Postcard No 52: Life by the River
I’ve never liked camelias. I don’t like the way they bruise so easily in the wind and rain and find them a bit too perffect and showy. When we moved into our last house 34 years ago one of the first things we did in the garden was dig out the large camelia tree.
So… you might find today’s postcard surprising!
The cat has been a bit off today so I’ve been inside keeping an eye on her. Sitting at the table I noticed a single camelia in a little purple vase and settled on this view with the camelia bush and river through the window as today’s postcard.
Our new house by the Huon River has 3 mature camelia trees growing so close together they look like one. They’ve been loaded with buds and blooms for weeks now and make a beautiful splash of colour on the grey days of late winter.
I only realised there were seperate trees a few weeks ago. The sunny side of the camelia had been covered with fully opened pink flowers but the shaded side was still in bud. One morning I went to pick a bunch for my mum and the buds on the shaded side had started to pop open. Suddenly there were lovely variagated pink and red camelias alongside the plain pink ones!
I’m changing my mind about camelias…they bloom for ages giving form and colour to the garden. They’re also one plant that the wallabies don’t snack on, which is a big bonus!
Acrylic gouache on midtone paper.
Take time to look up.
As I’m writing this my husband says…look, look, look …as he points out the window. I glance up and see a flock of white cockatoos flying by . They look illuminated! So bright, white against todays overcast sky . It’s always worth stopping what I’m doing for a look out the window.
I hope you have a window , real or imagined, through which you can see beautiful things.
Lindy Whitton Studio 
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