The Northern Rata featured, stands outside my bedroom window, here at Cairnsmore, towering over the house against the dramatic Pohangina skies, having been rooted there for more than a hundred years. The roots of the Rata spread and sprawl across, and out, and down.
When the storms rage, as they do up here, her branches snap and scatter on the roof, and she sprinkles the leaves all over the garden.
Muse daughter and I often gather her fallen, dry leaves for art making and general admiring purposes. They are every colour of copper patina, sometimes all on one leaf.
When we think of winter trees, we often depict them with bare branches. In New Zealand, the natives trees are evergreen, so Mama Rata has a thick green canopy. Tui, fantails, sparrows, finches, wax-eyes, magpies and even a morepork all shelter there. There is even a baby Lancewood growing in the centre of the tree where the branches break out from the main trunk.
And where the roots sprawl and spread down the hill a bit, there is a hole…a den…a cosy nook, just right for a fox.
The skies are dramatic, like they are here in the valley and have me out and about with my camera almost daily sometimes.
And the Fantail has a message for the curled fox, that Winter is a necessary time for retreat, recovery, rest, and reflection.
That after the cold, dark days, the Spring will come again.
Acrylic on Board - Varnish Finish | Floating Black Frame | 415 × 790 × 45mm
The Northern Rata featured, stands outside my bedroom window, here at Cairnsmore, towering over the house against the dramatic Pohangina skies, having been rooted there for more than a hundred years. The roots of the Rata spread and sprawl across, and out, and down.
When the storms rage, as they do up here, her branches snap and scatter on the roof, and she sprinkles the leaves all over the garden.
Muse daughter and I often gather her fallen, dry leaves for art making and general admiring purposes. They are every colour of copper patina, sometimes all on one leaf.
When we think of winter trees, we often depict them with bare branches. In New Zealand, the natives trees are evergreen, so Mama Rata has a thick green canopy. Tui, fantails, sparrows, finches, wax-eyes, magpies and even a morepork all shelter there. There is even a baby Lancewood growing in the centre of the tree where the branches break out from the main trunk.
And where the roots sprawl and spread down the hill a bit, there is a hole…a den…a cosy nook, just right for a fox.
The skies are dramatic, like they are here in the valley and have me out and about with my camera almost daily sometimes.
And the Fantail has a message for the curled fox, that Winter is a necessary time for retreat, recovery, rest, and reflection.
That after the cold, dark days, the Spring will come again.
Acrylic on Board - Varnish Finish | Floating Black Frame | 415 × 790 × 45mm
