Hello! I’m Tamzin, also known as Rusticus Mus.
I’m an artist and illustrator with a love of British nature and the British countryside, using intricate ink drawings combined with rich colours to show nature and the countryside as I see it, vibrant and full of stories.
My aim for my work is for it to always be a celebration of the wild nature that can be found here in Britain, of the seasons, and of our connection to the land.
I believe we are all a part of nature, not separate from it.
I also have a fascination with the stories that we have connected to nature over time. The symbolism and the folklore, the myths and the legends, the customs and traditions. The way we mark and celebrate the seasons and how we relate to the land around us.
I create all of my original artworks by hand, using materials and methods that have been practised, in one form or another, for centuries mixed with more modern pigments and tools. Each piece can take a long time to create but I enjoy the process of making something slowly and with care, in a busy, fast-paced world I think slowing down and paying attention is important and joyful.
Over the years, my work has been selected for juried exhibitions and private commissions. I’ve contributed to collaborative creative projects and designed album artwork. A few people have even chosen to have my designs tattooed on them which is a strong expression of trust in my work and a very permanent and wonderful compliment!
My artwork has also been sold to private collectors and customers all over the world.
The Story of The Rusticus Mus
The name comes from Aesop’s fable, The Town Mouse (Urbanus Mus) and The Country Mouse (Rusticus Mus).
One day the town mouse decides to visit his cousin, the country mouse. The country mouse makes a simple meal and the town mouse scoffs at such basic fare and invites the country mouse to the city to enjoy all the fine treats the city has to offer.
They go and dine on the finest foods but soon their feast is ruined by the appearance of a cat which forces the cousins to abandon their meal and hurry back to the mouse hole. The town mouse explains that the cat killed his mother and father and that he is often targetted too.
At this the country mouse decides to return to the countryside to enjoy a simple, peaceful life.
There are many versions of this story, in Henryson’s The Taill of the Uponlandis Mous and the Burges Mous the two mice are sisters.
Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse is another version of it with the visits reversed, so the country mouse visits the town mouse, they get chased by the cat and go to the countryside. In the countryside the town mouse is frightened by the rain, the cows, and the lawnmower, showing that tastes differ and neither is right or wrong, it’s down to preference.
This Rusticus Mus
I am very much a country mouse, although currently stuck in a city and yearning to be back in the countryside.
I have always been surrounded by nature, I grew up in the beautiful British countryside, and that experience has shaped the way I see and understand nature.
As a child, I spent a lot of time outdoors, walking country roads and bridle paths, playing in fields and brooks, meadows, woodlands, and forests, and noticing the changes in the seasons.
I loved pineapple weed, cleavers, and rose hips, finding ladybirds, helping hedgehogs, and picking blackberries.
Nature has played a big part in my life ever since and has always felt like a part of daily life rather than something distant or other. It is in my heart and in my soul, so it is only fitting that it is in my art too!
