Monday, December 5, 2011

My Sweet Mother’s Rose Tree


Something hopelessly romantic from me again :-}

 
Almost every Hungarian folksong will open with a verse somehow relating to nature, and references to flowers or birds often allude to the girl being sung about. One of my favourite songs opens with the line: “My Sweet mother’s rose tree.” Further along in the same song the two lines that inspired this piece translate roughly as: 

“I would recommend for everyone, that dreams are better than love,
Because dreams bring you calm, whereas love is only heartache.”

Édesanyám Rózsafája
“Mindenkinek azt ajánlom, a szerelemnél jobb az álom,
Mert az álom nyugodalom, a szerelem csak szív fájdalom.”


I’ve happily become acquainted with a fantastic local band here in Győr called Arabona, who re-work a lot of traditional Hungarian folksongs when they perform, and this one really wrung my heart - like any good hapless romantic. When I am painting I always listen to music, and I find that often what I am listening to will begin to inspire the mood of the piece inadvertently. Quite often a line from a song will end up becoming the title because the two can no longer be separated for me. Whilst I was painting this one I was listening to Florence and the Machine, and another verse caught my attention that seemed equally fitting:

“No more calling like a crow, for a boy, for a body in the garden.
No more dreaming like a girl, so in love, so in love with the wrong one.”



I’m debating painting the shadow of a rose tree spreading out above her. But we will see. Hope you like her!

5 comments:

  1. reading this gave me tingles, that Florence song is so powerful. This is an utterly beautiful picture.

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  2. Monika, it's amazing, so adoreable! I promise, I'll sing for you more and more beautiful hungarian folk songs and what is more I'll dedicate this song for you on our next concert :) I'm so glad to meet you. Best regards, Niki

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  3. Beautiful drawing and you expressed the dreamy and romantic mood wonderfully!

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  4. I love it Monika ♥ both the painting and your inspiration behind it.

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  5. Splendid and so delicate! Her hands are so wonderful I can't stop looking at them. :)

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