the fox and the crow

My ‘fox and crow’ dress began as an ‘Odin’s Ravens’ dress. I handmade the dress from blue linen that was gifted to me by my Aunt Jeanie. It’s a medieval-style kirtle dress that I designed a couple of years ago, and have been modifying with each new version that I make. My plan was to paint a tall tree on the front, with branches twisting around to the back where there would be two ravens perched. I tend to let my instincts lead me, so when I felt pulled to paint one crow, instead of two ravens, and a fox - that’s exactly what I did. It wasn’t until I started sketching that I remembered the fable about the fox and the crow. I pulled out my old copy of Aesop’s Fables and read the story, that I hadn’t read in ages. It swept me away to my wondrous childhood.

What a noble bird I see above me! Her beauty is without equal, the hue of her plumage exquisite. If only her voice is as sweet as her looks are fair, she ought without doubt to be Queen of the Birds.

At the last minute, I painted a book at the hem of the dress, hidden in one of the gores resting in tall blades of grass. It isn’t Aesop’s book though, as you might imagine it would be, it’s The Faerie Queene, by Edmund Spenser. I’ve been wanting to read this epic poem for quite some time and thought that if I painted it onto a dress, I would surely have to read it! And read it I will!