King Arthur and The original Doodle Artist - Aubrey Beardsley

Although I was planning on writing about my recent whiskey painting workshop (which I will), or about my thoughts concerning KONY 2012, I am writing about Aubrey Beardsley.

Aubrey Beardsley is one of my favorite  artists , because he illustrated Le Morte D'arthur.  Beautifully.   And since we have been watching the BBC series of Merlin, it just seemed to work.
Merlin is a great show.  At first, it was the goofy, funny, non serious side of Arthurian legend.  The fourth season is becoming more dark and serious. Camelot, started out that way and is very intense (and I like that too.). Either way, it works because every writer since the beginning of Arthurian legend has done their own take on it.  There are so many variations of every tale, all from before modern times, that it is difficult to say any one is right.

Beardsley was a young sickly man, who died extremely young.  He became sick with tuberculosis at six years of age, and died at 25.   THAT is what makes him extraordinary.  He had 25 years and became an influential artist.  A man whose work will last for centuries.
He was commissioned to illustrate Le Morte D'arthur.  He was influenced by the art nouveau movement, as well as Japanese woodblock prints.  He came into contact with Oscar Wilde and illustrated Salome. What struck me is the original sketch of the cover of the book.  Yet another reason for me to love his art.  I love peacocks and feathers!






Anyway, Aubrey Beardsley WAS the original zentangle doodlist.  He created illustrations with awesome design, and punched the values by adding values, designs, doodling.... i love it.


His spiritual life is rather interesting.  After drawing some rather "scandalous" illustrations, he converted to Catholicism, and demanded for his work to be destroyed. .Interesting Info 
His request was refused, and it is all still "out there" today. Of course, by today's standards, they are rather tame, being pen and ink. 



So, if you are looking up  his work, there may be some nude illustrations.  But, his depictions of the scenes from Le Morte D'arthur show a sense of fluidity and fantasy, which add to the mystique of the legends.

The Book of Kells and a Cat

This morning, my daughter and I watched one of our favorite movies, The Secret of Kells.  She said, "This is the most creative movie ever!"
It is an animated movie with a very distinct, unique, beautiful style. The story focuses on a monastery which is preparing for a Viking invasion, while the famous Book of Kells is being written.  It speaks about the creation of the Chi Ro page, which is below:

Anyone who knows me, knows how I love ancient Celtic... everything.  This movie is right up my alley. The characters speak about how the intricate designs in the illuminated manuscripts are inspired by nature.   Father Aiden speaks about the designs on a butterfly wing.  As Brendan explores the forest, the designs of the fiddleheads (by the way, fiddleheads are delicious steamed with butter), vines and even mist mirror the illuminator's designs.  I like how when they talk about the Book, they say it will turn darkness into light. What a beautiful way to view the Gospels written in the Book of Kells.  The knowledge found in these manuscripts, the knowledge of the perfect love of Christ allows us to understand the God who brings Light into the darkness of our minds and souls.
But there is another reason why I love this movie. It is the cat, Pangur Ban.  I appreciate it when literature and media connect on various levels.
There is a very old Irish poem, which has been attributed to an Irish monk. It was found in the margins of a 9th century? manuscript.  It is quite possibly, one of the most delightful poems about an animal ever written.  And I don't even like cats. I really don't.  But my dog is more like a cat than a dog, so maybe I do, or would if they didn't give me hives.
Back to the poem, here is one translation:

I & Pangur Ban my cat 

'Tis a like task we are at: 

Hunting mice is his delight, 

Hunting words I sit all night. 

'Tis a merry thing to see 

At our tasks how glad are we, 

When at home we sit & find 

Entertainment to our mind. 

'Gainst the wall he sets his eye, 

Full & fierce & sharp & sly; 

'Gainst the wall of knowledge I 

All my little wisdom try. 

So in peace our task we ply 

Pangur Ban my cat & I; 

In our arts we find our bliss, 

I have mine & he has his. 

In addition, I found a really cool t-shirt with Pangur Ban on it - Pangur Ban T-Shirt.  

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

 I have always been drawn to Pre-raphaelite art.

To truly understand the style, I will give a quick Art History lesson.  See, Michelangelo and Raphael were Masters, right?  They were trained under the Renaissance artists who sought for perfection of form, light, proportion.   Michelangelo and Raphael were trained that way but then 'matured' to an 'exaggerated extension' of realism.  You can see this in the later painting of these two (and some others who followed), you will note exaggerated, out of proportion bodies, long awkward necks, strange inhuman shaped limbs.  If you really take the time to look.  The "Mannerists"  painted in the style that Michelangelo and Raphael began.  It was viewed as a natural progression of art coming out of the High Renaissance.  Well, in 1848, a group of artists formed in England who viewed the High Renaissance style of realism more enlightening than the mannerism which followed.  The subjects of the art of the Pre-Raphaelites tended to be stories from mythology, fairy tales, and King Arthur.  They loved Medieval themes, since they felt that era was very spiritual and creative.   They strove to create art that was purposeful... expressing  a grand idea or thought.

Above is one of my favorite paintings.  I have a small print of it.  (would love to get a larger one eventually).  It is haunting.  Check out the realism in the fabric of her dress.  The desperation in her eyes.  The shine of metal.  I could never tire of this painting.  John William Waterhouse painted it, and he is probably my favorite artist of all time.  I like him partly because I love to look at his work.  But also because he paints literature.   Poetry in particular.....Tennyson, Keats, Homer.

The Keats poem "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" was painted by several Pre Raphaelites.





O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
       Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
       And no birds sing.

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
       So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
       And the harvest’s done.

I see a lily on thy brow,
       With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
       Fast withereth too.

I met a lady in the meads,
       Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
       And her eyes were wild.

I made a garland for her head,
       And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
       And made sweet moan.

I set her on my pacing steed,
       And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
       A faery’s song.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
       And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
       ‘I love thee true’.

She took me to her elfin grot,
       And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
       With kisses four.

And there she lullèd me asleep,
       And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!—
The latest dream I ever dreamt
       On the cold hill side.

I saw pale kings and princes too,
       Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
       Thee hath in thrall!’

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
       With horrid warning gapèd wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
       On the cold hill’s side.

And this is why I sojourn here,
       Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
       And no birds sing.



I read several interpretations.  One of them deals with the knight's decision to forsake his real life and reality for an ideal of love that does not exist.  Another interesting one was that the woman is a form of the femme fatale... deliberately destructive.  A third idea was that he was under an enchantment of the imagination.  And his real life wasted away in pursuit of a world that is not real.


I am not sure what I think, I do know that fairy tales always give a shadow of truth. Often a deep spiritual truth. I must ponder this some more... what do you think?

Another thing I really like about the poem is the reference to Pale Kings.... reminds me of Frodo in the Lord of the Rings putting on the Ring while the Nazgul are chasing him and he sees the Pale King... but that has nothing to do with this tale.

Tree Poem Revised

I am still working on symmetry and alliteration.....
but here it is so far...

The Tree of Knowledge,  straight, pure, but forbidden,  devoured out of proper place and time brought the death-sickness upon creation.  The fruit distorting all on Earth.

The Tree of Life, the Cross, the twisted, dogwood crafted, standing upright.   It bore the Saviour into battle, to champion over the death-sickness foe.  Soon the promised fruit will be given, the same tree in Paradise giving us life-blood and life eternal.

The Tree of David which is the church,  those who seek after the True God, sprawling and growing, vines and branches, infusing the whole earth with Love.   The Champion is now the vine.  The branches bearing its Fruit to all those in soul- despair and sin-sickness until the return of Paradise.

Tree Poem - Draft

I am attempting to write this in the style of a Welsh Triad.  This is a working draft...

Three Trees Wrought Outside of Time and Space

The First is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Second is the Crucifix, a Twisted Broken Beam of Hope revealed as the Tree of Life, The Third the Tree of David Reborn as the Living Church.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Brought three things, knowledge, shame and death. Through disobedience and partaking something good out of proper place and time (resulted) in a disease to Creation, warping and distorting.

The Tree of Life has three manifestations.  The Tree of Life in the Garden, which was good to eat for a while, The Crucifix, the twisted dogwood crafted, standing upright and bore the Saviour into battle to champion over the Disease and Death.  And the Tree of Life in Paradise, when those who Love Him will be given freedom to eat once more.

The Tree of David which is the Living Church, the great witness of Lovers who seek after the True God.  Beginning as a nation, not out of exclusivity, but meant to be a light to the world, sharing God's Love to all.  Growing as a tree into the church of believers, Ture and Beloved, Going forth to Bear its Fruit to all those in soul- despair and sin-sickness until the return of Paradise.

Stars

I found it!
And I realize how my poetry writing skills have deteriorated.  Out of practice.  Brain funk.  Whatever.  When I was younger, I believed I was a poet and I wrote well.  Then I was discouraged by a series of events.

I wrote this in 1998.


the Stars rip the night
breaking it without compassion
with their intensity
they hurt my eyes
but only I know
how much they love me
for how could I survive the night
without the stars
shining just for me.