Mumu In Reflection

Poetry has always delighted me, particularly descriptive verse. It was Robert Louis Stevenson's poem Escape at Bedtime that inspired this painting. It is one from his collection A Child's Garden of Verses, and one my mother used to read to me at MY bedtime. As she read it exciting starry images would float across my mind, and I used to beg her to read it again and again. Over the years, since those early inspirations, I made many little sketches to help capture the fragmentary ideas that came into my mind, to help me remember how very much I still wanted to Paint this Poem one day; to visually create the wonderful feeling the words gave me.

Lesley & Mumu's Christmas Wish

Now, at last, here it is: may I present my latest painting Mumu in Reflection, which for me embodies the spirit of the poem as I see it, and I hope may satisfy the imaginings of those many other people who love this poem too.

The simple message surrounds my design in four languages; Latin, Greek, French and English, conveying the meaning in words too, the timeless significance of gazing at the stars, whether looking upwards at the glittering ceiling of the fathomless depths of the galaxies overhead, or to ponder in awe at just a few reflected upside down in a pool of water.

This is only a small illustration, but it contains endless scope for deep thought. We cannot begin to understand all these wonders at once.

Take a Star at a time and see what follows. To pause to think is the first step.

My Christmas wish is always the same, that there will be Peace and Harmony all over this beautiful World.

Why isn't there?

It starts at home.

I am sure Mumu understands what she is gazing at so intently, to her it is all so simple.

She and I wish you, your families and animals at least a few memorable Starry moments to light you into the New Year.

In whatever language you choose, Avery happy and warm Christmas, and a Bright new year to you all.

Lesley and Mumu
 
Dec 2017

Let me remind you of Robert Louis Stevenson's poem:

ESCAPE AT BEDTIME

The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out
Through the blinds and the windows and bars;
And high overhead and all moving about,
There were thousands of millions of stars.

There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree,
Nor of people in Church or the park,
As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,
And that glittered and winked in the dark.

The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter and all,
And the star of the sailor, and Mars,
These shone in the sky, and the pail by the wall
Would be half full of water and stars.

They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries,
And they soon had me packed into bed;
But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes,
And the stars going round in my head.