Mrs. Trowbridge was very intrigued by her ancestors. I, too, have become interested in Mrs.T's ancestral roots, which have been traced back many centuries to the Mongolian Steppes in Northern Asia.
It is thought that the Trowbridge shrew migrated over many centuries of time from Mongolia through the Polynesian islands to South America, then northward to Mrs. T's home in the Olympic wilderness of North America. By the process of carbon dating some pages from Mrs. Trowbridge's journal, we learned that she lived in the Quinault Rain Forest a little more than 200 years ago, about the time that the Lewis and Clark Expedition was taking place.
Inspired by her Polynesian ancestors, and the beautiful flowers that flourished in the South Sea islands, she set out to paint a series of florals depicting flowers that grow in the Polynesian islands. The flower above that she painted so deftly is a tree hibiscus.
The flower on top was hand-scribed, then the flower was rendered in charcoal. Mrs. T made her own charcoal sticks. Click here if you would like to learn how she made her charcoal sticks from Douglas fir needles.
The next post on this blog will be another of Mrs. Trowbridge's lovely flower paintings.
Have you seen my other blog, Bron Smith's Flights of Fantasy?
1 comment:
Pine needle charcoal sticks are the best!
Post a Comment