Absinthe, or The Green Fairy
Gouache, 4.5 x 4.5 inches, 2005.
One of the 'Drinking Girls' series of miniatures.
Absinthe, otherwise known as The Green Fairy, is a ludicrously strong drink with a bad reputation, drunk in large quantities by artists such as Van Gough, and Toulouse Lautrec. It was also reputed to have hallucinogenic properties, owing to the use of the plant Wormwood, a neurotoxin, it its preparation; though modern versions apparently contain little of this. I have taken a rather literal reading of the name for this picture, and in honour of the 70% abv of Absinthe (almost twice that of Whiskey) have made this little fairy the only one of my 'Drinking Girls' who is actually completely pished...
'Absinthe' or 'The Green Fairy' - painting by Nancy Farmer