The Beauty of Branches - Part ll…

“To me, sophistication is a perfect marriage between

intelligence and simplicity.”

~ Rose Tarlow ~

One of the characteristics of country life is being frugal, and I think most people agree that being frugal is intelligent… So, if being frugal is intelligent… and if the dichotomy of nature through all its intelligence and complexity is the ultimate model for simplicity and form… then certainly the combination could be appreciated for its sophistication!

As a follow-up to my previous post on “The Beauty of Branches” and to make good on my threat to get out my loppers…I have composed the following snippets from my gatherings…

It all started here last weekend…with the greatly appreciated help from the generosity of the helping hands and strong backs, during my fall clearing and clean-up on my property…

My lovely daughter on her fiancé’s tractor that he so kindly brought along for

a final grass cutting of the season … plus, the front-end loader on it was a bonus for hauling tree trimmings to the burn pile.

One of several burn piles… where I gathered some of my clippings… and which will soon become a warm gathering spot for a birthday bonfire…

Looking out the window, toward the side of the property near the pond, from where I sit and write my blogs….

A close-up of the moss and lichen from one of the trimmed branches that was in decline…

how amazing are those colors and textures!?

Mistletoe… also found in the declining branches of trees (and which will actually kill your trees) is mixed with clippings from a cedar tree.

More clippings from the cedar tree with its silvery-blue berries.

In the vignettes below... I like how the birds in the paintings seem as though they are sitting

upon the textured branches…

Moss and lichen covered branches in an urn...

Branches with seashells…

I hope you have enjoyed my musings...

"The world is but a canvas...

to the imagination." ~ Henry David Thoreau

...and when the canvas is brushed by creative genius, it begets creativity. But, as Anais Nin so rightly observed "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." In other words, we each will translate the same given experience, the same music, the same food, the same scene...into our own unique interpretation. How else could the products of creative thought and process continuously evolve? Just when you think there couldn't possibly be anything new or exciting, we get swept off our feet in amazement.

Designers are often asked what it is that inspires us, where do we find inspiration... and quite simply, it is all things you would expect and then some... an emotion, a need, a scent, a memory... anything that touches ones senses can become a source for creative vision.

How can you not be inspired by the gorgeous photos of Le carnaval de Venise? Of course the photography is superb. The costumes are nothing short of fantastic and the colors are brilliant! But the choices for the color combinations have been well thought out for the photo compositions. AND, when I look at them , my mind immediately translates each one into an interior inspired by the rich fabrics, the subtle variation of hues, the opulent trims, and the mood or emotion it evokes.

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This is a beautiful study for an analogous color scheme. Below is my conceptual interpretation for an interior, inspired by the photo.

Even the interpretation of what constitutes the mindset of the creative or artistic individual is open to poetic license and free of political correctness...and I find the following statement by Pearl S. Buck to be an interesting interpretation...

"The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating."
~ Pearl S. Buck