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/
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
Ornaments . . .
Asteraceae Xmas Ornaments
(NYC 12 24 2017)
The winter dress of the season’s Asteraceae retains the same daisy’s face, a face now tanned by age, sharp and crisp, tipped by a spread of star points.
Ornaments, now, the seeded wildflowers strung along a path beside the Hudson River. Holiday flower faces in some places as thick as an evergreen, festive, festooned with . . . ornaments.
Solstice Ornaments.
Holiday(s) Ornaments.
The wild flowered winter holiday season in New York City.
— rPs 12 29 2017
The End of November . . .
Asteraceae Gone to Seed
(NYC 11 26 2017)
One of the aspects to appreciate most during the growing season’s latter half is the evolution of the predominate color. The tired greens of September give way to the splendid yellows of October that age into the russet spread seen by the end of November.
Wildflowers on the ground have mostly gone to seed by this time. The leaves up above that remain rustle in the tannic tones of the oaks. Here is where the color action remains.
Deciduous leaves often lumped under the generic descriptive “brown” resemble many of the cooked dishes on a plentiful table of Thanksgiving. The same kind of variety is actually present within that one color. One can see tan, rust, ochre, and many more. If, by the end of November, one cannot find a plant in bloom at their feet, pause, and look up . . .
November Splendor
(NYC 11 27 2017)
. . . where the plant world meets the sky.
— rPs 11 30 2017
Teasel Season . . .
Thistle Season For Teasel
(pencil on paper)
(NYC 10 2017)
I have been drawn, pun there yet unintended; I have been drawn to draw, sketch, the crown of the teasel this season.
family Caprifoliaceae
Along the way, to consistent degree in scope and scale, still bloom the:
Mallow
Mallow
(NYC 10 2017)
Lady’s Thumb
Lady’s Thumb: A Wild Buckwheat
(NYC 10 2017)
White Snakeroot
White Snakeroot
(NYC 10 2017)
Seaside Goldenrod
Seaside Goldenrod
(NYC 10 2017)
Ganoderma
Ganoderma
(NYC 10 2017)
Autumn Highlights Here, Now.
– rPs 10 24 2017
Complements (In Autumn) . . .
Inpatiens capensis
(09 2017)
September, mostly sunny, suddenly warmer, humidity hung to the air. All the plants of the city respire as we do, perhaps a bit labored.
Stressed with the start of another brief, eternal fall season, fast in the city, so much possibilty, very busy, and outside of all that, around the outdoor spaces, still in bloom.
Funny to find on an evening walk two of the most attractive signatures of the season, the impatient yet deep orange jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) and the stout yet laced purple mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum). Colors, partnered together in time, complements on the color wheel of the annual solar cycle.
The kinetic jewelweed can cover its loose bush in orange blooms all primed to pop when disturbed.
The artful mistflower, of a blued purple most pale, posseses a triangular leaf patterned and haired, tailored and well groomed.
Conoclinium coelestinum
(09 2017)
The color of the jewelweed like nectarine, mistflower like lavender. Such gorgeous pairings can be seen untended and free beside some New York City trailways now, after the Autumn Equinox.
– rPs 09 25 2017
