You might well have encountered the image of the “Green Man”. It is common to find, particularly in very old churches in this country, carved into the stonework, images of human heads with foliage emerging from the eyes or mouth or nose. These are generally known as images of the “Green Man” (technically, as “foliate heads”.) I’ve been interested in the possible interpretation of these for a long time, and not long ago I did a series of paintings which I have exhibited in Lincoln Cathedral. In a few days’ time I take them down to Worcester for a second outing. This time there will be a difference.
I have spent some time wondering why these carvings are invariably only of male heads. Why might it be possible (or perhaps not) to portray a “Green Woman”? If there were to be such an image, what might it signify? In general I have been attracted by William Anderson’s description of the Green Man as “the archetype of our oneness with the earth”? I have been pondering over the possibility that an image of the Green Woman might point us in the direction of a different kind of “oneness” …. a different relationship to the earth.
Playing with this idea (or rather, this question) I have finally produced a picture which attempts to portray a Green Woman. Having finished it I am still not certain what it can claim to tell us. It is sitting on the easel in the studio now, where it will remain until I go down to Worcester. Apart from anything else I am looking forward to some response from the viewers of the exhibition. Its will not be the first time on which I have had to wait for the public to discover what one of my pieces means.*
Incidentally, I am already aware that the most significant difference between my image and the traditional renderings of the Green Man, is that my Green Woman has hands. Well, at least there is something on which to start reflecting.
*Whereen I have had the opportunity to get a decent quality photograph I will probably display it elsewhere on this website.