Thursday 28 May 2009

Journey to the Sea - Part II

Wetlands
8 x 8 oils

Water on earth cycles from the oceans, where it evaporates from the surface, into the atmosphere, forms clouds, falls onto the land as rain, travels through wetlands, rivers, lakes and underground then returns to the ocean — collectively known as the hydrologic cycle.

This piece is the second of a 6 part series on the journey of water to the sea. The series will be grouped together to have more impact and link the journey logically. Part I showed the origin - or one of the origins - or water. Rain.

Very close to me are wetlands, even some of my property is a wetland, home to wild ducks, mink and moose. The rain overspills its groundwater source and forms ponds and pools, eventually spilling out and creeping forward like a homing pigeon looking for the sea.

The water forms small and large rivulets that cross woodlands and meadows, soaking the ground and over time, killing trees and changing the vegetation that grows there. Where there were once trees and grass are now marsh plants such as cat tails, aquatic grasses and flag irises.
A closer view of the colours which make up the water in the painting.

The water rises and falls depending on the weather and season, but it moves relentlessly towards the sea. How does it know to flow there? Why does it cross heaven and earth to reach its destination, only to reverse the cycle all over again?

Not all water flows to the sea. There are large areas of southern Saskatchewan where the drainage is internal and water does not escape to the sea. This also happens in parts of Australia and Russia. Runoff within these internal drainage basins can produce saline lakes surrounded by white salt crusts. Dissolved salts are transported in surface and ground waters to the lakes. As the lakes have no outlet stream, the salts are trapped, and concentrated by ongoing evaporation of the lake waters.

8 comments:

Making A Mark said...

OMG - I haven't done the hydrologic cycle in aeons!

Do you know what sort of rock you sit on? The geology of an area has a huge impact on whether the ground is pervious or impervious - and degrees inbetween - and hence how the run-off works in terms of soil cover and ground saturation.

I love the painting. You are just so painterly once you have a brush in your hand!

PS I couldn't wait! You al need to take a look at this pdf map of a geological survey of Newfoundland - it's absolutely fascinating! I used to be able to read these and tell what had happened to an area...........

Looks to me like your saturated ground might be due to metamorphic rocks which are impervious. But also it looks like your journey to the sea crosses different rocks on its way

I couldn't resist looking a bit further and came across this about T2.2 THE AVALON AND MEGUMA ZONES which in a nutshell basically says that Avalon, the area where you live, was once part of the bit of Gondwanaland which went off to become Africa and Europe! Maybe it's a bit closer to Cornwall than you thought?

"the Avalon Zone was associated
with Europe and Africa (i.e., Gondwana) during the Cambrian period."


Then everything to the west of you on Newfoundland is associated with the Appalachians - but has become joined up with Avalon.

You are living in a geologist's idea of heaven!

vivien said...

Great post Jeanette :>)


and that close up is gorgeous - we miss so much by only seeing a tiny thumbnail of works online, these little close ups give a much truer picture of the painterliness

Jeanette Jobson said...

Katherine, I have to confess that I know very little about the geology of Newfoundland and your links are fascinating. I have heard that the origins - physically - of the mass that is Newfoundland is a break off of a larger continent, so you
right there is a connection to Cornwall and further.

All I know about the rock in Newfounland is that it is plentiful and that gardening requires a pickaxe and shovel!

Vivien, my pet peeve with displaying artwok online is the viewer's inability to explore it close up or to step back for an appropriate view. I like looking at brushstrokes and how a painting is built as well as viewing from 'across the room'.

vivien said...

I totally agree :>) - would love to see everyones work IRL

.... well, I'm lucky I have seen Katherine, Lindsay, Tina and Gesa's :>) but only a little, I'd love to see a lot more. The mark making is so important isn't it!

Laura Frankstone said...

I'm enjoying seeing this series develop, Jeanette! As for the hazards of viewing work on line---I lament them, too. My last piece, if I may say so, has a much better overall texture than it appears to have as posted.
I do think that having very strong value contrasts in a painting makes it more amenable to reproducing on line. Your Journey, Part II suffers a bit in reproduction, perhaps, because it lacks pronounced value shifts. I would love to see it in person, too.
Keep going, girl---this is such a great concept!

Gesa said...

Jeanette, - sorry but I'm very slow with comments right now. Your series is a great idea. I like the groupings around different watermarks. I just thought of how one can apply very different approaches to this: scientific, lyrical, poetic etc... Hm... let me ponder...

And, yes... very much so agreeing with the limits of monitors... and like Vivien I'm very glad to have seen both her and Lindsay's art irl.

Oops - that reminds me of the project idea... will see to that asap... now off to a course of teamworking and managing teams... and will find out some more about MBTI personality types... cannae wait (and that's being serious!)

Lindsay said...

Your water is very active and the colors of the land so peaceful. It sets up a very interesting contrast.

We have a lot of company and my fingers are just itching to paint IRL. You have inspired me to get out no matter what.

Anonymous said...

Jeanette, you have the most fascinating and challenging environment in terms of painting(and living, I think!). And exactly so are your paintings. Love it!
ronell