These stiles sadly bothered Odille. 1911

Arthur Rackham made this fairytale scene, "These stiles sadly bothered Odille," with ink and watercolor on paper. It's easy to imagine how this image came into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. Odille, a woman with a fancy plumed hat, struggles to get over a stile, a kind of rustic fence. We can sympathize with Rackham’s Odille. What was he thinking when he made it? Her face is partially obscured by shadow as she strains to lift her heavy skirt, and her slight smile indicates she's taking the inconvenience in her stride. The trees in the background are rendered with thin, transparent strokes of brown ink, while the fields are a wash of pale yellow. Look closely, and you can see the delicate touches of color in Odille's dress and hat. Rackham uses a limited color palette to create a sense of depth and atmosphere. Artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. We can understand painting as a form of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty.