I've started work on a project - probably a painting, which draws on an experience I once had with my Mum. I think it will have humour and pathos.
I took my mother to the university botanical gardens one day in late Summer. We had a great time taking tea in the café, looking at her favourite plants, leading her in her wheelchair, around the paths. We came across a bed of poppies, some of which had reached the stage where they've lost their petals and grown a hard seed case. Mum had me position her as close to the bed as was possible, considering the wheelchair, the gravel and the metal edge of the path. Her speaking voice changed its quality, became soft and seductive "aw, would you look at that..., isn't that beautiful..., have you ever seen..." as she caressed a poppy seed case in a rather fawning way, then swiftly snapped it off and secreted it into her handbag! My uncle, her brother had told me about 'minnie the moocher', but Mum had never let her guard down before. My mother - the thief.
I'm collecting sketches: plants, aspects of architecture of the garden we had visited, thinking about metaphors. I'm off to the museum to sketch a stuffed magpie...
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