I used to have a big poster of this painting on my wall when I was 16 and all I knew about it then was the caption said "Queen Mab". Many years later when I found it on the web it was entitled "Feeling Very Undancey Indeed," and when I researched it a bit more I discovered it was actually from Arthur Rackham's illustrations for J M Barrie's
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.
Ah, so
that explains why I loved the painting so much! I love J. M. Barrie~the world has lost way too much of its innocence these days. I work very diligently to hang on to as much of mine as I can~reading Peter Pan every few years is one of my favorite ways to accomplish this.
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| Queen Mab Tiara by Thyme2dr |
According to our beloved Mr Barrie,
dancey is how the faeries say they are happy...so
undancey is faerie-folk language for a wee bit dispirited or some such thing. It
is Queen Mab, and the reason she is feeling undancey is too long to go into here, but Dover Publications is issuing a new edition of the with Arthur Rackham's original illustrations next month, so you can go and read the story for yourself if you are curious:
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (Dover Children's Classics)
One of the things I love most about Arthur Rackham's illustrations of Queen Mab is the beautiful tones of ivory and burgundy that he used...it seemed only natural when I was asked to create a
wedding set in these colours that they should be named after the undancey faery Queen.
When I finished the tiara, I went to find the Undancey picture again and was delighted to see how much it the tiara looked like it belonged to her:)! I also made a hair clip, earrings, two necklaces and am currently working on a bracelet as well. They are my new personal favorites. These are for sale in my
Thyme2dream ArtFire .
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| Queen Mab Earrings by Thyme2dream |
