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THESE TINY SAXIFRAGES are my small windowbox garden, planted not long ago, and reaching towards the light that tips on these bright mornings over the top of that oldest thatch onto my paintings as they are born. Through their stems I see the village go by from my desk. Children walking to school, unfathomably huge lorries of logs, texting horseriders, and ladies on bikes... This view was included this week on Terri Windling's window view blog feature, where you can see views through windows of folks all over. Looking from inside out.
I write from the edge of London now, half way to Suffolk where I'll be selling my wares at this weekend's Weird and Wonderful Wood fair. Come along if you are passing by Stowmarket, I'll be in the barn! The journey has been epic so far: relearning my rusty driving skills in a little rented van, and on the way finding myself stranded (and threatened with police!) in a petrol station without enough pennies to pay for £5.68's worth of fuel! I was rescued by a petrol-station-angel in the form of a lady eating a sandwich who crossed my palm with 5 pound coins as she overheard my panicked phone call to the bank! (I then had to go back sheepishly and ask her for 68 more pence!) We exchanged addresses for the return of the loan and I blessed her in my thoughts all the way!
... and stopped for a cup of Verge Tea, teabagless as I was:
Life is a whirlwind of paint and colour this May! I have so much work to complete, and I am fighting not to get buried by it all! But I look forward to June, when days will be clear to walk up hills and look over the edge into the unfolding year... And all the while I delight in every little plant that blinks from the verges: goosegrass, dandelion, nettle, stitchwort.
I leave you in haste with my Summer Crow, painted for Melanie in watercolour as the last in my commissioned series of four crow-seasons. He too looks out across summer fields grasping a sunflower in his claws...
Friday, 14 May 2010
Flowers for May
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43 comments:
I love the view from your window, the old building with a thatched roof. I have a nice view of some fields with the mountains in the distance...partially obstructed by boring modern construction houses.
Have a great and fruitful time at Weird and Wonderful Wood.
You live so close to me now that some day when you are able to spare a moment for a walk, perhaps I could meet you on Dartmoor. I live in a tiny village where Bodmin moor is practically at my back door and have spent some special moments on Dartmoor with friends too.
Good luck with this weekend and I hope to have a chance to share a cup of tea one day soon.
I know how you feel. I didn't have the dollar to pay for my overdue library book the other day. They said I could pay later, luckily for me.
Love the crow on the sunflower. You captured the mischievous look in his eye well.
May you sell loads at the fair!!
Petrol-station-angels are rare and fabulous beings - hold onto them tightly/lightly. Good luck at the show!
Will miss at Weird and Wonderful Wood this year-alas here in the west country. Have a lovely time-I hope the guardian angels will be watching over you, like that wise crow.
It should of course say-will miss you at WWW. Typing skills off colour today.
Hello Rima - I'm so pleased that you have a window with such a lovely view that so suits you and your enchanting world!
Nà x
Good luck in Suffolk I hope you sell a lot.
Thank you so much for the last Crow. He is gorgeous.
Love all your crows Rima & the view from your window is magic, good luck at the fair!
Your crow is so beautifully painted,I was wondering of the size of the picture as I see the tiniest of signatures at the bottom right. Or maybe it's huge! ;o)
What a great crow. Ours are fighting it out with the magpies for the cream of the food and nesting stuff.
You've GOT to be kidding me! That charming view and making tea along the road as you travel!? Surely you are meant for another time and place, Rima. Magical!
Wonderful!
Great view out the window, verge tea, corbie with sunflower, what's not to love?
Oh Rima, I have loved your blog for quite a while. It's full of wonder and truth and beauty that we rarely see anymore. I feel like you've managed to hold on to nature's mystery while people like me have given it up for practical purposes. The older and more curmudgeonly I get, the more I long for the days when I looked at a blade of grass in wonder. I used to paint watercolours too. I used to seek out light in the woods and sun in the streams.
Sometimes as I drive my commute to work (though some of the most achingly beautiful forest you've ever seen) I forget to be practical and I'm caught like a child by the power of the woods. Last night on my way home, I spotted a black bear cub chewing on a clump of bright dandelion. I felt downright jealous. He looked quite delighted with himself. But my post has a point and it's this: I hope that you realize just how unique and amazing you are. You're so brave and I admire you greatly. And if it's any consolation, I had to siphon gas out of my partner's van so that I could get to work today.
I have a practical job that pays me every two weeks like clockwork and I seem still to always find myself without enough money to make life any less of a struggle then when I had none at all. This makes me wonder whether I didn't get the short end of the stick when I abandoned painting for practicalities. I think that perhaps that is a sacrifice I should not have made with such ease. It’s about time I went back into the woods with my little tin cup of water and little box of paints. Thank you for prodding me to do this with your posts.
Good luck to youat the fair, brave sister. May you bewitch a thousand hearts with your lovely art and come home with full pockets!
Weird & Wonderful seems like a nice destination. Thanks for your post, as they are always inspiring and reminding :]
Wonderful crow and view. Here is hoping that you come back with more than enough coins for gas!
This post has reignited my urge to move to rural England. We rarely have great little fairs like that up this end of the isles. Pity my other half won't agree to it- he says he wants to move somewhere "more foreign". *sigh*
Your tale of the petrol station angel reminds me of a similar kindness I encountered not so long ago. I was on my way to film an interview that had taken me AGES to organise for a documentary that was due a couple of days later when I realised I'd forgotten the film for the pd150 camera I was using. I was in a wee town in mid Ulster that you would never have imagined had anywhere that stocked it, but when I went into the local pharmacy to ask a shopper overheard and took me to a man who knew another man who knew a guy who had the same camera. By the time we got to him I had a little band of locals rooting for me. Turned out, too, that I was actually on the wrong road to where I had to be and they even printed me out a map. Those people really saved my ass!
Anyway, sorry for rambling on there. Your little story of goodwill just got me a bit carried away. I only actually meant to comment on how much I love your blog! (Which I do, by the way, it's one of my most favourite places to visit.)
Your view from the window is lovely and enchanting. Just popping in to say `hello' and send you magical wishes. xx
Hey Rima, always excited when I see you have put up a new post.If I had that view from a window in my home, I am sure I would get very little done during the day. Just sitting there watching the sun, shadows, clouds and passersby would keep me entertained for hours.
Love the painting as always and thank goodness for 'P.S. Angels'. How nice to be able to help a stranger out in a tight spot.
Hope you have lots of sales at the Fair, enough to fill up your fuel tank and have plenty left to jangle in you pocket.
I love your crow, Rima. Hope once all those commissions have been done you can spend June just being you and painting for your own pleasure - for your new house perhaps. blessings. Betty (mrsyappydog)
Aaw! What fascinating life you lead. I like that you meet people like that lady in the petrol station. I like that you call it petrol station. Gas station is so boring and smelly.
lovely view and lovely painting~i adore crows.
so glad you met a 'garage angel' who helped you out and hope you have a very good weekend
xoxoxoxo
I hope you that are having a great fair. I wish I wasn`t about 20.000 km away. I am sure it is a wonderful and magical event... maybe one day I will be able to come!
Special people (angels) like that lady, always come when you are exactly where you were supose to be.
Have a great jorney back home!
Joana
That was a funny story at the petrol-station, in hindsight I'm sure. Enjoy the Weird & Wonderful Wood. Wish I wasn't so far.
I just found your blog through ART SAVES today and must say I am quite taken by your magical, mystical, soulful work. In fact I just purchased 3 of your prints from your Etsy store. Your work is so lovely and it stirs my heart to look at it. I can't wait to hang the pieces in my home - they will fit just right and add a bit of your spirit there.
Have you tried a Kelly Kettle instead of the fossil fuel dependent stove? Made in Ireland, runs in twigs.
Good luck with all your projects!
Your view is truly worth contemplating.
Your little cottage is beautiful and the windowbox garden so sweet. I love the crow - he is very handsome. We have one who comes and dips bits of bread into the birdbath and sometimes even brings his own bread. How comforting to know you found a kind lady to help you in your predicament. Hope your coffers will be replenished after the Fair.
Absolutely adore your crow painting... well, I have a soft spot for sunflowers too. Wish I could have come to Weird & Wonderful this weekend to see what wares you were peddling, I dare say I would have taken something home, it would have been impossible to resist...
Hello Rima... Each time I enter your blog, I find myself sighing in awe. Then I leave with a smile and another sigh, still in awe. You have such a curiously wondrous touch. (^_^)...
What a magical place you live in Rima! Great that you are working away and I hope loads of people pop in to buy more of your beautiful paintings...I wish wish I was near enough!!
Hugs
Hi Rima (and saxifrages),
Oh the grimness of the hot-cheeked petrol panic! That's a horrid one. Hope things are now more buoyant.
Love the post & handsome crow.
Sian x
The view from your window is somehow magic. It's like an illustration from a children's book and I suppose it inspires you.
Yes, Spring is full of so much colour, movement, new life and beautiful surprises that I can't stop astonishing,too!
Dear Rima, I was deeply surprised to find you are following my blog! It's an honour for me, really, thank you!!
Hey there loveliest Rima, always delighted to see a new post from you.
I know that sinking dread all too well, the bated breath as I wait for the teller to say 'your card has been declined! Agh!' I'm afraid it happens all too often. And those unexpected angels are all the more special for their ordinaryness.
I adore the crow.
And what a perfect window view!
C x
Hello there Rima!
I love hearing about your news and travels. I love Springtime too, it feels like everything is waking up and coming back to life :) The wierd wood fair looks like fun too!
Are you around Bristol, Avon or Wiltshire anytime soon? Let me know, let's meet for a cup of tea! x
Verge tea - fantastic.
Hi Rima,
I just came to your blog, and I stayed a long time ... because it is all so wonderful!
Suzanne
Glad you were able to manage some time to share the lovely flower box flowers. Lucky you with your petrol station angel and how resourceful you are with your verge tea! Glad you are busy with so much work. Looking forward to hearing about the fair. Blessings to you dear Rima!
I'm glad to know the Spring finds you well. Your work and words are always a delight.
Wonderful, just wonderful - your art, your words. I am not surprised that you attract such kind help as the petrol station angel. I shall look in now and then and gather inspiration and courage.
The world is full of goodness still!
What a very pretty view you have and how very fitting for an artist like you. I hope you have a great time at the fair and make pots of gold and silver.
The saxifrages whispered to me in the greenhouse last month and now make mischievous on my front porch. Nice to see yours also giggle at passersbye...
Fabulous
Work
good
creations
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