to the eye. Happy May Day, may the muguets du bonheur grow around you all year long.

jude said...

i like that little magic quilt.

Von said...

Anja will be accompanied through life by all the wisdom and care of these wonderful people, a lucky child indeed.
Funnily enough as you started to talk about trees, Palmer came immediately to mind and then there he was, an inspiration to us all!
Wonderul post and the woods call urgently for a return!

A mermaid in the attic said...

So beautiful Rima! I know exactly what you mean about faeries these days. I've never liked pink, and my first real introduction to the world of the Fae was 'Faeries', by your wonderful fellow Chagfordians Alan and Brian, so glitter and pink has never meant 'faery' to me. I'm always looking for the older, earthier, wilder, stranger, more magical ones, just like yours. I'm not too fond of white unicorns either, for the same reasons! I read about Wistman's Wood somewhere else just recently...one day I will get back to Britain and it will be on my 'must see' list!

Lynda Adlington said...

I love your painting, gosh it really looked a lot of work, I think the sight of all that white paper would have been daunting - and that wood, wow
Cheers
Lynda

Claire said...

Hey Rima, another wonder full painting. You create an atmosphere in your work and once you 'enter' it you can get lost for ages looking at the detail.

Love the woodland creatures both two legged and four.

Valerianna said...

I was enchanted with the boys running in the wood, then fell deeper into the well with the painting for Anja, then moved to tears by the gnarled trees and mosses.... something took me- bare branches and mosses... To think that wood was soooo large once upon a time....

and I'm onboard with A mermaid in the attic and your words about faery-folk. To me, the deep, authentic magic of faery is sooo NOT glitter!

Leslie said...

Bowing to your talent. What a wonderfully incredible gift you have. Thank you so much for sharing it.

Emerald Window said...

You write as well as you draw, which is phenomenal!
Cenya

Amy said...

Rima, I *like* the lighter style you seem to have stumbled across while traipsing the moss and the Maypoles. Perhaps a bit of the Morris dancers' jingle has rubbed off on you? Fantastic work...and hooray for wee earthy magic folk, roots and all. -Amy

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful world you create Rima. I love to enter in and drink every word you say and write, and be lifted by the beauty of your work. Thank you for your post, dear one. Anita

Anonymous said...

Such heartfelt beautiful work ~ in this day & age it's wonderful & heartlifting to see that parents want to have a piece so special for their family/children. I felt that Rue & Noah's watercolour is special because of Rue's 'own' version of nursery rhymes, that will now be forever remembered. There is a forest in Tasmania that has moss growing over everything, but of course it does not have the aged English oak trees that add so much to your forest. from Jenny (Melbourne, Australia)

Priya Sebastian said...

Rima, every picture in this post and every word you've written has been truly inspirational.

Elderberry-Rob said...

Baby Anja has something very beautiful and special to take through life I think. I spent a lot of time with my grandmother who never allowed flowers in the house because she believed they contained fairies, I think artists over the years have tried to capture their magical qualities by using wings, but you are right - levitation does not require wings!

littlerobot said...

Lord above you've been busy! Really love the new pieces. The trees look great - My long-time favorite trees are these from procession of the magi http://www.samefacts.com/images/Gozzoli-LProcession-BR800.jpg

Ciara Brehony said...

Oh Rima, so much to see when I come here. Every time, in one single post I am taken on a journey which by the end of I have forgotten where it began!

It's interesting to see the inevitable lightening of tone when children enter the picture, isn't it? We just can't help ourselves.

The little boys running through the trees just stole my heart...

Giallo Antico said...

Another wonderful works, Rima.Such a nice copmosition and the idea of animals at the roots. Good job for finishing a large work. :)

Anonymous said...

You are very generous with your time, your words and your talent. It was a real joy to come and read this post and look at your wonderful work in detail. Thank you for sharing all of this. I'm totally with you about fairies and wings, by the way. Indeed, real fairies don't have wings.

JCelestial said...

Wistman's Wood looks like a truely magickal place ♥

Rima Staines said...

Gosh such lovely things you all say, thank you very very much. I am always so astonished by how you love what I paint and write! Yes it is lovely that parents are asking for works of art for their children isn't it.
Thanks to those who have linked me to things...

@Snippety Poppy - I did not know David Inshaw's work. You're right his trees are amazingly done, tho I find his paintings a little too "smooth" for my taste :) & no I have not read Little Big... x

@Anna - wow, thanks for the BBC timelapse link.. that almost certainly is Wistman's Wood I would say :) Incredible!

@Lindsey Robot - indeed those are magnificent trees... real and yet unreal! I can aspire...

Off into the forest of my next paintings now...
Warm and good May wishes and appreciations aplenty to you all x

Anonymous said...

Beautiful, so good to go on a journey through your paintings and travels in Wistman's Wood.

nà from the treehouse said...

Enchanting - both the paintings and the woods! And I'm with you on the fairies, your view of the magic folk are much more in line with their natural environment than pink plastic and silver glitter!
x

Vitor Chuva said...

Hello Rima!

Thank you again for your collection of beuatiful works of art and lovely stories which go along with them.
I believe you are right in being truthful to yourself and the way you see how drawings about fairy tales should be.
Nowadays, most of what we are able to see is purely standard; they all very much look the same and having in mind to please as many people as possible ... with the solo intent of making money!

All the best!
Vitor

Jai and Lauren Soloy said...

Wow - I love Anja's piece, it's quite amazing. And thanks for sharing Wistman's Wood. It looks like a mysterious, magical, wise kind of place.

Ben Hatke said...

Yes, always a pleasure to catch a glimpse of your work and workspace. But your photography is also great! You do a good job with close-up pictures (particularly those pencil shavings).

beadbabe49 said...

Thank you again for a glimpse into the lovely world you create and inhabit...and you've inspired me to take a walk in our spring woods with camera in hand.

Anonymous said...

The rich originality of your imagery, both in words and painting, is enchanting. Your concept of fairies seems very true: while I confess to a weakness for a certain amount of pink and glitter, such things have nothing to do with the real old magic. Have you read Tolkien's essay 'On Fairy Stories', or his short stories in, I think, 'Tree and Leaf'? His deep understanding of 'faerie' was similar to yours I think.

The wonderful wood which indeed gives 'an eerie sense of I don't know what'...is it a sense of 'the liminal', perhaps? Literally 'the margins', the doorstep between two worlds.

Shayna said...

Thank you for all. I so love that you said this:
"You see to me these strange little people are indeed people.. the odd ones, the marginal ones, the ones who are not noticed or noticed for the wrong reasons. They are my fairies."

Anonymous said...

Beautiful post, as always.

I liked Rue's words too. My dad also had not-quite-right words to a nursery rhyme:

Higgedly piggedly my black hen
She lays eggs for gentlemen
One sock on and one sock off
Laying eggs it makes you cough

Mo Crow said...

Thank you Rima for the in depth sharing of your inspiring magical art processes & that wild Wistman's Wood, what a place!
I had trouble with the idea of leaves for many years too until I finally drew them all on this grand old fig tree;
http://www.bluecatheaven.com.au/Books%20Cards/Xmas%20Cards/xmas1997.html
'twas a learning journey and now I don't mind drawing all the leaves on my trees (& it does get quicker!)

mermaiden said...

the Wood is like an island of deeper enchantment set upon the moors. there must be an Underground Entrance there.
my favorite thing about the May babe piece is her checked blanket :D

Pat said...

What a magical place.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Wistman's wood looks a wonderfully gnarled and mossy place, ideal for your type of fairy folk....

Your painting for Anja is anazing, so full of such beautiful detail

Lrc said...

I too love how you see the people on the edges not as glitter but as enmeshed with our trees and garbage cans. The commission pieces are wonderful...I love how cozy the babe looks in its spiky conker bed and the character of each face that visits. And Wistman's wood does look like some gateway to another world...I can almost imagine myself there because of your photography! It just reminds me how much wonder there still is in the world despite everything we do to it. I love to watch the crows in our neighborhood and imagine what they are saying to each other. Thanks again for sharing your world!

Heather said...

Your posts take us into another world, full of magic. Your woodland folk are far better than fairies Rima and I'm sure Anja will grow up to treasure your wonderful painting until she's as old as I am, and beyond. Wistman's Wood looks fascinating - no doubt you found much inspiration there. Your drawings and paintings are just amazing.

FishStikks said...

Once again you take my breath away! Such loveliness you create, such peace and beauty.

Love the shots you shared of Wistmans Wood, so wonderful!

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Enchanting.
All.
And I agree about fairies.

McCabeandco said...

Beautiful!! Tis enchantment I feel when watching this world through which you wander.. Wistmans Wood for a wise woman should, and did, glimpse the magic there... There is magic in it. Thank you!!

Kari Lønning said...

That is the best 1st birthday remembrance I've ever seen. It's beautiful, and tender ... well done Rima.

Anonymous said...

I have to come back to this post and take a closer look at Wistman's Wood, which looks absolutely enchanting. For now I only had the time to examine your lovely work. I think the Anja painting is magical and indeed fulfills the faerie commission, as I think many of your readers long to see your hearty and comprehensive interpretation. The curled creatures, gnarled folk, alchemic symbols all yes, make up a rich faerie tapestry.

Acornmoon said...

Your work is enchanting, it never fails to delight.

Do you like Richard Dadd I wonder, your work reminds me of his a little?

Gerry Snape said...

the nut tree is one of my favorite nursery rhymes, so it was an extra pleasure to find hidden in the heart of Turin, a fountain based on this with a silver nutmeg and a golden pear.

Nihan said...

rima wonderful works,wonderful photos.congrs.

Jess said...

Hi Rima, Your work has a reached a new depth. The light you create within the pictures glows with such a special magic. I really enjoyed this post and visiting the woods with you! The pictures of the woods you show here remind me of a place called Puzzlewood in Gloucestershire. There too the ground is covered with moss which gives off a green otherworldy light. I'd really like to visit Wistmans Wood now. Many congratulations to your brother and his wife, you must be so excited with the prospect of being an auntie! :o) xx

design traveller said...

It's a fairytale blog :)

Owen said...

Rima,
I stand in awe each time I come here... everything you touch is transfigured into pure MAGIC... and a miracle that we can come freely to partake of it.

Wistman's Wood looks like a simply incredible place, love your entire essay here...

And a million thanks for you kind word about yellow fields in France... few things in this world get more yellow than that...
:-)

ArtyZen said...

Absolutely stunning as ever - in fact your blog is amazing and I can't think how you have time to do this, your art and all the walking and observing you do!! You really do live in a different time zone to most people. I am trying to inch my way towards it with you as a little shining beacon.
xx

Cereza Rock said...

Cubicle-dwellers like me can only wish we can transform our workplace into your world. It will take the drudgery out of the years of daily toil ahead of us.

Thanks for sharing the magic. :)

Frank Zweegers said...

Stunning surounding! Great painting. Love it.

Breenee said...

Oh I desperately want a print of your painting for Anja! Will there be more soon? It would be the perfect welcome for a friend's little one who is on his way!

And to Snippety-- Little Big is one of my most treasured Fairy books! Gritty and magic!

Thanks, Rima!

Michala Gyetvai (Kayla coo) said...

Beautiful work.
I adore Samual Palmers spiritual trees.
Your wood is like a fairy tale, so magical but it also has a haunted feel to it.x

The Flying Dragon said...

Rima, Thank you for your wonderful posts, they are so full and inspiring that I usually don't want to read them until I have a steaming cup of tea in hand.

Thanks for the journey through your beautiful paintings and a walk through Wistman's Wood.

gz said...

A wood for the wise- so small now.
Are there fewer wise people too?

ether said...

Hi Rima,
I like your art a lot, it's very captivating. One could look at it for a long time and keep finiding new things to look at.
But sometimes I wonder why don't don't draw and paint happy people too. You know the sort with a small faint smiles on their lips or a big hearty boisterous laugh belching out of their mouths...those people whould in my mind, complete the whole spectrum in your work.

Keep at it!

Cheers,
Navleen

jerilanders said...

What a deliciously eerie place amongst the moss and trees. I would love to sit beneath one of those roots. I'm with you when it comes to fairies, I just don't do them, or have any interest in doing them, they have become so sanitized.

The finished art is quite magnificent, what an artist you are!

Clay Perry said...

you are truly inspirational...

Lydia said...

Rima, your posts are gifts to your readers. I love that you take such time to show us, to describe for us, to settle us down to rest for awhile in all this magic and beauty. I read every word you write in them and I do enlarge the fantastic paintings to remember them for my dreams that night. Tonight I will be dreaming of the eyes you painted on each little of the strange little people and on the perfect face of each animal. I think we'll be sitting on mossy rocks at Wistman's Wood, communicating in silence.

Griffin said...

"Perhaps it is a dislike for the flimsy fakery I feel in the depiction of many fairies. I feel they need to be wilder, earthier and more unnerving. And this is pretty much the sort of thing I told Margaret when she asked for fairies. I said well I'll paint woodland folk, I'll paint little men with knobbly noses and funny little hats. That sort of thing. Just not fairies. You see to me these strange little people are indeed people.. the odd ones, the marginal ones, the ones who are not noticed or noticed for the wrong reasons. They are my fairies."

Yes, absolutely. It's the Victorians fault. They would sanitise the faeries and make them pretty for the children when actually they are dark and capricious and only do as they wish. Cross them and you'll regret it, respect them and they might, depending on how they feel, reward you. I love the work of Dulac and Rackham, but they are wrong, wrong, wrong about the faeries.

Sheila said...

Such beautiful work, as always. 'Anja in the Horse Chestnut' is especially lovely :-)

Ces Adorio said...

Your art is divine. I run out of words when I come here.

Anonymous said...

Rima,
You are an incredible artist. And your photography is equally stunning.
These mossy woods are totally unreal, and 'other worldly'. My brother is artist Troy Howell, who has illustrated all of the 'Redwall' books by Brian Jacques of the UK.
(My brother illustrated the U.S. book jackets). I am going to tell him of your blog and Esty site...we wood live in Tolkiens books if we could and never leave.
I am in 'heaven' with all of your lovely illustrations...they touch a cord in my heart with your whimsical imagination. I will be ordering some of your prints...how can I 'not' order them? You are, like I said, an incredible artist.
Teresa in California, U.S.
tscat@sbcglobal.net
Have you read the book titled
'Dormia'? It is about a Foundling Tree that supports a city in the Ural Mountains. It is going to be made into a movie. It is a fairy tale/adventure with unusual characters and mysterious twists of fate. I had to order it from our book store. The authors are
Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski.
by Houghton/Mifflin publishers.
I love puppets and puppetry and am in a few doll making sites. Cloth and Clay Doll ning site which resemble marionettes.
Have a wonderful rest of the weekend,

Runic Rhyme said...

Hello again,

I am wanting to update my back tattoo....mostly in an effort to link it all together....I am wondering if you would accept an exchange (either of money or goods) for a drawing of an idea once I show you the tattoo. If you're even the slightest intersted, shoot me an email: pointy.eared1@gmail.com

Cheers !

Maggie Mae said...

Rima! I'm giving you a blog award. http://barnswallowmjs.blogspot.com/2010/05/blog-award-trumpets-here.html

Thank you,

Maggie Mae

Mouse said...

Beautiful. I'm craving the color green these days, thank you for sharing.

Flora said...

Oh to live in this enchantingly beautiful world of yours, where everything is made even more magical by your hands...
Blessings,Flora