Can't see the circus for the ferns

 

I’d expected this last painting in the “Audition Series” to announce the results of Fern Andra’s  successful candidates as she recruited new members for her circus.  She certainly looks like a self-possessed entrepreneur ready to think big and make the tough choices.

 

Since marketing is one concern of any big boss, one of the questions she would have asked herself at each audition must have been, “How will they look on a poster?”

 

So I began the final “Audition” painting with some sketches based on Fern, looking mildly amused and analytical, and with a plan to place various prototype posters beside her.

 

But seriously, do any of these look like they’d stay within the confines of a frame?

 

I

No.  They’re probably part of that unwieldly group I’d already christened “The Polypody Players.” 

 

Meanwhile, my ongoing fern research had turned up this painting, “The Fern Gatherer”, by a 19^th c. British artist I’d never heard of, Charles Lidderdale. 

 

I was mesmerized by this young girl and came to think of the contents of her basket as representing the succession of oddments that catch my fancy and never let go. (bricks, vintage houses, circuses, now ferns).  My friend M speculated, on reading my previous post about pteridomania (19th century fern madness), that maybe that’s when “Fern” was originally used as a girl’s name.  Well, Careful Reader M, you’re on target once again.  Back to the internet for me, and I found your suggestion confirmed – with artist Lidderdale’s painting illustrating a list of notable “Ferns” and our own Fern Andra at the top of the list!

 

How could I not try to make a kind of copy of this painting?  Early stage:

 

Mid-stage:

 

And the finale:  “The Fern Gatherer after Lidderdale” copyright 2026.

 

Seriously – despite my four tries, the face is the wrong size and my version comes nowhere near Lidderdale’s original. But still – Ferns in all their variations continue to enchant me; even follow me, you might say, as this book recently greeted me from a library display.

 

And next up?  Summer Camp begins.  Will it be as lively and instructive as events unfolding in Nice, France, in this very week ahead?  We will see.

 

 

Under the Big Top

Oops!  Bring on the clowns – that’s the wrong big top, for our purpose today anyway.  It’s the ceiling of the beloved Orpheum Theatre – let’s not even imagine it with high wires and tightrope walkers.

 

I’m drawn to those images, though, as I look out my kitchen window toward the building going up a block to the north.

 

Very big on safety ropes I am, even as I wonder how circus professionals do without.  I imagine those super-skills are top of mind for the remarkable Fern Andra as she continues to audition new players.

 

Okay, then.  Let’s get this show on the road.  Whoo hoo!  According to Idioms Online, “This idiom alludes to a theatrical production or perhaps a roadshow, such as a circus, going on tour. The precise origin is unknown, but it has been used since at least the 1940s.”

 

Getting started:

 

Moving right along.

 

And the finale, “Under the Big Top” (Audition Series, copyright 2026.)

 

This deserved another cup of coffee and a restful interlude with a book I’d just checked out from the VanDusen Library.

OMG!! In that mysterious way that things sometimes unfold, I saw that there was a chapter on ferns.  You’ve heard of Tulipomania?  Well, Richard Mabey describes a similar phenomenon, the 19^th century fern craze called pteridomania. 

 

At that time, there was a roaring enthusiasm for fern motifs in the decorative arts and an even louder roar for collecting and growing ferns – like these ferns in a Wardian case  (think terrarium).   

 

Mabey reminded me, too, of something I knew perfectly well:-- that ferns were living and thriving well before the dinosaur era, and there’s ample fossil evidence to testify to the species’ lifespan.

 

As I followed the internet trail and became more and more infatuated, I asked Google:  "Are ferns addictive?"  The answer:  “No, but they can be highly captivating and easily lead to a plant-collecting hobby.”  Well, not for me.  I’d just as soon let them run wild along my back fence while I stick with the pictures and the stories.

 

In our next edition, Fern Andra will have chosen from the auditioning players.  Do you think this guy will make the cut?