If you recall, I visited my parents last fall in Kamsack SK. It was the perfect time as all the leaves had turned and were still on the trees when I arrived. It was quite windy during my visit and after my two week stay, most of the leaves had fallen. I was walking back to my parent’s house and admiring the large Manitoba Maples with their mostly bare branches. I decided to take photos of the tree in my parent’s front yard.
I also took some photos from the front window looking out hoping to get the tree from different angles.
The next visit to Fort Mac, I looked at the different wood pieces that we had in the garage. I came across this stump that my husband had cut in half. It had some unique knots on the backside and the front side was a smooth canvas perfect for burning on.
I used the photos to recreate the tree, the view being what I could see from the dining room window. Although I loved the street view of the tree, it was just too wide to fit nicely on the stump.
I sketched the tree onto tracing paper first as it is hard to erase cleanly on wood without sanding. Using carbon paper, I tranferred the sketch to the wood. The last step was to painstakingly burn the tree into the wood.
I wanted to add some words to the piece and for some reason this same phrase kept coming to my mind. “Bloom Where You’re Planted” was a hymn that we used to sing at church in the 80’s when all of Carey Landry’s music was popular. The phrase was also one of the stencils in my collection of 12X12 stencils. I think the words are very applicable to our family as we have been dug up and replanted so many times. You really do have to figure out a way to grow and blossom in any place or environment you are put into.
Bloom Where You’re Planted by Carey Landry and Carol Jean Kinghorn
Bloom,bloom ,bloom, Where you’re planted,.
You will find your way . Bloom,bloom,bloom …
You will have your day.
1. Look at the flowers, look at them growing:
They never worry, they never work;
Yet look at the way our Father clothes them,
Each with a beauty all of its own.
2. Some plant the seeds that others will water,
But in all things God gives the growth,
come, let Him garden the flowers with in you,
Come and Discover some you’ve never known.
3. Look at the love that lies deep within you
Let yourself be! Let yourself be!
Look at the gifts you have been given,
Let them go free ! Let them go free !
I apologize for no “before” pictures of the stump. Sometimes I get carried away with a project and forget to take photos along the way.
I especially like the way that the stump, from a certain angle looks like a woman’s body.
The tree represents my roots, where I began to grow. The shape of the stump shows the woman I have become and the overall project the way I have blossomed in becoming more creative.
I hope everyone finds ways to bloom wherever you are planted.
If trees could tell stories, that tree could tell plenty. Scores of children climbed its branches, slid down the snow piles that would grow against its trunk in the winter, and used its base as HOME during amazing games of hide ‘n’ seek. It provided shade for countless visits on the front lawn and a visual reminder of the passing of the seasons.
What a good read Corinne I have always loved trees especially those that change colour what a beautiful display they make. Bloom where you are encourages us to the best we can wherever we are.
At one time this tree also had a white picket fence in back of it, because basically, the tree is on town property.
Our family was quite young when we had to take that whole fence down because of rotting posts.
As Russell explained, it had many uses as our family grew.
The best time to play hide-and-seek, was in early Fall , with days getting shorter.
Thanks for reliving amazing views all around. Mom