Me and the nymphs - Tamzyn as a dryad in photoreal setting

 Anyone that sees my works can notice my fascination for the dryads. All of my life, they have been appearing in music I liked, books I read, stories I heard.

I remember reading Gustavo Adolfo Becquer's tale,"The Green Eyes", which inspires these images below, and felt fascinated by the mysterious nymph of the pond, that drowned the protagonist. She was the guardian of the forest,and the creatures that live there.

nymph pond dryad forest wood female faery fae female spirit goddess tamzene dubois1

"Eyes of an impossible color...¡green!" , says Fernando. Deep green eyes that are almost black, but you see their real color if you look closer, yet closer is more dangerous if your intentions are not pure.

Green as ivy, green as the waters of the pond:

"Do you see those plants with long, green leaves swaying at the bottom?.. They will give us a bed of emeralds and corals… and I… I will give you an unimaginable happiness, the happiness you’ve dreamed of in your delirious moments, which no one else can offer."

nymph pond dryad forest wood female faery fae female spirit goddess tamzene dubois gorgeous female portrait

Years ago, I also used to play Runequest, the RPG game, and an illustration in the game manuals got me instantly dreaming: it was a dryad, a woman whose bare torso and arms, and her gorgeous face, reached for the sun, while her lower body had the shape of a tree.

In other moments, I liked other dryad-themed things. There's also the song "A Forest", by The Cure. 


Robert Smith said in an interview that he was once in a forest and saw a woman, then he remained in silence, probably knowing what that woman was, so he preferred to not explain anything more. His deep culture in the literature of Romanticism probably inspired this song, that for me is clearly the story of a dryad sighting, just like Becquer's poem.


While there’s no direct evidence that “A Forest” by The Cure was specifically inspired by dryads, the song’s mysterious and haunting atmosphere could certainly evoke imagery of ancient forests and mythical creatures. Dryads, being tree spirits in Greek mythology, are associated with trees and forests, so the connection is plausible. The song’s lyrics and music create a sense of longing and otherworldliness, much like the elusive presence of dryads in the woods.

Dryads are goddesses of the woods. This image below is inspired both by the song of the Cure and the tale of Becquer:

nymph pond dryad forest wood female faery fae female spirit goddess tamzene dubois gorgeous female portrait

We see dryads in many paintings during several centuries, from Renaissance, to Romantic and Pre-Raphaelites. Here's the Waterbaby by Samuel Henry William Llewellyn:



Also, in PJ Harvey's song, "grow grow grow", I always read it in a double sense. One of the senses, feels like she is a dryad that is describing his life as a growth just like a plant:

"I sowed a seed Underneath the oak tree ...
Grow Grow Grow  ...
I sowed a rose Underneath the oak grove... 
Teach me, Mommy 
How to grow 
How to catch someone's fancy 
Underneath the twisted oak grove"



Another modern depiction in movies of these creatures is the movie "Lady in the Water", by M. Night Shyamalan. Very magical movie, that mixes reality and fantasy.


So that's enough for now. I end this post with one more of my images:

nymph pond dryad forest wood female faery fae female spirit goddess tamzene dubois gorgeous female portrait

Hope you enjoyed this post and excited your curiosity about these creatures that join the symbolism of fantasy, nature, femininity, and magic power.

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