More Gardens, More themes...

Gardens and Themes...

One of the great things about grasping the nature of Japanese gardens is that they are consciously themed, and that there are immensely different ways in which to go about theming these gardens - even if altered to incorporate some of the western notions of garden arrangement...  further, these  themings need not be of anything mystical - that is, they can as readily be governed by a love of reality unmitigated by any brashness of fantasy or even 'human hatredness', a notion rarely overtly expressed yet seen in abundance in guise of other manners...  

As noted here, the opening parley is of a treed rock in the midst of a pond [as indicated by the running off falls], with three bare boulders on a shore at the rear of the viewing...  the level down on this is of a pond with the fore arena having three thin trees overlooking both the water and the boundary into another garden, and the falls from this dropping thru a hole in the midst of a dry garden on the level below...   tho these other gardens at best are mere indicated, yet it is not too early to be asking - why the use of three's, and what themes might be seen in these gardens and how do they refer in integrated notions to the rest of the 'Bigger Back yard'...

Question of Scale...

One of the things to mention, now that this section is colored, is the question of scale...  if one looks at the buildings [and, eventually, other 'things'], there is struck a notion that these are there in the scale of the viewer - whomever the viewer, that there are several possibilities of just how large these 'things' are...   and this is deliberate, a way of instilling to the viewer how one ought to see yet how one actually does see the work, all according to one's own sense of life, and one's own grasping of the theming implicated in the title...

What in a theme...

One of the things being attempted in this series of exploring the development of 'my bigger back yard' is in the theming and seeing how that theming is visualized, for better or worse... there is a reason why this is being done in sections like this, each separate from the others, yet adding together to a comprehensive whole...    carefully paying attention to the various sections reveal sort of mini-themes, each a subset of the grand whole vista, yet each able to be on their own,  -  expansive with being added to the others...    this becomes more obvious with noting what the upcoming section portends - a series of gardens terraced along the slopes of the right side of the rendering, with  one of my 'eagle' houses perched high to overlook it all...

What, then, does the theme of 'my bigger back yard' mean - especially when visualized to the extent done so far, with the indications of the forthcoming gardens?  why, for instance, was the grass so uneven, almost like a wild field?   what of the indicated dropping off of the edge - just a slope down to an unseen level, or a dropping off as in a cliff?what difference would either make in the theming, of how one sees the rest of the vista - or would there be any difference, and why or why not?   what if there was a figure placed therein - nude, perhaps just over the edge, as if on a down slope, just the back and turned head of the woman seeking out her visitor, her butts hidden in the grasses? what if were added, partly hidden, a picnic basket to her right, one of those woven ones with a checkered cloth seen overflowing the edge, under the lids - any difference in the perception of the back yard, or in the sense of it being 'bigger'?

What of the first section of the mid-distance, the one now colored, with the vegetation flowing over what usually would be much more barrenness  - and the house overlooking the vista from that side, integrated organically to the landscape? or an intrusion? and if so yes to both, why? why not development considered as advancing the landscape?  and the second section, just posted as a grisaille - does the high-rise fit, or is it as well considered intruding, or is the human then recognized as an integral part of the environment and the bigger back yard an extension of PURPOSEFULLY altering the landscape instead of the supposed chance and caprice of the 'natural' order...   the theming - what is being said in the theming, and why...

and as much for the artist who is rendering this - what is the nature of the idea of purpose and productivity being appraised, not just in the visual but in the effort expended to the visual - proper for an artist? instructive to others? or vainglorious ?  and - what, then, would be an alternative, and would it impact as thusly ?

The Second Wall...

Continuing further into the vista that is my bigger back yard, one sees more of the issue of development, enhancing the kind of 'made for human' world desired...

And Crown...

Now to the next section...