Eco Dwellings

By Philippa Rice
thejuzzard.blogspot.com
thejuzzard.etsy.com

When I first looked through Philippa’s drawings of weird little houses in “eco” surroundings, I thought that they looked like buildings that tiny elfs (elves?) or fairies (faeries?) would live in. “How cute!” I thought. “Look at all the gigantic flowers, the houses made in mushrooms, it is so adorable.”

And the houses are adorable! They are something I wish I could find at the bottom of my garden. Entire villages made in the branches of trees, rope ladders leading from one house to the next, plants growing from the rooftops. It’s sort of like somewhere I’d like to live.

However, as I kept looking through the drawings, they became increasingly sinister. While I somewhat doubt this was Philippa’s intention, page after page of drawings of completely empty cities became sort of creepy. Where did all the inhabitants go? Were there always so many plants and flowers growing in these towns, or did they just spring up after months, or years, of neglect?

Some of the later drawings look like they could have buildings that have cracked open and are otherwise falling apart. Are they supposed to look like that or am I just creating additional decay with my mind?

The drawings are still lovely, but I can only wonder what happened, why the towns were seemingly abandoned so that only the occasional snail, bug, or strange bear creature were left to roam them, and where the inhabitants went.