Take a Walk Around Cedar Tree Neck

The first thing that stood out in the photo I got to interpret [from stop 1] was the fiery, bright, and brilliant colors.  They evoked so much passion and vibrancy. Then I noticed the nostalgic road trailing off into the distance. I sat down at the piano and these lyrics just leaped forth; “I stood out on the road and watched as you were leaving. Leaves were dancing oranges and reds” and I thought Yep, I know this girl and I love her! I imagined her standing there, watching her lover leaving down this road with the wind blowing and all the leaves flying around her and I wrote “They circled all around me like confetti on fire.” I could feel the fire she felt for this man. In this song, my character is looking back at this scene from her life and owning her passion and her vulnerability. The bridge of the song is special for me ‘cause it reconciles my character’s childhood feelings about passion and fire being ‘unforgivable’ and her adult compassion for that child: “I went down to the church. I offered my confession. I swore I’d never do it again. I swore I learned my lesson. But every year the leaves appear, your memory comes sweet and clear. I never will forget you and I never did regret you.” I love her ownership of her past, her fire, her passion, and the consequences of all of it.

Listening to the song [from stop 2], the first things that came to me were colors and the changing of seasons. The song was about memories associated with first love, the excitement, and joy, but also the pain when that love goes away. I titled my painting Metamorphosis. Thinking of the change from one stage of life to the next, a girl and her innocence growing into a mature woman, a butterfly. The image of a young woman standing alone on a road, watching her love walk away was what came to me. The colors represent the changing of time. I put the young girl in black to acknowledge that she has transformed into a woman.

As an interpretation of the painting from stop 3, Linda created a strong black tea titled ‘Evolution.’   She imbued the black tea with red fruits and berries.  Here is her description of her interpretation.

The red & blue of the painting brought to mind the aroma & taste of berries. I was impressed initially by the bold colors & the minimal, even starkness of the painting with prominent blocks of color (red, blue, black) interrupted sporadically by short dabs of a golden hue & a figure of a fair, young woman facing forward, gazing outwards.  It appeared to me as though the figure was the artist actually transforming into her work. I see what look like brushes in her right hand & her left hand is actually already melding with the colors of the piece, as is the left side of her face & hairline suggesting that this is a portrait of the artist herself in the process of becoming her art….an evolution. With this in mind, I felt that my tea blend should not only be colorful (representing the visual palette of the piece) but it should also incorporate the process of evolving. I attempted to layer flavors of varying intensities so that the blend would evolve in the cup & in the mouth….certain flavors would reveal themselves at different times, and others would linger a bit……so the imbiber would contemplate the process. The Black Tea I selected as a base was used to represent the Black presence in the painting & like the black in the painting it provided an anchor, a firm foundation for the colors & the fruits.