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.