181 days into my year long making of a daily still life. The harbinger of Spring the Cowslip, with its beauty-enhancing qualities (creams and lotions from its flowers are said to smooth wrinkles and blemishes) is attributed to Freyja, goddess of love, beauty and fertility in Norse mythology. It’s told that the flowers represent the keys to open the door to her secret hall, and the treasure of inner knowledge. For this reason the flowers are often associated with unlocking secrets. There have also been many poems written about the Cowslip, I like this by John Clare:
The Cowslips.
The dancing Cowslips come in pleasant hours;
Though seldom sung, they're everybody's flowers:
They hurry from the world, and leave the cold;
And all the meadows turn from green to gold:
The shepherd finds them where he went to play,
And wears a nosegay in his mouth all day:
The maiden finds them in the pleasant grove,
And puts them in her bosom with her love;
She loves the ladysmocks: and just beyond
The water blobs close to the meadow-pond.
I've often gone — about where blackthorns stood —
And got the Bedlam-Cowslips in the wood;
Then found the blackbird's nest, and noisy jay
And up and threw the Cowslips all away!
