Hungry Grass

 

Just finishing up work on Hungry Grass.   In Irish mythology, hungry grass (also known as fairy grass) is a patch of cursed grass. Anyone walking on it was doomed to perpetual and insatiable hunger. If a body was being ferried to a burial ground and momentarily set down to rest en route, that patch of grass would become cursed. Alternately, a patch of ground would become cursed if it were over an unshriven corpse, one that had not received absolution before death. Sometimes it was detached entirely from funerary custom and thought to have been planted by fairies.

This is an 8" x 10" original painting. Acrylic on acid free paper, illustrating one conception of the Hungry Grass mythology. The cursed victim stands on the back of a skeleton, unfurling from the skull is a banner announcing "Esurio" which is Latin for "to hunger". The victim claws at a cloud of imagined various victuals in a work inspired by medieval illumination and children's story book illustration. It's humorous and a bit creepy.

You can find it and similar works at My Good Babushka. Art. Needlework, Jewelry

Hungry Grass

Illustration inspired by the Irish folk belief in Hungry Grass, a phenomenon whereby a person who stands in the grass where a body was momentarily laid while it was being ferried to the burial ground will be gripped by an insatiable hunger. Here is my victim standing atop the bones of the deceased. A banner comes from between the skull's teeth with the proclamation "Esurio" which is Latin for "to hunger".
I was inspired by illustrations in children's books, I can't think of any one specifically at the moment, but I remember illustrations of food in children's books to be particularly glistening and lurid. I wanted to impart that sensation of surreal unreal "tastiness" for lack of a better description.
You can see the finished Hungry Grass painting at My Good Babushka. Art, Chainmaille Jewelry, and Needlework.

The Hungry Grass

Illustration inspired by the Irish folk belief in Hungry Grass, a phenomenon whereby a person who stands in the grass where a body was momentarily laid while it was being ferried to the burial ground will be gripped by an insatiable hunger.
 Here is my victim standing atop the bones of the deceased. A banner comes from between the skull's teeth with the proclamation "Esurio" which is Latin for "to hunger".
It's sort of a stylistic mash-up between medieval illumination and a children's fable illustration.The finished work, Hungry Grass, is at My Good Babushka. Art. Jewelry. Needlework.

The Hungry Grass

Illustration inspired by the folk belief in Hungry Grass, a phenomenon whereby a person who stands in the grass where a body was momentarily laid while it was being ferried to the burial ground will be gripped by an insatiable hunger.
 Here is my victim standing atop the bones of the deceased. A banner comes from between the skull's teeth with the proclamation "Esurio" which is Latin for "to hunger". My victim claws at a thought bubble of imagined victuals but can never be sated. Ooooooh scary! And a little bit funny, I think.
You can see the finished painting, Hungry Grass, at My Good Babushka. Painting, Needlework, Chainmail.

Arval Bread

Arval bread was the traditional bread eaten at funerals in Northern England. Here I am noodling about with the idea.
Here is a link to another post about this funeral bread tradition. The Old Foodie's Arval Bread

A Child's Funeral- Day 4

I'm better than half way done, but as usual, I've started some other things to keep it interesting, and not so morose! Next week I'll have a new embroidery idea to share.

A Child's Funeral Day Three

Moving right along, I had the boring task of starting to fill in the ground and give it some shadow and texture. Then I get to work on the juicy central elements!

A Child's Funeral Day Two

Here is where I scrubbed in some color, and began to work on some details in the background, and the two gentlemen mourners. About now is when I realized I should not let the kids play with my paintbrushes. I can't get them to hold their points!

A Child's Funeral Day One

I found a photo of a turn of the century looking funeral for a child. I made a few changes to the composition, added a few inventions, since the photo was pretty grainy and not very detailed. Here is the first day of work on it.

*On edit- I SWEAR this is the last outright morbid thing I'll be doing for a while! Stick with me, we'll get through this!