The Ramblings of the Nomadic Designer

The Village

One of my artworks/ creations is the village of Wooding’s Landing. Many years ago, when I lived across town from the Country cottage, my family lived in a house with a terraced hill in the backyard. At the top of that hill was a very large oak tree and a number of mountain laurel bushes. Around the foot of the tree was a clearing of grass and moss, I would look up at that mini-mountaintop clearing and think that if that where a real mountain, it would be a spectacular home site. So having access to a full wood-working shop, and being the dreamer that I am –the clearing soon sported a 2foot tall replica of Tara.

It did not take long for the kid’s and I to decide that “Tara” was lonely and needed company, so the lower portion of the hill soon had a church and another house. Over the next few years the village grew and grew till the hill had over 60 buildings of various sizes and styles.

When my marriage crumbled and I moved across town, the village moved too- by this time it filled the entire bed of my dad’s pickup truck! The collection sat forlornly on the edge the yard as I settled back into my bachelor quarters and dealt with other matters. Among these being to transplant the heirloom plants from the house across town to the new bed that dad and I had prepped in the backyard. There just did not seem to really be a spot that fit the village, until the day we decided to clear the brush behind the shed.

Inspiration finally hit me! Instead of trying to spread out in a long line like the old site, I could group the buildings around a central green. After several weeks of digging, weeding and gravel laying, the village of Wooding’s landing was reborn. Now as I pull into my driveway, I can look down the slope to the backyard and see my little town laid out before me.

Then along came Rob…….. Some things have changed for the village.

1) I’m not in Beacon Falls anywhere near as much as I was before- so maintenance is not what is was before, and wooden boxes sitting on the ground need continual maintenance ,and

2) Rob is a avid amateur photographer, and made the village the subject of one of his essays.

As grandma Messner was fond of saying “Yea Gods”! I was seeing my creation thru new eyes. Rob got down on his hands and knees and took tons of pictures of the village as if he were actually walking thru it. A whole new look! This inspired a new series of paintings of the village – I enclose one here.