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Three Daughters
Reading the Weekend Australian
Review yesterday
I was struck by this image
entiltled The Car
and painted by Australian artist
John Brack
1920-1999
Brack's work is currently being shown at
the National Gallery of Victoria
in Melbourne, as a part of the
John Brack Touring Retrospective
The Car
brought with it
memories of outings and picnics
of annual holidays
and family trips
commencing in the 1950s
for my family
in New Zealand
in New Zealand
I looked further at John Brack's work
and found he featured his family
of three daughters
in daily life
A family composition
just like my family...
Daughter 1
Daughter # 1
was studious and obedient
tentative and careful
a follower
Daughter 2
Daughter # 2
loved books and writing
independent and adventurous
even rebellious
but also shy and
an observer
of life
Daughter 3
Daughter # 3
was the baby
willful and fervent
garrulous and ebullient
an idealist
The Chase
Which daughter was I
Can you guess...
My humble guess is that you were daughter 2.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I have three daughters. Two are teenagers, a year and a half apart, and the other is going to be two in a couple of weeks.
I also have a twelve year old son (didn't want to leave him out).
Brack is a great artist,look forward to seeing this exhibition in time when it comes my way.
ReplyDeleteHi Polly
ReplyDeleteI won't give the show away just yet...
Ah like me - four kids...and also the youngest way behind the others... my youngest is 8 years behind #3 child in age...
Mine are B 32, B 29, G 27, G 19...
You must be very busy with your brood...
and now I am 'empty nested...'
perhaps that is why I am having this thing about birdies of late...
Happy days
Hi Elizabeth GB
ReplyDeleteI had not heard of him before, so this was a treat for me...
Happy days
i really like his painting 'Collins Street 5pm)
ReplyDeletehttp://farm1.static.flickr.com/15/22120328_69dc656977.jpg
i wonder if the exhibition will travel to noosa...
hi Victoria
ReplyDeleteyes I liked that one too when I went looking at his works...It may come to Brisbane you would think...
Happy days
Oh, thanks Delwyn, an artist whose work I did not know.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is number 2 too!
I grew up the only girl amongst 4 boys, in position 4, so whilst not quite the baby elements of Sister 3 do look rather familiar to me. Particularly the expression, which my second son (not the baby, but only not the baby by 4 minutes) appears to have inherited.
Hi Titus
ReplyDeletefour brothers wow...that must have been a noisy household...
you have to love that expression...I hope the wind doesn't change...
Happy days
Love the artwork Delwyn.
ReplyDeleteI think you were daughter #2.
Delwyn I believe you were a definite #2....maybe even a blend of #1 & #2 which I would have to pick for myself...I was not very rebellious though.
ReplyDeleteSmiles,
Wanda
Hi Sarah
ReplyDeleteit is so reminiscent of my growing up in the 50s- the woolen cardigans my mother knitted...the pleated skirts, the porcelain hand basin...even the three matching dresses in the bottom pic as my mother used to sew...
Happy days
Hi Wanda
ReplyDeletewhere did you come in your family...
Happy days
Hi Delwyn: This artist is new to me too.
ReplyDeleteFrom the descriptions you give I would say you were number 2. However, #1 keeps saying something to me - not sure why??? So just to add some variety to the guessing I will say #1.
I was the eldest of two girls. But since there were 7 years between us - I have a lot of the traits of an only child too - since I was alone for those 7 yrs.
It always amazes me how accurate those birth order profiles can be!
I am also guessing you would be daughter #2. Which is the one I'd most like to be.
ReplyDeleteI am the youngest of 3 but have 2 older brothers. Daughter number #3 describes me best.
I'm joining in! You were daughter #2, I think.
ReplyDelete:0)
This artist's work is wonderful. I can see why you were drawn to it.
Being an only child, I always longed for brothers and sisters, especially since my parents and I lived in North America and my entire extended family remained in Germany. My husband, on the other hand, is the oldest of 7 children, the first 5 were boys. I don't know how his mother did it. Looking back now, she doesn't know how she did it, either!
Hugs,
Angela
Hi Liss
ReplyDeleteWhy is that?
Happy days
I grew up the oldest of four boys. The absence of girls in the family made them even more mysterious, always reacting in ways I would never have expected.
ReplyDeleteThen I became the father of two girls, and learned a lot.
If you're not number 2 you should be, but I'll guess #3 since no one has taken that yet.
Is there a prize?
Hi Bonnie
ReplyDeleteHow was that when your sister came along...did you feel displaced...
I'll let you know later...
Happy days
Hi Barry
ReplyDeletethe oldest of $ boys...you must have been the leader of the pack...
I agree with you about being green about the opposite sex...I think I went boy crazy in my teenage years as they were such alien beings to me...I had no idea how to relate to boys either...
What do you think the prize should be...a whale...
Happy days
Hi Angela
ReplyDeleteyou must have felt very lonely in your little isolated family unit but now you have all those in laws to compensate you for the shortage in your childhood...
My husband and I came to Au and raised our family here without any relatives for support and it was hard...but at least the family hopped across the Tasman sea (3 hour flight) regularly for holidays...
thanks for joining in Angela
Happy days
Delwyn,
ReplyDeleteHe really captures the personalities in these daughter drawings. I am going to have to say you were daughter 2, as well. have three daughters as well, they seem very similiar the personalities mentioned!
Oh the days of no seat belts.
Rosey
I love the expressiveness of the faces of the three daughters in the painting. I'm guessing that you were a combo of 2 and 3!
ReplyDeleteI don't know enough about you since we have so recently met :) But I would guess you to be daughter # 2 :)
ReplyDeleteI was the oldest of three daughters Delwyn...no brothers.
ReplyDeleteI'm going with the crowd and guessing daughter #2.
ReplyDeleteI had 2 brothers and 2 sisters. My spot was oldest son, but I had an older sister. When out and about, if strangers asked my mother if we were Catholic or Mormon (we kids all had Old Testament names) my mother's droll reply was,
"No, we're passionate Protestants." That tended to end the inquiry.
Because I was the middle child, I like to think you were, too.
ReplyDeleteBut you have many qualities of #3, too - ebullience, for instance. (I love that word.)
Beautiful images. xx
Too easy...daughter #2.
ReplyDeleteHmm - I'm thinking #3. Idealistic, ebullient, maybe willful?
ReplyDeleteThis is a tough one...I am at a crossroad with either #2 or #3. I don't quite see you as being willful but definitely fervent. My guess would have to be #2. It is so funny how the order of the birth in a family selects our personalities and composition. Out of the three daughters that were in our family, I certainly fell into the #3. The three children we have all exhibit the characteristics of their birth number. So totally interesting!
ReplyDeletewhat wonderful character portraits! I wasn't familiar with this artist's work. Delightful!
ReplyDeleteI also think you have to be no. 2. It will be a surprise if you turn out to be daughter no. 1, as nobody has picked her, and she seems to be a nice little girl too. I am the eldest of three girls, one older brother.
ReplyDeleteI would guess you were daughter #2. I was the 3rd child out of 4 and the 2nd daughter.
ReplyDeleteI come form a small family, for children,just my older brother and I. 3 years apart. I am going to guess #2 as well. The love of books,
ReplyDeleteadventure, and definitely a great observer of life!
I wouldn't dare to guess!
ReplyDeleteBut thank you for introducing the artist, his drawings and paintings are delightful.
Hi Friko
ReplyDeleteI think readers are using their own experiences to guess...
Happy days
Hello Lorac
ReplyDeletea very interesting response...I will reveal all soon...
Happy days
Hi janie
ReplyDeleteit has been interesting to learn of readers' families and how they project themselves into this little family group...
Happy days
Hi Ann
ReplyDeleteso while you are #2 child you are #1 girl...an interesting position...
Happy days
Hi Lou
ReplyDeleteas I grew up in the 5os they spoke to me with intensity...
Happy days
Hi Alicia
ReplyDeleteThese descriptions are of my family members only but they seem to ring a bell with other readers...
Happy days
Hi Nancy
ReplyDeleteinteresting....
Happy days to you
Hi Ellen,
really?
Happy days
Hi there Reya
ReplyDeleteyou were a middle...mmmmmmm
ebullience yes...I do...enthusiasm in abundance for certain things...
Happy days
Hi dan
ReplyDeleteYou had a reasonably big family then... As # 1 son you had a very special place...
My boys also have old Testament names- I chose them for strength and antiquity, not for religious overtones...
Happy days
Hi Pink D
ReplyDeleteinteresting guess...
Happy days
Hi KB
could be...
Happy days
Hi Rosey
ReplyDeleteSo you can see your own daughters in my descriptions - mmmmm
I have 2 boys, 2 girls...in that order...
Happy days
I don't even have to guess, Delwyn! You were Daughter #3! (and I haven't peeked.) You are outgoing and positive, self-confident and full of life. I know you love books, but that doesn't have to mean you're shy or reserved. That beig said, aren't you a little bit 1, 2, and 3?! xxox
ReplyDeleteDelwyn, I think the illustration is throwing your readers off. #3 looks so grouchy, but that is not quite the description - I say #3.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this artist.
Delwyn, I think the illustration is throwing your readers off. #3 looks so grouchy, but that is not quite the description - I say #3.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this artist.
Have 3 sons-- all different personalities and all grown up-- so now what it is like to be part of 'three' -- great connection.
ReplyDeleteHi Donna
ReplyDeleteso you can relate to the threes well...
what about yourself...
Happy days
Hi Jennifer
ReplyDeletethat could be..
lets see...
Happy days
Hi Margaret
ReplyDeleteyou sound so confident...and yes I am a bit of each, but more distinctly one than the others...
Happy days
No fair playing so coy! When do you reveal the answer?
ReplyDeleteI think you may have been a mixture of them all.
ReplyDeleteI must admit I am not loving NZ. I feel bad saying that to you as you are from here. I think that it is that I feel in limbo and lost in a sea of craziness at the moment though. It may be coloring my view of my life here. That and living with my in-laws!! ha ha
Hi Yvonne
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear that...Living with the rellies is hard for anyone...It sounds as if you are a bit lost -out of place at the moment...not got your roots down yet...email me if you want to chat...
Happy days
Dear Everyone
ReplyDeleteThis has been a very interesting experiment in the formation of impressions through a limited number of sources...
Without the benefit of personal interaction you have had to decide the kind of personality that best suits me from the way I write, and the content of my posts...
you have made some assumptions - as we all do when drawing maps of people in order to understand them...
You are very clever pixies...
and perhaps there are elements of each of the three daughters characteristics that I have traces of...
however I was describing, in a nutshell, my sisters and I...
one of them is older...and one is younger...so yes I am in the middle...#2...
many of you won't be surprised at all...
thank you all for taking part in this little activity...
Happy days
Prototypically Antepodian to my eye :)
ReplyDeleteAloha, Friend!
Comfort Spiral
I find it very interesting and really rather amazing that so many people guessed the right one, which means that your blog - the way it's designed as well as the content of it - pretty transparently reflects you.
ReplyDeleteThere's something very inspiring about that to me.
Hi Polly
ReplyDeleteso what does this mean...
that we can get to 'know' someone via this medium...
that we pick up references that they make..
that we are sensitive to allusions that might be in the text
that we revel quite a bit about ourselves even when we think we are writing about the birds and the trees...
that we are sensitive to nuances in each other's works...
that we read between the lines...
that we are so familiar with our own position in the FOO that we can project or transfer those feeling easily...
I wonder
what does it say...
Perhaps it says that I gave it away by saying that daughter #2 loved writing and books...
what do you think...
Happy days
Wow, that was a fast and thorough response. It seems that you had been thinking about this already.
ReplyDeleteMaybe what it means is all of the things you suggest.
For me, yes - there was definitely the love of book/writing, but the description of daughter 2 that seemed to fit you the most was the "independent and adventurous" part - based on the walks you take and the way you present them - and the "observer of life" part - based on the same thing, and also on the sort of challenges you pose to your readers, the way you draw them in and seem to enjoy observing their responses.
Then something about your sweet sidebar suggests shyness to me. Don't ask me to explain that though.
As far as birth order, I'm not really very familiar with the associations.
I am laughing because so many people guessed two, and I was stuck on three! I do see where Pollinatrix is coming form, though, with the very delicate sidebar images and poetry. You still seem so strong-willed to me! Love, Margaret
ReplyDeleteWell - I would have to guess - #2. I'm not reading the other comments until I place my bet!
ReplyDeleteHi Margaret
ReplyDeleteI found your choice interesting Margaret...perhaps a little projection happening there...and yes I am strong willed in an independent way not the bullying stubborn way...more assertive I think...
and I understand Polly's reference too...I can be seen that way and I have always felt a shyness which I have to overcome...I read once that once shyness is accepted by the child it becomes a pathology and I thought how true...we use it to our advantage... so I try to break out of that mould...
sometimes... and choose to remain withdrawn at other times...
Happy days
OK Barb
ReplyDeleteNow you can join the clever Pixie contingent...well done
Happy days
Interesting art by this artist. I like it... and I'm guessing you were like Daughter # 2... the lover of books, the artistic one, & a bit rebellious. :-)
ReplyDeleteYes Lizzy
ReplyDeleteyou picked the correct daughter...I was all of those ...and still am..
Happy days
Hi Delwyn, answering your question. I think Anne of Green Gables would have been described as #2 and I so wanted to be her growing up. She was intelligent, adventurous and unafraid. I think I could also be a little less emotional and not be so idealistic at times.
ReplyDelete