The mahogany seedpod opening!
This is the seedpod I sketched last week:
http://naturesketchers.blogspot.com/2009/04/beauty-is-in-eye-of-beholder.html
The brown seed in the foreground has a wing on it, I presume for air travel away from the parent tree. The outer husks were falling off as I sketched and painted this one. Old Florida crafters used to insert a nail in the tip of the pod, and as the pod opened, it stayed together and made a flower-shaped ornament after it fully opened. Squint a bit and you can visualize what it would look like. I haven't seen any of these crafts in years, though.
I found a fascinating video of these pods on the tree from this site:
It's a different species but they look identical (to me, anyway). The video shows how the pods open on the tree, which is pretty cool.
Beautiful sketch! I can see why these patterned seedpods were used as ornaments. You recognized so many complimentary shapes to play off of I can see why you choose to paint this.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great job you did with this!
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