The Pipit Nest

The Golden Egg Gals

2011-12-22T12:39:00.003Z

A beakful of sneak peeks from the new commission sketches!

I'm thinking of going with indigos, ochres and gold for this one.

Katla & Bird Figure fully conjured and delivered!

2011-12-22T12:14:00.003Z

I've just finished conjuring this commission of feathered figure and cat, and delivered the pair to their new nest on the bus yesterday!

It was such a hoot working on this canvas. It is a 73cm x 92cm canvas and conjured with gesso, texture medium and water-soluble oil paints. There are little flecks of gold paint in the feathers too.

Now I am embarking on a new canvas, this one for my Prince's cousin and family, of a feathered figure holding a golden egg.

It is such bliss working on these big canvasses! I love that they feel like living entities.

Bird Figure Canvasses

2011-11-16T20:20:00.000Z

Ochre Bird & Feathered Lady

2011-11-01T18:39:00.000Z

Katla & Bird Figure

2011-11-01T18:32:00.001Z

Final sketch for a canvas commission currently being conjured :)

Feathered Figures

2011-09-27T19:06:00.002+01:00

I'm painting a series of Feathered Figures at the moment.

The nature of birds is a mosaic of mannerisms ~ they are merry, serene, inquisitive, hopeful, curious & courageous, and I love that they communicate through song. Wings are both strong and gentle. I think their anatomy is fascinating by being so contrary ~ the whole wing can be heavy and swooping while comprising individual components that are delicate and light ~ that seems so beautiful! To me, the way the wings of the entwined figures curve around each other encapsulates the feeling of being held. Arms like meadow~blankets. Birds are connected to the elements ~ they can be earthbound - pecking at the grass, or airborne, or sweeping the surface of water, and mythical birds like the Phoenix and Firebird relate to fire. It feels so blissful working with these winged entities!

Una's Dragon

2011-07-11T16:20:00.003+01:00

Husnisser (house elves) for Ringve Museum, Trondheim

2011-06-04T22:00:00.000+01:00

Mr Nisse

A sneaksy elfin nisse

Fluffiest nisse!

The Birth of a Tree

2011-04-18T01:08:00.000+01:00

2011, mixed media ~ photograph by my Prince!

The Pipit Nest at The Woodland Trust's magical Creative Campaign Corner!!

2011-04-11T16:51:00.001+01:00

The wonderdusted Woodland Trust knights in emerald armour have a blissful Creative Campaigning corner, cauldron swirling with art, music, creative writing and film...

The Pipit Nest paintings are nestled there from today and I am just over the moon!

They are a magical organisation protecting England's beautiful emerald guardians.

Thank you a thousand moonfuls Woodland Trust!!

Protect our emerald guardians with the wonderdusted Woodland Trust :)

The Pipit Nest print and canvas trinket stall

2011-04-09T18:00:00.001+01:00

Darling snouts, you can now forrage for Pipit Nest printed trinkets online at Imagekind!

Tree Mages

2011-04-03T16:17:00.002+01:00

Woodland witch


Tree Mage elder

I am cauldron stirring a project about tree mages, magical beings who I can feel about me when I wander in the woodlands. I have written down their whisperings to me and would love more than anything to conjure an entire book about them...

"Tree mages (witches and wizards) are magical beings who dwell in woodland. The mages come in many different guises, each witch or wizard having their own personality, special ability and role. Together, they are the guardians, architects, healers, and magic voice of the earth's forests.

Among them are the elders, tree healers, chanters, sapling sprouters, and protectors of the ancient glades.

The reach of the mages' powers varies from those who are assigned guardianship of one particular tree for life, to those who can summon spells for any tree, copse, or forest which may benefit from their unique magic."

Birch Caress

2011-03-23T17:34:00.003Z

Charcoal and chalk on paper

The Cauldron of Trees

2011-03-14T21:24:00.001Z

Charcoal, chalk, and ink on paper

Moonbird

2011-02-23T11:09:00.001Z

Centaur dream~drifting...

2011-02-18T15:25:00.005Z

The Little Galleon of Green Lions

2011-02-10T20:24:00.001Z

A little galleon glided by
Gilded in Milky Way
Set sail with wanderlust
Green lions and moondust
The wild, rare sea caressed him;
(the king of the swans' dark throne)
and the galleon turned to a little golden bone...
filled inside with moondust
and a thousand comet stones.
Meanwhile, the green lions wove their crowns
of milk teeth and phoenix down.

Fire Spirit

2011-02-08T00:22:00.000Z

Mr Faun ii

2011-02-05T17:40:00.023Z

Mr Faun ii

Mr Faun is beckoning us into an emerald forest...

Emerald green spellbinds me, wonderdust woodlands and whirring meadows, painting the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz and building an emerald forest in a shoebox many moons ago. The shoebox has shimmering green cellophane in square windows, so the little kingdom glistens green for whoever peeps inside.

Medieval literature is woven with dazzling emerald dust... from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:

"His clothes were all kindled with a clear light like emeralds:

His belt buckles sparkled, and bright stones were set
in rich rows arranged up and down
himself and his saddle. Worked in the silk
were too many trifles to tell the half of:
embroidered birds, butterflies, and other things
in a gaudy glory of green and inlaid gold."

to The Prioress' Tale, one of The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer:

"This gem of chastity, this emerald..."

... and emerald green can be spied far away from our glittering green forests here...

In alchemy, the Greene Lyon, or Green Lion, was the characterisation of the process of mixing nitric acid with hydrochloric acid, which creates aquae regia (royal water), a liquid with a green tinge.

"Here is the Universal Dissolvent, the Green Lion or Mercury of the Wise, without which nothing can be achieved..." (from Michael Maier's 1618 book, Antalanta fugiens)

The solution can dissolve all metals including gold (the mineral of the sun), thus, depictions of the green lion gobbling up the sun can be found in alchemical literature. The Green Lion was also used to describe photosynthesis by naturalist alchemists, the raw green energy of nature, eloquently expressed as "the green fuse which drives the flower" by Dylan Thomas.

The Green Man, the spirit and essence of nature... I think I would love to paint him.

Inspiration ~ glistening emerald meadow next to The Hundred Acre Wood in Sussex

Maybe he sings about the leaves he is woven from...

A leaf from my sketchbook ~ magical tree names

Mr Faun

2011-01-29T13:55:00.023Z

This laddy is a mixed media painting of my Prince as a treetop nestled tryllefløyte (magic flute) playing faun.

In Roman mythology, fauns are half~man, half~goat incarnations of forest and animal spirits, with little horns, pointed ears, hooves and a tail. They are depicted as mischievous and fond of dance and music, and capable of guiding or guiding astray men who stumble into the wilderness. Fauns are comparable to the Greek god Pan and his satyrs, and the cheeky woodland sprite Puck from English folklore.

Spellbinding tales starring faun characters include C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia (Mr Tumnus), Mexican film~maker Guillermo del Toro's bewitching fantasy Pan's Labyrinth, and Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky's sensual L'après-midi d'un faune. Inspired by the poem of the same name by French poet and critic Stéphane Mallarmé, it was originally created for the Ballets Russes. Below, Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev will perform L'après-midi d'un faune for you...

The ballet's score, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, was written by French composer Claude Debussy. Debussy said of his music ~

"The music of this prelude is a very free illustration of Mallarmé's beautiful poem. By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of it. Rather there is a succession of scenes through which pass the desires and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and naiads, he succumbs to intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams of possession in universal Nature."

Merriest spirit entwined in the branches of my darling forest faun

Mr Salamander

2011-01-27T13:13:00.001Z

Kaleidoscopic Forest Spirits!

2011-01-15T03:13:00.009Z

Tree Spirits

2011-01-14T18:33:00.018Z

Pixie Prince and Russian faerytales

2010-12-11T02:15:00.002Z

Drifting in dreamland with my Prince... his imagination pisks me into krem... much enchantment to scan in...

Magic carpetted yesterday to the Diaghilev exhibition at the V and A Museum... beguiled by a Russian faerytale cover illustrated by Ivan Bilibin and a beautiful photograph of a woodland faun from the sylvan ballet, 'L'Après-midi d'un faune'... composer~conductor Pierre Boulez wrote "the flute of the faun brought new breath to the art of music"...

Woodland Wings

2010-11-14T02:31:00.001Z

(My hunk as a branch-crowned peacock Prince)

The Voyages of Pixie and Lykkemynt

2010-09-23T20:04:00.012+01:00

I am drifting in drømmende memories after a certain frekk four~leafed feller pisked together the most deilig, magisk kake~mix of days with my charmingest Pixie knight...

...now gathering stjernestøv for a book galaxy~swirling with the adventure tales of Pixie and Lykkemynt...!

Melkerull and Mermaid Magisk

2010-09-08T13:05:00.014+01:00

I am nestled back in bonny England, after blissful Norske springing adventures with a Pocahontas and a Pixie... all my pumpkin carriages are tingling to voyage there again. My heart is still nested there and my feet are hovering far above the meadow grass...

The 'Circus' exhibition at The Green Tree Gallery was star-spangled, and my poetry book is half pisked together. Now we are dowsing the barn in ocean~gleam for 'Coast'... I have been buried in books ever since touching English shores, voyaging into the wonder~woven worlds of Medieval, Renaissance, and Persian art, discovering magical tales of sirens and mermaids and nixies, and gathering seaspray to sketch the characters I will weave into finished paintings... seahorse are my new favourite creature.

Wednesday wonder~wishes and winks to you.

The Lantern-Lit Odalisque

2010-07-24T17:08:00.001+01:00

The Skirt of Bounding Beasts

2010-06-03T22:48:00.002+01:00

The Star-Toed Contortionist

2010-05-21T20:33:00.002+01:00

A Green Tree Postcard

2010-05-04T10:35:00.002+01:00

Belly-Dance Bea and a Beloved Tree

2010-04-19T15:36:00.007+01:00

Lullaby Lill

2010-04-17T21:44:00.019+01:00

Lithely songstress Lullaby Lill,

(With pantaloons quite roomy)

Plucks a harp who sweetly trills

All curly-tailed and plumey!

The Firebird

2010-04-03T15:00:00.003+01:00

Spying

2010-02-23T18:11:00.004Z

Cheeky!

En dame og en liten venn...

2010-01-23T22:00:00.011Z

Kanskje denne dame ser en hest med vinger?

Linewee og Stinky Kjeks

2010-01-20T01:07:00.009Z

Outside the grotto in the December snow...

Just before flitting northwards for the most heavenly Norge kakao og fløtekrem-filled fjell-hopping oversetting month at the Tessem toadstool. This is a fairytale land where rocking chairs creak and fires crackle and fiske tastes like the sea and the mountains and wood-burning stoves...

The sun hibernated during Jule, and when he woke up, he only peeped above the mountains for a litt øyeblik each day.

When he settled back to sove for the natt, he put on his rose tinted spectacles and the sky turned pink and orange.

Line and Frank and JK gathered twigs and leaves and krem paint to weave me a little nest, and I made a sign as a homage to marihøne (ladybirds) who are much honoured in the house...

Utrooooolig nydelig view from my nisse nest.

Kjempe koselig...

Bits and bobs board, with treasures from some veldig hyggelig Julenisse!

Fjellehoppe med min drømmedame...

Rrrr...

We would nestle together in the evenings og drikke masse kakao and discover characters for split pin puppets and books.

Desk og duck-lys!...

Sketchbook humperdink.

Fiske lass.

Handsome caravan man...

... And a stripey-bloomered courtier...

A doorway dance...

And a wonky shouldered woodland lady.

Many more of these lads and lasses to be pinned together to animate, or become part of little book series I have in mind, or search for new homes.

The kakao kjære herself making magic at the Farmors Stue...

A temptingly tailored feller by Linewee... more of Line's creations here.

Now I am back in England and missing min dear Norske waffles, but I have with me a beloved gold- framed picture and a Gubben Pettersen portion, and I will be bouncing back in Summer for fisketuren! And maybe the Spring will bring a little Lorna with the new leaves and blossom...

The Green Tree Bag

2009-11-21T17:19:00.006Z

Colour gift bag for The Green Tree Gallery (sold). This fellow and his friends are hoping to be printed on fabric bags!

Cheekiest of all Christmas card design, a sprightly sprite.

Branch-Fingered Sprites

2009-11-20T22:20:00.002Z

Christmas card design for cheeky folk!

The Tree Of Drawers

2009-11-19T19:55:00.000Z

Hark, a harp!

2009-11-18T22:35:00.003Z

I have been drawing striped characters for my poetry fairytale book. From Monday I will be renting a beautiful Clarsach harp from Pilgrim Harps!

Winter wanderlust

2009-11-10T11:59:00.015Z

The daylight is wrapping itself up in its winter cloak, but it's still bright in the grotto...

On the days I work in the gallery, I read, wheelbarrowfuls of pages, and make scrolls of the most magical words I stumble upon...

I wouldn't mind digging up a lion's share of kaleidoscopic alchemy! (The words in this particular melting pot all come from Angela Carter's 'The Magic Toyshop').

In preparation for our Christmas shopping night (Friday 13th November), I have been sprucing up our paper bags. These will be sold on the night and in the run-up to Christmas. £1.00 for a munchkin-sized, £1.50 for the giant.

The pastry star atop this mince pie of early November is that one of my oldest friends is coming to England after studying in Cape Town, and we are going to prance to Brighton and drink enormous cups of tea and bake mint chocolate cakes and chortle over Poirot's moustache.

Finally, I have finished a machine embroidered drawing illustrating one of the snippet-sized yarns from my book of fairytale poetry.

There was a moment with this where I thought, "Humph. This has gone pear-shaped, and a disintegrating pear at that, perhaps with a little fluffy coat around the middle." But, while 'Emma' was chattering away in the background, I vowed to give it what for. Next I will cycle it over to the Chapel Gallery in Cuckfield to be box-framed in green. I have been in this little treasure trove only once before and found myself in a wonderland of beams and creaky floorboards and stained wood in caravan colours with an intriguing little staircase at the end, leading to who know's where.

A work-ward walk of West Sussex

2009-11-08T17:22:00.003Z

I unearthed a new way to cycle to my grotto! Along country lanes lined with meadows, little opalescent segments like stained glass.

I have been stitching all day, on my darling Bernina. Vrrrrr......

Pixies and Poetry

2009-11-05T22:31:00.008Z

The pixie who swings by the door now has black curly locks, leafy sleeves, and a golden bell jangling at the end of her cloak hood. I was so delighted to watch her come to life that I am thinking of making dolls to sell.

She has settled me in my nest. The typewriter has new ribbon, and one by one, the daddy long legs are evicted.

Now I am to start work on a fairytale poetry book! So far it features a good deal of nonsense.

In the meantime, a collaborative project between myself and author Sally Crabtree will be in an exhibition at Penlee House Museum & Gallery in Penzance from 28th November. The main feature is a concertina book about all the Lost Property office of Olly, a mouse. The display will also include a cabinet of curiosities with paper characters from the book.

Poppies and patchwork

2009-11-03T22:24:00.012Z

One morning, wandering in a patchwork blanket called the South Downs...

...a poppy invites me to sit with him a while in the sun (and wind, and rain).

Back in the grotto, the bunting is stitched and tied to the ceiling, and a patchwork (of more modest proportion) is hatched...

...while this brazen fellow clamps himself to my thread tin, determined to complete his highly confidential Daddy long legs mission (which seems to involve staying still for three hours gazing into a gold lid).

Outside my door, the leaves jostle like bejewelled fish...

Brrr, back into the nest.

"There's blackcurrant tea, it's nigh on four..."

(said the crimson cloaked pixie who swings by the door),

"I'm back from the menders with boots of bright red..."

"...and a velveteen hood which will keep warm my head."

2009-11-02T14:05:00.003Z

My shed has been invaded by marihøne (ladybirds)!

Meanwhile, I am stitching up some bunting for my walls from Granny fabrics.

My beloved lagoon-green Bernina Record is a little trooper.

In the meantime, reading 'The Old Curiosity Shop' by Charles Dickens...

There were suits of mail standing like ghosts in armour here and there, fantastic carvings brought from monkish cloisters, rusty weapons of various kinds, distorted figures in china and wood and iron and ivory: tapestry and strange furniture that might have been designed in dreams.

Artist's grotto

2009-11-01T13:52:00.008Z

Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.
~ Charles Dickens

This morning my new grotto has been growing. Shelves are up, pictures framed, desks placed in corners where I like them best. I found a Borrower-sized cupboard with bee-sized drawers...

...and am next going to hunt for fairy lights and bird cages.

And what do you think you're doing here, Sir Stingling?

There is a magic in that little world, home; it is a mystic circle that surrounds comforts and virtues never known beyond its hallowed limits.
~ Robert Southey

Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
~ Matsuo Basho

Branches in their birthday suits

2009-10-31T22:57:00.008Z

The thin night darkens. A breeze from the creased water sighs the streets close under Milk waking Wood. The Wood, whose every tree-foot's cloven in the black glad sight of the hunters of lovers...
~ Extract from 'Under Milk Wood' by Dylan Thomas

'Under Milk Wood' is a tantalising tome brimming with alliteration.

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore—
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking “Nevermore."
~ Extract from 'The Raven' by Edgar Allen Poe

Once upon a time I lived in a grand house with a magical acorn named Emily. She introduced me to this dark and delightful poem.

An Autumn Anecdote

2009-10-29T08:58:00.011Z

BOUYED ON THE heaven-ward whisper
Of dancing leaflets whirled
From all the woods that autumn
Bereaves in all the world.
And midst the fluttering legion
Of all that ever died
I follow, and before us
Goes the delightful guide,
With lips that brim with laughter
But never once respond,
And feet that fly on feathers,
And serpent-circled wand.

~Extract from 'A Shropshire Lad' by A. E. Housman

Blueberry picking in the mountains of Bodø, Norway, home of my heart and one of my dearest friends.

A cosy nook where I have been working since late Summer. I am now packing my suitcases and handkerchiefs on sticks and trundling to the magical Green Tree Gallery in Borde Hill where I am to be artist in residence in a shed!

Hallowe'en is creaking nearer like a pumpkin carriage on rusty wheels. My friend Ginger and I have long crumpled noses which we hide through the year and unfurl in October. Our first endeavours into pumpkin carving have grown beards.

But also given birth to a moonlit landscape scene...

Images © Pippa Chorley 2009