Thursday, July 22, 2010

Fairy Tales

Not only were there men in skirts in the village parade but the Green Fairy made an appearance!




Just as I was getting a picture of her and the baby she had recently fairynapped, I was caught up in some sort of magical miasma and started hallucinating different visions of the wee faeric beauty...


appearing through the mists of time...



turning from Green Fairy to Sepia Sprite...



to Rose tinted vision...


to the brightly hued Flower Fairy...



who flits from flower to flower in my neighbour's garden.


And don't forget, fairy tales can come true...



if you're young at heart--
or, apparently, sufficiently high on flower nectar!

(a favourite childhood song of mine)

24 comments:

  1. Brings back the memory of
    your Grandmother singing
    "There Are Fairies At The
    Bottom Of My Garden" to you
    when you were a kid.

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  2. Saw somewhere where you said it may be the absinthe you've been drinking.... is that why you're now seeing green fairies in the streets which fade to ghostly remnants of themselves ???

    Admittedly, the ghostly remnants are quite lovely, you've been back to your distorting bag of tricks again... we love it when you turn tricks like that, after consuming a spot of absinthe. Dali would approve...

    Will watch the video after getting some sleep; could use a touch of absinthe myself as a nightcap and dream inducer, but there's none in the house. Although it is on sale again in France, after years of being banned... may have to try it, I never did... although I hear it can make you crazy... Toulouse Lautrec paintings are perhaps proof in the pudding...

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  3. Hi Shirl,
    I remember being quite taken with the concept of fairies at the bottom of the garden as a child, but I don't remember the song. I had a pretty distinct image in my mind of the scene where they would be found, so the song must have been quite descriptive. Else I had a vivid imagination...which is possible, wouldn't you say?

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  4. Ah, Owen, you know that absinthe makes the heart grow fonder, if not the mind benter.

    Actually, I've never drunk it either. I read up on it (Wikiland) and it seems it's hallucinatory/madness inducing properties have been greatly exaggerated. I suspect the malady of the artists at the time resulted from either their consummation of vast quantities of the stuff, or having accidentally ingested their bottles of turpentine when having reached for the absinthe bottle. It happens.

    TooLoose LaTrek. One of my all-time favourite artists. You know who my real favourite artist is? Of course you don't so I will tell you. It is Bonnard. I was in heaven at the Orsay gazing upon his large canvasses, and lucked out on seeing a whole exhibit of his at the Tate one time. I must admit that I don't care much for Dali, though I can appreciate his genius. Look at us with all this highbrow art talk!

    It's probably best you didn't listen to the song before going to bed as you would likely have fallen asleep face down upon your desk and woken up unrefreshed, with long deep weird marks across your cheeks...and on your face as well.
    :-D

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  5. Anonymous23 July, 2010

    You surely are an artist ! Wonderful, wonderful work with that picture. What a joy it must be to spend a young life at that place of yours.

    Being "high on nectar" - what a great thought, made me nearly forget that there aren't many flowers over here. Tomorrow said to be above 100F ... Wishing you all a wonderful start into the weekend.
    p.s.: sadly hadn't enough time to take a train, maybe good, as I wouldn't have know where and when to get out ;)

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  6. Robert,
    It could indeed be risky to take a train, not knowing when and where to get out...but to keep on going, perhaps to a land of flowers and fairies and moderate temperatures.

    Thank you for your kind words about my "artistry." I enjoy playing with images so much it's almost like going to a magic land.

    I hope you have a marvellous weekend, full of fun and cold refreshing drinks.

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  7. More fun with photo shop
    how very excellent
    magical and amazing
    wish I was as good at it as you

    word verification:
    TABLE

    a bit unimaginative I think

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  8. Yes, Elizabeth, more fun, maybe too much fun, with Photoshop. But then, I don't have NYC outside my door to keep myself amused, hence long hours at the computer, trying this and that and getting lost in the magic of it all.

    Did you guess that I used Picnik for the flower photos collage? Any trick in the book!

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  9. Absinthe, green fairies?
    I am smitten!
    Photoshop?
    I need to learn!
    Magical post,
    thank you,
    Merisi

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  10. Honestly, I think no one makes me snort and chuckle around the edges of a comment box than you do... you and sister Saj too... which makes me wonder, where's she been hiding of late ??? Quiet as a mouse...

    So, I started watching the video earlier today, and woke up just now with bruises on my face from where it hit the keyboard and desk, and strange lines on other parts of my anatomy... but remember, "Life gets more exciting, with each passing day..." Well, whoever that was, remind me not to bother to go buy his greatest hits disk...

    Bonnard, ah, Bonnard. Once had a spiritual experience with a Bonnard, in a private home no less where I was doing some work once long ago (not to drop names, but the home belonged to these folks : http://www.davidfindlayjr.com/ ) and they had a Bonnard on their bedroom wall, a simply beautiful piece that I've never forgotten....

    So you think absinthe is over-rated & exagerrated ? I wonder... may have to give it a try. In my advanced stage of decay it can't hurt much... not many neurons left there to hurt...

    There is an interesting story associated with another artist, a certain Gustave Courbet, who was born, and is buried in the town of Ornans in eastern France, south of Besançon. A lovely place along the river Loue. It seems for ages the source of the waters of the river Loue was a bit of mystery in the area. They sprang out of cavern at the head of a deep valley. A mystery until the day a large warehouse used by an absinthe distiller burned down, and vast quantities of absinthe were released as wooden barrels burned or were smashed by falling debris. The warehouse was at the edge of the Doubs river, which ran quite green downstream from the burning warehouse. And the next day the Loue river in turn ran green... which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that an underground passage from the Doubs fed water through to the source of the Loue... If I'm not mistaken Courbet painted the source of the Loue, as well as the Origine du Monde, and may have drank the river water for some days after the fire too...

    The one by Courbet that I really liked however, and which inspired me to make the pilgrimage to Ornans, and which hangs in the Orsay, is his Burial at Ornans... those white cliffs in the background quite intrigued me at the time. Somewhere I've got photos of his tomb too...

    Well, I gotta run, even this Sunday, today, I have to go back to work. There are now entire countries worth of people needing straightjackets, we are going to have to go into 24 hour a day production for the next few weeks, or months ??? Yep, galumphing back off to work...grrrrrr, would rather stay here sipping absinthe and dallying in comment boxes.

    Bonjour to Pierre and bisoux to all of you (well, I'm seeing triple now after that green cocktail)...

    and where's that Saj, I say again... ???
    :-)

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  11. Merisi,
    If I have repaid you with one drop of magic after all the heady potions you have poured for me in Vienna, I am very happy! I think your photos are perfect the way they are--no need to dabble in Photoshop!

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  12. Owen,
    Where to start. Such eye-popping information you've provided me with this morning! Not the least of which is Courbet's "Origine du Monde" of which I was egregiously unaware, I freely admit, but which further leads me to wonder about what sort of "spiritual experience" you had in that bedroom with the Bonnard painting in it. Ah yes, perhaps altogether too much information for me to take in on this dreary wet Sunday morning in the hills. I think it best if I calm myself a little by playing my phonograph record of Dean Martin's greatest hits and having a wee sip or two of sherry, in the absence of absinthe. Back shortly...

    ****
    There we go, I've relaced my corset and feel better braced to take on the colourful world of Owen once again. I've never seen the white cliffs of Ornan, although I did see those of Dover when I was a child of 11. Glancing through my little book of Courbet I see other paintings of white cliffs looming over marvellous seascapes. Quite the crowd scene in the burial picture that inspired your pilGRIMmage; all those character-rich faces gathered round the gaping pit. It must be quite something to stand before the original painting. Perhaps I should consider April in Paris 2011...I see there's going to be an interesting exhibit starting at the Orsay in March...

    I had hoped you might still be hanging out with your U.S. visitors and your girls but, alas, you're up to your eyeballs in straight-jackets and order forms back at the factory; and doubtlessly standing at the ironing board in your underwear, pressing your work shirts, on your time off. So sweet of you to dally here a bit in my comment boxes, educating your big sister while waving your iron about.

    As for our dear Sister Saj, one can only hope that she's hard at work preparing our hotel! I suspect she's auditioning bands and sampling the liquor to make sure it's up to snuff.

    I hope that all this extra work you've taken on will garner an extra big holiday for you--preferably one that won't involve time at a sanitarium sporting your factory products.

    Take care! Bisoux, too.

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  13. Glad you enjoyed l'Origine du Monde... or perhaps "enjoyed" is the wrong word?

    If you do a Google Images search on it, there are quite a few rather funny parodies of it. Actually I think that is the Courbet painting I like the least of all. He could've at least put a face on her... Too bad we can't go back and ask him what on earth he was thinking... Nevertheless, that canvas remains controversial even today, so if one can succeed in producing art that keeps one being talked about even a hundred years later, I guess that's a bit of an accomplishment...

    Now really am running out the door, back to the factory !

    aaarrrrrrrggggggggggggggghhhhhhh !

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  14. Owen,
    I was thinking about that green river story you shared here, and the tale of the swimming dogs you posted the other day...maybe it wasn't just the stick they were excited about and diving in for. Perhaps you should check out that green river yourself. I'm also making a connection between the new bottling of absinthe in France with this whole green river thing. Verrry interesting.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IHAZeqwQvA

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  15. So... was it in-ter-est-ing ? Or Stupid ? I guess there's often a fine line between the two.

    But thanks for the video link, as I'm easily distracted, I followed subsequent links from that one to Goldie Hawn on Laugh In, then Goldie doing a tribute to Merle Streep, then Meg Ryan doing a tribute to Tom Hanks, and so on... it's infinite... One could spend serious time watching YouTube, replaying one's past...

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  16. Sorry siblings, have somehow found myself in a moody funk so kept my bedroom door shut and played quietly with my dolls for a few days.

    I haven't tried absinthe either...yet! But am sure I might see green goblins before I saw fairies. Or would I? Now theres a vexing question! I'll leave you two in the art museum and nip off to the bottle store to get us a wee something for later...

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  17. Owen,
    The correct answer would be stupid.

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  18. Saj,
    I hope that doll playing behind closed doors did not involve pins. Am looking forward to that wee nip you're getting us for later. Is it later yet?

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  19. this last post gave me words for the feeling i get whenever i take peeks in your decollete - it's like being granted peeks into fairyland...

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  20. Manuela,
    What a sweet thing to say! Though it made me giggle a bit...But that's a good thing, too.
    :-)
    I'm certainly transported to a very different world when I visit over at your place, so I'm glad if I repay you a little in kind here.

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  21. Merci bien, Chrys! Je suis contente si mes efforts vous avez faites plaisir.

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  22. WOW! LOVE what you have done with the fairy girl- I have photo shop but I only know how to rotate and crop...that's as clever as i get. I am most impressed !

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  23. Hi Linda Sue,
    Cool that you found your way here. I guess you followed the fairy dust. Photoshop is one of those things that gets more addictive, the more one dabbles in it. Quite a lot like felting, I'd venture to say.

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