Archive for October 2013
the colour of October #2 (Tansy yellow)
So many colours! The orange of the big pumpkin on our doorstep. The reds and yellows of the Red Maple leaves in piles under our feet. The bright white of the moon this month. The golden colour of the needles of the Tamarack now falling with every breath of wind.
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The colour that has inspired me this week is the yellow of Tansy (Tansy vulgare L.) still bright along the road in Fredericton. The flowers are like brilliant yellow buttons.
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I couldn’t duplicate the colour with the yellows in my watercolour palette, but after layers of alternating yellow and white, I have realised how wonderful the yellows of nature really are!
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October 27, 2013 ‘Tansy’ Jane Tims
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In a month’s time, the bright yellow heads of the Tansy will be black!
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
writing a novel – still editing
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Title: unknown
Working Title: Saving the Landing Church
Setting: a writers’ retreat, including an abandoned church
Characters: main character Sadie, a writer; her husband Tom; people from the community
Plot: the story of how Sadie tries to win over a community in order to preserve an abandoned church
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Still editing.
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I am on Draft #7 of my novel. In this draft I am going chapter by chapter through the whole novel to look for opportunities for improvement:
- I need to make sure I am showing, not telling. Instead of telling the reader that Sadie is afraid, I try to show the reader her fear, by writing about her accelerated heart rate, her dry throat, how her shoes seem stuck to the floor, and so on.
- I need to be sure I not only describe how the scene looks, but also include the smells, the sounds and the tactile experiences.
- I am still looking for words I repeat in consecutive lines, a hard-to-break habit of mine …
One of the tools I have constructed to help me with fine edits is a chart about the characters. I have character sketches (in both words and drawings) for each person in my novel, but it is tedious to refer to these over and over. So, I constructed a table with the important details – how old the person is, what they look like, and so on.
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Especially helpful is a list of the words he or she uses. For example, Sadie says ‘dinner’ for the six o’clock meal. Her husband says ‘supper’. Sadie uses the word ‘graveyard’, while most of the local people say ‘cemetery’.
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I have 44 characters in my book, including both major, minor and dead characters. This is probably too many, but it is a book about a community. Here is my table for a few of my characters:
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| Character | Occupation | Nickname | Characteristics | Age in 2005 | Words they use |
| Sarah Hatheway | writer | Sadie | Plain, thin, oval face, short brown hair | 42 | Bed and Breakfast; silly; retreaters; dinner; graveyard |
| Tom Hatheway | welder | Sadie’s husband; strong, short grey hair, pale | 48 | B & B; hey girl; clients; supper; graveyard | |
| Oliver Johnston | minister | 42 | graveyard; supper | ||
| Emma Southkind | homemaker | Keeps a journal; solid; yellow purse; curly grey hair, gentle | 59 | cemetery; supper | |
| Mark Southkind | retired train conductor | 60 | cemetery | ||
| Katherine Birch | writing coach | Kitty | Language a bit coarse | 62 | graveyard; dinner |
| Alexandra Connelly | student | Tall; long brown hair | 16 | supper | |
| Joe Connelly | accountant | Alexandra’s dad; widowed; tall | 45 | graveyard |
gates and wirescape (day 38-40)
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On Day 38 to Day 40 of my virtual bike trip along the Cornwall coast, colourful houses and storefronts caught my eye …
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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7-38 October 8, 2013 25 minutes 3.0 km (Penopal to south of Mylor Bridge)
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As usual, I also loved the gates I ‘saw’ along the way. The gate below, on the road to Mylor Bridge, had shaped posts. When I painted them, however, they looked like milk bottles, so I squared them off. I took other liberties with this one as well …
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inspiration for ‘gate on Carclew Road’ (image from Street View)
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October 12, 2013 ‘gate on Carclew Road’ Jane Tims
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7-39 October 11, 2013 35 minutes 3.0 km ( south of Mylor Bridge to Mylor)
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The houses in Mylor Bridge are quite colourful, so I stopped to paint this row. Painting the wire overhead takes a steady hand and concentration …
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inspiration for ‘houses in Mylor Bridge’ (image from Street View)
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October 12, 2013 ‘houses in Mylor Brdge’ Jane Tims
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7-40 October 13, 2013 30 minutes 3.0 km (Mylor to Flushing)
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More colourful houses caught my eye as I ‘biked’ along the Penryn River near Flushing. The purple pigment would not cooperate so the tumble of flowers ended up red in the painting! …
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inspiration for ‘dooryard in Flushing’ (image from Street View)
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October 14, 2013 ‘dooryard in Flushing’ Jane Tims
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The scene below is from somewhere along the streets of Falmouth, just across the Penryn River from Flushing. I loved the colourful houses and storefronts but after I had painted the scene, I could not find the image in Street View. I wonder what the woman in the painting would think if she knew she was the star of my Blog today! …
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October 14, 2013 ‘side walk’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
writing a novel – plotting the change
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Title: unknown
Working Title: Saving the Landing Church
Setting: a writers’ retreat, including an abandoned church
Characters: main character Sadie, a writer; her husband Tom; people from the community
Plot: the story of how Sadie tries to win over a community in order to preserve an abandoned church
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In writing and editing my novel, I have had to turn my attention to the plot, again and again.
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Last November, when I started to write my novel, I learned quickly – stories usually are built on the concept of change.
- the main character wants something (a need)
- The character sets about trying to fill the need and is thwarted at every turn
- In the end, they either fill the need or they don’t
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During the story, the main character must be altered in some way.
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this is my main character, Sadie … how will she be changed during the novel? She does look like she could use a hair salon …
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As my novel has progressed, I have realised that Sadie not only wants the church, she wants the church with the blessing of the community
How does Sadie change? Her understanding of the community and her attitude towards the community changes. She realises that ‘community’ is a necessary component of the church she wants so badly … without the community, the church is just a hollow building …
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To make certain my main character is changing and growing in the right direction, I’ve plotted out her understanding, her attitude and her progress with respect to the community …
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This excerpt from my writing journal will make no sense to you, but it shows that I write to make the novel and the characters progress towards an end. If I encounter something in the plot (or the subplots) that does not fit, I look at it again and rewrite or reorder events …
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If you write short or long fiction, how do you make sure the plot is always moving in the direction you intend?
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
fields and ferry crossings
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7-35 September 30, 2013 35 minutes 3.0 km (north of St. Just in Roseland to ferry across River Fal)
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The thirty-fifth day of my virtual bike trip left me scrambling for an image to paint. I biked over miles of country road and although the countryside is lovely, I couldn’t seem to find an image that ‘spoke’ to me. In this end, I chose a tree along the road to Philleigh. Greens are so difficult for me – I couldn’t seem to achieve anywhere near the yellow hue of the greens in the photo …
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inspiration for ‘countryside near Philleigh’ (image from Street View)
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Oct. 3, 2013 ‘countryside near Philleigh’ Jane Tims
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7-36 October 2, 2013 35 minutes 3.0 km (ferry across River Fal to Feock)
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Ferry crossings are always fun. The Ferry across the River Fal didn’t look very different from the crossings here in New Brunswick …
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the blue flat-decked boat is the ferry … and look at the big ship just up river (image from Street View)
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I especially liked the house where the ferry docked on the west side of the river – lots of flowers and stone …
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September 27, 2013 ‘flowers near River Fal’ Jane Tims
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7-37 October 8, 2013 25 minutes 3.0 km (Foeck to Penpol)
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If the thirty-fifth day of my travels was mostly fields, the thirty-seventh was mostly trees. I love the circular ‘tree tunnels’ formed along the Cornwall roads when the hedgerows are pruned. In this interpretation of one of one of those archways, I decided not to paint a single individual leaf …
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inspiration for ‘road tunnel near Penpol’ (image from Street View)
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October 3, 2013 ‘road tunnel near Penpol’ Jane Tims
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Along the way, I often ‘see’ enchanting gateways. I particularly like the gates with stone post like this one near Feock …
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October 4, 2013 ‘gate near Feock’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
the colour of October #2 – Red Oak
Our leaves have reached the ‘world on fire’ stage. We took a drive along the St. John River to our cabin yesterday and were immersed in reds, oranges and yellows. I particularly like the Red Oak leaves. They lag behind the Red Maple – some are still green. But a few younger trees show vermillion and orange and purple to rival the maple.
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October 12, 2013 ‘Oak leaves’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
mudflats and hedgerows
For eight months now, I have been encouraging myself to exercise by pretending to cycle far from home. I use Street View in Google Earth to explore the countryside in parts of the world where I have never been except in imagination. From January 30, 2013 to June 28, 2013, I cycled virtually in Central France, from Lusignan to Ile de Ré. Since July 1, 2013, I have been following the coast in Cornwall, beginning in Rame. In each post, I have presented Street View images I have ‘seen’ along the road. I have also shown you the drawings and watercolours inspired by the images.
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Change is always refreshing to me, so I am going to alter the way I report my bike trips. In part I am doing this in order to be able to do more posts in my ‘colour of the month’ series and about writing my novel. I might also return to posting some of my poems.
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In each post, I’ll report on one or more of my days of exercise, and I will show you the drawing or watercolour and the Street View image that inspired the art. I hope you enjoy comparing the ‘real’ image with my artistic interpretation.
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map showing distance travelled for day 32 to day 34 (map from Google Earth)
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7-32 Sept. 24, 2013 40 minutes 3.0 km (Portscatho to Bohantha)
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South of Portscatho, fields are separated by hedges and rows of mature trees. I loved this view of trees against the blue water of the Atlantic …
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inspiration for ‘row of trees south of Portscatho’ (Image from Street View)
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September 21, 2013 ‘row of trees south of Portscatho’ Jane Tims
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7-33 Sept. 28, 2013 35 minutes 3.0 km (Bohantha to St. Mawes)
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My virtual bike trip on September 28 took me along the Froe River at low tide. The brown mud dominated the scene and reminded me of some of the areas around Moncton, New Brunswick where we have huge differences between high and low tide and spectacular carved mudflats …
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inspiration for ‘Froe Creek’ (image from Street View)
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September 19, 2013 ‘Froe Creek’ Jane Tims
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7-34 September 30, 2013 30 minutes 3.0 km (St. Mawes to St. Just in Roseland)
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I continue to be enchanted by the way the roadside vegetation is managed in Cornwall. There are strict rules about how and when to trim the vegetation of the verges (the area between the hedge and the road surface) and the hedge. The Cornish roadside hedges are unique in having a ‘stone and turf’ structure. The hedge is basically a stone-faced earth bank, The vertical face of the hedgerow is populated by ferns and flowering plants. On top of the hedge is turf or a shrubby hedgerow. This area is often occupied by oak and other mature tree species.
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The resulting environment provides habitat for wild life species, including the wild flowers that have been a delight along every bit of my virtual journey. When vines occupy the face of the hedge, it means the hedge has been cut back too severely.
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For a fascinating read, have a look at the leaflet ‘Cornish Hedge Management For hedges adjacent to highways’ at http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=13777
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inspiration for ‘road near St. Just in Roseland’ Image from Street View)
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September 26, 2013 ‘road near St. Just in Roseland’ Jane Tims
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I hope you have enjoyed this part of my virtual journey. Please let me know what you think when you compare my watercolours with the images that inspired them.
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
sea side bright 7-31
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Portscatho on the Cornwall coast is a village of bright white houses and views of the sea …
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As in most of these seaside villages, there is public access to the shore …
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and a place to stroll along the waterfront and watch the boats at dock …
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If my bike trip was real instead of virtual, I would ask the owners of the patio below if I could sit and watch the ocean for a while …
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Best View: a shed, covered in vines, near Portscatho …
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September 15, 2013 ‘shed near Portscatho’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
the colour of October #1- Virginia Creeper
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Our Virginia Creeper comes from a shoot I collected along the banks of the St. John River over 30 years ago. It grows on our power pole. Some years it makes great progress and gets to the top of the pole to grow along the wires. Other years it struggles to gain any hold at all after damaging winds, or if the power company decides it needs cutting back. The last few years it has grown into the neighboring bushes. As a result, my lilacs seem to have mutant leaves and turn scarlet when the other lilacs are a sickly yellow.
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This year the Virginia Creeper leaves are shot with holes from the same insect infestation plaguing them last year.
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October 7, 2013 ‘Virginia Creeper’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
finding places to grow 7-30
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Stone walls are a common site in the coastal towns and villages of Cornwall. On today’s virtual bike trip, I noticed how plants find growing space in the crannies and crevices of these walls …
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plants growing in the nooks and crannies of a stone fence (image from Street View)
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Vines also take advantage of stone surfaces and climb over stone shed and houses until they take the shape of the building they climb on …
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vines take on the outline of a house (image from Street View)
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In a maritime climate in particular, lichens often find a place to grow on rooftops or on stone surfaces. Orange-amber lichens have established themselves on the roof and walls of this grand house in Trewithian …
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amber lichens on stone and roof (image from Street View)
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Three interesting names today … Treworthal, Treworlas and Trewithian …
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Best View: shadowed road on the way to Treworthal and a gate near Trewithian …
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September 14, 2013 ‘road with shadows’ Jane Tims
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September 14, 2013 ‘afternoon by gate’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
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