Saturday, January 11, 2020

Tree-following: angles, shapes, & light

‘Stairway to Unknown Tree’
It’s January in Wyoming, a time of cold here in the continental interior, and mostly a season of dormancy for trees. But I visited the tree I’m following anyway.

I thought I was taking a photo of my tree against the wall (first photo below), but it’s the one next to it (same kind). Mine is hidden behind the two trees growing in the island in the sidewalk. It has far fewer leaves than its neighbor, which is better protected from the wind.
My tree.
Neighbor tree.
With samaras, opposite branching, and colorful leaves (last fall), these may be maples …
… but I find it hard to believe these are maple leaves. What do you think?

That’s it for tree news, not too exciting. But one benefit of following this tree is that even when it’s not doing much, there's an art building next door with something of interest inside … except this time. It’s winter break. The doors were unlocked, but there was no art. So I had to make my own—abstracts composed of angles, shapes, and light.
'Sunny Parallelograms'
‘Everything Fell Out / Gravity’
‘Vertical Horizontal’
‘ytuaeb enadnum’
It has been a long time since I’ve played with my camera this way. It's wonderful! Making abstract compositions from real views is so engrossing that the rest of the world fades away.
‘Exit to Sanity’

This is my contribution to the monthly gathering of tree-followers, hosted by The Squirrelbasket. News about everyone's trees can be found here. Consider joining us! Never any pressure, and you can let your creativity run wild.

8 comments:

  1. Ah, good planning with the art building nearby! No, they don't look like Maple leaves. I always enjoy your tree-following posts.

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    1. Thanks, Beth ... I hope you can join us one of these days!

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  2. I can't offer any help with ID on your tree, but I do like the warm colour in the sunlight.
    I do like the abstracts, especialy the monotone B&W. Frances

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    1. Thanks, Frances. We are fortunate to have quite a bit of sunshine in winter. Makes things feel warmer anyway.

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  3. Wonderful post - the tree itself is very pretty and promising, even with dead leaves.
    But I can't believe your pictures aren't real art! People would pay thousands for these concepts. I particularly like the joke of Everything Fell Out / Gravity...
    Thank you for staying with us another year - I look forward to being fascinated and educated throughout the seasons.
    All the best for 2020 :)

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    1. Thanks, Pat, your comments made me smile -- a good thing!

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  4. A mutant maple maybe? Here some garden varietes of common trees are popular simply because they are mutants with really strange leaves.

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    1. Erika, I'm quite puzzled by this tree. Hopefully checking it over the course of the year will solve the mystery.

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