a palette all its own

river birch grows all over the eastern united states from minnesota to massachusetts to florida to louisiana. it is one of the few heat-tolerant birches in a family of mostly cold-weather trees. i’ver been starting at this photo trying to name all the colors i see in the bark: ivory, rust, cinnamon, salmon, pink, gray, brown, chestnut, copper, russet, tan, terracotta, amber, ochre…clearly, i am smitten with the palette. but also the texture of this photo too. how badly do you want to reach in there, and peel off a little bit of paper? and maybe tuck it into a journal as a little memento of your trip to the walker art center with your friends visiting from france (which is exactly what i did on sunday).

river birch bark (Betula nigra)