trees of wisdom and beauty
These trees spark two emotions in me whenever I see them. First, that they show life and death, or different lives sitting side by side, thus evoking thoughts about the quantum nature of things. Secondly that (from this angle at least ) they offer some kind of mystery - what's just over that hill? This speaks to the imagination. Some people don't like winter. I do. I love bare branches on trees. They remind me that life (and death) are much more complex than I can imagine. I see all the seasons and all the possibilities in them. Every time I look at them. I have an indoors image that does much the same thing. It is my 'inheritance' from my grandfather, a picture I've known since my earliest days that now sits at the top of my stairs. It's titled 'The Corridor.' I can never tire of wondering what is just around the corner, which seems to be so much more interesting than what you can see. Loads of things in this picture have symbolism/connections for me on a personal level. The mirror (behind the woman's head) evokes the Arnolfini Marriage picture, which reminds me of times spent in art galleries - ah, the pictures I have seen, just one look into the mirror and I'm transported to a myriad of galleries from 'the past' - where my past meets with the past of artists. And the costume being (as I imagine it) early 19th century connects me back to my own love of the 19th century. These are the kind of people who feature in the kind of books I love to read. While I've 'progressed' in the past 40 years, shifting my interest from early to late 19th century, I'm still intrigued in all respects by what is just out of sight, around the corner. I'm not going to say it's where 'inspiration' comes from, but simply that looking at these things -art and nature - make me think and it is from the thoughts that my creative work comes. I've just checked and the picture dates from 1924 by an artist called Leonard Campbell Taylor (Oxford 1874-1969) I have no idea how, why or when it came into my family and haven't explored the background of the artist either. But one thing leads to another and you see how far the imagination can travel from looking at a couple of trees!
0 Comments
|
2019Stories and memories sparked by trees I have known and loved Archives
February 2019
Categories |