getting ready for fall – blueberries
Another painting in my series! I could call the collection paintings to illustrate ‘within easy reach’ since each one was inspired by a poem in my book.
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Blueberries are probably my favorite berry to pick. This could be because every summer, when my family visited Nova Scotia, we spent a week at my Grandfather’s blueberry farm. I picked blueberries with cousins, siblings and parents. I was never very good at the task but my idea of picking is one for the bucket, two for the mouth, so I guess you now know why I love picking blueberries!
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This little painting was fun to do. I was inspired because I had just finished putting together freezer bags of blueberries from a big box we bought at McKay’s Wild Blueberry Farm Stand in Pennfield, New Brunswick (https://janetims.com/2012/08/04/blueberries/).
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The painting is 10″ X 10″, gallery edges, acrylics, painted with Ultramarine blue, Cadmium yellow, Cadmium red, Burnt sienna and Titanium white.
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August 20, 2016 ‘pick faster’ Jane Tims
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And, to accompany the painting, another sampling from the poems in my book ‘within easy reach’. My book of poems and drawings is available from my publisher http://www.chapelstreeteditions.com
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pick faster
for Dad
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blue ripens as morning, deft fingers
noisy pails, hail on metal gutters
this bush spent, unsatisfactory
berries over there fatter
bluer
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I am certain I see, beside mine
my father’s hands, callused
and quick
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berries roll between
thumb and fingers
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I try to meet
his expectation
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pick faster
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within easy reach, Chapel Street Editions, 2016
Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
My friend has a couple of blueberry bushes in her back yard. I’ve enjoyed picking (and eating) them with her in the morning. It’s amazing how many berries are on each bush. Your grandfather must have had quite a blueberry farm to keep so many pickers busy for a whole week! I love your poem and sweet painting…
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Barbara Rodgers
September 5, 2016 at 9:27 am
Hi Barbara. It was a family farm, so gave cousins spending money. I think lickers were engaged in late summer, earning by the box they picked. Blueberries for acres and acres. I remember the adults discussing the new ‘blueberry rake’ and how controversial it was!
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jane tims
September 5, 2016 at 9:38 am