Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Tobacco by Paula

At George Washington's Boyhood Home (where I'm the marketing director), we grow tobacco like the Washingtons would have done. I was in the garden Monday checking to see if the cotton bolls were open yet and saw this tobacco leaf. I confiscated it and a few seed pods and painted them later. A couple of the seed pods had holes in them and the seeds that kept falling out were as fine as ground black pepper. It is apparently difficult to get tobacco started from seed and the transplant failure rate it high, too, but it must have been worth it to the colonists since it became a huge cash crop. Our "field" is measured in feet rather than acres but visitors are always interested in seeing it grow. Watch this space for cotton when it's ready...

13 comments:

  1. Wowee Paula, this is just gorgeous!!!!

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  2. Beautifully done! Looks so real :)

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  3. Beautiful, I find myself becoming more drawn to 'natural subjects' in the Autumn!

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  4. Thank you all. I think dried up, pitted, aged vegetation has so much more character than newly minted spring blooms. Maybe it's my age... ;-)

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  5. Paula, this is fascinating, thank you! I've worked with historic sites too, and have grown tobacco and cotton, so this is particularly meaningful for me.

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  6. Ooooo, Paula, this is a stunning tribute to the tobacco plant! Can't wait to see the cotton :)

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  7. Thanks Kate and PJ. I'm looking forward to trying to paint the cotton. I've spun it for years and only this year have I thought about painting it. This blog has added to my life in so many ways!

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  8. Oh! Wow! I just learned something .. and got to savor your beautiful art. I look forward to the cotton.

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  9. I like it very much, more now as painter than before as smoker...beautiful.

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