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I love flowers. I often think of just how lucky we are that they promptly appear here there and everywhere, right on time (give or take), every summer. Imagine for a moment if that was not the case: I know… simply too horrible to contemplate.

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Wikipedia→ ‘While land plants have existed for about 425 million years, the first ones reproduced by a simple adaptation of their aquatic counterparts: spores. In the sea, plants—and some animals—can simply scatter out genetic clones of themselves to float away and grow elsewhere. This is how early plants reproduced. But plants soon evolved methods of protecting these copies to deal with drying out and other abuse which is even more likely on land than in the sea. The protection became the seed, though it had not yet evolved the flower. The earliest fossil of a flowering plant, Archaefructus liaoningensis, is dated about 125 million years old.’

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They sport such cute little abstract expressions.

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And, despite their undeniable beauty… they’re really incredibly tough. Not unlike a certain you know who, perhaps?

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Shot through with holes, mercilessly nibbled round the edges, these big bold brashy late summer bloomers take everything in their unruffled laid-back manner. Nothing, it seems, is going to spoil their day in the sun. And why should it?

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Exquisite curvilinear form, or what?

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Down through the years I have had cause to carve many a leaf – one or two of which can be spotted here and there around the garden. These relics have withstood a fair few Colorado Rocky Mountain winters, as their now heavy patina testifies.

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 Buoyed upon  a film of water an early autumn aspen leaf shimmers while temporarily suspended upon the back of Bird Mountain Fountain.

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Following my last post’s inclusion of a college-carved acanthus leaf I thought that today I would share with you a photo of the actual very first bas relief sculpture I ever carved. Comprised of super soft and forgiving Cotswold limestone I gingerly chiseled this simple flower panel at the City of Bath College using a basic set of hand-tools.

Unbeknownst at the time, it was in fact this very piece that induced me to launch my own sculptural journey, on which I am still embarked to this very day.

Yep, this ↓ very piece!

(tap tap tap, tip tip tip)

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and now

the slideshow

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Once again, thanks for stopping by.

Until next time whatever you do do stop and smell the flowers.

Μ ∂ ℜ T ¡ Ν

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nuts about flowers

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