Fine Art Tuesday

 

The details on this wagon are interesting. It appears to be a dedicated hay-hauler with pneumatic tires.

Maud Lewis born 1903 on the south end of Nova Scotia. Died 1970 in Nova Scotia.

Some conditions are so severe that we marvel that life can cling on. We do not diminish the lichens growing on the granite cliffs of Baffin Island for being less-than Giant Sequoia. Nor do we belittle the beetles living among the miniature forests growing through the cracks in the blacktop for not being giraffes.

Maud Lewis's work is usually categorized as "Folk Art" but she earned a place on the Fine Art Tuesday.

Her original venue was to paint post cards. In spite of multiple, physical handicaps she churned them out and they were eagerly purchased.

Oxen with Hereford ancestry were favored in Nova Scotia.

Maud Lewis painted entirely from memory.

Consequently, her paintings are time-capsules and that is interesting to me.

I am also interested in her paintings of the Yarmouth estuary/bay. Because of the pumping effect of the tides and the intimate mixing of several different ecosystems, estuaries and bays are extraordinarily productive in terms of fish and hay in the surrounding meadows. They were among the first areas humans built villages for obvious reasons.

Bonus pictures

Maud was a tiny woman

The interior. Maud's life was brutal but she used all of her ability to make it beautiful. Creating beauty was her refuge.