Monday 7 September 2009

Acorns and Blackberries


ALL ALONG THE LANES the brambles are fruiting. In between jagged stems burst little black juicy clusters, each day bearing another nearly ready berry. Our long walk to town is slowed by these waylaying roadside treats. Some blackberries are small and still too sour, others fall apart to a sauce in our fingers. Some are crunchy with seeds or beasts. For the perfect king berry, hardest to reach, we must compete with feasting wasps. Some say you shouldn't pick blackberries after Michelmas (29th September) for the devil comes down and wees upon them. Perhaps we should make a blackberry crumble soon.


And I have been painting, a tiny work, wrapped around with blackberries for an approaching autumn. This is a wedding pendant, commissioned by Anna and Justin who we met at a fair. They are to be married this month and wanted a tiny painting for her to wear on the day. It measures about 3 inches in height and will be worn with a forest green dress. On the back I painted their initials and the date of their happy day (All full of nines like my own date of birth!). There's a smoking rural cottage and hills, and in front of it a two handled lovers' cup. I hunted my books on folklore to find a nice image for a wedding, and found that two spoons on a saucer means a marriage approaches.


Blackberries are not the only fruits in my work of late. There are acorns in the album artwork for the second Telling The Bees album which I have been working away on busily with my 0.3mm pencil. Most of the main drawings are done, but I still have all the smaller work for the interior to do as well as knotting it all together with words and layout.
For those of you who haven't seen it before, you can see my work for the band's debut album here. We were delighted to finally meet Bees' songwriter Andy and his missus Nomi last week as they travelled past our Dartmoor field with bagpipes and mandolin, and tea and biscuits and talk were enjoyed.
This time the artwork includes a sort of wayfaring musician, coming out of the forest, who is at the same time some old oaky symbol of England. He carries a barrel organ / cabinet of curiosities, that displays an object for each song. I shall leave those discoveries until the day when you hear the songs. They are delightful. On the CD circle leap those three hares again.


I found this oak berry and leaf in the grass here the other day. Though the trees are still green, the morning airs feel different. We are remembering the time of year when we used to light fires before breakfast, and can smell the leaves thinking about browning. I always find the turn of this new season hits me like a memory of all past autumns in my life. Soon I will turn thirty which is a bizarre thing indeed...

58 comments:

Janine said...

You have such beauty surrounding you and I can tell within! I just watched you wonderful stop animation and it gave me god bumbs! Thank you for sharing that! You are so wonderfully talented, so blessed! I love your work!

Evangelina Prieto said...

I love your works and your sensibility.
Hugs
Ev

Griffin said...

Oh yes, Blackberries are a wondrous fruit, good with apples in a crumble, or with a little cream. And haycorns reminds me of Piglet and Pooh - Piglet loved haycorns.

The oak is the king of trees too - at least in the British forest. There is something of the Green Man about an oak and something magickal about a little acorn from which mighty oaks grow.

I knew it was soon your birthday, I just didn't know when. No matter,
whenever it is o Wanderer of Albion, may it be a day of wonder and beauty and joy.

I am more than ten years older than you too!! How fabulous that a youngster like you has all that burgeoning talent and ability and builds on it constantly. The Blackberry wedding pendant is delightful and they are very lucky to have such a reminder of their day. May their love be constant and true all the days of their lives.

So sayeth the Griffin!

OddAngelCharon said...

Longtime reader here, full time on the road pulling an Airstream trailer.

Just truly moved to comment on the hare artwork. Love love love it. It just speaks to me somehow.

Thank you for sharing your life on the road with the rest of us out here.

Bright Blessings.

Eva said...

My arts professor (Rudolf Hausner, Vienna) once said: "Some think it is a waste of time to spend hours and hours on one drawing. But I know you know what you're doing."

Alettesiriane said...

A perfect pendant for a bride to wear!Have a good and creative fall.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

English saddles on English hares. Magical. I am wondering about all the places they could take me.

Lovely to hear from you, Rima! Best wishes to you both here in early autumn!

Sarah said...

I love the way you describe the beginning of Autumn and remembering lighting fires before breakfast. Your pendant is beautiful and so is your drawing.
Happy Autumn!

Anonymous said...

This has been a blackberry summer for me. I've picked endless amounts of blackberries and made at least 12 cobblers some for eating and some for giving away.

The pendant is beautiful...I wish I could see the bride in her dress wearing it.

I have a September birthday too. 9/10

Happy Birthday to you!

Elva Undine said...

That pendant is SO perfect for expressing a wedding sentiment. The new album artwork = love. You are a genius!

mariel said...

This is my favourite time of year, it feels like a beginning and an end. I long to chase falling golden leaves, spend warm orange afternoons harvesting apples and blackberries for my favourite loaf and evenings curled up in front of a roaring fire with my cat and a good book!

I too am rapidly approaching my thirtieth, and have become lost in so many memories of my own childhood, especially since I am doing scary grown up things like buying a house!

erinsartjournal said...

The couple is very lucky to have such a beautiful pendant to celebrate their wedding with.

Love your artwork, (so very different from mine)as I read your delightful words and veiw your exquisite art it all singings of your inner being. Quite an accomplishment for such a young artist.

Beautiful!

Gen said...

Your art and your stories remind me of another time.

Snippety Giblets said...

Beautiful work, m'dear ! I love that pendant to bits !! I'm glad you're enjoying the onset of Autumn. It is my favourite season and our house is full of acorns, sticks, oak apples and leaves that Tally brings home in his pocketses.
I hope you have the loveliest of birthdays. Have you an address you could mail me for a card to be sent, perchance ? I really enjoyed my thirties; much more confidence in my own decisions than my twenties I found :0)

E said...

Beautiful work. Why not realistic blackberry leaves on the pendant?

Anonymous said...

Birthday wishes to you, Rima.(If you close your eyes, you might hear a kookaburra singing your wishes...)

The Earl of Grey said...

Happy almost-birthday!

Acornmoon said...

I have never heard about eating berries after the 29th before so thanks for the warning!

I love the little painting that you did for the painting, it works really well and I am sure will be treasured by the bride. What a lovely commission.

Giallo Antico said...

somehow...

i've been thinking that your blog is worth publishing!your life as well as your realm is like a surreal, modern day fairy tale who is lost in time. :)

Ruthie Redden said...

beautiful autumnal musings rima, how i love the hares. your work is every stunning. september birthdays seem to be quite the thing for mine also falls in this loveliest of months. Happy birthdayness to you, have a wonderful day x ruthie

Tess said...

Gorgeous little series of images - with words and pictures.

Carl V. Anderson said...

I can only imagine that they are thrilled with the wedding pendant. The image you paint of the outfit she will be wearing with this sounds lovely. If they post pictures of their wedding it would be wonderful to see that linked to here.

Congratulations on your upcoming birthdate. 30 was a decade ago for me and I remember having this feeling of finally growing up. Oddly enough I had the same feeling at age 40 and my lifestyle now certainly shows more maturity than it did at 30, and yet I still maintain that sense of childish wonder and joy at being open for play, for adventure, for discovery. I think if you maintain those things, and I have no doubt you will, that you'll find that each age truly is just a number and that each one becomes a positive milestone because of all the experience you gain year to year.

Mademoiselle Julie said...

Oh the bride will love her pendant! I especially appreciate your research, finding & using the tea cup saucer & the spoons. Very whimsical! The big 3-0? You got nothing on me, baby! :-) Cheers, Julie

ether said...

Your work is beautiful and so inspiring. Thank you for sharing it with the world!

Auguste said...

Oh how I can feel Autumn seeping in the air again too! I can't wait for the inspiring beauty it brings in my soul.

Ooo thirty =) I think that's pretty awesome, really !

fairiemoon said...

Yes, I felt the crunch of leaves as I walked by the pond today! And the fields have a decidedly yellow and purple cast to them which signals fall.

We returned yesterday from a week long road trip during which I often thought of you and Tui. I love the feeling of being disconnected and free to move about, but at the same time, there is such hostility out there among the connected towards the disconnected that I think I would quickly tire of it. I think it would be hard to live on the fringe and I admire you both very much for sticking with it and doing your own thing. There is something terribly poetic about it, but tiring at the same time.

Your new artwork is lovely. I love your rendition of the hares. Very celtic.

Erin :)
http://www.fairiemoon.typepad.com

Amanda said...

What lovely and tasty images to be working with as of late. The blackberries are done here, but my son and I stumbled across a whole patch of fox grapes on a walk last week and, to the horror of my husband, I insisted he pull off the three-lane highway so I could pick the elderberries hanging heavy. It is amazing how much you can find in the hedges, isn't it?

Mette said...

The wedding pendant is just wonderful :)

Anonymous said...

With expectation I look forward to reading every blog update.
Florida, USA

Lisa Falzon said...

I love the peeps of the new works you gave us.. and wow that pendant! I hanker to see it in your hand or against something sized so I can imagine its actual miniatureness.. I love miniatures.

As to those blackberries.. I seem to have them in my garden and well, I was brought up in the mediterranean where we don't have such fruits, so I was evry puzzled by this strange two-coloured fruit on the same branch! It was long before someone actually told me it wasn't two coloured fruit, it was merely ripe and unripe fruits one alongside the other.

But which is the one you should eat? The black or the red?
One thing I learn quickly.. is that they SCRATCH madly! I fell in a patch :( Ouch Ouch.

Jess said...

It's always a joy to visit here. The tiny painting is amazing and will look so special on the day with the 'forest green' dress, what a lovely description! I'm glad to hear you're still the artist for the Telling the Bees Album, it's going to be truly lovely :)x

erin gergen halls said...

tea by the creek whilst i can,
though with a wool blanket over my lap...
sounds of squirrels busy busy,
very busy indeed in the forest's fallen leaves...
that time of year has come again,
and i am all orange pumpkin, red sumac, and purple blackberry about it!
you've given me my dreams for the day...

Chris Gray said...

...being 30 isn't really so bad.....

...just think of all the beautiful years you still have left....

...all the time to think, dream and draw......

...make music....

...make love.....


....make everyone who reads your words very happy!....

Shelley Noble said...

The miniature painting is a miracle. The couple who commissioned such a thing are wise indeed. What could be more meaningful than an original work of your gifts to wear and treasure?!

Sidereal Day said...

I'm always happy to see a new post pop up here.
The wedding pendant is so very lovely, and such detail for only 3 inches tall.
Love the bunnies too.
Yum Blackberries!

femminismo said...

The "arcanium" is wonderful. Oh, a scan of your brain would be one of the most lively, lovely things. I'll bet it's all colors and active as a hive of bees! And the hares in a circle. Lovely!

Karen said...

Rima, I think I posted before, but... People aren't the only thing I forget... Anyhoo, love your blog. Love your art. It is cozy. I have been looking for the right word to express my feelings about it ever since I discovered you and then spent two weeks reading all the back pages. Cozy. Your art, home, blog, style make me feel safe and snuggled in. The pendant is beautiful (and cozy).

I don't envy you your life because I am off on my own adventure in Mexico, and because you write so well that I feel I am there seeing what you see. (And I am not into being cold at all! lol) Wouldn't mind having a few of those blackberries, though.

Tui, how lucky you are to have Rima, and she to have you. Some times it is just like a fairytale.

Lots of luck, and keep writing, 'cause we are all waiting for each entry in your story.

MEMEPEDIA said...

Take a look at this!

http://www.almendron.com/arte/arquitectura/techumbre/t_04/mujeres.htm

http://www.almendron.com/arte/arquitectura/techumbre/t_04/anciano.htm

Just seeking for some mudejar art, and found this that remembered me you.

Regards

Lunaea said...

Oh Rima! I am filled with mad longing for a tiny painting of yours to wear around my neck and remind me of magic and of roads taken and not taken.... Add me to that wish list? Blessings to you, as ever.

Anonymous said...

I am so overwhelmed by your talent!
You make me feel like a lazy sloth!
I love your house...don't think I could get it up the North Wales Mountains though!

Tess said...

Rima, I've just passed on to you the Kreative Blogger award. If you want to play, check out my post http://www.anchormast.com/2009/09/11/im-kreativ/. If not, just enjoy!

d. moll, l.ac. said...

(gasp).3 pencil? I can only find .5 here. Happy Fall gatherings.

Kat_RN said...

Rima,
Once again, your post made me smile. The season is starting to change here too. I love the change, the inbetween times, fires in the morning and long lazy breakfasts.
Cheers,
Kat

Lauren Raine said...

What a lovely site, Rima, what a pleasure to see your artwork and read your words. Remembers me to my many years when I lived on the road with the Renaissance Faires.........keep pollinating, the world needs inspiring butterflies.

Lauren Raine

Wolkenjägerin said...

I adore the pendant - what a wonderful piece!
Acorns (and chestnuts) make me happy, I don't know why. Maybe it's because my name (a very old name, Saxon in origin) translates into acorn and oaks are said to be the door into the otherworld.

And to add another nine into your life (it is already in mine): I will be married for 9 years in October ;-)

Linda Starr said...

Um blackberris. How wonderful I have come along to your blog now. We are setting off on our fifth travelling adventure in our (new to us) motorhome very shortly and we have a magic bus to store our belongings. I'll be describing our adventures along this line within a month. I wanted to comment before I tired, but I must go back to read some more and to see more of your beautiful work, the first which caught my eyes being the delicate blackberry pendant. Thanks so much for a glimpse into another world one of which I never knew existed to such an extent.

Creations by Marie Antoinette and Edie Marie said...

I love blackberries.Your art always made me feel good.Your talent comes from withen,Evey thing you create is a wonder.
XXOO Marie Antionette.If you get a chance,Plese drop by.I'm having a givaway.My one yr. Blog Anniversary.XXOO Marie Antionette

Anthropomorphica said...

I love reading your blog posts, it's delight from start to finish.

Anonymous said...

Hi there

I came across your blog via the lovely people at nonwiccanwitch and I've just posted it on my blog as the most beautiful blog on the internet. As I'm living in concrete and clay and general decay and feeling very much a slave to the machine, the window you have offered gives me a sense of warmth inside and a tickly feeling in my toes that reminds me of my childhood on the Yorkshire moors.

Travel well and thank you for your posts.

Citygent

Kirsi Halla-Seppälä said...

I so agree with Jericho, who said your blog is worth publishing for! I'm always here, several times a day, wishing for a new update and most of all, just breathing in your magnificent world. I would love to have your pictures and writings as a book to hold in my hands, to lay my eyes as a last thing before falling to sleep.

Best wishes,
Kirsi from Finland

Unknown said...

Passed you on the road collecting water this afternoon and spotted your home parked up in a field and felt the world was very small that I should find you both in here and out there....

Meliss@Tweedlepox said...

what a pretty little painting! all those nines will mark 14 years for me. *a good day to be married!* your work is so enchanting, i love it all. i'm sure they will too!

mama p said...

that little pendant makes me sing! and so does this change of season. enjoy :)

Morna Crites-Moore said...

Absolutely lovely, Rima. :)

Michelle May-The Raspberry Rabbits said...

Oh how I'm so ever in love with the three hares. Truly adore your work and your words.
bunny hugs,
shell

Anonymous said...

I love the pendant, what a beautiful token to wear on her wedding day. And the hares are wonderful also. It's always amazing to look at your artwork. I am having fun catching up on your entries from this summer.

Vicki said...

Such a lovely pendant. I am sure that it will be treasured for generations to come.
Enjoy so much reading about your travels and your amazing art. You are gifted in so many ways as is your dear Tui. Hope that your birthday was a lovely one! May blessing abound as you journey on.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I am new here..First post to just say hi to all community.

Thanks