I want to sleep in starry meadows where the hare runs wild as the wind. With a lace pillow of clover petals, thistledown and tom thumb I will lay my head down low, shaded by umbelliferae. Beside the wild thyme stems and stalks I will dream where the mice and beetles dream. And when the darkness falls glow worm will be my lighted lamp. Soft rustle of grass sings my lullaby and high above when I stir, the ancient constellations kiss my drowsy eyelashes with stardust.
Karen Davis 2012
March has come in like a lamb and I have painted a hare.
Lepus
Lepus ....a constellation lying south of Orion. It's name being latin for hare.
I love stars and the night sky as you have probably already guessed. I do paint rather a lot of night sky Maybe too many? Can you paint too many? I don't think so. ;) I was once told by my tutor at Art college to go and paint an article on abortion and that I couldn't make a living out of painting starry skies. He of course was telling me that life is not all sugar coated and twee and encouraging me to stretch myself and make my work more adaptable for commissions which of course was his job. I know that life is not all starry skies, we all know that, but we can choose what we want to include in it to a certain extent. Yes, I could do dark and I did and I still can if I want to. Just to prove it, here is a glimpse of that old darker work....
I still added some stars though. ;)
My son is a keen amateur astronomer and the other day I tried to take a photograph of the moon through the eye piece of his telescope. While it didn't turn out quite as I'd hoped, I like this photograph all the same.
A couple of weeks ago we visited the William Herschel
museum in Bath. William Herschel was a musician and astronomer and from his residence in Bath, which is now the museum, he discovered the planet Uranus in 1781.
It was very interesting there and I really enjoyed myself.
I wonder if he was a night owl? I am a night owl, a lover of indigo skies, familiar to the creaks of the house in the night when all are asleep. When larks minds are weary mine comes alive.
I am back to painting Peaceable Kingdom now after being distracted and chasing a March hare.
Thank you for the comments about the sketches. I love the idea of a theme being passed around on this. Maybe I could make a page and you can send me anything you create on the theme, pictures writings etc? Just a thought?
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