For me, imagination is like a theatre of the mind. Think of the many scenes of wild imaginings our minds have played out over the years. Think, too, of how this theatre of the imagination still continues to give us scintillating previews of life’s coming attractions.
I should like to rise and go
Where the golden apples grow;--
Where below another sky
Parrot islands anchored lie,
And, watched by cockatoos and goats,
Lonely Crusoes building boats;--
Where in sunshine reaching out
Eastern cities, miles about,
Are with mosque and minaret
Among sandy gardens set,
And the rich goods from near and far
Hang for sale in the bazaar;--
Where the Great Wall round China goes,
And on one side the desert blows,
And with the voice and bell and drum,
Cities on the other hum;--
Where are forests hot as fire,
Wide as England, tall as a spire,
Full of apes and cocoa-nuts
And the bravest hunters' huts;--
Where the knotty crocodile
Lies and blinks in the Nile,
And the red flamingo flies
Hunting fish before his eyes;--
Where in jungles near and far,
Man-devouring tigers are,
Lying close and giving ear
Lest the hunt be drawing near,
Or a comer-by be seen
Swinging in the palanquin;--
Where among the desert sands
Some deserted city stands,
All its children, sweep and prince,
Grown to manhood ages since,
Not a foot in street or house,
Not a stir of child or mouse,
And when kindly falls the night,
In all the town no spark of light.
There I'll come when I'm a man
With a camel caravan;
Light a fire in the gloom
Of some dusty dining-room;
See the pictures on the walls,
Heroes fights and festivals;
And in a corner find the toys
Of the old Egyptian boys.
44 comments:
Yes, beautiful travels even those who travel in the mind. Remember when you were a child? I bet your dreamed of all of those wonderful places you now paint. Beautiful painting...so joyous...and wonderful poem selection of RLS...
<3
This is a really beautiful post!
thank you Tessa for the beautiful moving work that you and yours do -- you are a angel in disguise!
...And there is no frigate like a book. Lovely post.
Fabulous poem and fabulous picture too, I am sure I have been there one night in bed as a child!
I cannot look at your awesome painting(s) and read that colorful poem without having many wild imaginings of my own. Thank you, Tessa, for being you and sharing you with lucky me.
June
Tessa, this is such a fun piece! It begs the imagination to soar. I love it!
Lovely images.
WHOOOA!!! The thumbprint of this illustration was jumping off my blog sidebar! I had to come here and check it out and I am ecstatic. I LOOOOVE this! The bold colors, full of life and my dear Tessa. You always give me a lot of credit when it is I who should give you credit for your wealth of experience. You are Kipling, Dinesen, Austen and I have to think of a female master artist to round up the whole, maybe there is none, maybe it is Tessa because I don't know of any master who lived in Africa.
You know, I have read a lot of writer's blogs. Capturing my attention is easy, a single post will do that but to sustain it...I have been blogging for quite sometime and I find them all boring, well I have not read all the writers' blogs. You know whose writings capture my and sustain my attention - the artists. The artists who describe their work or relate to their work, like you, Bjornik, Bella. Even someone who relates their thoughts to art write so much better, like Renee. So yes, I love coming here and reading and looking.
Tessa that is lovely!
Just GORGEOUS!
I love love love the colors of this piece! Beautiful!
Tessa
Your painting is full of the wild, vivid colours of the imagination ...it transports you...
Happy Days
Your illustration makes me think of the best children's books I had when I was young. The kind that I became completely lost in. Your painting has that magical quality that we all still search for as adults.
I wish I still had my books to look in again, but here I have your painting and the wonderful poem to go with it and I was transported back in time, when I still believed in such things as uncomplicated foreign lands and goodwill between all people.
Life should be the way we think of it as children and the way it is described in the poem, without prejudice.
Like the way yuor mimd works, if this is what it can imagine!
Your work always moves me! I can just stare at your beautiful work for hours! This is such a wonderful piece and then the poem really just pulls you into all! Excellent !!!!
yup all theatre is in our minds, great way to interpret this.
Very nice Tessa. I could happily get lost in your picture.
I love the poems of RL Stevenson and it's been fun to go through one again since my days at school!
Oh JoY! 3 of my favorite things in one post! Giraffes, R.L.S. and children! Wonderful painting Tessa dear, thank you for sharing your imagination with us.
♥ lori
This would be a splendid mural for a child's room --harking of adventure and imagination.
RLS's poems for children still evoke magic
Faster than fairies faster than witches
Faster than something hedges and ditches...
This is about a train from memory........
I've never seen this side of you. Love the fantasy element of this painting, and you should do more of them.
Oh, how I wish I could have the "wild imaginings" as I did when I was a child. The colorful ones like your painting. I have my own kind of imaginings, of course, but it would be nice to use my brain as it was intended. I wonder if many adults have them, and if so, I am envious of them. I guess most artist and creative types do, of course!!
I am inspired and will accept the challenge (lol)
Have a great week, and until next time;)
Something happens to me when I read Robert Louis Stevenson. A loosening of my muscles, maybe. A happiness.
And now he will be forever linked with you. Thank you for that.
Fun painting! Have you ever thought of illustrating a children's book? Your bright palette would lend itself to it so well. Children have such wonderful imaginations.
Tessa, take me. I want to go. Right into that poem and into your painting.
Wow! I would love to go where this guy is going! Looks like one great adventure! Great patterns and colors.
ah i LOVE this poem..have done ever since i was a little girl...thanks! XXX j
Oh yes, in praise of imagination! Where would be without it - in a dull and colourless world fenced in by rigidity.
Imaginative and deeply soul-enriching. I loved this post! Many thanks.
Greetings from London.
Tessa I love these paintings you are doing with the bright colours. Stunning.
Thank you for reading that quote from Zora for me. When I read the book I don't even remember that but having you take it out of the book and stand it alone made it such beautiful poetry. Thank you.
You already know all of the wonderful things I feel about you. I am so happy that we have become friends.
Love Renee xoxo
Tessa, your observations and your choice of Stevenson's poem have transported all these friends above. Without imagination, we would still be living in caves, never ventured out of Africa and colonized the entire earth. We have evolved and are still evolving because of how we wish, we see in our minds, we create, we share our visions with each other. Our world was created by our imagination!
This poem brought back memories of being so little that the big book of poems I held in my lap was the length of my legs. Thanks for the memory! Stevenson was read to me often as a child.
Catherine
I love what you said here about coming attractions. Lovely post, poem and painting. Thanks Tessa.
Darling Tessa:
I'm like yeah you must. har har. Do a painting for me of those months. That is all I read and stopped there.
Nathan's birthday is tomorrow and every year since 2006 I was in treatment and always felt sick as a dog and would try to stay up (you know mothers) and end up in bed crying and feeling like such a loser.
I still have such a problem with that loser part. I am writing something about it all the time. And I know it is completly unreasonable. But what can I say.
Love you. xoxoxo
Oh gee! The site of the dead fish floating in the flood in Zanzibar must have been something else!
Variety is the spice of life. I believe it.
Here, with all our beautiful blogs friends, we're able to taste the lives of people all over the world. I love that!
A wonderful, funfilled illustration!!
ronell
it's beautiful - so sweet...sending a bear hug - can you feel it? - to my favorite blogger...xoxo
"knotty crocodile" is a layer-rich line. Some great detail in this poem: cocoa-nut, tigers, hunters...
Okay, so you are a Mental Ninja and I have an official label for you, come over!
Oh my GOSH, such an explosion of color here! I love this. I want to ride a beautiful, graceful giraffe, too. How fantastic would this be! Your world is so rich. And a glorious poem to equal a stunning piece of art.
Hi Tessa, this is a great picutre - your imagination is a very splendid and creative theatre indeed! And I love this poem, it's perfect for this time of a year when the weather is getting warmer and I'm more and more thinking about getting away...
Thank you for your comment on my blog! Polly x
I absolutely love this post Tessa. Not only is the illustration beautiful, the words that come with it is also thought provoking. Nice poem too.:)
Really Beautiful!
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