'The Land where the Stories Grow'
illustration by Florence Mary Anderson
#OwlishMonday

Detail from the Art Nouveau gesso panels by Glasgow School artist Margaret Macdonald, c.1907 #WomensArt

One of Tove Jansson's lovely illustrations
for 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'
by Lewis Carroll.

#FolkloreSunday

‘A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws and a silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.’ ~ Walter de la Mare. #BookWormSat
📷 Edward Steichen, 1904.

Fairies' Whirl
by Arthur John Black

Aïda Muluneh, Ethiopian photographer and contemporary artist based in Addis Ababa #womensart

☁️☀️☁️Sun lore:
It was said to be unlucky to point at the sun, as the act was thought disrespectful.
If the sun shines on a liar, they cannot see its light or feel its warmth.
It will always shine on a Saturday, if only for a moment.
#FolkloreThursday #FolkyFriday #FolkloreSunday

'Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.'
~Sylvia Plath, Mirror

🎨William M. Paxton
#bookologythursday

'May Queen'
Pencil and watercolour study for 'In Fairyland'
by Richard Doyle, 1869.

#WyrdWednesday

Lily-of-the-valley is the birth flower of May. A legend tells of a nightingale’s enduring love for this flower, each year returning in May to sing to his belovéd, & ceasing when her flowers fade. For this reason the lily-of-the-valley symbolises the ‘return of happiness’. #MayDay

The coziest May Day celebration

Art by Emily Duffin

#Beltane , an ancient Celtic festival of fire & fertility, is celebrated on #1stMay . Faery magic is now at its peak, as the veil between the worlds is thin. The fae are very tricky, but iron or salt placed across the doorstep will protect your home. #MayDay #LegendaryWednesday

#Beltane is the Gaelic May Day festival marking the beginning of #summer
'Passage” (2007) by German installation artist Cornelia Konrads #womensart

'The Maypole Dance'
by Marcella Blood (1898-1983)

'The #Flower Maiden' by Annie French (1872-1965), Scottish painter, engraver, illustrator and designer associated with the Glasgow School of Art #WomensArt #April #Spring

Welsh folklore tells us that May Day Eve is one of three spirit nights (ysbrydnos) when the supernatural may be encountered.
Like Halloween, ghosts are abroad, and the best form of protection is to huddle around a bonfire.
Stay safe out there...
#MayDay #Wales #FairytaleTuesday

✨Casting a spell
by Charles Robinson