UNION OF HEARTS

"not I love you because I need you but I need you because I love you." Unknown

Things that make you live longer... living in small spaces with the ones you love, a daily glass of wine, and seeing nature every day. This piece, A Union of Hearts, was painted as a pattern for wallpaper during the Arts and Crafts Movement at the turn of the last century. This movement led by William Morris and influenced by the critic Ruskin, was a response to the Industrial Revolution. It brought the much needed nature of British flora and fauna indoors to the walls of the masses. Both the organic imagery of this movement and the presence of public parks, greatly increased life expectancy.

So touch a leaf, draw a heart, drink a glass of wine and go sit in someone's lap. Who knows, if you do it daily, chances are you'll live a long, long life.

Union of Hearts, a water colour design for textile by C.F.A. Voysey, 1899. The design was used by Alexander Morton& Co. as awoven fabric and as a wallpaer by Essex and Co.

plate 58a, Parry, William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, Portland House, 1989

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_Movement