Artist of the Week - Natalie Reid

Another story that captured my attention was The Green Children, which Marry Waterson tells so beautifully in song, with the velvety accompaniment of Ben Nicholls on double bass and Barney Morse-Brown on cello. I am currently working on creating a collection of articulated paper dolls and illustrated scenery for Marry to use in the creation of an animated film. The tale is full of dark intrigue. A boy and girl are said to have been discovered in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk. Their skin was the green “of the early breaking leaf” and they “spoke a green language which the trees and flowers knew.” As the children grew, the boy died, but the girl adapted to her new life, growing whiter each day and forgetting her unknown language.

For me, there is a sense of loss and disconnection in this tale. The boy returns to the earth and the girl lives, yet loses her innate connection with the natural world, forgetting how to communicate with it. As climate change becomes an ever so imminent crisis in the 21st Century, perhaps fairy stories can help us to reflect upon and question our own relationship with nature.

Today, I sit in Heaton Park; a woodland and gardens, nestled in the urban space of Newcastle upon Tyne. I read some poetry by Modern Fairies artists Terri Windling, Sarah Hesketh, Patience Agbabi, Lucy Farrell and Fay Hield, whose gorgeous words are inspiring some new illustrations. A cacophony of birdsong erupts around me, as I watch chaffinch and blackbird busily prepare for new life. A mistle thrush rustles in the leaf litter. The cycle of life is ever present at this time of year and there is an unmistakable magic in that.

Nat.