Swallowtail butterflies were less commonly seen when I was young at least where I grew up. So the sight was more treasured for being rare when they gently floated over the flowers in my mother’s perennial border. These days they are a more common sight where I live than monarchs, but I still love to see them grace a flower as they pause to rest.
image (C) 2021 Hilary Farmer
I have just finished a series of eight mini oil paintings. I thought it would be fun to try tiny creatures on tiny paintings. It was! 🙂 Remember, it may look large on your screen but these are very small.
Tom has written delightful short poems – one for each. Enjoy!
Now really, Darling, don’t you see
that when I’m posed beside this berry
my colours bold and wild and free
are so much brighter, fun, and merry?
image (c) 2021 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2021 TJ Radcliffe
Well, the colour version is full of joy! I had an idea of the palette I wanted but even so, somehow the evolution from black and white to colour is a surprise and a delight. Hope you enjoy it too!
Here is the accompanying poem by Tom 🙂
The tallest trees are rooted deep within
rich fertile Earth where saffron flowers grow:
unbending yang encompassed by soft yin,
entwining roots encircle all we know:
this gentle Earth, this paradise of sky
this forest old that reaches for the light
this rooted tree that dreams that it might fly
this branching green explosion burning bright
as butterflies slip between the seconds
easing past the trunks and up the Path
softly higher toward the solar Presence
bright airy space where swallows dance and laugh.
Rising inward, reaching, thrusting tall
Spreading outward, strong, the source of all.
image (c) 2016 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 216 Tom Radcliffe
This mandala is a kind of inversion of the previous one – even to the extent of “breaking the rules” and creating it from the edge inwards instead of from the centre outwards. There is still a Celtic knot as a foundation but the trees are reaching for the centre instead of stretching out. For this one, I tried for the first time to divide the circle into a number other than eight. The twelve divisions give a very different feel – there are connotations such as clocks or rose windows… I expect this mandala to be quite transformed by the addition of colour and will post again once the painting layer is done.
Tom had a preview of this one and has already produced this potent poem to accompany it – Thank you! 🙂
Reaching upward toward the changeless Sky
filled with swallows turning as they fly
Deeply rooted in the fertile Earth
entangled moments giving joyous birth
To connection: linked embodied minds
souls well met, butterflies in kind
Thrusting inward to the source of all
bending outward, answering the call
Of root and branch and leaf to grow and thrive
a flower blossom opening, alive!
image (c) 2016 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2016 Tom Radcliffe
Tom (Radcliffe) and I are getting very close to the end of our year with Songs of Albion. I will write more about that when I complete the last image – 5 to go! The text is getting harder and harder to imagine into image form – thanks for the challenge Tom!! This moment is one of those when the normal linear experience of time seems to be suspended… anyway, if not clear, I hope at least it’s pretty! lol
UPDATE: New poem from Tom! Thank you 🙂
time’s soft turning inward form
finds two figures lost, forlorn
swept in silence folding in
stretching space in quantum din
expanding possibilities
branching futures forming trees
whose leaves are scattered in the storm
time’s soft turning inward form
Copyright (C) 2012 TJ Radcliffe
image (cc) 2012 Hilary Farmer
Green Tea Doodles 