Bloomsday 2018
Clover . . . Bloom.
(NYC 06 2018)
Today is June 16, the date immortalized in James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses, the day now come to be called . . .
Bloomsday.
– rPs 06 16 2018
Postscript: Read the full Bloomsday story from the WWV archives here: https://wildflowersofthewestvillage.com/2010/06/16/bloomsday/
Flores de Mayo . . .
Viola sororia
(NYC 05 06 2018)
Instant summer temperatures in the center heart of the spring season have made Manhattan bloom at the start of May.
Just a few days of sun and shower have combined to turn the blue, white, and brown tones of the cold season into a multicolored outdoor scene anchored in green:
Dandelion
Taxicum officinale
(NYC 05 06 2018)
Dead-nettle
Lamium purpureum
(NYC 05 06 2018)
English Plaintain
Plantago lanceolata
(NYC 05 06 2018)
Garlic Mustard
Alliarim petiolata
(NYC 05 06 2018)
And one for the late Gary Lincoff, mycologist, guide, and author, who left us in Manhattan on March 16th:
Order Agaricales: for Gary
(NYC 05 05 2018)
Memories remain as May flowers on the West Side of Manhattan.
— rPs 05 06 2018
Earth Day 48 . . .
A Good Sign
(NYC 04 22 2018)
Earth Day 48 in New York, New York: bright sun under a bluebird sky, air still chill, trees just in the mood to flower.
The open ground has begun to be graced, laced with a scattering of new blooms, some wild:
Blue
Scilla siberica
Gold
Ranunculaceae
Spring has certainly “felt late” this 2018. Clouded rain has dominated, interspersed by days, like today’s Earth Day, as bright as can be.
Bittercress Brassicaceae Bathed In Brightness
Happy Earth Day 48!
– rPs 04 22 2018
8 Great Years . . .
Spring Snow
(NYC 03 22 2018)
The flowers of Tuesday’s Vernal Equinox now rest under snow. The thaw can be expected soon, though, the white of crystalized water replaced again by blooming wildflowers. Until then . . .
Happy 8th Anniversary, Wildflowers of the West Village.
– rPs 03 22 2018
Postscript: You can revisit the view that instilled an ever growing idea in March 2010: https://wildflowersofthewestvillage.com/2010/03/22/welcome/
Vernal Equinox 2018 . . .
Snowdrops on the First Day of Spring
(NYC 03 20 2018)
Crocus vernus
(NYC 03 20 2018)
— rPs 03 20 2018
Presidential . . .
Portrait of February
(NYC 02 2018)
President’s Day is celebrated within this week of February when wildflowers in full prime-time bloom remain more than a month distant.
But blooms can and do flower in unsuspecting places. Notable is the now unveiled official portrait of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama II.
The politics of Fine Art have proven to be as newsworthy as the politics of American Politics given the reception to the portrait, painted by Kehinde Wiley, on display at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Long known for his inclusion of plants with symbolic connection to his sitters, the new portrait of the President is no exception. In Wiley’s own words:
“In choosing the composition and colors for this painting, I sought to create an allegorical index to President Obama’s life story — using key botanicals that reference his personal presence in the world. Jasmine from Hawaii. Chrysanthemums from Chicago. Blue African Lilies from Kenya.”
(Source: “Painting President Obama” by Kehinde Wiley)
“Excellent idea. Wonderful work.”
(Source: My own words)
I have studied History of Art since my freshman year at university. Portraiture has always fascinated me, from “A Portrait Attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger” – my senior essay – to personal study of masters of the genre: Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Alberto Giacometti, Frans Hals, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt van Rijn, as well as Amy Sherald, the painter who rendered First Lady Michelle Obama on canvas. Like them, Kehinde Wiley holds that same kind of artistic command, that distinctive manner that lets you, the viewer, know both who you are looking at and who painted the portrait. The inclusion of wildflowers just makes the finished work all the more compelling.
(Insert Image Here) *
— rPs 02 21 2018
* Postscript: I have not posted an image of the Kehinde Wiley presidential portrait here at WWV for reasons of ethics; copyright, specifically. You can see the work and read much more by following this link:
Wintry Resistance . . .
Goldenrod Over Ice
(NYC 01 17 2018)
Flanks, standing in review over the tidal river Hudson that breathes good cold air into the street grid fibers of Manhattan, the city even shaped like a lung where reside still a few scattered remnants of the previous growing season.
Flags, of a kind, wintry, resistant to the emphatic articesque change, stand beside the rise and fall flow of fractured ice.
Winter: Here, where the Wildflowers of the West Village remain.
Balance and Grace in Spite of (NYC 01 2018)
– rPs 01 17 2018
