My work on this painting could be described as striving for imperfection. Painting this plant brings to mind a story I heard long ago from a local surveyor.
A fishing village on Hatteras Island had the reputation that the locals would eat yaupon berries (scientific name "Ilex Vomitoria")(eat the berries and you vomit) in an attempt to reach some type of euphoric high. In the early 1980's the village was incorporated. The locals decided to change the name of the village from Kinnakeet to Avon, North Carolina. The locals wanted to shed all remnants of their berry eating past and being jokingly referred to as "Kinnakeeters yaupon eaters".
Oil on canvas 22"X18" (SOLD)
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5 comments:
Outside of my fondness for the Atlantic Ocean and these parts there is nothing I am more passionate about than the equine species. Your Mississippi - can't search your site for it - but just now possess it (the equine with rider, which is so beautiful it makes me cry) and the animal is either a mule or a horse, not sure, but the feeling is there, the shadow below the wide open spaces where never is heard a discouraging word. Ok, I'll shut up, but thank you for what you do!
Hey Chic,
Thank you for doing what you do!
Sincerly,
Hi - I am definitely glad to find this. Good job!
They used yaupon leaves to make tea, not get high. They also used it for medicinal purposes, one of which was actually to treat alcoholism. Yaupon was considered to be a poor mans substitute for China tea and a stigma was attached to the consumption as a result. Regardless, people from Kinnakeet continued to enjoy it. That is how the term "Kinnakeeter Yaupon Eater" came about. "Kinnakeeters highly fed, yaupon tea, and crackling bread" was another.
From a helpful Kinnakeeter
Thank SDB, fellow Kinakeeter, for your correct statement about yaupon and how Kinnakeeters used it. Yes, it was used only to make tea or for medicine. The tea was sometimes sold because it was a means of making money. They never ate the berries because the berrries are are highly toxic to humans. Honestly, I don't know how some of these stories get started! Another Kinnakeeter Yaupon Eater.
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