The turning of the seasons....

Thank you, everyone, for your patience this past month while our blog went on a brief, unscheduled hiatus. And happy Winter Solstice!

The solstice has been a particularly significant one for me this year, not only marking the turning of the seasons but also the end of a long chapter of my life and the beginning of a new one. In the last month, I have sold and moved out of Weaver's Cottage, the small thatch-roofed 16th century house that has been my home in Devon for almost two decades  --  with its thick stone walls, ancient beams and floors, its enormous granite fireplace, and its kitchen covered with murals by Brian Froud, Alan Lee, Marja Lee, Charles Vess, Dennis Nolan, Lauren Mills, me, and other artists.

The "Goblin kitchen" (inspired by Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market) is the most extensively painted room, but my deer maidens, bunny girls & shadows trees can be found on walls and doors throughout the house. The bathroom (tucked under the crooked beams of the roof) is thick with poems, handwritten in gold ink and added year after year, until they covered the walls. In the courtyard garden, white roses tumble over the stone, goldfish swim in the little pond, and ivy softens sculpture by Duncan Rice ("Ariadne the Weaver") and Wendy Froud ("The Horned Woman"). Oh, how I will miss it!

Leaving Weaver's has been an emotional process; and one that, like any big change, is rife with mythic elements -- so I've written about the folkloric aspects of the move in an article for JoMA: "The Folklore of Hearth and Home."

I haven't moved far; I'm still in Chagford; and I'm moving for some very good reasons, not bad ones. Yet woven into the excitement of starting a new phase of life is a bright silver thread of sorrow: remembering all of the years that have passed at the cottage, the good and the bad, the joyful and sad. Saying goodbye to the single life I've lived there, under the old roof of straw.

I remember the day I moved in so vividly. I owned so little furniture back then that my bed was just a mattress on the floor, my living room had just a table and two rush-seated chairs, the kitchen didn't yet have its famous goblins, the garden didn't yet have a single tree or rose bush...and yet it was still the most beautiful place I could ever imagine calling my own. After the last boxes were moved in, we toasted the place with a bottle of champagne and then my friends left, and I was alone in Weaver's for the very first time. I went upstairs and found, to my great surprise, that sometime during the bustle of the move Brian Froud had snuck upstairs without my knowing and left a painting hanging on my bedroom wall: the image you see here on the right, a "faery portrait" of me (as I looked then, in my 30s). I was completely bowled over, shed a few tears, then settled down in the house that I planned to grow old in.... 

And now all these years later my path has veered and my chapter in Weaver's long history has ended. Life, as they say, is the thing that happens while you're busy making other plans.

The Journal of Mythic Arts is undergoing changes too, starting with the new format we debuted this autumn. We've got some exciting things in store for you in the new year, so stay tuned. And thank you, all of you in the Mythic Arts community, for your continued support. May all your solstice changes be good ones too.

Photo credits: The photos are described in the picture captions. (Run your cursor over the images to read them.) The two pictures of Weaver's Cottage seen from above were photographed by my neighbor Steve Dooley, from one his upper windows. The other photographs are by Alan Lee.

With a house this small and higglety-pigglety, its hard to find enough space and distance to photograph a whole room, and I've left out so much (the writing office! the studio! the books, music, and friends that brought the place to life!)...but this gives you a bit of the flavor of the cottage. Goodbye, beloved Weavers!

Comments

[Megan]

You know, I never realized how much that painting resembled you until now. I've seen it all over the place--in books, on the internet. I feel like I've been living under a rock! Many blessing on you and your new home, and Happy Solstice!

[rachael]

What a beautiful home! The new one must be amazing. Best Wishes on all of your upheavals
& Happy Solstice/Merry Season

[Cat Mallard]

best wishes on your new home, feeling like home!

and bright winter blessings,

Catharine

[Ellen Kushner]

I'll miss Weaver's, too - it's part of our history, now. So good to think of a young family being happy there now, though. Much love to you.

[Dragonlady]

Oh! If had had a lot of money I would sure not mind living in your old house! With such beautiful artworks all around! I bet it must be very hard to leave it behind.
I am also like that, my home is a collection of bits and piece of memories that I collect in my head but also as objects, and it's a long term process to "inhabit" a place properly.

Funny how this year has also been one of positive changes for me. And a lot of wonderful memories. The best of all of course was having the priviledge to meet Alan Lee and finally get to thank him for the wonderful and inspiring paintings and drawings.

This is my Solstice card this year, and I wish you all the best in this new turn of the wheel: http://dragonladych.deviantart.com/art/Cernnunos-71629689

And many thanks for this wonderful website, I enjoy reading your posts!

[Carl V.]

Thank you so much for sharing that with us. I certainly can understand the grief of moving out of there, I cannot imagine having to let that go. I am thrilled that the new family will be appreciating and keeping the art. Despite the melancholy of change I am excited for both you and Midori and the life changes you are making. No doubt they will spawn marvelous creativity that the rest of us will be able to savor and be inspired by. I have had such a wonderful year with the both of you as a part of it. I appreciate you so much and all that you do to make life a more creative place. Thank you!

[William Lexie]

I'll tell you what I'd do in such a wondrous place
find inspiration from every nook and cranny space
sketches ,drawings ,storybooks and more
from ceiling ,walls , windows ,in and out the door
------------
an earthy jewel
golden olden , warm and worn
cosy rosy , memory adorn ................... WJL
YET ; best to ya new digs