I don't remember the URL where I first saw the image but she struck me and I saved the file.
I fostered the growth of a shady corner, watching the grass morph to forest floor.
The soft, living soil fostered the growth of moss.
She seemed to embody this renewal of life. I dubbed her my Forest Goddess.
Using a metaphorical shorthand I began to rotate that image through my homenode when I sensed my friend needed a reminder that life does renew.
Winters, terror, war and loss. These things alter us over time. Healing scars form new shapes.
The Lost Gardens of Heligan were renewed and altered. Working Victorian gardens were restored and new creations added. Fashioned by a local Cornwall team the Mudmaid rises from the forest floor.
"Pete and I made some living sculptures for Heligan Gardens - a huge sleeping Mudmaid
and a Giant's Head. Just mud and sticks and Cornish plants."
It is fitting that the Forest Goddess and the Mudmaid are one and the same.
Moss holds water and creates forests. Forests hold shade and create moss.
Gathering Moss is a book of essays written by Native American, Robin Kimmerer. With words of science and love, mosses serve as her metaphor for life.
I think The Mudmaid is featured in the recently published book, Landscapes and Desire: Revealing Britian's Sexually Inspired Sites by Catherine E. Tuck, Alun Bull ... also fitting. At its best, sex is a renewal of life.
On and in piles of leaves and cushions of moss, life renews itself in strange and convoluted ways.
"Pete and I made some living sculptures for Heligan Gardens - a huge sleeping Mudmaid and a Giant's Head. Just mud and sticks and Cornish plants." Sue Hill
"She blinded me with science!" Thomas Dolby
"Words of love, so soft and tender, won't win a girl's heart anymore..." The Mamas and The Papas
"The Forest Gives Thanks to the Moses" Robin Kimmerer