Sunbursts and surprises

 

 

 

What a summer!  Agreed?  And suddenly unexpected things are bursting out all over – like this marvellous white gazania that, with a colour cohort, I bought in the middle of wet rainy May.  What's more, in random places around my garden, pale grey-green leaves are shooting upward for a small crop of what I call "Fibonacci poppies".

 

 

Check here for more than you ever wanted to know about the mathematics of the Fibonacci Series – and be sure to scroll down past the business about the multiplication of rabbits to "The Sequence in Nature" and a black-and-white drawing showing leaves or branches spiralling up a stem – just like the swirling leaves of my pale pink poppies.  The flowers last only a day, but what a delight.

 

Another big surprise hit me just before the Heat Dome:-- the discovery of a new-to-me artist.  Among the free e-newsletters arriving in my in-box is one from Tate Britain and there, in mid-June, I read about the upcoming exhibit of Portuguese-English artist Paula Rego.   This female artist has played in the big leagues since the 1960s – and I'd never heard of her…and *loved* what I glimpsed in the Tate newsletter.  Quick to the Vancouver Public Library!   There I was able to find one of the definitive books on her work – "Paula Rego" by John McEwen (1997).

 

Then the Heat Dome arrived.  As enchanted as I'd been with Rego's style when I first brought the book home, it had sat on the sidelines as I concentrated on………drinking cold water and napping!  Suddenly, though, real-time events caught up with me when I saw a BBC review of the just-opened Rego exhibit.  Yikes!  I'd been thinking I'd try emulating her style but now the book was due in just five days – and the chances were great that other VPL patrons would now have their eyes on it.  What to do?

 

Acrobats to the rescue!  A recent session at my life drawing studio (still on-line for now) featured a professional acrobat and co-owner of a Vancouver circus company.   She was not allowed to swing from the rafters but did some challenging poses with the aid of a wide belt fixed to a pillar.  Try these with a one-minute limit:

 

With one of her longer poses, I'd chosen to concentrate on her face – and that's just what I needed for my Paula Rego study.

 

With the clock ticking, I counted on five 2-hour sessions in the studio.  Here's the first lay-in:

 

An early stage as more colour is added:--

 

And the final version of "Midday Nap," (copyright 2021):

 

 

Surely, there's more to come.   Many of Rego's themes are very dark, but her use of colour and line in figures and portraits definitely calls to me.  And I was able to renew the book after all!

 

Meanwhile, the garden must be watered and weeded – as the jungle rages almost out of control.

 

 

But just outside my fence, I'd planted along the sidewalk some sedums of the hens-and-chicks variety.  Amazingly, for the first time ever, they produced a flower – another sunburst surprise!