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!