The Weaving of Plants and People

I am fascinated by connections…the many ways people connect with one another, the complex interdependency found in nature and the threads of history that makes themselves felt through time.  I’ve been reading David Douglas: A Naturalist at Work by David Nisbet, which describes the travels, observations and collecting of that intrepid Scot, David Douglas.  He was a man who understood about connections.  He relied heavily on tribal knowledge to locate and learn the uses of indigenous plants used for food and medicine.  Some of you may remember that I participated in a botanical art exhibition of plants of this region that were noted in David Douglas’ journals.  So not only have I been reading about his life but also studying and painting some of the same native plants he studied all of those years ago.

When the descendant of another Scottish adventurer who explored the Pacific Northwest in the same era as David Douglas contacted me regarding one of my illustrations, I was intrigued to say the least!  My client’s ancestor was Sir William Drummond Stewart, who besides bringing a herd of buffalo and Native American artifacts to Scotland, brought back enough Douglas fir seedlings, as well as other American conifer seeds and seedlings, to plant a large grove of them on his estate.  Now the trees are almost 200 years old, and look quite magnificent in the photos I’ve seen of them.  During his travels, Sir William commissioned an artist to record the Native American way of life and the rugged landscape of the Old West. 

My client thought that my graphite drawing of a Douglas fir twig would be a suitable logo for his estate, reflecting its unique history and ties to Oregon Country as it was then called.  I wonder what Sir William would say about a drawing from Oregon traveling through cyberspace to be used on the website for his descendant’s estate in Scotland?  The threads of history weave together distant people and places in unexpected ways.

I feel very honored that my drawing is being used to symbolize this beautiful and historic property.