Windrush 9, Escil Maude Ellington - “It’s A Pleasure”.

“It’s A Pleasure”

I’ve about finished Windrush 9, Maude (just some hand sewing on the binding). My working title for Maude was Flower of Jamaica, but I’m thinking I’ll just use the last thing Maude said to me, which was: “It’s a pleasure”.

I have decorated the piece with Jamaican flowers. I kept these to the bottom and up one side as I wanted to keep the open space around the portrait. To me it seemed to reinforce the strength and also vulnerability of Maude. She’s 90, after all; and I think both strong and fragile in the same moment.

The lavender/blue flowers in her hand are from the Lignum Vitae tree, the national flower of Jamaica. It’s also known as the “Wood of Life” because of it’s medicinal properties.

The larger, showy flowers come in various vibrant colours, and I’ve used pink to tie in with Maude’s top. It’s sometimes called “shoe black” in Jamaica and it’s dried calyces are often used to make a tart tea called sorrel or hibiscus tea. It’s also believed to have anti-inflammatory and blood pressure lowering properties, but it entirely ornamental in my garden.

On the bottom left are some orange/red flowers with yellow middles. These are Plumeria (Plumeria Rubra). With common names of plumeria and frangipani, a few species and hybrids are grown as ornamentals in tropical and sub-tropical areas worldwide for their attractive and fragrant flowers. They sound lovely; they are pollinated by night-flying sphinx moths, so the flowers begin to release their fragrance in the evening, but they can still have a lovely floral scent at other times too.

And finally, the small orange and green pods climbing up the side — Cerasee, or bitter melon. A classic of Jamaican folk medicine, known for its truly heroic bitterness. It’s said to purify the blood and, according to some scientists, might even help inhibit cancer cells. Impressive stuff for something that most people, it seems, can barely swallow without wincing!!

Windrush 9, Maude holding Lignum Vitae