Sunset, Thursday, 24 September 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

It’s been steamy today, and my attention turns, down in front of my view of the sunset, to the huge circular garden in the back yard, which, as I’ve previously explained, has been neglected and left dormant this year – which actually means, going crazy with weeds this year. But not just your ordinary waist- and shoulder-high weeds – I mean jungle-like weeds – violacious weeds. (I love that word – encountered while proofing a medical journal, where it described a skin eruption. Scared me to death.) Pokeweed, of course – spectacular, almost tree-like pokeweed some nine feet tall, now a gorgeous toxic bright purple from stern to stems, hanging with the dark purple berries we painted our faces with as kids. Thistles. Yet another volunteer peach tree. New blackberry hedges. But the most prominent invader – literally an invasive species – ailanthus trees, three of them, at least 15 feet high. How something so widely despised would be called Tree of Heaven escapes me; around here it’s commonly known as Paradise Tree.

The southeast Asian origins of the ailanthus suit the day, and its jungle leaves make me think of the paintings of Henri Rousseau – yes, the one they called ‘Le Douanier’. What a beautiful painter. Alongside my setting sun (although mine is overtaken by nearby storms), Henri adds a lustrous silver moon. At the center of the garden, perhaps a savage nude with lionesses. The garden chokes with tropical vegetation. The Blue Ridge reverts to its ancient volcanic past and issues plumes of smoke.