Revisiting

There are so many ways to travel to different places. Sometimes you go yourself, sometimes you read about a place or view friends' photos or video. Perhaps you've been there before or perhaps not.

Although I have never met Sherwood Harrington, I consider him a good friend because we share one experience - spending time exploring Birr Castle Demesne in County Offaly, Ireland and we've share various aspects of that special place. Before I went to Ireland in 2008 I found Sherwood's site presenting his views of The Demesne. It was these photos that prompted me to write a proposal to obtain funding to produce a series of works about my interpretation of the gardens.

Sherwoord and Diane went back there this summer and his recent post details a special project he undertook while there. I am very honoured to have a small part in it. The photos are quite spectacular.

If I could go back

As I come to the end of my series "Reading a Garden" I've been thinking about my whole stay at Birr Castle Demesne which was that experience that prompted the creation of this blog. I wanted to publicly chart my progress as I created the series and to use my writing as an opportunity for personal reflection. As time went by other art work and interests began to creep into my posts. I'm now wondering how the blog will change as a result of this natural conclusion to two years of garden work. I'm at another pivotal point in my career as I wait for the next focus to overtake me. I have a feeling I am not finished with gardens yet.

The Bothy

Blogger Sherwood Harrington and fellow Bothy inhabitant, gets to visit the Demesne again this summer. He asked if I could go again what would I bring back. Now I'm thinking even harder. It's a case of now that I've done it, I know how to do it. I assume he doesn't mean a physical object!

There are many things I would change about how I absorbed the property from a personal and artistic viewpoint. Here goes in no particular order:


I missed the lilacs and poppies, both flowers I love; therefore, I would want to change the time of my visit to correspond to blooming times of my favourite plants . That would mean going before the end of June as I did.


I would document my time in the garden in more detail, especially my personal reflections about what I was feeling and observing. Since I've begun to work on the series I've had many moments of "I wish I had..."


While I took a lot of photographs, I would take different ones on another visit. One area of interest is close up views of textures which is where my new work seems to be headed. Surfaces of rocks, vines, flower petals, earth, moss - the overlooked and intricate.


I've also thought about all the secret spots there are in the garden. Those kinds of places that we would seek out as a child to hide in or place small treasures. I would like to have a photographic reference file for these "hidey holes".



The wildflower meadow was beautiful. On another trip I would hunt down a good wildflowers of Ireland reference book and become better acquainted with the names and descriptions of specific flowers. Comparisons with the flowers in the meadows around my summer house could lead to interesting combined works based on both places.

I would also spend time in the furthest outreaches of the Demesne. I think I missed quite a bit of the wilder side of the property.

One of the greatest aspects of my blogging world is the online friends I've made. I had no idea it would be this way when I made my first post.

Giganteum

One of the huge attractions at Birr Castle Demesne is the Red Tree Trail which is a marked collection of 50 trees of distinction. The small guide book, The Red Tree Trail: 50 Trees of Distinction was kept with me during my reflections and roamings. My rebellious nature didn't allow me to follow the trail sequentially; I liked to come upon a tree by chance and then find out more about it. I missed some, but I believe I found the ones that were important for me to know. After returning home I explored some of the trees in more detail.

One of my followers and fellow Birr Castle Demesne dweller, Sherwood Harrington illustrated the trail in great detail through photography here. This collection of trees is like a globe trotting experience which takes you from Mexico to China in several hours of walking.

I've represented the trail with two very different works in my series. My magnolia painting was posted early in my blogging. My latest is of this tree first sighted during one of my early morning bench reflections.

Where I come from trees don't get this big. For a better sense of it check out Sherwood's Sequoiadendron giganteum (giant redwood) .

Sequoiadendron giganteum which comes from The Sierra Nevada range in California is now efficiently conserved following reduction in the species by the lumbering industry.

It was introduced to Ireland in 1855 and the best specimens have grown to 40 m high. It towers above the vegetation around it and can be seen across fields and hedges. I imagined it as a garden lighthouse. Standing next to it made me feel very insignificant.

After running through many ideas about how to best represent this stately tree, I resorted to this composition. Different I know from the amount of obsessive detail in my other pieces. This is mostly textured collage and acrylic paint. Little painting occurred except for the sign which I've done four times and decided it is now perfect (which it isn't). The piece also references the scientific focus of the Demesne owners who for centuries were involved in the collecting and cultivation of new species of plants and trees.

A special view

It is difficult to roam around a garden and ignore benches. The artful gardener knows just where a bench is needed and why it should be placed there. There is a control element in garden design and benches in particular can be used to order a garden visitor's experiences.

Benches can be beautiful and functional at the same time. There's no limit to the materials used to create them; twigs, metal, wood, stone, tree stumps, ceramic and even more obscure materials make bench construction interesting and a bit of an art form.

Some benches are tucked away, waiting to be discovered, others sit in the open or in wild areas where you would never expect to see one. A garden bench calls out to me to sit and view my surroundings. It's a seated perspective and a long view. Because you take time and you are closer to the ground your observations are keener. Your pace is automatically slowed and your mind follows suit. In this freed state the world around you is ready for your approval. Contemplation and reflection are invited. I had plenty of opportunities for this type of viewing during my two week stay at Birr Castle Demesne. Because I sat and wrote on different benches every day, my journey through the gardens is tied to them.

This bench marks the beginning of my two week reflection .

Early morning, it is cool and quiet and there is dew on the grass. (Believe me not the date and time on the photo!) The gardens are not yet open to the public. I hear the distant hum of a machine and the wood pigeons are sending up their usual chorus. My travelling companions are fast asleep in The Bothy and the world is mine to explore.

Sun's out but it is still cool. We've been out travelling about the countryside but through it all I long for my reflection time.

I can still conjure up how I felt on these benches and now I've begun nine small 8 x 10 encaustic works for my show that will represent this section of my experiences "Reading a Garden". There's much more to come on this topic.

Birth of a series

Sherwood's response to my last post," I think that body of work has already begun, Margaret -- with this post itself! " was very perceptive. I've already begun to tease out how my interest in trees will evolve form my current work for Reading a Garden. When I start a new focus I have several things I consistently do to immerse myself in the exploration at hand. Some of these processes happen concurrently. How I work is definitely influenced by my past years as a teacher who believed strongly in the development of background knowledge to improve understanding. I know some of you will think this is all very obsessive, but it works well for me.

First, I brainstorm a huge bank of words connected to the topic. I never sensor any word that comes to mind. If it is remotely connected to the topic it goes on the list. Leaving my responses wide open encourages depth and breadth in my thinking. I continue to add to my brainstormed list for many weeks/months as I explore other areas related to the topic.

When I move into the second stage of preparation - wide reading on the topic- I can procrastinate forever. I never feel my understanding is deep enough. Right now I'm looking at the symbolism of trees/forests in art, history and literature. This is usually the stage where I convince myself I need to buy new reference material to expand my understanding. My self control over buying new books is improving. I now try the local library, second handbook stores, friends' collections and on-line used book stores. Every now and then I have a good reference before I start. We'll see how long I stay in this learning stage.

For anyone who has read my blog from the beginning, you know I use my photographs as a way to broaden my understanding of a topic I am interested in. Right now I'm culling all my photographs that reference trees in any way. Once these are placed together, I begin the process of sorting and resorting all the while keeping notes in my Trees journal. This is one of my favourite ways to find my way in my work. I don't know about you but I take photos intuitively. If it speaks to me I never question why. I just shoot and wait for it to become important. The sorting and resorting helps me see the themes I am interested in. I also follow several photography blogs. Looking at other artists' photographs provides me with fresh ideas. I look for ones I am attracted to and then record why. This is not about technique or composition, It's about what content draws me and why.

Concurrently, I begin to look at how other painters, sculptors, instillation artists have explored this topic in their work. I don't do this to copy other artists' work, rather I want to get a sense of where what I am interested in fits with what is being created by contemporary artists.

My focus on trees has really begun in my Reading a Garden series but I expect it to expand beyond this series. I've already created several works that I will re-post here. Several others are in various states of completion. I guess I've already begun to say quite a bit about the trees I came across during my two week stay on the Demesne.

Screen(2009) 24 x 10 in. mixed media on board

Hidden(2009) 24 x 10 in. mixed media on board

Entangled (2009) 24 x 10 in. mixed media on board

I began and ended with a photo of trees from Birr Castle Demense . What do they tell you?

Compose: Selecting a Subject 2

This is a painting I am having difficulty finishing and I am going to use it as an example as I go through the various posts I plan to do on composition. Hopefully at the end of the series I'll resolve the painting by using the information for reflection . There's nothing like a problem to get you thinking.

About the series:
As this piece is part of my Reading a Garden Series, it has to focus on something that stood out to me in my two week stay at Birr Castle Demesne. It must references my understanding /response to some experience. My process in selecting topics to paint starts with culling my photographs taken during my two week stay . Once I knew I wanted to create a work based on the daylilies , I proceeded to choose four photographs to use in image transfers, which I create in gel skins and apply to the board. These would be my starting point, evidence of my "real experiences". ( If you look closely you can see the edges of these transfers. I want them visible.) From these I begin to change the images by adding to them and creating whole new sections using paint and paper or eroding the details they provide until I have captured what I remember (mostly sense memories) from the experience. As more time intervenes I'm forgetting much and embellishing more and more of the details.

In my last post I listed a series of things to consider in selecting a subject to paint. I will try to answer them with reference to this painting. My point is if I had considered them in more depth before I began the work rather than just barging in , I might not be in this trouble. I plan to post the questions next to my paint table for future reminders.

Why are you attracted to the subject? Why does it appeal to you?

This is my fourteenth piece in this series and one of four works focusing on flowers chosen for different reasons.

These Daylilies grew in abundance along a path I walked each day in The Millennium Garden in Birr Castle Demesne. There were orange ones and yellow ones which I photographed on several different days. The vibrancy of the orange/rust ones captured my attention and the yellow ones were left in the background.

Daylilies (hemerocallis) are very interesting structurally. I am attracted to tall graceful plants with more complicated flower structures. The daylily also has long, narrow, blade like leaves that move in the wind and seem to grow in all directions. The most fascinating thing about the flowers on these plants is that they open at sunrise and wither at sunset. Each day new ones are in bloom so you are never seeing the same one twice. It is this point that most interests me because it represents the essence of the temporary nature of beauty and how fleeting our lives are. You have to hand it to daylilies they give it their all for one day.

What emotion grabs you when you look at it? How can you express this emotion?

I'm attracted to their vibrant colour, elegance and freedom to move so readily in the wind. One one hand I like the fact that I'm seeing new blooms every day and the scene is continuously changing, but underneath there is melancholy because they are so short lived and in this way not free at all. I'm conflicted, this is probably why I am having so much trouble finishing this work.

What part of the subject should be emphasized to maximize the emotion /impression?
The colour, elegance, structure and their freedom are easy to emphasize. I am not capturing the transience that is so important to my perception of them. Perhaps I need to refocus and paint one or two obviously withered ones, but I also need to somehow portray the melancholy I feel about these flowers. That is very subtle and right now I'm at a loss about how to show it. I'll keep going with the questions/suggestions ...

What colours/key suits the mood you want to impart?

This might be my area where I have to solve the melancholy issue by toning down the vibrancy. I have really played up the leaves which support the flowers - maybe they are a bit too energetic and playful. The flowers are more low key and seem to be working better with the emotions I am interested in imparting.


What will identify this painting as yours (showing yourself in the painting)?
The process I am using beginning with phototransfers and manipulating them based on the erosion of memory with the passage of time has become a constant in my work of late. The close up, controlled view adds to the me-ness of the work. The subject matter is consistent with my interests and past work.

That's my effort at reflection. I don't want to invest hours into the process because when I reread it tomorrow i'll have a whole new set of ideas. I'm sure the able comments of my readers will move me along with this. Comments anyone?

Learning Curves

My life as a visual artist has been relatively short when compared to my chronological age. As a result of starting later in life, I always have this feeling that I don't have a lot of time to waste. When confronted with new learning, I tend to really dive in the deep end. First I read obsessively, then I order the materials (too many), and then comes the long process of experimentation. That's where I am now with encaustic. I'll remember October as the wax month.

I've certainly run through a lot of encaustic medium and I've learned quite a bit from my experiences. I try not to worry about the end product in the beginning stages because needing a product makes me work more cautiously, and that is not what you want before you've found your stride. I've been working on small boards mostly and trying all kinds of things, some successful and some not. I've found out that I like using wax for its transparency, and when I use colour is is applied in glazes rather than full strength. It is the delicacy that appeals to me most. Last week I completed a piece that I am satisfied with so it's time to share. Today I drop off this work and four others for a group show at The Leyton Gallery which opens on November 13.

Moments (10 x 24in.) encaustic with photo transfer & paper on board
(Only my photography is skewed )

I like the fact that I am finding my voice in encaustic. Even though this is a new medium for me, the result is still recognizable as my work, but it seems to be more delicate and ephemeral than my acrylic work. These are photo transfers from shots I took during my stay at Birr Castle Demesne. It is so much easier to do a transfer from a photocopy directly onto the wax. It give such a floating effect and I think that is why my work is looking more delicate.

Below is one of my mixed media acrylic paintings from my Reading a Garden series that is really saying the same thing, but it has a very different look. I even used one of the images in both works.

Ephemeral (2009) 10 x 24 in.

photo transfer, paper , acrylic mediums and paint on board

Claimed

Claimed (2009) 10 x 24

mixed media (photo transfer, acrylic mediums and paint on board)

to demand
to ask for
to take as one's own
to state to be true
to assert or maintain
__________________
claim

I'm nearing the end of my show and tell of "Reading a Garden" which was the work I exhibited at Cube Gallery in Ottawa. This is one of my favourite pieces. For several months I felt it would never reach completion. It was the classic case of "what next?" You get so far and then you have no idea how to resolve the work. I later decided the difficulty arose from now having a firm idea about what I was trying to say in this work. Once I wrapped my head around that , I was fast forward.

As you might expect Birr Castle is a very prominent aspect of Birr Castle Demesne and can be seen from many vantage points . It sits on the edge of a small valley and my favourite orientation was looking up at it. I wanted to highlight its physical presence in this work while at the same time mark the long history of the Parsons family in the Birr area and my own presence on the property. Because I know Sherwood (fellow renter of the Bothy cottage in Birr Castle Demense) will have a comment on this work I'm posting the inspiration pictures. You will understand all from these and realize I take lots of liberties when composing.

One of the prominent features of the Millennium Gardens are elegant white benches situated near the Barvarian Urns. I loved the flourish of the intertwined Rs, designed to commemorate Anne's (the present Earl's mother) marriage to Michael Rosse, the sixth earl in 1935. There are two designs but I preferred the more angular one. Can you see how I used it in the painting?


The family motto - "Pro Deo et Patria ad Astra": For God and Country to the Stars- is inscribed on the main gates to the Demesne. We made many trips through them to reach The Bothy cottage. I have to admit I never once felt "right" about going through these gates. They admitted me to a property that was a far cry from what I knew growing up. In my own way I have claimed this property and at the same time I recognize the long history of the Parson's family .

I

Continuum

Continuum (2009) 10 x 24 in.
mixed media ( photo transfer, acrylic mediums &paint) paper) on board

There is inspiration in the simplest things. How many times do people walk by aspects of nature intent on their own inner world and completely miss what is happening around them? At times I feel I have the opposite problem - a continuous bombardment of stimuli that must be filtered out or it becomes overwhelming to process. This rose shrub is a good example of my usual " nature experience". I was strolling along in the Millennium Garden, Birr Castle Demense, and was beckoned by both the buzzing of bees and a glorious smell. Drawing nearer, I could see that some rose blooms were still in tact serving as landing pads for bees busy playing out their role in nature. The thing that really interested me as I looked more carefully was the presence of every stage of blossom development in a rose. It was like the passage of time caught in action and I was there to experience it. Two days later and all the blooms would possibly have disappeared, an hour before the bees might have been busy with other concerns.

This was a difficult painting to execute. It lay around my studio for six months in various stages and configurations of elements. There were so many elements to include that I could not get the composition to work. I used a great deal more paper than in the other paintings in this series. The evidence of the original photo transfers is almost totally obscured by the inclusion of additional information from my memory. The work grew to be much more sense bound and less about the actual rose bush itself. With the addition of each element, I felt I was building my own understanding of the the passage of time.

Screen

Screen (2009) 10 x 24 in.
mixed media (photo transfers, acrylic medium and paint, paper) on board

Layering is a prominent aspect of every garden I have ever visited. This design concept is used to move a viewer/visitor visually through a space, to look beyond what is the closest and most obvious feature. Sometimes these invitations are "man made" but more often than not nature is the designer.

This work does not represent one particular place; it is a combination of three different views in Birr Castle Demesne. I thought I would try my hand at garden design.

Same but different

Time flies and I'm not even having fun! I'm late posting this link to the group exhibition I am part of at Cube Gallery in Ottawa (my work is the first panel on the left.) Thanks to a travel grant from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, I was able to travel to the opening. It was an honour to see my work among that of five other artists who were all using photography in some way to inform their work.

This show is about a merging of aspects of modernity (photography) and tradition (painting) which is one of the cutting edge genres in contemporary art today. The artists' use of both media asks the viewer to consider what is original and what is representational, what is real and what is not, what is tradition and what is modern.

One of the things that is limiting about living on an island is exposure to different types of art and artists. After awhile you get to know what many artists are creating and it all becomes too predictable. It was interesting to see five artists who, on paper, were working in a similar way to me, and then to discover that we were all quite different in how we were using photography. There was certainly a continuum of how obvious the use of photography in the works was. My photo transfers were very integrated into the composition and you had to spend a great deal of time looking to see what aspects were photo transfer and what was painting.

I discuss this in my artist statement...

My work begins with image transfers from photocopies of my photographs. I consider this "the real", knowing full well the limitations of photographs. Through a series of manipulations using paint, mediums, papers and sometimes ephemera, the image transfers are altered in varying degrees or totally subsumed to reflect my memory of the event. These memories are diminished in specific details in favor of complex meanings associated with sensory experiences that evolve during the process.

As time passes what I actually remember from my two weeks at Birr Castle Demesne is fading. With each new work completed there are less and less of the actual photo transfers evident. I am synthesizing my impressions and often adding new information that feels like it should be there. In summary, my process of creating these works mimics the actual process of remembering (and forgetting) over time.

If you would like to explore the work of the artists in more detail check out their websites: Katherine Jeans, Jennifer Lawton, Amanta Scott, Karina Kraenzle and D.H. Monet who is the owner of Cube Gallery.

Searching for title

I'm back in the city for several days to get my work ready to ship to Ottawa. I spent yesterday brainstorming titles and I actually came up with some great ones. There are still several that are nagging at me. The image below was created in response to an event that occurred while staying at Birr Castle Demesne. Right now Tangled, Uprooted, Connections, & Family Tree are the top contenders. Any input will be appreciated.

What's new?

The last week has been very productive for me. I now have 13 works completed for my Reading a Garden Series that is off to Ottawa next week. Yesterday I took them all to my photographer friend's studio to have them photographed - just in case some of them sell. How's that for tentative positive thinking?

It was very interesting seeing them all lined up as a physical manifestation of my two weeks movement and being in Birr Castle Demense last summer. In the combined work I saw emotions, sensory responses, social and historical commentary, symbolism, botanical information, and ecological and philosophical issues represented. I did not have a master plan as I began this work; one work lead to another and all these responses started to fall out. I am feeling good that I have captured the depth of this garden. It is frustrating for me not to be in a position to upload some of the pictures of the new work . I promise a thorough posting of all of them when I get back to my home computer at the end of August.

Today I am sitting to write commentary about each of the pieces for my reflection journal . I usually take time out from creating to reflect on what I have learned from creating the work, what I might have done new in terms of process, what questions I might have, new ideas from old work and how I am feeling about where I am in my practice.

After the reflection, I need to title each of them. I've decided on one word titles that will give the viewer a basic idea of where I was going with the piece or why I bothered to focus on it. I find titling difficult. I did consider just numbering them as Birr Castle Demense #1 , #2 etc. and discussed it with several artists and non-artists, and there was a general consensus that such an approach is annoying/frustrating . I would love to hear some commentary on your feelings and methods for creating titles (or not) for your work.

Working process

The process I am using to create the work in my Reading a Garden series physically reflects the erosion of memory we all experience with the passage of time.

I begin each piece with photo transfers of a particular place in the garden. I consider this "the real". Then through a series of manipulations using paint and papers, I combine and alter the photo transfers into a blended "summary impression" of a place, feeling or event experienced in the garden. While the work still looks highly realistic when completed it has strayed greatly from the initial transfers and morphed into a composite of photo images and remnants of frayed memory. As more time passes and the details in my memory are less distinct, the nature of the work is also changing subtly. There transfers are less visible and the invented sections are taking over.

I began with the wildflower meadow because I've had an intimate relationship with meadows since my childhood. The wildflower meadow at Birr Castle Demesne had a wildness and simplicity when compared to the more controlled and cultivated Millennium Garden where I always felt slightly out of my element. The meadow was nature left wild and wanton; I felt free there.

When I start a mixed media work I never know how it will look when it is finished. The process of adding things moves the work along in its own direction. It is as if it is leading me and not the other way around. The end result is always a surprise for me. I would love to say I have it all figured out beforehand, sketched, with a tonal study completed etc. While I am very organized in most aspects of my life, I cannot imagine working in that manner. I love surprise of what my conscious and unconscious mind produces!

In this piece, I began with roughly 30 image transfers from photos I took in the meadow. Different sections of the meadow had different wildflowers and different feelings. Some photos were close up, others more distant. I laid out all available transfers and begin to sort and resort them until I had ones that I felt worked together. They produce more of a hybrid of the meadow area than an actual representation of it. I then use medium to attach some of them to the board.

In the next step I connected the transfers with a dark background that gave me a working surface with lots of contrast to fill in or connect the disparate sections using papers and paint. These areas represents my" sense" or memory of the meadow and could be considered invented when compared to the photo transfers.

I work back and forth without too much thought and the painting slowly emerges. I like to combine abstract elements with the realistic imagery. The small circles are reminiscent of seeds and also infinity. I've played around with certain letter representations in Morse Code that are created using dots. They allow me to insert messages in the painting without using text.

Making decisions

The beginning of a new series is always a challenge for me because there are so many decisions to be made before beginning. I'm sure other artists may go about things slightly differently. Once I make these framework decisions, I loosen up totally and the content and composition takes on a mind of its own.

After my return from Birr Castle Demesne last July, my mind was overstimulated with visual information from my two week stay and it took me almost a month to calm down and begin work. Since I was creating the work with an exhibition in mind, I wanted some consistency in the appearance / size of the work; I also wanted the format to have some connection to my experiences in the garden. I'd like to take you on the thinking journey that resulted in my choice of support size and orientation.

My first glimpse of the garden was through a doorway that led from where we stayed in The Bothy directly into the Millennium Garden. I approached that door with a great deal of anticipation.

What was on the other side as I walked through

So my first view was a limited one through a doorway. As I spent time on the property, I realized that many of my views were through contained openings that only allowed what I termed as "controlled viewing" that revealed different slices of the garden.

I decided that was a good thing because I was not accustomed to the expanse of geometric grids that organized the garden. This viewing direction helped me pay attention to what I was seeing and really focus on what was framed. I realized that my viewing was organized by someone else, just a I manipulate the picture plane for viewer interaction when I compose.

Many other impressions were snatched through closed gates which brought me back to my first view of a cultivated garden as a child. My grandmother's garden was fenced and gated. I looked longingly through the slats in the fence to the world of riotous colour inside. I coveted that space very much, but I was not allowed inside because I had a penchant for picking flowers.

Mom and I , Keels Garden, 1954

It was the focused glance of rectangular openings that led me to adopt a vertical orientation for my work in this series. After much fiddling with dimensions I decided to work on cradled panels, 10 x 24 inches., not quite doorway proportions but definitely referencing them. I decided that I would direct the viewer of my work just as my gaze was directed in the gardens.
And then I had to choose a suitable technique for the work that allowed me to respond to my reading of the garden.

Anatomy of a painting - Part 2

This is the photo that ended my previous post. It could be considered complete and for awhile I thought so too. Then I began to think back to the experience of finding this wrapper behind a statue in the gardens. I think it was the only piece of trash I saw in my two week stay on the grounds of Birr Castle. I couldn't help viewing it as proud of its ability to defy the normal cycle that the natural world was engaged in. The bright colours seemed to add to this defiance. I knew I had to reconsider the scale of the wrapper.









A new photo transfer was prepared and inserted over the previous one. Then the job of integrating the image into the background began.
When an image is inserted into an almost completed work it sticks out like a sore thumb, and it takes much patience and subtle applications of paint and paper to make it look like it belongs. This usually means additions to the whole piece to draw it together.











Here's the end result. I've also readjusted the colours away from the obvious green and set it on a path of decay. My trusty Tri Art Transparent Brown always saves the day when you want to age an image.

These highly textured, dark pieces are very difficult to photograph. I build up using gloss gel because it creates a better sense of depth, but the added shine is a problem when you photograph the stages of development of a work.

As this work is part of a series, I will wait and varnish it with all the other pieces. Then the satin varnish is more receptive to my limited photography skills.

Fernery

Whenever I hear a word that refers to the natural world, I automatically create a visual in my mind complete with sensory effects. When I was reading about Birr Castle Demesne before my two week stay there, I was attracted to the description of the fernery and it was high on my list of "must see right away".

From my young days crawling around the soft moss in the woods behind our house, I loved ferns. As a child I pretended they were umbrellas for the fairies. Their ruffled texture, rolled edges, bumpy undersides and leprecaun greens remain vivid in my memory today.

My first visit to the fernery sent me back in time and I viewed it with a child's eyes and feelings. I know this because of how the fernery made me feel.

Let's take a visit....

From the Millennium Garden, through the gate and straight ahead......

to follow the path to the fernery....

be careful if it's wet, you might slip....

on moss covered rocks,

or slick wood.

This is the world of gnomes, of stunted trees, dampness, decay....Watch out for them near the bridges...

and under roots and rocks. They use ferns to draw you in.

Remember the division between two worlds is close.