New Bronte Photo?

I got an email from a friend this week with a link to a website showing what might be a photograph of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte together - take a look and see what you think...

http://www.brontesisters.co.uk

Colours of the Weather

I've worked out which types of weather each of the Bronte sisters mention in one of their novels: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte; Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte.

With this information i want to paint some colour wheels with all the data. Because i have found that there are 18 types of weather mentioned i'm now deciding which 18 colours to use and how i want the final work to look. It's been a bit tricky working it out - some weather types are mentioned lots: wind or rain for example, but there are other types that are only mentioned once or twice: drizzle, mist or fog. And if i'm doing it in a circle i have to work out the percentage of times each weather type is used and calculate the size of the corresponding stripe.

I'm enjoying practising painting and i went out this morning to buy new brushes and paper ready to work on the final pieces.

Haworth Primary School Project

I spent yesterday with the Year 4 class from Haworth Primary School doing a project on the weather.

First we made paper windmills to use outside at the back of the Bronte Parsonage Museum to check the wind. It turned out to be a really cold, grey, fairly nondescript day, but we still managed to get the windmills to fly round in the breeze. We also did some creative writing and we collected rubbings on paper in the graveyard for the afternoon session too.

We spent the afternoon in the classroom making collages based on the weather - cotton wool seemed a very popular material for clouds and snow - but we also used lots of different types of paper, our collected rubbings, card and fabrics.

All of year 4 did great work - there were scenes of snow storms, lightening, sunshine and sun beams, hail, rain, wind blown trees, clouds, a sunset and a fantastic hedgehog. 

A good time was had by all.

Top Withins

Until now most of my time working on the Weather Project has been spent reading Bronte texts (novels, letters and poems) and with it being winter i've been ok with that. But now spring is coming i've been wanting to explore the area around Haworth and the landscape that inspired the Bronte sisters.

So, on Sunday i went up to Haworth and walked to Top Withins. It's a well trodden path and as it was a mild, sunny day there were lots of others walking out on the moors too. The birds are getting ready for spring - we could hear the eerie call of Curlew in the breeze and the crackle of Red Grouse being flushed from the heather. And i saw a couple of bees (a honeybee and a bumble bee). We had a butty at the Bronte Waterfalls by the Bronte Bridge and then continued up to Top Withins. 

There's a plaque on the ruin that explains "This farmhouse has been associated with 'Wuthering Heights', the Earnshaw home in the Emily Bronte novel. The buildings, even when complete, bore no resemblance to the house she described, but the situation may have been in her mind when she wrote of the moorland setting of the Heights."

I'm enjoying experiencing all the Bronte hype - there's so many Bronte pilgrims wanting to tread where the Bronte's might have been that the walk was signposted to within an inch of its life - you can't possibly get lost and there's no need for a map.

Mention of the Weather

I've been counting who mentions which type of weather in their novels: Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre (see below); Emily Bronte in Wuthering Heights and Anne Bronte in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Previously i presumed that Anne Bronte mentioned the weather the least - but it seems i'm wrong. She mentions the weather more than Emily does, however she uses more general descriptions: she uses phrases such as 'spendid morning', 'fine weather', loveliest days', 'splendid evening' more than Emily and Charlotte who are more distinct with their observations.

Anne Bronte mentions the sun and sunshine most frequently in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Emily Bronte mentions the wind most frequently in Wuthering Heights, followed by the sun, then snow.