Saturday 10 July 2010

From this to this



Each year I pick one of the amazing shaped "Lords and Ladies ", the green specimen on the left. I want to record it but more often than not it just gets left and wilts and another year slips by. Well not this year, I picked it in May at the bluebell wood and managed to do this drawing. It was so large, I wanted to record it life size, so I placed it diagonal to fit my page in the square book. I then left it in a jar outside and to my surprise it kept alive and changed into the next stage of the plant.
It is always hard to imagine that it eventually ends up with bright red berries at the end of a green stalk. This I have recorded many times, so it was easy to show you that. What really amazed me is that the minute yellow seeds grew and formed the berries ....whilst outside in a jam jar.
When I returned home in June I discovered it still alive and was able to draw the green berries. Now in July it still lives and bears green and orange berries. The stem has rotted away to nothing but the berries are still changing from green to red. In the hedgerows the red berries usually appear late summer, August to September. I will be interested to see if they change to full red and see how long it lives. Hope this makes sense to you. I am fascinated by such things.
Thank you for lovely comments. I am stitching like crazy to finish my quilt for the dead line and the days are flying by, will soon have more time for reading and visiting blogs.











16 comments:

Maria said...

Wonderful art !

Dan said...

Milly, your drawings are amazing! I also enjoyed reading the story of the plant itself.
I hope you can draw the offspring of its seeds next year...
Dan
-x-

Pondside said...

I love it when something unexpected comes along. You certainly got far more than you'd planned. I don't know this plant at all - off to look it up.

Acornmoon said...

These things fascinate me too. Your drawing shows your enjoyment in the subject matter, they always look so fresh and vibrant.

Jill said...

You are not alone in finding such things fascinating - but your drawings are in a league of their own

Von said...

Beautiful! Love your accuracy.

Carol Creech said...

Milly - I'm just as fascinated by such things!! How fun that you have been able to record the different stages as it changes. Your drawings are exquisite, as always. I love the details. And terrific that you recorded it life-size.

S. Etole said...

Great detail in your drawings. I think that is what we call a Jack-in-the-pulpit.

Eva said...

Again, a wonderful piece of work. It's fascinating to see all the different phases of the plant.
How long does it take you to make such a drawing?

Frances said...

Milly, please add me to the growing list of those finding nature fascinating. But...I hope that you've already had me fully subscribed to the notion!

Some friends recently gave me a beautiful white orchid. I have never before had such a plant, and perhaps our recent torrid weather was not the most promising time for the orchid and I to get to know each other. All the same, we are both surviving the heat pretty well, and I am very much enjoying watching the evolution of this mysterious plant. (Even got my pencils out for a brief bit of sketching yesterday!)

Best wishes on that quilt. xo

Teresa said...

What beautiful drawings and paintings. Interesting to read about the plant. I've picked quite a few flowers with the intention of painting them and, oh well, somehow they wilted before I got the paints out!

JANE MINTER said...

milly these are really curious plants ..fascinating to paint these are beautiful paintings ... hope it survives aliitle longer ..look foward to seeing more studies

Posie said...

Milly,
How lovely to catch up with you. Your drawings are as lovely as ever I admired them in CL when you had a slot. I took my blog off line for a while, so am just catching up posting older blogs, summer is getting a little in the way just now, but hope to post regularly.
Posie xx

Susan Scheid (Raining Acorns) said...

Lovely!

Carolina said...

Hi Milly,
I first saw the paintings and loved them, but had no time to read the whole post. Now that I came back and read it, I have to say I'm amazad too! What a wonderfult plant (inside a jam jar or not! :), but being able to survive just out of light and water, with no soil covering its roots is almost a miracle! It seems all the energy and nutrients needed were stored in the stem, weren't they?
I loved your post. Hope you finish your quilt soon (and show us:)
Un abrazo,
Carolina

Luzia said...

Wow, I`m so impressed about your wonderful work!!! Greetings from Luzia.