White in black
White subjects were always tricky on the white STILL background. I tended to avoid them. I eventually developed some techniques that allowed me to capture most of the white subjects I wanted. But this new black background is tailor made for white subjects. My mind races with opportunity: trilliums, peonies, daisies, roses, (any white flowers!), eggs, feathers, shells, bones, mushrooms, even snow and ice! It makes one swoon. But for now, I present a humble circle of white hydrangea florets.
dried white hydrangea florets
P.S. My Merlin App captured 26 birds this morning in the 10 minutes while I was making my morning tea! Do you use Merlin? I adore it.
Before the green curtain descends
Making the most of my dried specimens before summer’s green curtain descends. I adore horsetail. Here is just a few of the reasons why:
Modern horsetails first appeared during the Jurassic period.
The group is now almost extinct, but one genus survives: Equisetum is the only living genus of horsetails.
Horsetails are native on all continents except Australasia and Antarctica.
Horsetail was one of the most important plant groups in the Palaeozoic era.
They are seen in the coal measures of the Carboniferous period, and some were trees reaching up 30 metres.
They are vascular plants that reproduce by spores and not by seeds.
The name horsetail came because the branched species somewhat look like a horse’s tail.
dried horsetail stems (Equisetum)
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gFgahscinating! And beautiful! Thanks for doing the research and sharing it with us. The segmented aspect of it reminds me of bamboo.
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In praise of shadows
I am still feeling my way into workin on black. Playing. Experimenting. Trying to coax light and shadow to bend to my artistic vision. I am having fun.
Hiding in plain site
Look at all that color! I picked all of these budding stems today on a one-hour walk along Grass Lake with my best friend Kristin. If you weren’t paying attention, you could think it’s still all gray and brown here in Minnesota. But not at all! I love that I can still be astonished walking my same trails every year :-)
collection of early spring buds: cottonwood, dogwood, red maple, pussywillow, unidentified, red elderberry, forsythia, dogwood, cottonwood
frozen in time, temporarily
I dried this stem last fall. We were still in the apartment then. I didn’t have a basement or a garage to stash drying botanicals. So I used a corner of my closet. It was one of the perks of losing everything in a house fire–empty closets!
dried pink coneflower
Without a doubt, a black bg presents a wealth of opportunity for white subjects. This is an exquisite beginning. This just glows!
I think anyone even remotely interested in birds who tries out Merlin is immediately enchanted! It’s right up there in my top ten of apps.