still life with pine cones and evergreens

i have been doing a lot of commissions lately. this assemblage was one take (of four) for a recent one. i don’t particularly like doing commissions. i end up spending my time trying to guess what the client might want, instead of doing what i intuitively like. yes, i know this is my issue. and i suppose i could “work on it”. but, the reality is, i like my STILL practice just the way it is: i see something that lights me up, i arrange it in a way that (hopefully) flatters it, and then i share it with you. it’s an uncomplicated exchange. it suits me. and since you are here reading this, i assume it suits you too :-)

pampas season

i love the landscaping trend these past years of using tall pampas-like grasses. they come into their glory in autumn, when the low-angle light lights them up like early evening torches.  bobbing gently in the wind, they can animate an entire roadside. capturing them static like this is interesting, but really, they want to be experienced blowing in a late afternoon breeze.

unidentified pampas-like grasses

take 2

yesterday’s barberry branches before i nipped and tucked them into a perfect carpet. interestingly, i posted both of these images (yesterday’s and today’s) on instagram and asked people to vote on their favorite. i got about 100 votes, and while i have not added up the exact tally, it appears to be pretty much split 50/50: 50% ordered carpet, 50% random spill. what surprises me the most, is that those who prefer order seem to strongly prefer order, and those who prefer a little mess, strongly prefer a little mess. it makes on think.

barberry branches in autumn

a carpet of color

fall colors arrived in earnest today. i have no idea what caused them to hold out until now, but as if synchronized to the same music, the leaves all started to change today. this beautiful collection of twigs all came from the same bush.  i wanted to photograph it with full sun on it so you could really appreciate the intensity of these colors, but alas, by the time i had the composition ready, the sky had clouded over. that’s okay, this softer look is more STILL anyway.

autumn branches from the same barberry bush

so nice to finally meet you

11 ½ year into making daily images of the flora and fauna of my region, and today i finally meet my first american hazelnut. i have no idea why it has taken this long. they are native to every state east of the mississippi (except florida). my husband, who is getting into northern permaculture, planted two hazelnut saplings on our land this summer. in a couple of years, i am hoping to be far more familiar with these beauties. anyone, who has ever spent any time in france knows how much the french love hazelnuts. hazelnuts are to french food, what peanuts are to american food. nutella, a chocolate-hazelnut spread, it their equivalent to our peanut butter, and eaten in equal quantities. so, after living in france on-and-off for 12 years, i have fully acquired the taste for all things hazelnut. i can’t wait.

american hazelnut (Corylus americana)