And Summer's lease...

We've reached that delicate patch of Autumn where beauty hangs in the balance. Trees hold grimly onto their colourful palettes but the wind and chill conspire to bring these lofty artists down to earth to make instead a mush of soggy leaf carpet. It's a rich, lush and fruitful time. I adore the smells and crunchy sounds as much as the sights of all those russets, greens and chestnuts.

It was fairly inevitable then that this week my hands have been pulling crimsons and ochres out of the paint box. I'm also rather enamoured of being inspired by the words of others and Mr Shakespeare came to mind.

"Summer's lease hath all too short a date"

Indeed William it does; yet there is something quite special about Autumn too - all that 'mist and mellow fruitfulness' as Mr Keats had a habit of saying.

This piece is my Queen of Samhain. I confess to being a little behind the times (or possibly in front) when it comes to my knowledge of this ancient festival, so did a spot of research and it turns out that 'something to do with Halloween' did indeed just about cover it! Here's what I found on Wikipedia

Samhain marked the end of the harvest, the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half".... It has some elements of a festival of the dead. The Gaels believed that the border between this world and the otherworld became thin on Samhain; because some animals and plants were dying, it thus allowed the dead to reach back through the veil that separated them from the living. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.

This piece came from the burning embers of the bonfire, the melting of leaves into earth and the turning of the season. The Queen of Samhain watches from the fire's edge and reclaims that which is hers ready to bring back to life come Spring...

She is for a new art challenge on a new creative community which I am only too pleased to share. Why not pop along and meet another regal figure - The Queen of Creativity herself at her Castle. She has raised the drawbridge and all artists are welcome.