By Carol Fisher-Linn
For over 30 of the 43 years the E’ville Events has been published, Lynn Timon has lovingly and thoughtfully sketched delightful scenes, significant people, sweet forest creatures and animals that draw the eye and heart to the free monthly magazine found all over Ellicottville since 1981. Her sketches continue to appear on the cover, but if you look back over the years, you may find, some have made a reappearance. After all, Ms. Timon is a busy woman with a full-time job for the last twenty-three years, managing Alexandra, the funky, fashion-forward, fun gift shop on Ellicottville’s main drag. Joan Ess, owner of Alexandra, made a brilliant move bringing this artistic talent on board for her delightful shop.
If you look at the pictures on the E’ville Events covers, you can feel the warmth, the whimsey, and the wonder that their creator displays, all emanating from her own personality. I especially like her patriotic covers and her pastoral scenes with children and animals at play. It’s interesting to note that she spends as much time, or more, thinking about what her covers will be as it does for her to develop them on the page. What this writer found amazing is that Ms. Timon revealed that these creations usually take only four to five hours to put on paper, once her mind has them conceived. As I look at the tiny lines defining the most intricate features of face, hair, folds in clothing, flowers, backgrounds, I find it unimaginable that one could ever bring a blank piece of paper to life in such a small amount of time. That is pure genius, talent and creativity combined.
Though not a “local” Ms. Timon has been in Ellicottville since 1984, a transplant from sunny California. Her husband bought into a business opportunity in Ellicottville, so they and their four children moved. She felt uprooted not knowing if she would find people she could relate to in this environment. To her delight she said, “I can now thank my ex-husband for the move because I’ve been blessed to make dear friends here in Ellicottville.”
A mother at 19, Ms. Timon did not have the luxury of attending art school, although she’s always resorted to drawing to express herself her entire life. Raised by her beloved grandmother, she relates remembering at a very early age, when something would happen, and she would want to draw her a picture. Her grandmother constantly told her “Use your words”. Thankfully, she obviously learned to use her words but continued to express herself through drawing as well. Even as a child, she laughingly remembers she drew pictures of everyday events like her siblings in the bathtub or even getting their temperature taken in the early 50’s likely during the polio scare years.
Like many artists, Ms. Timon came by her gift quite naturally. The grandmother who raised her, painted chinaware for years. Although she does not remember her grandmother painting, she was surrounded by it as she was growing up. Her grandmother switched to gardening and from what she remembers her gardens were artistically laid out. It’s just in her DNA. As she tells it, “I couldn’t not do art.” Although we only know of her pen and ink artistry, Ms. Timon has worked in many mediums, oils, pastels, pastel pencils, colored pencils, and recently something called watercolor crayons.
Years after already being on board with E’ville Events, Ms. Timon was interviewed by fellow staff member, Toadie Bliss. The fact came out that she never had any formal art training, so Ms. Bliss paid to enroll her in a watercolor course at Chautauqua Institution for Art because she obviously saw her talent and wanted her to have a little bit of training. That, my readers, is friendship.
Friendship seems to be something Ms. Timon is most grateful for; from finding people she could relate to when she arrived in Ellicottville, to the consistent friendships with her partners at E’ville Events, her employer at Alexandra and most of all her friends in art with whom she gathers regularly. Her joy in those friendships is palpable and refreshing. She is also grateful for her four artistic children, from whom she says she has learned so much: Jason – 51, Andrea – 47, Ariel – 44 and Alyssa – 41.
“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust