flannel

I've neglected this blog lately but I have been working and travelling. My Tree Project continues. I have returned from spending an early spring in Sydney, Australia. What I loved was the ebullient, optimistic blossoming of the season. In short weeks flowers burst creating shimmering varnish over the landscapes.

Actinotus Helianthi- Flannel Flower 

blossoming through trees

After bush fires the flowers can be particularly profuse. The black skeletal trees are flooded by Flannel Flowers. 

burnt trees

the song of grey tree frogs

Grey tree frogs singing: my enduring memory of fading days and summer evenings while in residence. I was artist-in-residence at Weir Farm National Historic Site in Connecticut for the turning of spring, when everything burst in optimistic green. The trees exuded leaves that grew darker daily.

The Pond Path, Weir Farm

I live in an urban environment, being in rural Connecticut was both challenging and a reminder of what is really important: the sun, the rain, trees and wild plants creating chaos and disorder. There is something incredibly special about waking early and walking out where the deer have just left their marks, becoming aware that the landscape around me is shared, the rotund groundhog owns it as much as I do.

 

the pond at Weir Farm 

Studio Weir Farm National Historic Site

It felt like a bucolic rural idyll of deepest greenness. Of course there were the mosquitos and deer ticks, my own difficulties adjusting to life without the city, the huge MacMansions around me posing as cottages- the park is a little island surrounded by seriously expensive real estate. Being a temporary part of a national park is a privileged position. The park was my own out-of-hours and I had the feeling of being in a museum with no guards. I had three weeks of constant drawing while leaving the preoccupations of home: my art focus sharpened and I felt new again.

Mysore Fig

I'd like to say that I am still working outdoors but I confess I retreated inside one of the greenhouses. I have been drawing a Mysore Fig that has grown rampant and is extending to the roof. Definitely inside the tropical part of the three climate greenhouse is the place to be. However this winter continues to be mild temperature-wise. I have managed a brief watercolour session out in the botanical gardens. The huge storms coming over do mean that watercolour proves to be a challenging medium.     

Mysore Fig

banana plant from the same greenhouse

banana plant again

tea

A New Year and while I can I am enjoying the strangely warm weather. I was working in the Hortus Botanicus today. The investigative project on the life and death of trees continues.

Dusk at the Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam

I could claim my head was full of lofty, creative thoughts but the reality was I spent quite some time dreaming of a nice hot cup of tea. 8 degrees C is not particularly cold but not exactly the sort of temperature for working outdoors and after being immobile for an hour my fantasy did not extend beyond hot beverages. There is something profoundly grounding to work outdoors, to feel the temperature, the wind, to try to grab seconds of sunshine and to focus on essential things like drawing and tea.

"hints of … perfection…."

Sometimes returning to familiar environments can be both reassuring and energizing. I have Swiss family and since I was 3 months old I have been visiting Switzerland. To start my New Year I spent a few days in the French speaking part.

view from the Chateau of Prangins

The weather was astoundingly mild. The sky blue and the view of the Lake of Geneva was beautiful, I know it has hints of chocolate box perfection but this is a special view of the Alps and from this distance they are like lace edging to the sky. They are hiding their more grey, foreboding nature.   

Trees at the entrance to the Chateau

My obsession with trees continues despite having a day off and visiting the Chateau de Prangins- one of three National Museums of Switzerland.