Lemniscate

A poet has my heart.

He keeps it between the pages of a leather-bound book

pressed petal-like under paper.
Word-etched pages of his
clasp me in translucence
like breath between praying palms.

He gave me his heart too, this spring.
And I keep it in the paint box

as my twenty seventh colour,

an ink-blood dearness
that curtains over white page:
Aurora Borealis to my snow.

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IN THE TURNING of this year from green to red, I have found a treasure. A treasure long dreamed of, that was hidden in the stories I imagined as a child, and in the woods of my young pondering, and in the margins just beyond the edges of my paintings.
Here in the umber days of autumn, I sit smiling, astounded and thankful at this wonderful heart harvest. How life's wheel turns!
Nature's red congregation joins with my heart in gleeing:

Haw berries red,

Rosehips red,

Beech leaves red,

Blackberries red,

Fly Agarics red as a fairytale,

And roses from a bride's bouquet... passed to me with a wink ;)

Yes! Love has come to my hearth and heart, and his dear name is Tom :)
He is indeed a poet! Let me show you some of his beautiful words. Here on this leaf-browning equinox, I'll balance the scales of the year with poetry and prose of his that speak so eloquently of Spring:

I cannot say in words how deeply his wordsmithing and his arrival have affected me. I am stunned and grinning and Happy Beyond Happy! And we look forward with delight to word and image weaving to add to the already bubbling Baba Yaga's cauldron of forest-sleeping, moor-trekking, shooting star-gazing, fireside-storytelling, music-making, home-building. With us in our little nest lives Macha the hound with a piece of the Other World in her left eye, who has rather won my heart too.



My September birthday this year was spent walking across the moors with my love to two rings of stones, edged by wild horses and windblown tussocks. These are the Grey Wethers, a rare double stone circle side by side. There we drank chai from a thermos and embraced the winds of autumn arriving across the moor.

And as the green of spring and the red of love mix in the paint tray of this wonderful landscape of my days, I wonder about those two circles: Are they magician's rings? Are they my new friend the number 8? Are they ∞ - the lemniscate or infinity symbol, for balance of forces?

I stand on this autumnal hill of my 31 years and breathe in deep the air of life and Unfolding Story in Dartmoor's mists and I breathe out a shout full to brimming with joy, and thanks, and wonder rekindled, and love.

And, smiling, I imagine a bird in my mind's eye, soaring high above this life-hill of mine, writing loops in the sky like this: ∞

Five chapters of summer

A LONG SPACE there's been between the last time I poured tea here and this! Life has brought a satchelful of wonders and works and wanders, so I hardly know where to begin! Perhaps if I rifle through this satchel and pull out chapters one by one?...

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CHAPTER 1 :: LUKAS

So first and most delightfully of all, I'd like to introduce you to a dear new member of my family! I am an aunt for the first time, and quite amazed to meet this beautiful little boy, born in July to my brother Jan and his Maria. This is Lukas Jacob Staines, here just one day old. I cannot quite believe it, since I remember waiting for his father to come home from hospital when he was the same number of hours old (and I was just two)!


We waited a while for him to come, and while we waited, I stitched him seven linen mice. Slightly patched, askew, and lace-collared, they hang all in a row from a piece of linen-wrapped wire (so that they can be hooked anywhere) upon which I stitched words... there's still space at the end for me to add his name, which at the time of giving, had not yet been decided! There are seven mice for seven stories (and the thousand different ways of telling them...)

(do click to enlarge these)

I so look forward to seeing this dear little soul grow, and to see familiar and new in him. He has his father's useful crooked little fingers. He'll be tall. And he will be loved ♥

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CHAPTER 2 :: JERICHO & HANNAH

And second, a painting! Made for Jericho and Hannah, who are wonderful artists and good friends too across the miles, though we've not met. This watercolour of the dear couple flew all the way to them in the Philippines, where they lose themselves in fascinating artistic endeavour, bluebell woods of their imaginations and sometimes run away together as cat and rabbit. I'm quite pleased with the blue of Hannah's dress amid my usual rust-and-moss pallette. And it is painted on Two Rivers hand milled watercolour paper from Somerset. It was a joy to make a painting for two artists who appreciate my work so, and who also make beautiful works themselves.




Here above you can see my progress: pencil, then light washes, then finer more concentrated detail, then done. (Although, in reality, as you can imagine, it took far longer than that!)

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CHAPTER 3 :: LANVAL

And third, a trip across the sea to Brittany! Do you remember these Arthurian-Breton gold and red and black and white paintings that I found such a struggle to finish a month or so ago? Well, they now hang in the most exquisite chateau exhibition in the middle of the Breton forest of Brocéliande, and I was lucky enough to join some of the English and French artists taking part on a trip to this Nest of Myth and see the exhibition opening amid a fanfare of wonderful events: horse displays, storytelling, harp recitals, Breton music. All the while we enjoyed hospitality of the highest order, with wines and food and good things apparently springing up whenever we looked round!

This is the chateau pictured above, seen from across the lake. We watched moonrise over this lake, and heard how many pieces of the Arthurian myth are woven through this place.. Here the Oak that held Merlin, there the lake that hides the crystal cave. We were taken by horse and cart to the Valley of No Return... but came back nonetheless, wide-eyed mostly at the generous funding and support the arts are given in France compared to the UK.



Inside the castle, the works were hung beautifully. I think I had warmed to my paintings after not having seen them for a while, though had I had paint and brush with me, I might still have been tempted to tinker.


There were beautiful windows all around, I looked out across the lake through deliciously atticy cobwebs, or soft summer-breezed curtains to see audiences being told tales below, and boys playing bagpipes.


I was delighted too to meet a jovial old elf called Pierre Dubois, whose book The Great Encyclopedia of Faeries I owned some years ago. I got to practice lots of French and learned many intriguing things from him about Lutins and all the mischiefs of their realm. Pierre was also responsible for a forbidden foray with a few of us beyond this Interdit sign to find a beautiful old myth-soaked Oak tree and this lilied lake.








We stayed in La Gacilly, a town full to the brim with art. There were photographic exhibitions in the streets, art and craft shops everywhere, and cobblestones and hanging baskets too.



And all of our work, along with tales of the making of the accompanying film were put together in a beautifully produced book of the exhibition. The show continues in France until the end of August and the film will premiere there in October. Then for the winter, the exhibition comes to Exeter in December, and we look forward to welcoming our French friends here then and returning their wonderful hospitality. Much appreciation goes to all who put such efforts into this wondrous sharing of legends.

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CHAPTER 4 :: HOTCHIWITCHI

Now fourth, I bring more artwork, and pages too. A while ago I wrote about hedgehogs, telling of their significance amongst Gypsies and the superstitions that bristle around them. This in turn inspired Sam Rawlings to make a piece of writing about the hedgehog, and I was asked to illustrate it. This handsome little booklet which houses my hedgehoggery is the latest in the short story series produced by London based Arts collective Lazy Gramophone. Their books are beautifully done, with thoughtful letterpress and an eye for a good font. I am delighted to be involved with such an enthusiastic and creative bunch. You can buy a copy of this limited edition publication here for £4.99.


And I am selling prints of my drawing here in my etsy shop. He is a shaman hedgehog, with not apples, but amulets, collected on his wise old spines.

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CHAPTER 5 :: THINGS TO COME

And so fifth, and onwards! Life is full colour at the moment, and blooming with all kinds of delights. I am busy selling work, and making work, as ever trying to dream up projects in between the ones I must make for pennies. Next weekend I will be hawking my wares at the Harlequin Fayre in Norfolk. The next chapter, I'll tell of soon. It has wonder-books and earth-adventures and beloved patchworks and cauldrons of goodness and the threetoed footprints of Baba Yaga's house in it...