rothko like? nah. there’s no other rothko but rothko.

mark rothko is one of my favorite painters. i was going to make a claim that this composition was rothko-inspired. but then i looked at his wiki page, and i thought “oh no you can’t compare this simple color block to a rothko painting. his blocks expand. and contract. and stir up emotions from death to enlightenment. they are spiritual. how dare you compare these simple tonal blocks to his work?” then i got over it, and thought; “ok,  i was thinking about him when i pushed these balsam needles into place.” it’s an homage if not a recreation. an appreciation. thank you, mr. rothko, for whatever of you is in this, and whatever of me is aware of you.

balsam needles, old and young 

white skies and wind

i always shoot STILL blog images against a white background, and some days, when i get lucky, the white background happens to be the overcast sky itself. today i ran around town taking a flurry of photos of tall plants and trees that would never fit on my squares of white tagboard, but that fit just fine into the sky.

pampas-like grasses (probably fragmites)

m is for may and morels

morels are a spring delicacy where we live. this is not the prettiest specimen, but it may be the only one we find this year. we’ve had a dry spring, so the morel hunting is measly. i’m guessing the competition out there in the woods is getting a little heated this year. minnesotans do not take their morels lightly.

morel mushroom

a peak example

okay, so. i talk a lot about how the perfect example of something, when the flower is in full bloom or the leaf is in peak color for example, is typically not my favorite time to capture my subjects. partly it is because they are already documented to death in those glorious states of perfection. but also, it is because i truly find the moments just before or just after full expression to be more interesting–more expectant, or more melancholy for example. but then, yesterday i was moving the sprinkler around to some of my new plantings, and nearly tripped over this absolutely sculptural jack in the pulpit, and mr. jack seduced me completely. so, on the list of things i have learned from doing STILL, we can safely add: never say never.

jack in the pulpit

zoom

a detail of yesterday’s elm branch. each little package designed to drift far enough from the parent tree to take one more generational step toward conquering the world.

elm seeds