Why Am I Painting (Literal) Garbage?

Like many of us, I tend to curate (well, over-curate) what I represent from my surroundings.

I live in a big city, in an inner suburb. Inner suburbs tend to be more densely populated than outer suburbs. And where I live it’s a bit grimy with a lot of strip malls. There’s not much green space.

I tend to ignore my urban surroundings, omit those truths, and focus on the small green spaces we do have. There’s nothing wrong with that, it is a valuable exercise of finding nature exactly where you are. 

International Nature Journaling Week is run by the wonderful Bethan of Journaling With Nature. This year she gifted us with a Sensory Safari. 7 days, 1 for each of our 5 senses and a few more besides.

I was shaping up to paint lilacs and rosebuds. But I decided I wanted to really look at my urban neighborhood. I figured I’d leave the pretty paintings to other folx, and try the weird thing! 

I’d look for urban subjects. And I’d represent them without judgment or romanticism.

Color

Yes, there are lilacs in the parkette, and rosebuds in someone’s yard.
But there’s also color in the signage and billboards that we see. 

In an effort to ground myself in my surroundings, without judgment, I chose to really pay attention to the colors in the strip mall across the street. 

While mostly neutral, there are pops of color in the signage and billboards. And in the fire hydrant, recycling bins, and trees beyond it!

Texture

There are grasses and trees, and plants in people’s yards, yes. But what is most accessible to all of us is concrete.
Really, a lot of concrete.
It’s not as pretty as flowers, trees, and leaves, or as soothing. But it’s what’s here.

The concrete in my building’s driveway has these lovely large semi-circle swirls in it. 

I guess someone had to finish it off manually when they poured it.

I was really feeling texture so I kept going! These are bricks from the church next door. 

I started with yellow and orange, then realized I could get playful and smoosh additional colors in. I really like how the different colors found the edges of the bricks.

I wondered if I could capture the texture of the chainlink fence across the street. The answer is sorta. 

I could only get the texture going in one direction. The chainlink going the other way was too far away to register on the paper. 
The resulting texture is interesting, especially on an angle.

Aroma

Yes, there is a delightful scent of lilacs here in early June, but there’s also the stench of garbage sitting outside on a hot day. Let’s not ignore that. 

In my continuing effort to document my reality, instead of curating what is pretty and nice, I give you Garbage Bins in Hot Sun.

On garbage day during the summer, there is one smell that dominates the neighborhood. 

As I considered how to represent the scent of garbage, I toyed with colours. I decided on puce, chartreuse, and a dirty lilac.

Song

There’s birdsong if I get outside at the right times of day, like at dusk and dawn. But more often than not what I hear is traffic, lawnmowers, and airplanes (I live near a large airport).

This abstract assemblage is a record of the primary sounds I hear from my home. It’s part of paying attention to all the things that exist in my environment, without judgment or curation.

The painting is organized from the ground up. The bottom half of the page is pale, smokey violet for the ongoing hum of background traffic. 

The harsh whine of a leaf blower starts at the ground and softens as it climbs. It’s depicted in yellow zigzags with violet shards at the edges. 

There is the constant whirring of a lawn mower, shown in smokey blue, harsher near the ground and dissipating as it rises into the air.

Then there is the song of little sparrows filling the newly leaved trees. They can be heard from the ground and from my balcony with equal clarity. I used bright dots and lines of yellow, violet, and pink to represent their pretty chirping. 

And finally, above everything, there is the low, round, rumble of airplanes. The smokey violet starts thin as the planes approach, then fills to a round belly, lined in orange/red (for how intrusive it becomes), and then narrows again as it gets further away.

Flavor

I’m lucky I was too sick to paint this day. I didn’t fancy licking anything around here…
So I stayed in bed all day and dozed. A+ win!

Movement

Wildfire season has started strong in Canada. Too strong. The movement of air and wind has brought blankets of smoke from the out-of-control wildfires in Quebec to Southern Ontario and Toronto. 

We awoke to eerie yellow/orange light out of the window, the scent of smoke in the air, and the sky obstructed by a haze of smoke.

I expect the smoke will stay until the wind shifts.

Wishing much rain and dampness for our neighbors in Quebec. As well as on the East Coast, Northern Ontario, across the prairies, into Alberta and BC.

Heart

Given my theme of looking directly at what exists in my neighborhood, I believe its heart is people.

People living in a big city don’t interact with each other much. We go about our business with scowls on our faces, maybe headphones in, and we avoid eye contact. Yet each of us has rich inner lives, joys and struggles, hopes and dreams.

For about a decade, I’ve occasionally passed a woman on the sidewalk. 

We both wear scowls on our faces, like we’re supposed to. She always seems to be carrying heavy bags, and she walks like she’s tired no matter the time of day. We’ve never said hello, and hardly ever made eye contact.

The pandemic means I haven’t seen her for a few years. When I did see her again, I deliberately sought her eyes and held them. She looked back. I smiled at her. She smiled back.

Now when we see each other we smile.

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I was worried about this particular interpretation of International Nature Journaling Week. Nature journaling often involves plants, flowers, birds, etc. Contemplating strip malls and concrete felt…unsafe?

But you know what?

I really enjoyed it!
And I received nothing but positive feedback. People appreciated my unique take on this subject.

And one person left me with a deep piece of wisdom:
Humans and our activities are part of nature too.

Most importantly, I enjoyed getting out into my neighborhood and sinking a little deeper into it. I’m now more familiar with a space I was already very familiar with. I love it a little more than before.

And this is the whole point, the entire goal, of nature journaling!

It’s not about creating beautiful art, it is about connecting to your environment.

I’m telling you this in case you were thinking about trying something out of the norm. Take the risk. It might be worth it.

So, tell me, is there something you’re thinking about trying?
Or maybe have already tried? How did it go?