A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie – Albert Bierstadt (detail) // Lofoten Island – Lev Lagorio // Rosenlaui – François Diday // Mount Elbrus in the Clouds – Nikolai Yaroshenko // Storm in the Mountains – Hermann Ottomar Herzog // Sierra Nevada – Albert Bierstadt // Rocky Mountain Landscape – Albert Bierstadt // Inkpot Gods – The Amazing Devil
Flowers are often used as a metaphor for the female characters in the Apothecary Diaries. And for the first time, we, the viewer, are given the direct comparison to which flower is meant to represent Maomao: wood sorrel (also known as “cat’s foot”).
It’s a flower that can treat poisons. A flower that is used to enhance the beauty of the courtesans by painting their nails. A flower with a name associated with cats. A flower that, in hanakotoba, represents maternal tenderness. It’s also one of the flowers that Lakan specifically associates with Fengxian, and by extension, Maomao herself.
In the first opening—aptly titled, “Be A Flower”—the wood sorrel is the only flower that gets special attention. The other flowers are shown together with other varieties, but only the wood sorrel is shown by itself, and more than once.
We see it again in the second opening, with an infant being held by a parent, while flitting between images of Lakan and Fengxian’s backstory.
It’s such a simple flower, too. Small, unassuming, but full of diverse uses and qualities, be they medicinal or ordinary. A very fitting flower for Maomao, and what she brings to the story.
I had Spotify on shuffle, got possessed by the spirit of shower day and ended up with this. (I haven’t drawn a human in a minute, that’s what getting a degree does to you)
Wheat Field with Cypresses – Vincent van Gogh (detail) // Roses – Vincent van Gogh (detail) // Farmhouse in Provence – Vincent van Gogh (detail) // Wheat Field with Cypresses – Vincent van Gogh (detail) // Farmhouse in Provence – Vincent van Gogh (detail) // Wheat Field with Cypresses – Vincent van Gogh (detail) // The Starry Night – Vincent van Gogh (detail) // Battle Cries – The Amazing Devil
"And you rip my ribcage open and devour what's truly yours"
Here we are, dear hearts, at the first truest anniversary of the release of The Horror and the Wild. An absolute masterpiece of an album that teaches us that we are capable of not only great fury and sadness, but beauty and kindness as well. I really looked into the meanings of flowers for this one, incorporating poppies, marigolds, and yarrow. Flowers that can represent anger and hurt, but also remembrance, passion, and healing. Anyway, here's my tribute to That Unwanted Animal by The Amazing Devil.
[View all my other embroideries inspired by The Amazing Devil here]
Jaskier and Geralt finally making it to the coast in season 3 but with Ciri and Yen as Plus Ones is akin to making plans with your lover on a cross-country road trip at 20-years-old only to achieve said plans two divorces and three children and a mortgage later in your early 50’s