Lily-pond

Lily-pond (12″ x 12″ oil on canvas)

I painted this one for a specific local show which isn’t until January but I wanted to make sure it would be dry in lots of time for varnishing. All the paintings in the show will be the same format (12″ x 12″) and the same price but all different styles and subjects. I really hope mine appeals to someone …who doesn’t like waterlilies, right?!

Tom wrote a poem for this one about the power of illusions.

Some days I think that I could walk across
the mirror-surface of this lily-pond
stepping on the stones of green and gloss
all my weight supported by the fronds
of floating pads. Their vines are columns, stone
could not provide as much support or strength
as their living sinews, summer-grown
from roots and stems, prodigious in length.
Could I not walk on water, dance on air?
Could I not just this once defy the laws?
Could I not touch the face of one so fair?
Could I not have effect without a cause?
Some days there are illusions that have power
But none so great as one strong lily’s flower.

image (c) 2020 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2020 TJ Radcliffe

autumn pond…

autumn pond

Another painting from my visit to the Sun Yat-sen Garden in Vancouver. This one focused on the lily pads and reflections from the shore and sky.

Tom’s haiku for this one is …just perfect.

another world waits
through the water’s weathered glass
koi pass bare branches

And if you have a taste to see what this garden looks like …and feels like, check out this short film commissioned by the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Garden Society of Vancouver. Tom wrote the screen play and it really captures the place in a special way.

 

image (c) 2017 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) TJ Radcliffe

 

water lilies and haiku…

waterlilies with haiku

Once again some time has passed without a post 😦 … busy times!

I started three panels in a class last fall but didn’t ever have the chance – or perhaps the inspiration – required to finish them until last weekend. There is a kind of theme which will be clear once I’ve posted them all. Anyway, I had asked my good friend Tom to provide a haiku for each that I would integrate into the image. Since the text of the poem was added to the panel fairly early in this mixed media experiment it is a bit hard to read. So here is it again:

glass water dewdrops
lily’s leaves catch summer sun
shadows of blue sky
(c) 2013 TJ Radcliffe

waterlilies detail

Here is a detail of the lower part. You many notice an additional bit of text “une illusion” which is upside down.. not quite sure what I was thinking when I added that but I somehow feel it fits in!

painting (cc) 2013 Hilary Farmer

two years old!

happy koi

This past week my blog turned two years old! I was in the midst of doing character studies for the new project but here is a little celebratory doodle. One of my most visited posts ever is strangely enough “the meaning of koi” which expounds on said topic – lucky, lucky fish! So I thought they were a suitable doodle topic along with a water lily… just ’cause. Enjoy and thanks for visiting!

UPDATE: Celebratory poem from Tom – thanks!!!

Beneath the water-lily’s flower
Lurk the koi in cooling bower
Where the breadth of sun-bathed pads
Shades the fish from all that’s sad

O happy koi in water clear
Bringing luck to all come near
Such subtle spirit-healing power
Gold beneath the purple flower

Copyright (C) 2011 Tom Radcliffe

image (cc) 2011 Hilary Farmer