Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends, and best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2015.

MRS. TROWBRIDGE'S "SELFIE" PAINTING

Mrs. Trowbridge spent many hours recording the flora and fauna of the rain forest. Occasionally, she would paint a "selfie", where she would include herself in the scene. This is one such painting. Her painting process was slow and laborious because she gave such great attention to detail. But she left a lasting legacy for us of what life was like in the Quinault Rain Forest 200 years ago.

She used various herbs and berries to make her paints. She found the deep blue hue of ripe huckleberries to be ideal for her drawing ink. On this page of her journal, she talks about early morning painting sessions. 

 http://trowbridgechronicles.blogspot.com/2008/04/daybreak-at-falls.html

Have you seen my other blog, Bron Smith's Flights of Fantasy: http://bronsmithart.blogspot.com/

WINTER PROVISIONS

Throughout the summer months Mrs. Trowbridge and her family were busy gathering provisions for the coming winter. In the above page she sketches and describes the basic comestibles that they required to survive the winter. By now their gathering tasks would be complete, and soon they would be using their twig bundles to heat their cottage as the temperatures would begin to drop and fall would turn to winter in the rain forest.

MRS. TROWBRIDGE PAINTS A CONCH SHELL.

Mrs. Trowbridge enjoyed painting the odd novelty, found items, trinkets, knickknacks and sea shells. This is a sea shell that she painted that was typical of shells that are found on the shores of Polynesian islands. She enjoyed honoring her ancestors through her paintings. Over ions of time, the Trowbridge shrew migrated from the Mongolian Steppes across the Polynesian islands to South America, then their migration path took them north to their present habitat in the Olympic Rain Forest .

Have you seen my other blog, Bron Smith's Flights of Fantasy?

VIOLET TROWBRIDGE'S RHODODENDRON PAINTING

One of my favorite of all of Mrs. Trowbridge's floral paintings that are contained in her journal is this lovely rhododendron painting. She was undeniably the Grand Dame of watercolor in the Quinault Rain Forest. The notes in her Trowbridge Chronicles journal revealed that she spent 93 hours on the above painting.

My Trowbridge shrew research expedition to Polynesia several years ago was most fascinating. We found tiny petroglyphic evidence among the boulders in the forest and along the shoreline of the Trowbridge Shrew's presence on the tiny island of Motu Taakoka in the Cook Island Group (above). We even found bone fragments, including an intact skull. Look for more of Mrs. T's floral paintings in upcoming posts.

Have you seen my other blog, Bron Smith's Flights of Fantasy?