Rosalind Ahmed

@21rosa.bsky.social

3794 Followers 2338 Following

Museums, galleries, medieval and Irish literature, folklore, poetry, botany, Cumbrian walks, Oxfam bookstores. Remainer trying to do the right thing in a world that's going/gone off balance. All 📸 mine, unless stated

🎨 'Gleaning' Arthur Hughes (1832–1915). A dark haired woman gathers overlooked crops in a harvest field studded with scarlet poppies
Also known as cuckoo pint, it has a bare, straight stem and glossy green berries that are now turning amber to red
✍🏻 Born in Cardiff, Gillian Clarke was National Poet of Wales 2008-2016. In ancient Welsh myth, Blodeuwedd was, much like Eve, created by magic for the satisfaction of a man. However, her heart, desire and will were bent towards another. For this sin of freeing herself from something imposed upon her, the maiden made from flowers is turned into an owl, a night haunter deprived of human company but returned to her element of the more than human 🎨 'Blodeuwedd; Flower Face' Christopher Williams (1974)
Surrounded by bright foliage and dark green ivy, this new-looking finger post is by an old stone wall
Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993)
Released on Christmas Day 1995, this animated version of the 'Wind in the Willows' includes a voice cast Michael Palin as Ratty, Alan Bennett as Mole, Michael Gambon as Badger, Rik Mayall as Mr. Toad and Vanessa Redgrave as the narrator
✍🏻'The Merry Wives Of Windsor' 📸 Stills from 'Robin of Sherwood' an HTV series & Saturday early evening Gen X classic created by Richard Carpenter for Goldcrest Films
A trio of yellow lights offset in the darkness over the misty fells, blue lake and neat row of boats.
📸 Saturday 25 July, 2026. North east side of Derwentwater, Keswick
A wintry night rendered in dark blue and white. The colours are reflected in the sprinkles of snow on the fir tree on which the grey-white owl is perched
The speaker in the haiku awaits the first sighting of the moon. In this painting, it is the time of the full moon and it is reflected in the waters. Although the colours are mainly cool, the moon and the lanterns reflecting it glow yellow and orange
A black and white kitten makes itself comfortable on a pile of colourful books in this watercolour by contemporary Japanese artist Yutaka Murakami (b.1957). Smooth gradients and soft edges are achieved by using the wet on wet painting technique
Classic Comics No. 12: Rip Van Winkle and the Headless Horseman (June 1943). On the bottom left, Rip looks alarmed, as well he might. Bottom right is a crabby looking cloud. While the black clad Hessian horseman replaces his head with a grumpy pumpkin, the Catskill dwarves and the miniaturised mariners' ghosts of Henry Hudson's crew tumble after him. Two types of ghosts, one folkloric figure, a mardy cloud + some competitive dwarves. There's a lot going on in Rolland H. Livingstone's comic cover art
Joan Crawford in "Mannequin", 1937
🎨 contemporary artist David Woodford
the longest promenade in the country on the northern tip of the Wirral peninsula in Merseyside 📸 October 2024
Albert Camus, René Lehmann, Emile Leon & Michel Gallimard on a boat, mainly wearing shapeless tan apparel & smoking tabs (the photo is of its time). All look appropriately idle
A pair of owls under a crescent moon. The landscape is backlit by orange and yellow tones
Awaiting wind dispersal against a blue sky and white clouds on an April afternoon
The cypher indicates that this post box hailed from 1910-1936
Hine's documentary photography and investigative journalism often endangered his own safety. He supported the end of child labour in the US and used his work to evidence its obscenity; those with vested interests whose own curled darlings wanted for nothing, at least not in public, were not impressed.
The French 'Legend of Croquemitaine' was written by Ernest Louis Victor Jules L’Epine and illustrated by Gustave Doré in 1866. Inspired by the tale and various artists' depictions of it, Daisy Makeig-Jones designed this bowl as part of Wedgwood’s Fairyland Lustre collection, which was in production from 1915-1929.
Photo taken 5 minutes ago!
📸 6 May, 2026 Sedbergh Cumbria UK
Buttercup glows in long grass. Evening sunlight in Elsdon, Northumberland
✍🏻 Thomas A. Clark 'flowering gorse bush' from the collection 'Yellow & Blue': two primary colours that are the basis of 2/3rds of the colour of earth's surface. In 1973, Clark co-founded Moschatel Press, named after the plant Adoxa moschatellina or Town Hall Clock. 🎨 Peregrine Mulvogue Feeney (1837-1913) was a Birmingham painter and bookseller, and author of a poetry collection. He was brother-in-law of painter John William Waterhouse, the Pre-Raphaelite artist. Known mainly for his coastal and scenic art, he was one of the circle of Birmingham painters attracted to the light and landscape of Cornwall. This oil painting 'Baggy Point, Devon (Landscape, Sark)' is undated. It depicts a clifftop path lined by yellow gorse bushes reaching to the blue sea
House of Commons library. Briefing Paper Number 06395, 11 September 2019. Readily available online
📸 13 May, 2026
An early nineteenth century mausoleum with its door hanging off. It has moss covered stone slabs (presumably from other old graves) in front of it to deter entry - and exit 😱 📸 March 2022
🎨 Costume design by Wilhelm (Charles William Pitcher, 1858-1925) for Mr Deane Brand as Nox in 'Dick Whittington'. The floor length tunic is midnight blue with bell sleeves and a starry pattern. The cape that covers it is iridescent and set off with a necklace of silver stars. The character sports a long, grey-brown, tapered beard and a Fu Manchu moustache. Could easily step off the stage and straight into a T. Rex song
✍🏻 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' C.S. Lewis (1949/50) 🎨 by the original Narnia illustrator, Pauline Baynes. This edition published by Harper Collins June 16, 2026. A little girl with dark hair wearing a blue dress has linked arms with a faun carrying a snow capped umbrella to shelter them as they walk through a wintery woodland towards the glow of a cast iron lamppost
Coco Chanel
🎨 William Andrews Nesfield 'Circle of stones near Tormore, Isle of Arran' (detail). This early 19th century watercolour shows the three remaining standing stones of Stone Circle 2 (there were originally 7 or 8 stones in this circle). Geophysics survey reveals new ancient circle at Machrie Moor https://share.google/CyyIA4M6seib4lvXN
📸 taken in spring. The wood sorrel has a chance to absorb nutrients relatively early in the growing season thus stealing a march on competitors!
The "little owl" (Athene noctua) sits on Athena's outstretched palm; goddess and bird gaze upon each other. Bronze statue on a wooden plinth
A woman shelters in cool, green shade; her thoughts are her own
The distinctive blue of the bridge over the river Tyne just now. Northern UK
1440 manuscript 'Tractatus de herbis' (Treatise on Herbs) also known as 'Secreta Salernitana' (Secrets of Salerno) kept in the British Library. A glum looking demon points at the pit as he retreats at the sight of the sacred plant
📸 Sunday 21 June, 2026
🎨 'Dancing With The Fairies' Arthur Rackham (1906)
https://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/discover-explore/places-to-visit/the-cheviots/linhope-spout/
🎨 'A Peepshow with Views of the Interior of a Dutch House' Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–1678). The piece is now in London's National Gallery
Art Nouveau style stained glass window in Accrington Library, designed by Henry Gustave Hiller (b. Manchester 1864; set up a studio in Liverpool in 1904 after studying under Walter Crane)