carthusian carnations

here in the south of france, there are wild carnations. unlike the showy, crenelated, and complex domesticated carnations, the wild ancestors are simple, plain, and attractive, in the way that ma ingalls was pretty, but in a very different way from the way that kylie jenner is pretty. in any case, these are not the true wild carnations that i discovered three years ago, but carthusian carnations, which display that thick head of buds, blossoms, and, i suppose, withered blossoms. what these flowers share with the true wild carnations are those impossibly slender stems, that bend and sway, but do not break, in the ferocious winds of their home territory.

carthusian carnations, dianthus carthusianorum, oeillet des chartreux

teasel dogfight

i took advantage of some particularly intense southern-european light this afternoon to introduce this wild teasel to its shadow, and both of them instantly freaked out. i had to break them up before things got out of hand. i only sustained minor flesh wounds. the teasel is sitting in an extended time-out on my counter. the shadow ran for it, and hasn’t been seen since.

wild teasel head 

food flower

i saw this giant escarole in the market and i thought to myself, my god, it’s a perfect just-past-prime peony flower. except it’s about a foot and a half across. so more like a perfect, just-past-prime cretaceous-period peony flower. i hope you enjoy your daily dinosaur.

escarole (broad-leaved endive)

karl blossfeldt inspired

in interviews, when i am asked, i often credit contemporary artist Lisa Congdon as my inspiration for STILL blog (and writer/illustrator Austin Kleon for giving me the motivation). but, the truth is a little older than that. ten years before discovering Lisa Congdon, before learning about andrew goldsworthy, and even, gasp, before instagram . . . i discovered artist karl blossfeldt while visiting my best friend in rural tennessee.  her new fiancé had posters of karl blossfeldt framed in his living room. i immediately gave her my permission to marry him (which she eventually did). i fell immediately in love with blossfeldt. and have carried on a surreptitious and, i suppose, technically necrophilic affair with him ever since, including several episodes during which i would open up a book of blossfeldt images, despair, and decide it was time to give up my art, because i was a total hack.

wild teasel leaf (dried)

indoor sunshine

today i went to the indoor market in sète. i bought a sunrise, a high noon, and a sunset. then i put them in my basket. tonight i will feast on sunfire and the colors of the sky.

cherry tomatoes