Posts Tagged ‘mythical dragons’
art auction – update
At the end of January, 2015, I published a post about the 23rd Art Auction now being held at Isaac’s Way Restaurant in Fredericton, New Brunswick ( https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/art-auction/ ).
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Isaac’s Way organizes three auctions each year, each raising funds for children’s charities in one of four artistic areas: dance, art, music, and theatre. The art is sold by silent auction to raise funds for kids-in-need. Since 2007, the auction has raised more than $92,200 !
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The new painting is an acrylic entitled ‘outside-in’ (24″ x 20″, unframed, gallery edges). It is a painting of a dragon guarding a terrarium, based on a photo posted here ( https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/one-small-green-world/ )
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The painting ‘outside-in’ was fun to do. The outside has been brought inside in many ways – the mosses in the terrarium, the wood of the table, the vines, the fern pattern on the curtains. And yet, the dragon turns to gaze out the window (sometimes his eye looks at ‘you’). I used four main colours – Chromium Oxide Green, Burnt Umber, Titanium White and Phthalo Blue – and touches of Phthalo Green, Cadmium Yellow and Quinacridone Magenta. To give shine to all the glass and wood in the painting, I used several layers of a tinted glaze.
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The more than 60 art pieces on display at Isaac’s Way will be for sale until May 24, 2015 ( http://isaacsway.ca/art/ ). This auction will sponsor MUSIC lessons for kids.
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Issac’s Way also has, for auction and sale, paintings created live during Fredericton’s recent winter festival, Winterfesthiver ( if you are on Facebook, just look for Winterfest Art Auction 2015 ).
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I am so proud to take part in this worthwhile project.
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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
small green world
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As I gradually put away my Christmas decorations, I am a little sad about disassembling the vignettes I created – a group of carolers skating on a mirror pond, a serene stable scene, a lighted Christmas village.
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To see me through the rest of winter I have created another small world in a glass cloche, a moss and lichen garden under glass. I picked the moss before the first December snow and it has done well for a month. The moss leaves are bright and there is new growth on some of the lichen tips. The terrarium even has its own little climate and ‘weather’ – days when the glass is clear and dry, and days when the glass is foggy and you can see a faint mist among the mosses.
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I love the ‘green-ness’ of this miniature world. Green mosses, sheltered by the green leaves of my Lipstick Vine (Aeschynanthus lobbianus) and guarded by my green, four-clawed Chinese dragon. Green candles.
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While the world outside is cold and white, I have this tiny green world to remind me – spring is only weeks away.
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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
watching for dragons – on paper
As you will know if you follow this Blog, I have been learning to work with watercolors this summer. So far, I have painted from views associated with my virtual adventures in France and England. But today, almost against my will, two dragons popped out on the paper. They are also determined to appear in this post, so here they are, along with a dragon I did in soluble colored pencil back in May.
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May 2013 ‘dragon #1’ Jane Tims
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July 20, 2013 ‘dragon #2’ Jane Tims
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July 20, 2013 ‘dragon #3’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
a dragon on a wall – biking log book Day #9
I am continuing with the third phase of my virtual bike trip through central France. For Phase 3 of my trip, I am biking in 12 days from Exireuil to Magné just west of Niort.
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Log Book: March 5, 2013
Area travelled: from ‘outskirts of Niort’ to ‘edge of Niort’
Distance: 30 minutes 3.0 km
Notes: only three more days to go on my virtual trip to Magné!
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Distance Travelled Feb 21 to Mar 5: 27.0 km (270 minutes of stationary biking)
Total Distance Travelled Jan 30 to Mar 5 : 58.8 km (595 minutes of stationary biking)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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On March 5, I finally made it off the train track and entered the city of Niort. It is a neat city with lots of one-way streets, enclosed yards and lots of greenery.
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As in many cities, there were lots of interesting sights to see. I grabbed a bottle of Perrier to drink as a Perrier truck passed by…
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Perrier truck (image from Street View)
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I saw a school yard where the children seem to have hung up their artwork to dry on a line between two trees…
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school yard and art hanging on the line (image from Street View)
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I was able to visit yet another Pâtisserie… yummmmm!
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patisserie (image from Street View)
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I also saw what looked like remarkable graffiti on one fence, a rendition of a dragon…
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dragon wall (image from Street View)
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wall dragon
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he peers from under
a fall of vines
growls at the passing cars
ignore him
fueled with their own
bellyfuls
of fossil fire
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closeup of dragon wall (image from Street View)
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Best View: a charming enclosed yard in Niort
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Do you think the homeowners had the dragon painted on the wall, or was it ‘noncommissioned’?
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Copyright Jane Tims 2013
keeping watch for dragons #8 – campfire dragon
Late summer is the time for campfires. We have to be careful, of course, to make sure there is no risk of forest fire and campfires are permitted. But on an evening when the fire index hotline says OK, and we have a small stack of wood beside the fire pit and a bench for sitting, there is no better way to pass an evening.
Campfires are great places for telling stories. They are also good places to dream and remember. A campfire means getting smoke in your eyes, so the images can be a little blurry. You can watch the sparks lift from the fire and ascend into the dark night. The question is, are they also watching you … ?
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campfire dragons
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dragons prowl
in balsam
back crawl in amber
blisters of pitch
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dragons lurk
under mantles of smoke
blacken the stones
spurt throatfuls of fire
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dragons leap
to the Drago sky
watch us grow small
with sparking eyes
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close their lids
and sleep in flight
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© Jane Tims 1998
keeping watch for dragons #7 – Bog Dragon
Some dragons like to live in bogs.
When we were in Nova Scotia, near Peggy’s Cove, imagine my delight when I found, among the Pitcher-plants, a species of the orchid family, Arethusa (Arethusa bulbosa L.), also known as the Dragon’s Mouth Orchid.
Arethusa loves wet, boggy conditions. Among the greens and reds of the low-lying bog, it surprises a visitor with its splash of pink. Even the Pitcher-plants in the photo above look a little over-come with the beauty of the Dragon’s Mouth!
This orchid has a complex flower, with three thin flaring upper petals, two in-turned petals guarding its ‘mouth’ and a lower lip with yellow and white fringed crests.
Arethusa is named after a Naiad in Greek mythology. The Naiads were nymphs associated with fresh water features such as springs, wells, fountains and brooks. Nymphs, like plants, were dependant on their habitat… if the water where they lived dried up, they perished.
Perhaps a Bog Dragon is also absolutely dependant on the water held within the bog!!!
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Bog Dragon
Arethusa bulbosa L.
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naiad
masquerades as dragon,
claps her hands across her mouth,
sorry to have spoken –
her voice, her pink, her petals
lure them,
their large feet and tugging hands
too near
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© Jane Tims 2012
keeping watch for dragons #5– river dragon
It’s like getting an old song stuck in your head… I am now seeing dragons… everywhere.
Yesturday, as I crossed the bridge on the way to my work, I saw the piers of the old bridge and their reflections in the water. To me they were the protruding plates along the spine of a river dragon, resting in the water.
Have you seen any dragons lately?
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river dragon
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eight bevelled piers
(only remains of the old bridge)
idle in still water, reflections rigid
plates along the spine of a spent dragon
lolling on his side
taking a break in the river
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© Jane Tims 2012
keeping watch for dragons #4 – a dragon overhead
Have you ever had a raven fly directly over your head? If so, you have heard the rhythmic compression of air, too intense to have been made by feathers…
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a dragon overhead
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a raven flies over
thrashes the air
percussion of dragon wing
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© Jane Tims 2012
keeping watch for dragons #3 – beechwood dragon
This time of year, the only leaves still clinging in the forest are the dry, golden leaves of young beech trees. Every drop of moisture has been withdrawn and the leaves rustle and whisper in the woodland. Something about the way the wind moves through the leaves, and catches the sound of their tremble, makes you wonder…
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beechwood dragon
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scales rattle
as he tiptoes through the thicket
peeks between the trees
wingwebs transparent
armoured in gold
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© Jane Tims 2012
keeping watch for dragons #2 – house dragon
You have to keep your eyes open to see what humans down the ages have seen. The trick is to be awake to the metaphor. And to cheerfully allow confusion of reality and myth.
Although I have seen many dragonflies, I have never seen a dragon. Or have I …?
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House Dragon
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a dragon disguises
herself as our house
icicles drool from her eaves
smoke from her chimney
her scales age grey
and her nostrils
breath us
in
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© Jane Tims 1998
detail of 'stone marking property' Copyright Jane Tims 2012
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