Early April - a year later

Today it is birthday party for this blog - I started it a year ago. And I celebrated it the only way possible - a visit to the dump of course. It was my first visit this year. The weather or the time hasn't been right - and the place is actually not that fantastic during winter. It is only if our MTB take us that way, but of some reasons they haven't this winter. Too many colds and flues has put an irritating stop to that sort of outings.

But today I took my regular city bike and pedal my way to the dump. I put my bike at the bottom of the hill and left it there and slowly walked over the hill to the see what had happened since my last visit.

At the highest point someone has put a sign with name and altitude, always good to know where you are.

All the giant hogweeds are down for the season and new ones are emerging. But today it was possible to see the deers feeding on the grass.

The only flowering things are coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) and a few Yellow Star-of-Betlehem (Gagea lutea). 

I think I'm bringing the wrong tools for doing good sketches in the field, to few and wrong colors and not the right brush. This setup is good for messy urban sketching, but not for botanical stuff. But I tried at least! And I had an audience of a 5 year old girl who declared "Mom, I want to stay". I told her to go home and paint a flower ... :-)

There are lots of reed growing on the slopes, and they are beautiful this time of year. All swept the same way of the wind, broken and brittle. I took some with me home and painted in the calm of my study.

In the ground beneath all the giants there are lots of shells in wonderful colors. I have never drawn nor painted one so here are my first attempts on them.

Last, the dump showed that it still is ..... a dump. A broken shovel just thrown away ... 

The Acorn story, part 3

Things now happened very fast. And apparently during the nights.

One evening the little stem were still in the curled fashion, but the next morning it had straightened up. Why does it grow during the nights and not during the days when there are at least little daylight (this is early January in Sweden...).

I tried to paint the delicate green stem from a photo, but I did the stem and the leaf far to big.

Only 4 days later the little curl had grow to a big leaf. But then it sort of stopped, so it is still about the same size.

Then there were silence from the acorns. The two other did notning and the time just went by for a month. But suddenly, on the first of February, one of the others started to sprout! But I think it got it all wrong, it sprouted in the bottom part. And after just a few days the sprout dried and shrinked.

I had allmost given up on that acorn so you can imagine how happy I became the other day when I saw it sprouting again - and now in the right end!

So today I gathered my drawing and painting tools and started up my computer so I could look at my reference photos and did a triptyc.

 I think the acorn are happy to be portrayed.

The Acorn story, part 2

Early october

The larva has left the building and made a small hole on its acorn, two of the others where sprouting. Funny, the sprouts were in different colours, one was greenish and the other pink. And they were actually not that exciting to paint – how do one depict a short stump with no shape satisfying?

2014-10-10

Things then happened very fast over a short period of time. Three of my acorns sprouted but the rest of the lot did nothing. The sprouts grew very fast, you could actually see the changes from one day to another. The sprout looked very different on all three, they are individuals already on this young age. 

2014-10-16

Now it was time to find small glass containers. I had one small jar that suited well, and I had recently found out that the interior design company Svenskt Tenn had a small acorn vase for sale, only 12 cm in height. 
Lucky for me there was a shop here in Göteborg who sold them, so I bought two!

They are very pretty and look so nice on the window sill, I think they could function very well for small flowers as well.

As soon as I put the acorns in their vases they started to grow real roots – fast!

2012-12-06

Time went by and everyone relaxed but the roots grow and grow. It has almost gone 2 months and I was wondering if there should be any oaks germinating?

I made small harness out of paperclips for them, since I thought that they might needed more air underneath.

2012-12-14

But suddenly it happened! On one of the acorns there was a small green bump pressing its way out. I’ll be watching very carefully over the next days. 

3 days later and it is still fighting to get out!

2014-12-30

Stretching up up up, it has really started to grow now. I painted this over two days, and the green small stem had changed over the night.

Its a whirlwind of roots in the vase. It is actually only one thread but it is hard to tell where it start or where it end and the fact that it is only one is a little hard to grasp. So I don't even tried to draw and paint it ... :-)

It will be exciting to follow this little one on its journey to become a tree. Challenge number one could be to keep it out of harms way of the cat. The cat has never tasted oak.

The fall of growth

Working in series is something I never really think of when doing the same object over and over again. But I read from time to time about artists that honor the method of working in series and the outcome of that work.

Now I have done 3 pieces of Rhododendron leafs, after that 3 pieces curled up leafs – and then I needed one more painting so I decided to do 3 pieces of acorns. After the drawing and composing of these 3 last items I realized I was working in series and that the pictures sort of become better and better in composition and the overall thinking around them. Actually, the Monday after the start of the acorns all I was thinking about on my day-job was the acorns and how to proceed with them. Something really started to happen.

Everything started in September with the 30 day challenge. A new object every day, and sometimes the same object a second or a third time. Speed was required since I for the most time only had about 2 hours to work on.

And now this, a series in 3-part pieces. Still there are only objects of the same kind in every piece, but I start to feel that it is time to change that. So now I have to go out and collect some pine needle. They don’t match the acorn as it comes to habitat, but there is not much growing going on beneath an oak. The small mushrooms I found earlier is now gone. But there could be a pine beside …, and the needles seem to be manageable items to start with.

Some days later 

I left the apartment in the quest of finding some pine needles. But first I went to the oaks to see how it really looked beneath them.

I strolled and kicked up leafs, there are really a lot of leafs under an oak, not one or two layers – but lots and lots. To my surprise all of a sudden two tiny tiny white mushroom connected to a little stump of a branch showed up. I was so happy and picked them carefully and put them in the jar I had with me. I found something growing under an oak J

A few steps away the ground laid bare, no leafs, but instead a lilac mushroom and then a brown … They both went into my jar, happy me! I was now satisfied and decided to go and look for the needles. But only a few steps away there was as a big gathering of yellow mushrooms! Now my jar was full.

Later I found pine needles, but it was not that easy as I first thought. There were some big pines, but they had different kind of needles – far too big. I was after the more normal Swedish style, and they are about 5 cm long.

I had planned to finish the last one of the curled leafs this day, but was so happy over my new findings so I started right away with acorns, little mushrooms and needles. 3 hours later my face was hurting since I had concentrated far too hard on the task, and had closed my teeth a little too tight for a little too long time.

The time is running and Monday comes always too soon. I’m already waiting for next weekend.

Later I finished the painting and I’m very happy with the outcome. Next step in evolution for me J

The weekend after

I have now finished my last leaf paintings so now I have spent this day painting my yellow mushrooms in my sketchbook. Maybe I include some of them in the next acorn painting, but they are so big so they will probably take over the whole scene!

I haven’t painted from photos that much before. I miss holding the items in my hand, twisting and turning it round to find the best angel and to see the hidden parts. Now I have to rely on the photos I took a week ago, and do the best from them. But I realize that if I’m going to take photos to paint from – I have to take lots of photos!

An October walk

On a rainy day I took my bike to the recreational area that also holds my Dump. This time my bike did not follow me all the way up, I parked it at a safe distance.

As I approach the Dump they immediately showed up and make a stand, the Giants.  

I took another way then I usually do. This slippery narrow path is another down hill course for the mountine bikers – but there were none out biking today. Instead there were lots of dog people, and that made sense since it was raining cats and dogs from time to time.

On the flat top of the Dump all the high grasses where moved down. The mechanical things at the left hand side is the ski lift. The very tiny dot in the air in the middle just above the forest is a falcon, we saw it this summer also and it is very busy catching preys. Birds of prey are still quite rare in this region of Sweden so we are always very happy when we see them!

And of course, the crow is as ever also present. Keeping an eye on its realm.

I started to walk over the hill inspecting what was left of the summer. And as expected, there were very little left J

The rose shrubs were all covered whit shiny red rosehips, but some of them looked as they were trying to slip out of the red. Are there maybe some insects that do that, or birds?

I had sturdy clothing on so I walked out in the not-so-mowed area where the thistles grow. They were all very wet and miserable and also broken. Summer is definitely over for them. I also found what was remaining of the Iris.

I took some small pieces with me home and later painted them.

Further down the slope I entered the Giant Hogsweed forest. It was an unreal feeling to walk in amongst them. All grey-brown and totally whitered and broken, but on the ground fresh green new ones emerging.

And they are big!!!

 Crashing down.

 Appaling!

The artist with a block …. J

I did a not so good sketch of some Giants, I have to practice a lot more on them before showing. And it is not a very pleasant experience painting outdoor when it rains.

Besides the birds we saw, the wildlife also offered one roebuck and something squeaking in the grass when we walk to cloes. Some small rodent of some kind. And lots of dogs.

The Acorn story, part 1

Quercus robur – almost not connected to My Dump at all, but I’m sure it grows some small oaks nearby….

2014-08-01

It all began yesterday, the last day of July 2014, with a museum visit (The Dump as Art). I didn’t know what to expect but found myself looking at an unsorted mess of glasses, flasks and all sorts of glass containers. Each and every one of them had an acorn or a chestnut on top, and many of them was proudly sprouting green leafs.

It was about life and death and of ethics and morality in scientific research. You could adopt one of the acorns to keep and take care of, but they were all taken.

So now I’m waiting for the autumn to kick in so I can collect my own acorns and place them in little glass containers and watch them reach for the water – start to grow – start a life.

2014-10-05

After the museum experience I started to look after oak leavings on windy days. This lovely green leaf and acorns was collected in August. The acorns where bright green and had a swollen appearance, full of life indeed.

Oak is rather common in parks in Göteborg, so I have many places to collect acorns. Regarding the rest of Sweden the oak grows in approximately a third of the country, below Limes Norrlandicus, a biogeographical border that’s goes through Sweden.

In the middle of September the acorn started to look more mature and got a more long-spun figure. I adore the little ones that never made it to a full acorn but still hang on to its elder brother or sister. They just have to be depicted!

And a week or so later it was time to collect, the acorns started to fall to the ground with or without their caskets. When you start to really look under an oak you will see there is a lot of acorns from this season and seasons before. And there are lots and lots of caskets lying around. They seem to withstand weather and winter well.

I put the acorns in water to kickstart the producing of the sprout, and today was the happy day. Some of my acorns have started to sprout! You can see one at the far right hand side of the saucer.

 

The white thing at the left hand side was a tiny larva which apparently had lived inside one of the acorns. Really cute but I had to say goodbye to it. My apartment is not a good living space for it. 

I have googled which insects’ larva live inside an acorn, I think it’s a Curculio glandium. 

 Now I’ll watch my little acorns produce rootlets. I have to get nice glass containers to put them in. Do they want to be placed in the windows facing west or in the one facing north? So many decisions …

I’ll be back with reports about the progress from an acorn on a saucer to a small tree in a pot-

The last hot day of the summer

 On the last hot day of this very hot Swedish summer I finally managed to take myself and my bike to the Dump - to see how it was doing and what I have missed.

I think I have missed the most of everything! But that doesn’t matter since I’m mostly interested in the flowers when they start to fade!

All the grass starts to yellow, the cloves are brown furry little balls, the thistles are starting to spread their seeds, the deer’s are fully grown and not afraid of the humans and it was to hot even for the mountibikers and occasionall runners. So I had the place almost for myself.

I picked some Iridaceae sibirica seed heads and a tiny branch from the rose bush to take home, and later that day I did these sketches.

It was first on the third attempt whit the iris I found the right colour. Three (at least) layers of Burnt Sienna, carefully lifting out the highlights. Then I mixed Brunt Sienna with a little Prussian blue, the mix was thick and reminded of chocolate sauce – and with that I finished the whole thing. The first attempts I ended with a thin layer of Permanent Rose, but with this I didn’t felt it was necessary.

The rosehips are just a rough sketch, I had planned to do more with them but the next day they were to wrinkled.

After doing these sketches of the seed pods I jumped in on a full scale painting, which I’m very happy with!

My walk over the hill

This is what it look like from afar, my Dump. 

In winter time it is a ski slope and the installations on the top are the ski lift – but I think it looks like an art installation from this angel. You can walk up that way, there are a path because many others walk and run there. 

But I prefer the “road” on the other side, mostly at path that too, but it is possible to drive something 4-wheel (or ride a mountinbike) up that way.

The path is monitored by one or two crows, they live nearby and like to sit by this post. Today was a very hot day and the crow just turned its head a bit when I passed beneath. Just to keep sure I wasn’t up to any fishy business.

Along the side of the path up the hill grows Giant hogweed.

Lots of them …

I don’t know how, but someday I must draw and paint them, preferably when they have withered and look like this one. But so far they simply are to big. I have a graphit drawing going on of a part of a stem, when you look close they are very intricate and fun to draw. But it has to take its time.

On the top they had mowed the grass, but had left some Tanacteum vulgare (Tansy) by the sign that points out the mountinbike path. Since I had pushed my bike up the hill, I think it counts as a mountinbike …? Or not. I can go downhill without problem anyway … :-)

The rest of the area looks like this. Most of the flowers are over, the clovers are just brown little balls and not much else is flowering. The place is windy and exposed to all sorts of weather so I think that affects the growing habit and make the period of blooming flowers shorter.

I started to examine the few rose bushes which are growing on the southwest side, and they had a few flowers left. They looked very fragile and I left them on the bushes.

On the west side I found a number of bushes I never had seen before, I took a twig home and found out that it was a Cotoneaster horizontalis.  Never heard about it before, I don’t have a garden of my own, but after some Google searches I found out that it is very common ….

This is the Dump at its best, anything pops up here!