September 8
Turtlehead
(Chelone
glabra)
This native
plant is a perennial found in moist habitats of the eastern
United States. Flowers resemble a turtle’s head. Stems can
be more than three feet tall but usually sprawl across the
stream banks or wet meadows where they bloom in late
summer.
I keep a journal of where I find plants I hope to paint,
and I record the dates that I find the first bloom and the
last bloom of those plants. When I have a window of
opportunity to paint, I look in my journal to see what
plant is blooming, and where. I had recorded the turtlehead
in August near a little spring across the street. When I
went over there, I found the flowers were not quite ready
to be painted but a little box turtle was in the wet area
below the spring. Three days in a row it was the same
story—not yet time to paint the flowers, and the turtle
didn’t seem to have moved much. I took her home and offered
her assorted things that a turtle might eat. She didn’t eat
much but the next day she was feeling a little better. The
day after that she felt great
and
was traveling all over the lawn at a pretty good speed (I
think she had been poisoned by pesticides, herbicides and
fertilizers).
So I said to her, “I’m going to paint your portrait.” I put
her up on some boxes on my kitchen table where she stood
very still, as though she understood, “chin up—hold that
pose.” I worked on my painting on the table below as we
listened to John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, and a few
symphonies together. Now and then we’d take a break out on
the lawn where she would really strut around -- it felt so
good to be well. Then, back in the kitchen-“chin up—hold
that pose,” while she saw the image of a turtle emerge in
my painting.
After I finished, I showed the portrait to her and took her
down to the creek area on my side of the street—where there
are no pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers or other
poisons. No little turtle ever had the cultural experience
that she had. I never saw her again but she had quite a
story to tell.
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larger image)
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