Posts Tagged ‘art’
glimpses of country life – drying day
For the last two weeks, I have continued on my stationary bike, touring (virtually) through the Cornwall countryside. Since I last reported, I have gone from Rinsey Croft to the coastal town of Prussia Cove. Since the road does not run along the coast, I have spent most of my biking miles travelling on short roads from the highway to various coastal towns. In this stretch, I biked for 150 minutes, and saw about 9 km of the Cornwall countryside.
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As I bike, I love seeing the vignettes of country life captured by Street View. Gates, of course, and stone walls. Cows and horses grazing in the meadows. People hiking along the roads and working in their gardens. And a line of washing, hung out on the line to dry.
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September 7, 2014 ‘drying day’ acrylic 20 X 24 Jane Tims
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Reminds me of home.
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
dry gourds
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string of dried gourds
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dry gourds
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shake
bottle and swan
goblin egg and warted
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absorb the rhythm
the rattle of seeds
in their shells
varnished, on a chord
between cupboards
strand of amber
hardened with hanging
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a nudge in humidity, the least
damp, breath
or sigh, softens
vibration, appreciation
of percussion
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August 31, 2013 ‘squash on the vine #3’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
along the pond
On my stationary bike last week, I travelled (virtually) along the Cornwall coast from the mouth of Loe Pond to Rinsey. During the week, I biked for 90 minutes, and saw 11 km of the Cornwall countryside.
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The first day took me from the mouth of ‘The Loe’, along the pond to just west of Porthleven, in Shadywalk Wood.
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from the beach at the mouth of Loe Pond to Shadywalk Wood (map from Google Earth)
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The beach is a wide crescent of endless sand …
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August 16, 2014 ‘beach at Loe’ Jane Tims
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The path along ‘The Loe’ is narrow, tree-lined and shady. I saw lots of hikers and fellow bikers, but not a single car.
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a typical part of the path along ‘The Loe’ (image from Street View)
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August 16, 2014 ‘along Loe Pond’ Jane Tims
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Biking along a shady lane, with no worries about traffic, thick ferny woods to one side and the sparkle of a pond on the other … a lovely way to ponder the days of summer …
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
a return to Cornwall and its gates
I am back on my virtual bike trip along the coast of Cornwall. This week I have travelled 9 km from Predannack Wollas to Loe Pool for a total stationary cycling time of 75 minutes.
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I have missed the Cornwall scenes of hedgerows and meadows, stone houses and seaside quays. Mostly I have missed seeing the gates, so it is no surprise my first watercolour for this phase of my journey is the stone pillar to a private gate.
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August 12, 2014 ‘stone post’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
remembering place – Grade Four, part one
School-wise, Grade 4 was a fragmented year. I began the year in Medicine Hat at Webster Niblock Elementary. And then my family moved to a new community forty miles away, and I completed Grade 4 in the school there.
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Webster Niblock Elementary School front yard
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I have lots of memories of Webster Niblock. First, there was the walk to school (red path in the aerial photo below). On one side of the road were houses, but on the other side of the road was prairie. Today there is a row of houses on that side of the street, but in 1963 the prairie was undeveloped and raw to its very edge. I was not allowed to wander on the prairie by myself, or to take a shortcut to school. Later my Dad told me he was always afraid of rattle snakes when we lived in the west. But I could see the plants that grew at the roadside.
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my route from home to school
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I still remember the orange-red Prairie Mallow, also known as Scarlett Globemallow (Sphaeralcia coccinea), and the Prickly-pear cactus (Opuntia) with its grape-like berries. At the corner where I turned from Second Avenue to 11th Street (blue star) was an expanse of pineapple weed (Matricaria Discoidea) – I don’t remember picking or smelling them … to me, they looked like a miniature forest of pine where tiny people could walk. I think my interest in plants must have begun during those years, encouraged by my Mom who knew the names of all the flowers.
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I also remember specific conversations with my best friend Laureen as we walked to school, including the disagreements we had. I remember that we talked about my moving away. We decided we would write letters to one another and we laughed that we would probably carry on our childish fights in those letters.
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Another place I remember well is the ‘courtyard’ where we played at morning and afternoon recess (yellow star). Spinning tops were all the rage and my Dad made me a wooden top from an empty spool of thread and a matchstick. We also played marbles and I always lost.
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It was common practice to bring a ‘recess’, a treat to eat at the morning recess break. My Mom usually sent a small square of fudge wrapped in wax paper or part of an apple. When a new little girl joined our class, my Mom, who wanted me to make friends, was determined I would be nice to her. Every day Mom sent a ‘recess’ treat for the little girl. And every day, I would run up to her, shove the treat into her hand and run away. I was generally shy and I don’t ever remember of saying a word to her. I often think about her – today she is a woman of about sixty years who may, from time to time, remember a peculiar child who used to bring her a square of fudge every day and run away.
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Webster Niblock Elementary School rear yard (we played with tops in the area by the red post at the corner of the school)
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
back to Cornwall
Although I have done some stationary biking since I ended my virtual trip across northern New Brunswick, I want to get back to the regular schedule I followed when I biked virtually in France and Cornwall. So I have decided to hop back on the Street View road and see some more of Cornwall.
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In Phase 7 of my virtual cycling, I finished the southern coast of Cornwall at Landewednack and Lizard. I’ll begin Phase 9 at Predannack Wollas and cycle around the west coast of Cornwall. I’ll look forward to seeing Arthur’s Titagel and Doc Martin’s Port Isaac. Mostly, my knees will benefit from more regular exercise.
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Predannack Wollas to Porthleven
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I have my first four days plotted and I start tomorrow. Just for old time’s sake, here is one of my earlier paintings from southern Cornwall …
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
aromatic spring
November 9, 2011 ‘Peltoma Lake’ Jane Tims
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meadow aromatic
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ozone lightning, late
waters cede, shoots
of cattail merge
end of day, end of June
fireflies, mosquito nights
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lake-land meadow seeps
wetland meets nostril
marsh musk percolates
half sour, half sweet
methane ooze, decay
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damp fiddleheads unfurl
bird beaks simmer
in duckweed soup
skin of salamander, frog
steeplebush, meadowsweet
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angels crave human years, allow
their pores release, scent imitates
reek of sweat, of work
tears mingle with perfume
aftershave and powder
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Oct. 9, 2011 ‘Reeds and reflection’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
writing weekend
This weekend, I will be attending WordSpring. WordSpring is the annual spring meeting and workshop of the New Brunswick Writers’ Federation. I will be reading some of the poetry from my ‘harvesting colour’ manuscript and I will get another eye on part of my novel at a Blue Pencil Café.
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Preparations for the weekend made me think of a poem I wrote after the workshop in Saint Andrews a few years ago …
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October 9, 2011 ‘Moon through the trees’ Jane Tims
encounters
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on a windy night
in Saint Andrews, a toad
hop-toddies across the road,
bewildered
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and on Prince of Wales, a deer
pauses on the sidewalk, stares
up the hill, and I hesitate
before driving on
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in the Algonquin, a light
switches on, in the room I know is mine
and a couple huddles on the open porch,
and leaves, mottled, skid
along the street
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
harvesting colour … lily of the valley
Now that green is the dominant colour outside my door, I am anxious to try dyeing with every plant I see. I was particularly anxious to see if I could coax colour from the Lily of the Valley crowding around my walkway.
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leaves of Lily of the Valley and Wild Lily of the Valley
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The green leaves in the photo above are from two different plants, the smaller single leaves of Wild Lily of the Valley (Maianthemum canadense) and the larger furled Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis). The larger Lily of the Valley produces a dye with seasonal qualities – dark green in spring and yellow in fall.
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‘pips’ of Lily of the Valley
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The rolled emerging leaves of the Lily of the Valley are called ‘pips’. The pips squeak as they are collected. I think they want to be left alone!
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Lily of the Valley leaves in water
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I cut the leaves into one inch pieces and left them for an hour to simmer in water. I added some iron to the mix, to serve as a colour modifier – a square-headed nail, a railroad spike and a rusty horseshoe. The water was pale green at first, but as it began to cool, it became a dark, almost black, green …
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dark dye from Lily of the Valley
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Once the water cooled, I strained the liquid and added the wool. After bringing it to a boil, I let it cool gradually – wool hates sudden changes in temperature …
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wool roving, treated with alum, in the dark Lily of the Valley dye
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The resulting colour was dark grey. I also did a vat without the addition of iron and the result was a slightly paler grey.
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dark grey of wool roving dyed with Lily of the Valley
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This is my last dyeing experiment with Lily of the Valley. All the parts of the plant are poisonous with compounds known as glycosides. Ingested, these compounds have an effect on the heart and can cause fatal circulatory, gastrointestinal and respiratory problems. If you are a fan of the TV show Breaking Bad, you will know that Walt used Lily of the Valley in a scheme to kill one of his enemies.
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Although I took precautions, doing the boiling outside and disposing of the liquid in the woods, far from our well or the stream, I was not comfortable working with such a poisonous plant. While the water was boiling, the smell was thick and noxious and my mouth had a metallic taste all day. I was jittery before I went to bed, convinced that breathing the vapours would be the end of me. I am fine today, but I don’t recommend using Lily of the Valley as a dye. The dark grey colour obtained is not worth the risk. And the lovely scent of the Lily of the Valley flowers is the plant’s first, best use.
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2013 ‘lily-of-the-valley’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
still painting Cornwall gates!
After completing ‘iron gate in Cornwall’ for Isaac’s Way Restaurant’s art auction, I decided to paint a gate just for myself. I liked the small watercolour I did for my first Isaac’s Way auction, so I have painted a version of the scene in acrylics.
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First, the watercolour, 8″ X 10″, unframed …
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January 10, 2014 ‘rainbow gate in Falmouth’ Jane Tims
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And here is the new painting in acrylics, 20″ X 24″ unframed …
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May 22, 2014 ‘rainbow gate in Falmouth #2’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
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