Category: this is where i am from

week 12 in my  “this is where i am from” year long project:

(click the image for a larger view)

Growing up in a small town in the 70’s afforded even a very small person considerable geographic independence. It was a reckless time when children rode bikes without helmets, were unrestrained in cars and open truck beds, cigarette smoke was everywhere and loosely supervised by an older sibling or absorbed into the roaming neighborhood pack – one could be out of sight  and earshot of adults for considerable stretches of time and at considerable distance without causing concern. Hennessey’s grove was a favorite place to play, past the house next door and headed up the hill, the forest got thick and deep. A wide path opened and if you followed it you came to the grove – a shady, pine needle covered clearing concealed from the street, industrial size, limb crushing, wire spools everywhere. They were intended as picnic tables for grown up gatherings but irresistible as playthings, fun to roll and ride and climb on and it’s a miracle we all emerged with fingers, arms and legs in tact.

For next Wednesday’s post I’m going to follow one of the little paths on the far side of the grove: one trail led down a steep hill and further into the forest through purple trillium (skunk flower) and wild rhododendron to a weird little pond and the other led to Mr. Hennessey’s rhubarb patch.

week 11 in my  “this is where i am from” year long project: A little more progress on my depression era dump painting.

( you can click the image for a larger view)

And thanks to Laura from Duo Fiberworks for sharing this link  to an accidental terrarium she found with her son.

week 10  in my  “this is where i am from” year long project:

I’m working on the depression era dump painting, it took some frustration and some hours for me to figure out I was going to have to take my time with this. The place is such a rich and vivid memory for me I want to express it as fully as I’m able. It’s slow work that I’m very happy doing.

I indulged in my favorite paints – lascaux – and a cradled gessoed board. I haven’t invested in good painting supplies in a long time and it’s such a pleasure – I love the texture and flatness of the lascaux.

I’ll share this little detail with you today – the leafy forest floor and some lovely old junk poking through – and I’ll probably post a little bit of  progress on instagram later this week.

week 9  in my  “this is where i am from” year long project:

I’m working on a painting of the little depression era dump next to Ginger’s barn. The sketch below is of one of the treasures you might find in that spot –  an accidental terrarium – a jar or bottle or even just a piece of glass that has become a mini greenhouse – a winter home to growing  things – foggy and misty and otherworldly inside.

It is a magical thing to come upon on a cold brown winter forest floor.  You can see some examples of accidental terrariums here , here and here and if you have found one I’d love to see. I’ve almost finished the charcoal sketch on the board I’m going to paint on. Besides the little terrariums there is lots of marvelous old timey junk, the  stone wall that went impossibly on and on and the dancing sumac trees with their strange velvety red bobs, leaves gone for winter.

This is the beginning of a map of the territory of my childhood. I’ve begun pretty much in the middle – our little red house with the barns behind, The house across the street and the house next door. The hill behind the house across the street was a forest of huge red pines. The dried amber pine needles carpeted the west facing slope and it glowed in the afternoon. The house next door had a grove of sumac trees behind ( upper right of this map) and past those trees, next to Ginger’s barn, was a depression era dump – a little one. Bottles and jugs, buckets, upholstery springs, ancient roller-skates, piggybanks and broken china – everyday things from a long time ago all rusty and ruined,  waiting to be excavated by curious children. It was my childhood deadhorse bay and one of my favorite places – I’m going to zoom in on that spot for next week.

This week I’m sharing a couple pages from my sketch book for this project – backyard flowers:

new winter jacket – watercolor and colored pencil

A lot of my memories are in square format and slightly overexposed.  My mother took pictures with a Yashica – A manual camera.  There was a shoe box full of photos I loved looking through over and over.  I loved  seeing my world rendered (instagram style apparently!) and I loved seeing the world that preceded me.  I’m intentionally not working directly from photos but I have vivid memories of some of them. She had a particular spot she liked to plant us in for pictures so I see myself  and my siblings there- in Halloween costumes and new winter coats and  white first communion dresses. There is one I remember particularly well – in a brand new winter jacket, fresh snow on the ground and the paths to the little barns and clothesline neatly  cleared. I must have been 10 or 11 – approaching the height of my geekdom.

the old well – pencil drawing

I loved the places that were home to lot’s of little creatures – the swamps, streams, stone foundations and this old well at the edge of Hennessy’s Grove. If  you were still and  looked long enough you were likely to see a salamander tail slipping into a crack or a garter snake poke out of a crevice. It had a heavy cover on it  and I don’t think I ever saw inside but I loved wondering what it might be like,  imagining driping and plinking echoing in the magnificent depth and strange  pale creatures living in the dark, wet murk.