Rima Staines
Les Bonnes Fees Staff
Based in the UK, Rima was born near the end of the last century to"wonderful creative p arents who gave...[her] an inspiring upbringing…".
Rima studied a BA Book Arts & Crafts at the London College of Printing where she learned bookbinding, printmaking and letterpress as well as starting on her path towards illustration. But, despite all the studying, she says she has "learned far more from growing up in an artistic household". She recently posted on her blog about her 
parents and at the same time managed to give a further insight into her fascination of the stories or art found in people, words, wooden things, as well as her love of the medieval and "wonkiness" in general.
Despite her obviously strong talent, nurtured and refined with both
formal and informal education, Rima is still quite humble, still striving to develop as an artist, and setting her parents as one of the standards she wishes to approach in her life.
And, of course, we asked Rima all about her love of fairy tales—
On her love of fairy tales
"Once upon a time ... I was born to wonderful creative parents who gave me an inspiring upbringing and my father told us fabulous invented tales of a fox, wolf, squirrel and mouse and wheelbarrows full of buttons, ghosts in tree trunks, haunted belfries, gypsies with crossbows, exploding porridge, underground tunnels, disappearing doorways, cake-stealing, kindly witches in caravans, clockwork rabbits, skeleton chases and many more off-the-top-of-his-head wonders every night.
"As I grew older I realized that for me, everything was a story, and that stories were very important indeed to people everywhere and everywhen. I love to read old stories that have come from an oral tradition, and changed over the centuries. I love the strange and frightening bits that have in recent years been swept under the carpet. And I love to see childrens' faces when they are wrapped completely inside a story being told to them."
A favourite fairy tale
"I'm very fond of the Mossycoat stories, where this version of Cinderella becomes an earthy creature covered in hair to hide from her fate" and "loves the bohemian devil tales, where Old Nick is outwitted by clever peasants with ingenious plans."
And her favourite fairy tale artists?
"Arthur Rackham and his wonderful lines and washes go without saying, also Lizbeth Zwerger who I would rate alongside Rackham with her exquisitely dancing watercolours that purvey such feeling. Another artist whose work I love is Gennadij Spirin - a Russian artist who has illustrated many Slavic tales with his wonderful almost Brueghel-like marketplaces of people and medieval colour palette. I could go on…"
What about inspiration?
In terms of her inspiration, our cover artist finds people an inspiration "their faces, their stories, their sadnesses and their lives." She continues, "Stories of course play a huge part in inspiring my work too, and my visual world is nestled within some old strange tale. I am influenced mostly I think by the work of my parents who are sculptors, as well as the wealth of inspiration to be drawn upon in Medieval history, European folk art, puppetry, East European animation, and all kinds of music. And I always draw encouragement from fellow artists of all disciplines who are very much creating their own worlds."
How does she create a piece?
She doesn't usually have a story in her mind in any concrete way,
unless specifically illustrating a story. "When I begin, I have a loose idea for an image and then the characters make themselves known to me as I draw. The story within it then belongs to the viewers who see the finished piece and can unravel in it whatever they care to imagine."
The process Rima engages in when bringing her work to life typically flows from ideas floating around in her head for some time before they reach the paper. The ideas that excite her the most materialise first. After this Rima sketches a little, but likes "to trap the freshness of a new drawing within the actual piece" and so leaves "most of the nitty gritty of the creating to that stage, also often reworking and overpainting."
What media does she work with?
Rima works "with oils and watercolour", liking them both "for different types of painting". Working with oils, "she likes best to "paint on old chunks of wood, breadboards and such… [finding this] slower more layered painting process than with watercolour [suits her] unhurried nature…Watercolour is a more recent discovery for me and I love the unpredictability it offers. I can enjoy the pencil drawing within these paintings more. I don't think I approach watercolour painting like I am"supposed" to at all, never having been taught it properly!"
With memories of curls of wood, sculptures and carvings surrounding her childhood, it's only natural that Rima "makes things with wood sometimes - wonky automata-like creations, with stories inside, and these are always ancient and battered-looking."
She's just started to move into stop-motion animation, too, the first
"being a dark Hansel & Gretel like tale in the forest" which was
created for Polly Paulusma's song "The Woods".
Watching the video, it's easy to appreciate Rima's art,with its touch of the "wonky", "visually haunting", and "mysterious" weaving together a story and general feel of the song. So it's not a surprise that along with "tiny stiff paintbrushes with about three hairs, propelling pencils, nice wobbly paper, cracked pieces of wood" Rima lists music as one of her favourite tools.
Is art a learned or an innate ability?
"I think that some kind of artistic flair is there for some when they
are born, and either squashed or nurtured by upbringing and/or
schooling. Creativity has something to do with the way we look at the world around us, and a desire to express that seeing and the feelings it evokes in us. The way it comes out has to do with the particular disciplines we are exposed to as we grow. However I believe strongly
that artistic "ability" is a skill that can be learned, just like a language or a musical instrument.
"There exists an opinion amongst some that you are somehow hit by a lightening bolt of creativity when you make a painting, and that there is some lazy mystery involved in being an 'artist'.
"But making something beautiful by the learned skill of your hands is a struggle and a journey that produces an object which people can respond to spiritually. If the desire is there within you to express visually a feeling that you have, the "tools" needed to do that can be taught."
Any advice f r other artists?
"Know and follow your own story, practise your craft diligently, never stop learning, and make a nest where you can nurture your own world."
So if you see a Bedford van rumbling along a road in the British countryside or stumble across a cottage on the heather-filled hills of Scotland…and a flock of carefree sheep…you might have just passed by a
traveler and creator of many fantastical worlds, the artist, Rima Staines.
You can see (& purchase) Rima's work from her etsy store or drop in to her website and read about the latest tales of adventure and inspirations of her
life
All images above are copyright Rima Staines and are used by Les Bonnes Fees with her permission.