Back in 2024, I took two or three of the resulting logs I had saved to a skilled woodturner south of Chesterfield and he created two lovely bowls for me which I later presented to Ian on the occasion of his fortieth birthday. That had been my intention all along. I blogged about this here.
Getting back to the piece of bark. It had sat on one of the book shelves in my study for several months. It had vaguely crossed my mind that I could paint something on it.
I had never shown Ian the bark before.
At lunchtime today he was preparing to return to London with Zachary when I showed him the bark which had entirely dried out and also stood up stably on my shelf. I told him of my vague idea about painting something on it and immediately he said, "You could paint a tree!"
Yes! I thought to myself. Yes I could! In fact I could paint something resembling our lost horse chestnut tree. Not a realistic, photographic kind of picture but something more naive than that - as might befit a curled piece of bark.
And what is more, I am pretty happy with it. It was nice to paint on a natural surface that is not flat. Now I am wishing that I had saved more pieces of bark. But this was the only one and if he wants it another gift for Ian whose flat in London is, by the way, almost clutter-free. In that respect, he certainly does not take after his father.
What is behind the decision made to paint the inside and not the outside?
ReplyDeleteThe inner surface was smoother - much easier to paint on and I liked the idea of a bark embrace.
DeleteWhat a great idea to paint a tribute to the chestnut tree on the sole remaining piece of its bark! Nicely done too!
ReplyDeleteAs I know you have lots of artistic ability yourself Debra, I really value your kind words.
DeleteNow that is a very cool piece of art. We did the same thing...had bowls made and threw away the bark.
ReplyDeleteWell I am glad that I saved that one piece. It was never my intention to paint on it.
DeleteIt is a beautiful idea, beautifully done. A fitting tribute to and reminder of Ian’s tree.
ReplyDeleteSo kind Meike. Thank you.
DeleteI was going to suggest 'two boys playing Conkers', but your tree is v good. It looks like the one that was sawn down by hooligans.
ReplyDeleteBoys playing with conkers would have been a bigger challenge but a great idea nevertheless.
DeleteYou're a talented painter as well as everything else you do? The tree is lovely.
ReplyDeleteI know you always speak your mind Elsie so I cherish this comment.
DeleteI don't remember the post about the bowls.....must have missed it somehow. They are beautiful. Nice tree painted on the bark too.!
ReplyDeleteI picked up some fir cones on the Isle of Mull some 49 years ago, and when we got home they opened up and seeds fell out. I planted a lot of them and they grew.....we brought some of the very small trees with us when we moved south from Morpeth at the end of the 70s and they grew some more in the garden here. At some point they were moved to the edge of a friend's wood. They must be huge now. We called them S's trees as he was born 9 months after that holiday!! Sadly can't go to see as they are within someone else's property now.
Couldn't you ask them in a nice letter - and explain? You did the right thing - moving them to the edge of a wood where they would not bother neighbours when they grew tall.
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