Eventyr! A beauteous new book and personification inspiration

I have just bought the beautifulest, weightiest, whopping great brick of a tome and I'm so excited I could pop!!

Entitled Eventyr (isn't that just the most magical word? It means fantastical, fairytale escapade in Norwegian. What could be more evocative? It sounds like 'adventure' and 'eventide' squished together! Mm, adventures at eventide, anyone??... *disappears in a sigh to a mystical land*). The book is enormous and stuffed to the spine with folk tales and faery tales from Norway, with illustrations by my beloved Theodor Kittelsen among some lovely others who I'm getting to know. The text is all in Norwegian so it's good practice for me to flex my dusty braincells and translate!

The front cover of the book features this gorgeous Kittelsen painting, an illustration to a tale called Kvitebjørn kong Valemon (White Bear King Valemon) Stories combining human beans and personified wild forest animals ignite so many fireworks in my heart... throw in a pawful of shadowy woodland and I'm sold!

I've read the first six stories and about to embark on Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne (East of the sun and west of the moon), which is a longer tale than those I've tackled so far, and also features a walkin' talkin' white bear. I think it will be an inspiring one!

The previous story I read, Risen som ikke hadde noe hjerte på seg (The giant who had no heart in him) was also a golden chestnut! At one point in the tale, Askeladden (Ash Lad in English - a recurring character in Norwegian faery tales who, though small, packs a punch when it comes to outwitting foes) is riding on the back of an anthropomorphic grey wolf (who has grown quite sizeable  after being permitted to gobble up Askeladden's horse - gotta love those dark gory twists), hunting for the heart of the giant on a faraway island so he can squish it! He needs to enlist the help of several other animals along the way, one of them being the raven. I love the image of Askeladden and the oversized grey wolf, on a little misty island, calling to the raven. Would he call with an instrument, a horn, maybe? Would the wolf howl to help? You can almost hear raven's wings flapping! This would be such a beautiful painting!

When our oldest munchkin Caspian was a babby, he loved to play in the ashes at the open kindergarten at the historical museum up our road and Hilde, one of the tutors there, pointed out he was just like Askeladden. That's my babe! He has moved on these days to whizzing trains about at Japanese high-speed bullet train speeds but is still a crafty wee fox, very good at outwitting his (gullible) mamma (especially when it comes to sjokolade!!!)

Caspian Askeladden

On a separate note, while poking about hunting for other magical tales online, I came across The North Wind and the Sun. This is from Aesop's Fables and features a personified wind and sun, who try to strip a traveller of his cloak. It is about persuasion triumphing over force. I love the idea of personified weather! Fantastic!

An illustration by Milo Winter from a 1919 edition of Aesop's Fables, showing the personified north wind attempting to strip the traveler of his cloak

'The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak.

They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other.

Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him;

and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak.

And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two. '

Snippets of poetry from old notebooks

Saturday afternoon skating moonbeams gently glittering out from old notebooks!
They feel like a gateway into an old world of inspiration <3 p="">Maybe to use in songs, or future paintings?

Some of my favourites:

And the cosmos drew in his breath

'til he was blue in the face

We stand poised on the sill of this astral land

Silver nails of rain in our hands

We gape, wide-eyed, at saffron-soaked limbs

While from her coccoon, Calisto sings.

Will I be found in uncertain lack?

A pipeclay thorn pockmarking my back?

Also - the earth is the third planet from the sun - fascinating also that three is an essential number within the realms of folklore, fairytales, and aesthetically pleasing sequences / proportions.

Split Pin Puppet - Bird Character

I wrote a post many moons ago about making split pin puppets again, inspired by the fantastic Rima Staines at Into The Hermitage! Now I am hankering to make more again. They are so useful for creating playful, dynamic poses that otherwise might not seem obvious. This bird character was a joy to make and I'd like to make more working with the folklore, faery, and fertility themes.

Comparing English and Norwegian folklores - Mêl-An-Tol and Giftesteinen

I have just read something fascinating which fits beautifully into a project idea I've had brewing for the last few years: comparing Norwegian and English folklores and faerytales to inspire new creative work. It also links into the fertility theme that's been inspiring me since spring two years ago!

So without further ado! I read about an ancient stone site in Cornwall, called the Mêl-An-Tol. The site comprises four stones, one of which is big and round with a hole in the middle (so basically, a giant, Bronze Age Polo!). The site is thought to be about 3,500 years old. The stone has many magical powers attributed to it, one of which was to aid fertility. By passing a set number of times (often 3 or 9) through the stone on a full moon night, a woman's fertility was said to be boosted. Farmers could also use the stone to increase their bounty.

The Mel-An-Tol - photograph from http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/history/sites/men_an_tol.htm

Now the Norway bit! A few years ago, my hubby-to-be, family and I were on a road trip around his home territory in Western Norway. We passed by a big stone with a hole in the middle, with a fertility story attached to it. It was said if a bride-to-be could pass through the stone, all was in order, and if she couldn't... she was probably pregnant! (Maybe because her big bun-in-the-oven belly would get stuck?!)... The stone is called Giftesteinen or Jomfrusteinen (the marriage stone, or virgin stone), and lies in Hornindal.

Giftesteinen / Jomfrusteinen - photograph from http://www.nordfjord.no/no/Produkt/?TLp=227585&view=image

Aren't they both wonderful? Just humming with magical ancient energy! As an interesting aside - thinking about magical stones with holes in - there are also hag stones (which have many alternative names too, see below!) in England, small stones with holes in, which are said to hold magical faery powers.

A hag stone / witch stone / serpent egg / snake egg / Glain Neidr in Wales / Gloine nan Druidh (Druid´s Glass) in Scottish Gaelic - photograph from wikipedia

Foxy Folklore of the Northern Lights!

I've sketched a couple of fertility-related characters - a sheela na gig birthing a tree, and a green man dancing, and I want to combine them in a big painting with other supporting characters. Meanwhile, I've also discovered some beautiful folklores around the phenomenon of the northern lights. Having lived in Norway for nearly four years, I am yet to catch a glimpse of the emerald inferno in the sky (except for a few little shimmery puffs!) - so I'm getting impatient and will just have to ignite some of my own with paint! From luminarium.org I found these lovely tales (fox tails??):

• Finland - the Finnish name for aurora borealis (the northern lights) is 'revontulet', which translates as 'fox fires'. How beautiful is that... The translation in itself just sparks the imagination into a foxy frenzy! The name derives from an ancient Finnish myth which suggested the lights were caused by a magical fox sweeping his tail across the snow so it flew into the sky. aurora-service.eu states there are variations on this theme - one where an arctic fox runs far in the north and his fur touches the mountains, causing sparks to leap into the sky. Another says the moonlight reflects off the snowflakes the fox has swept into the sky. Such beautiful imagery - just begging to be painted, and have songs written about!
• Other cultures have ideas of the lights being departed spirits, departed spirits playing football with a walrus skull, departed walrus spirits playing football with a human skull... great fires lit by gods, battling warriors, dancing maids... 
• Some have reported hearing a whistling, crackling noise accompanying the aurora. I love the idea of the lights being musical! It reminds me of the idea of 'the music of the spheres' - the philosophical concept that the movement of celestial bodies could be translated as a kind of music. The following is a quote from Ernest W. Hawkes' book, The Labrador Eskimo:

The whistling crackling noise which sometimes accompanies the

aurora is the voices of (departed) spirits trying to communicate

with the people of the Earth. They should always be answered

in a whispering voice. Youths dance to the aurora. The

heavenly spirits are called selamiut, “sky-dwellers,” those who

live in the sky”.

Fertility

Seeking inspiration and musing about fertility tonight - spring is in the air!

Leafing through seedlings of ideas:

Sheela na gig - Giving birth to trees, foliage
Humans and nature interwoven
Green man
Hedgehog, rabbit
Constellation related to fertility?
Norwegian / English / Sami folk lores related to fertility?

Pipit flying in with a new art adventure!

Hello from Norway's National Day! I hope everyone is sparkling and enjoying the spring!

I am going to be inspired by all the cake, coffee (well, tea in this cup, ahem - well, you can take the gal outta England, but--), patriotic pride and frenetic flag waving and touchdown back in blogland (or bogland, as the autocorrect says - oo I like that, might pinch that one for a story!) after many (merry) moons of buns in the ovens! Now that Bun no. 1 goes to barnehage and Bun no. 2 is a bit more settled into a routine of longer snoozes, it might be possible to get back to some painting! I am loving being a mamma and hope there might be some mamma-related paintings in the mix, also weaving in threads from faerytales, folk tales, witchy magic, animal and plant lore, forest preservation, ancient astronomy, music makers, Celtic harps, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Sami culture and tea!.... Um yes, well that might end up as quite a busy painting, but these are all the topics which inspire my socks off (which do have teacups on today!) and I want to be working with. I have a new plan brewing, when both buns are in the kindergarten, I will take a Norwegian course and then hopefully train to be an art teacher!! How exciting that would be. I do hope also allowing time in holidays for indulging my itching painting paws!

It was so fascinating a while back in the blog to analyse appearances of emerald green in art, literature, and the universe, and I'd love to use this blog as a place where some good ol' fashioned analysis could go too! At the moment I like the thought of delving into Norwegian and English folk lore and tales of enchantment, finding similarities and differences and maybe even combining the findings in new paintings, poetry and music. I love to play Celtic harp too and was thinking how lovely it would be to illustrate traditional harp songs - some have beautiful, yearning lyrics which would be exciting to translate in pictures on canvas! There are many traditional instruments which intrigue and inspire me, and I like the thought of painting music makers too.

So raise your teacups to celebrate a steaming new art adventure!! 

Symbology of Hedgehog and the Hidden Side of Spring

Spring has arrived in Norway with a toasty 27 degrees! Everything is green, glittering and gorgeous, the forest is buzzing with birdsong, and the lakes and waterfalls are spangled with sun-diamonds.

I went walking round the lake just up the road from our house (Theisendammen) last night, after a sun-roasted day, and was enchanted by a beautiful energy humming through the forest - the feeling of all the trees and plants quietly recharging after a long day of growing and working in the sizzle of Spring. I felt so inspired by this energy - it seemed like there was a hidden side of Spring which perhaps we don't normally see. While the Spring days can be popping at the seams with colour and vibrancy, when the cloak of evening is draped over the forest, a more subtle energy takes over, where the ferns furl up in magical spirals, the flowers nod their heads into sleep, the leaves fold up for the night, and the nocturnal animals are waking up and beginning their mysterious work in the shadow of night. Everything was sunkissed and drowsy.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am feeling very drawn to the Hedgehog at the moment, and the symbolism of Hedgehog as a totem animal. Being a nocturnal animal, Hedgehog would fit well into the new painting I was imagining, about this hidden side of Spring. 

After a little research I found out that in Celtic lore, Hedgehog is actually a symbol of Spring arriving! He has many other beautiful earthy symbols too. With his belly lying close to the plant life on earth, he is a symbol of fertility and connectedness to Mother Earth. When we see Hedgehog curled in a ball, we can be reminded of the foetal position. The curled ball form is also an encouragement to us to be centred, and with his spiny armour, Hedgehog is wonderful for helping us develop self-protection. As a nocturnal creature, Hedgehog represents intuition, psychic ability, prophetic dreams and visions.

To weave in the symbols of fertility, connectedness, and protectiveness, at the moment I am imagining a pregnant woman sitting in the woodland, in the stillness of the Spring evening, caressing a hedgehog perched on her pregnant belly. She would have 'hvitveis' (Norwegian woodland flowers which appear in Spring) woven in a crown around her hair, and perhaps dandelion clocks too, representing the passing of time and seasons, and adding more circular forms to the painting, also apparent in the belly, the hedgehog, and the spiral-furled ferns. With the dimming evening light around them, I think an albino hedgehog would be striking and symbolise the new lightness of Spring.

One more aspect of the concept behind the painting I was thinking about last night - the hidden side of Spring could be thought of as a 'between' time and place, where the realm of faerie is thought to exist, or be more easily accessed. I think this could lend a magical quality to the picture too.

Now I will start sketching! I'm so excited to begin this new painting and can't wait to share my progress with you all.

The Wise Raven and the Lady of the Woods

Here is a snap of a new canvas I have been conjuring on the last couple of weeks! The painting is inspired by a lovely yoga quote I read ~

"Knowledge comes from learning. Wisdom comes from letting go of what we think we know."

... And also from an old Irish proverb, "to have a raven's knowledge", meaning to have a seer's supernatural powers. Raven is thought of as the oldest and wisest of animals in Paganism.

I thought I would represent knowledge as a raven and have him being set free by a birch tree dryad (tree spirit - though 'dryad' originally referred specifically to the spirits of oak trees, it has come to mean a spirit of any tree), the Lady of the Woods. She has three raven eggs in the nest in her hair, symbolising the birth of new ideas. When she has hatched a new idea, she will let it be free, like the grown raven, and share it with the forest and the beings who share the forest with her. My wonderful chum Lisa, a marine biologist, said that she thinks it is so beneficial when scientists share their knowledge gained from projects, and I loved how she brought her own perspective to the concept behind the painting.

I am now planning what to paint next, and currently feeling very inspired by the hedgehog and the symbology of Hedgehog as an animal totem. I have read so far that Hedgehog can symbolise fertility, their bellies lying close to the Mother (Earth), and being a mamma now I think that is partly what is drawing me to Hedgehog as a character in the new painting. I will research Hedgehog a bit more today and make sketches... and flutter my wings back here very soon!

I thought it would be lovely to show you a peek of my sketchbook journeying at the moment! These are some sketches for tree spirits, working especially with the idea of the aspen tree currently, as we found lots of aspen leaves in the little twinkle of faerie woodland near our nest! The aspen tree was known to the Celts as 'the whispering tree', and if you go to watch the aspen, you will hear its magical whispering song, and see the ethereal leaves shaking their booties in the breeze!

Sketchbook pages - The Aspen Spirit