‘Mock away! Mock! The Niblung makes for your toy! 1910

Arthur Rackham made this image of mocking figures with ink and watercolor, probably to illustrate a children’s book. I love the subdued palette here, kind of gray-greens and muted pinks, it feels like a dream you can almost grasp but not quite. Look at the way he uses line to create the figures and the landscape. It's all wiry and scratchy, as if he's drawing with a very fine twig. The lines remind me of the kinds of doodles I make absentmindedly, when my mind is elsewhere. The whole image feels alive. The texture is really interesting, too. You can see the strokes of the brush and the way the ink bleeds into the paper. It gives the image a sense of depth and atmosphere, like you could step right into this strange otherworld. It reminds me that art is never really finished, it’s always in process. Just like us.