Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Art in a Highland Garden

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned seeing a painting that transported me to a magical time. I got sidetracked by doppelgängers and the like, but now I'm back on track to share the experience with you.

Here's the painting that jarred loose the memory.


"Summertime" by Joseph Farquharson

 
I would have found this painting by the Scottish artist evocative anyway because I love trees and I love reading outside. What got my juices flowing is the fact that the tree the young woman is leaning against reminds me of one that's in the gardens of Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye, so it's fitting that Farquharson is a Scot. Let me show you the tree.


Tree in the Dunvegan Castle garden

Denis and I spent a week in the Laundry Cottage, a snug stone house across a narrow finger of Loch Dunvegan from the castle itself. It was a thrill to open the curtains every morning to see the sun shining on the castle walls. I watched rabbits at play, oyster catchers looking for food, rainbows arching high over the castle... that entire week was magic.

One of the things I enjoyed the most was the time I spent exploring the gardens. A little robin followed me all over the kitchen garden that had espaliered fruit trees on its stone walls. The kitchen garden was a lovely sun trap. But the magic didn't really start until I found myself in the major part of the garden. 

There were waterfalls. A stream running down a ravine that led to the sea loch. Lovely early spring flowers. (Primroses and daffodils to name just two.) The ravine ran down the middle of the garden and was crossed by small bridges. After I had explored my fill, I found a sheltered bench and sat down to absorb my surroundings. I had a book with me, but I got very little reading done. The occasional paying guest would wander through, and I shared the space with a busy gardener who smiled and let me enjoy the tranquility.
 
It started to rain, that soft Scottish rain that you hear about. I've learned the hard way that there are two types of "soft Scottish rain": one is the sneaky type that you don't even feel until you're drenched. The second type is sneaky, too, but it's so slight that there's no real reason for you to take shelter. In fact, the only way you notice it at all is if a tiny rain drop speckles a lens of your glasses. Fortunately, the rain I experienced that day was the second, and I stayed where I was. 

I fell in love with that tree in the Dunvegan Castle gardens, that big, old tree with its carpet of daffodils in the dappled sunshine. Those hours are held fast in my memory, and it takes very little to bring them to the surface.

14 comments:

  1. What a wonderful memory, Cathy! Thanks for sharing it with us. There are just those magical places that we go back to in our minds, and I can see how that painting reminded you of one of yours. And that tree really does look like the Scottish tree!

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    1. Yes, it does, and that's why I immediately found myself walking down Memory Lane!

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  2. The painting is wonderful, I love it. But those gardens you describe at Dunvegan Castle sound even more amazing. I've been to Scotland once, but I'd love to go again. :)

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    1. I could easily live there part of the year-- especially somewhere around Inverness because there is a wonderful bookshop there!

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  3. What lovely memories you have of your visit and that tree. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Cathy, thanks for sharing the picture and also your memories with us! I loved both! That soft rain is what I remember a lot from our time living in the Pacific Northwest. Not enough so much for an umbrella, but a waterproof windbreaker was perfect. I had not ever really experienced rain like that in Texas. Mostly here, it rains or it doesn't. Lots of thunderstorms, etc.

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    1. Pretty much the same here. Hardly ever rains here in Phoenix, and when it does, it's usually a toadchoker.

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  5. Lovely, evocative picture and your description of the garden was wonderful. I had a tree like that in 6th grade. Almost off school property but not quite. I could read all I wanted and not get run over by playing classmates.

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  6. The painting is lovely as are your memories of your time in Scotland. Thanks for sharing them!

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    1. You're welcome, Gretchen. I love love love the Highlands.

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  7. What a wonderful memory - no wonder you reacted to this painting! And now I'm reacting because of the painter's name; there are Farquarsons on my mother's family tree. Another sign that I need to think about a trip to the one part of the UK that I have not yet visited...

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