in my research to find out what is going on here, i discovered that the cattail’s male parts and female parts grow together on the same stalk. the male parts grow above, and the pollen from their flowers falls downward onto the female’s seeds. so the upper male part in this photo has done its work and is going a little bit limp, and the female lower part has been fertilized and is getting a little plump. nowhere in my research was there mention of  champagne or cigarettes, but i do suddenly have this urge to play frank sinatra.

late june cattails

turtle lake, saint paul, minnesota

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i swear i had no ulterior motives when i put this collection of butterfly weed flowers together in this pattern. but i must have been aware of some prior influence, because as i tried to think of something to say about the photo, my first instinct was to google mark rothko. you can do it yourselves. just google “mark rothko orange and yellow.” if you ever doubted that there is  nothing new under the sun, the image of his painting should convince you. now if only i could go back in time and post this sometime in 1955, then claim that i was quite obviously the influence behind mark rothko’s orange and yellow painting. i could make art history!

butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa)

lake johanna trail, arden hills, saint paul, minnesota

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one of my favorite sources of inspiration is austin kleon, whose two books, show your work!, and steal like an artist, were among the very earliest and most lasting influences on my work. what he does best is simply give permission. permission to decide what art means to you. permission to create. permission to be wrong. permission to be messy. permission to proceed in a non-linear way. permission to steal. i’m just not sure he meant literally to steal a handful of shrub roses from beside the parking lot of the rug cleaning company that just finished cleaning the rug you toted back from morocco. is that stealing like an artist? or just stealing?

shrub roses in late june

minneapolis, minnesota

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just got home from my niece’s wedding, where i got to watch my brother tearfully give away his daughter to a man who is a complete and devoted gentleman, although that did not make it any easier on my poor, broad-shouldered, weeping brother john. this photo features some shells i gathered with that very niece on north captiva island close to a decade ago. my own daughter was there too, and this fall, we have a goodbye ahead of us as well, when she starts her first fall college semester in california. i am guessing i will be doing my best to comfort my poor, broad-shouldered, weeping husband.

shell collection

gulf coast, florida

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i think it’s the sultry, sticky weather here today, combined with the fact that I just watched the movie “genius” about max perkins–the legendary editor whose clients included thomas wolfe, f. scott fitzgerald, and ernest hemingway. but for whatever reason, the heat, the humidity, the reference to hemingway, and the tropical feel of these ferns, all combined to put me in key west on a veranda, with a rum drink and not enough breeze, and maybe a six-toed cat or two, stopping by to brush across my ankles.

three ferns and a vetch

saint paul, minnesota

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