Before leaving to come here I read Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things- or more accurately, listened to it while I worked. I had no idea what it was about before beginning it. I knew it had something to do with a woman who was botanist in the 18th century and little else. Spoiler alert in case you plan to read it- she winds up in Tahiti with a pile of possessions including the equipment she needed to do her studies and some books, papers and other odds and ends. She is plunked into an entirely unfamiliar place with unfamiliar customs and values- in the last 3 months, I have thought of this book often.
When Fred and I came here we brought what we could in suitcases. My illustration equipment well packed, no books, except the bare minimum I need for reference for the next 3 books I'm working on- well and I did photograph my favorite picture books for reference and have them digitally- some paints, a stack of moleskine journals, pencils and then just some clothing and odds and ends. That's it. There are very general parallels with the book- we certainly don't live in a hut, and we have all of the stuff of modern life- like computers and the internet, but there are a lot of parts of the book that I do relate to.
Banana trees in the from yard.
A full moon in the southern hemisphere- the familiar stars, not so familiar.
Sunset over the sugarcane fields with the ever moving,ever changing, ever present cloudscapes.
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