Deconstructed fritillary
This morning in the garden I was admiring dark reds: in stems, in flowers, ... and looking at how abundant the fritillary is this year. I wondered about the inside of that delicate lantern of petals - something I'd never seen. I had not wanted to disturb the bloom's progress to seed pod, so that the plant could multiply.
This year there are so many flowers that I decided one could be sacrificed to satisfy my curiosity. And of course the delicate design continues - how Mackintosh-like, how delicately bold the lines.
Did you notice the bonus discovery: the tiny spider which I let out into the wild again after I'd finished deconstruction.
Admiring dark red in nature led me to a little experiment in replacing black outline.
I chose a casual doodle in mid process, and which is of pinkish hue anyway, - and perhaps changing the grey 'flesh' to pink was a step too far, but it gives me something to think about.
I share your love of these exquisitely marked blooms with their fragile shape. We have no fritillaries in our garden - despite trying. I think our soil is just too dry. However, as I've blogged before, there are meadows locally where the Fritillaria meleagris blooms in the wild, in water meadows that have never been ploughed. These can be found in the North Meadow just outside Cricklade with further information on http://www.crickladeinbloom.co.uk/fritillary_watch.html.
ReplyDeleteLove your fritillary! I too tried growing it once without luck.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I remember your post about Cricklade last year. I have seen the fritillaries there years ago.
ReplyDeleteMargaret and Marja-Leena, I believe that you must plant them in the green. Mine are out of the sun, but with light above them in winter and spring. They like to be moist over winter and then dry out during summer. I think that mine is particularly good this year because of all the rain and extraordinarily mild weather we had at the end of last year.
So fragile, so beautiful, these are favourites of mine too. You are very lucky to have some in your garden, Olga.
ReplyDeleteI am lucky on so many fronts, Eirene!
ReplyDeleteLove the Fritillaria .... have them in my garden too ;-)
ReplyDelete(always interesting to see the process of creating)
Els, I too enjoy seeing other folks' processes. I think that with our own trial and errors, that watching others all contributes to how we develop our own processes to success.
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