The Hermitage 2015 Calendar

THE HERMITAGE 2015 CALENDAR IS HERE! This year, my calendar is bigger (by popular demand) - there's more room to write in the days' doings. And it contains some never-before seen paintings! As before, the old English full and dark moons (for UK & US) are marked and named (Wolf Moon, Harvest Moon, Blood Moon, Egg Moon, Flower Moon...), and the solstices, equinoxes, and quarter festivals are in there too. The whole beautiful calendrical layout has been done marvellously by Tom, and we're having them printed again at the excellent Footprint Workers' Coop in Leeds, on 100% recycled paper, and featuring a riso-printed front and back cover. I think you'll love this one even more than last year's, so I urge you to grab one whilst you still can! As you'll remember from last year, these sold out super-fast, many people missed out, and I had to do three print runs. This time, my calendar is only available (for now) as a perk in the wonderful caravan that is our Hedgespoken Campaign! Ordering one this way counts as a pre-order which we'll post out at the end of November. I may be selling some after the crowdfunder is over, but those I can't guarantee will reach you by Christmas. For only £30, you get this unique and artful calendar (postage included), and you get to support the making of our travelling dream! Roll up! Click here to claim yours now!

Hickory Dickory

TO BE ABLE TO MEASURE TIME ~ the passing of the days, months, seasons and years ~ by means of watching the sky, has been an obsession of ours as humans since the beginnings of agriculture. By observing celestial movements people were able to organise their work on the land and so representations of the passing of time have long been linked to the earthy concerns of ordinary folk trying to survive from their crop yield throughout the year.
Calendars produced in the middle ages often depicted personifications of the zodiac or representations of the activities undertaken by the peasants on the land. There are some beautiful examples including the well known fifteenth century Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry (above) and the months of the year depicted in the 1475 Bedford Hours (below) which is housed in the British Museum.

If you would like to read more about medieval calendars I recommend the excellent book The Art of Time by Teresa Perez-Higuera.
It is a strange thing to allocate measurement to something like time .. which I think we all experience differently. I have never been known to follow the rigours of a strictly measured regime particularly .. indeed an early school report stated ( quite truly ) that "Rima has no sense of urgency" And I still find myself in a ever-so-slightly-floating-world that skips alongside the Other One that most others seem to operate in.


Well .. the point of all this was to tell you in a tiny little voice that I have a limited edition of small desk calendars featuring 13 of my illustrations for sale here ... by no means as exquisite as the medieval examples above ... but a little idea I had for selling my work in another way, and a chance for you to buy 13 little prints all in one go!