I know I have shown you this photo before, but I never tire of it and in this case it is to illustrate a point.
I never tire of it because I live just out of shot on the other side of the river (albeit a little after it was taken) and the point is that things can change out of recognition so quickly, even if the spirit of place refuses to depart.
I had a favourite spot for mushroom hunting at Alfred's Tower a few years ago. The approach was from the tarmac road onto the green via a particular opening, then straight ahead to another opening amongst the trees which led to a rough path bordering a steep precipice where the mushrooms were prone to pop up. There was no mistake in finding the location, except there was.
The last time I went there I stood on the green and did not recognise a single feature in front of me. I delved around in the bushes and when I got through them I still did not know quite where I was. It had changed. Of course it was to do with the vegetation - and it is strangely reassuring to know that wild nature can reclaim its rightful territory so quickly - but something else had changed too. It was as though the little people were playing tricks on me.
Last week I parked the car in a street I walk down every day and sat in it for half an hour, just watching people walk past. I like to do that these days - I think it is a practice I got used to during lockdown proper. I love it, and it is so much better than walking straight home and going indoors. It makes me appreciate indoors so much more when I get back to it.
I use the mirrors of the car to get forewarning of anyone interesting who may be approaching from the rear, and as I looked into the driver's side one I found myself in a strange but strangely familiar town.
I didn't have to use too much imagination to convince myself that I had never been here before. There were the shops that are in every town, and there was a very similar church to the one in my home town. I could keep it up for as long as I wanted, but decided to stop after a few minutes in case I couldn't find my way back.
This is a good way of getting away for a little break, but you have to travel backwards.
Is sitting in the car instead of going to the pub?
ReplyDeleteThat's how it started, but now I do it anyway.
DeleteGrrrrrrrr! Mercy!
ReplyDeleteThink Roy Orbison.
DeleteOk. I have Roy Orbison. What next?
DeleteThat's what he says when he's sitting on a bench in the Pretty Woman video.
DeleteI sort of got there in a roundabout way just before I read your last comment. You obviously saw through my vague description of seeing someone 'interesting' coming up in my rear-view mirror. These days they are normally receding in my rear-view mirror when I am stationary and facing the opposite direction. Oh well.
DeleteInteresting Tom because yesterday a friend and I were speakih g of how we could remember the villages and surroundings of our childhood but not our surroundings now. Might follow your blog with a similar one today - hope you don't mind.
ReplyDeletePlease do Weave. I often get inspired by other people's posts.
DeleteI am intrigued by the old photo especially that large tump/small hill that has presumably disappeared. Something frets at the back of my mind that there is a place where the Romans kept their horses down by the river.
ReplyDeleteIt is that huge mound which intrigues me the most. I had no idea that it existed before I saw this photo. I am guessing the photo is late 19th century and there are a lot of missing buildings in it. You could be right about the Romans keeping their horses there, but who knows.
DeleteYes, looking in a different direction can make us see new things, especially in a mirror.
ReplyDeleteI use that when making pots..would you do that with sculpture?
No, I - personally - never do that with sculpture. The thing about 3d stuff is that you can walk righT around it, but H.I. often looks at her paintings in the mirror.
DeleteI frequently turn my paintings upside down mid-session. It's a brilliant way of checking for cohesion.
ReplyDeleteYes, with 2D that is useful. The most helpful thing with 3D - for me - is to change the lighting. I always take things outdoors if I have been working indoors on them. I also hate working in artificial light.
DeleteA clever and thought provoking post. As a painter I used to sometimes look at my paintings in a mirror - the reversal gives a surprisingly different perspective that helps is seeing things anew. Which, in a way, was what you were doing in the car.
ReplyDeleteI read the first line and a picture of a Sri Lankan online betting shop came into my mind. I almost deleted you. Yes, I am told looking in mirrors can be good for painters, but see my response to Rachel below.
DeleteI went to drawing classes in the 1990s and we used to do upside down drawing.
ReplyDeleteH.I. sometimes makes her students draw with their left (or right) hand. She also has made them draw with their eyes closed - it's easier than you might think. I would hang my students upside down from the ceiling and make them do a drawing the right way up. It's the only language they understand.
DeleteWhy did you sit in the car for so long ?
ReplyDeleteWas it just liking to watch people promenade ?
Yes. For all sorts of reasons, some of them covered by Tasker. Stationary cars also act as a Faraday Cage for the impoverished who cannot afford their own padded cells, or someone to let them in and out.
DeleteWatching people pass in a mirror is much like traveling incognito in reverse. All very cloak and dagger.
ReplyDeleteAnd reflector telescopes turn the moon upside down.
Delete