Fences, Posts and Gates - Storyline to Country: Focus on Posts
Whether you live in Africa, the USA, Europe, Australia - wherever you might roam - the fences, posts and gates you pass are a Storyline to Country and to a Sense of Place.
Rowdy Wylie and I both love the outback and with it - fences, posts and gates.
If you look very carefully at The Fence Post below painted by Anne many years ago you will see tiny drops of the morning dew hanging from the wire and grass seeds.
Recently we discovered the Texan artist Don Bosley who paints in both watercolour and oils, has a strong sense of place and country, and loves fences and posts. When you look at Anne's Australian fence post (above) and Don Bosley's old forgotten fence post on an East Texas farm (below) you will see how popular these symbols of early farming are to the artist's eye.
But what is it about a common old fence post that is so artistically attractive?
As Rowdy explains: The common “fence post” is a practical.. physical “structure” designed to hold up the wire “cladding” in all types of weather conditions including… keeping people and predators out and securing live stock in their pastures….
Rowdy continues:
Amazingly… the variety of fence posts that are utilized on properties is so very unique.. each with a “story” to tell… many posts have their own individual “character”… appearing very weathered… cracked..
...and often covered in moss…
...made from different materials (timber / Steel)…. Sometimes made from recycled material off the farm… Being of all shapes & sizes… often having “rusty” broken off “barbed wire” tangled around them….after years of use!!
What “colourful” characters they are!! Some outstanding in the "field"... others hiding in the shade...
Often when travelling in the bush or country you will see two neighbour’s… (farmers) talking over their properties fence… while working in their fields… both with their arms leaning on the “fence” or “post” & having a good old “Yarn”… talking about the weather… the amount of rainfall or lack of!!.... Also talking about the local football or cricket game results.. (similar to a “hotel bar” conversation really!!!)
It’s a sight to behold!!!... A typical country scene two blokes “yarning” & having a laugh!!!… What a unique & amazing venue for communication… standing out in the “great outdoors” leaning on the fence… in a relaxing environment with fresh air & nature…. (all positive ingredients to open up conversation… both standing on neutral ground!!)
This is where creative ideas are “born” & can be discussed… Problem solving working at its best!!! “Rowdy”
And sometimes the fence and post is all that is left to hold up the spirit. the photo below was taken sometime in 1968, filed under Natural disasters - Droughts with the description:
A farmer examines parched earth on bottom of a dried-up dam - Each year some area of Australia is affected, more or less, by drought. Here a farmer and his son ruefully survey the crazed pattern of dried mud on the bed of an empty dam during the worst drought and hottest summer on record which struck a wide area of South-Eastern Australia during 1968 - AUSTRALIAN INFORMATION SERVICE PHOTOGRAPH - By J Fitzpatrick.
The location is believed to be somewhere in the Australian Capital Territory near Canberra.
