Looking at things from all angles... and a NEW VIDEO!

The other day I was handed this small branch with a cluster of pods at its head. Passed on by a friend of my mother's to me there was no name offered and I was simply told it had yellow flowers and grew at her house. 

Tonight I thought I might draw it but when picking it up, the seeds kept on falling out. That distracted me somewhat so I took out my i-phone to see if I could take some shots that might prove helpful to draw from. As the results from the iPhone are so variable I was unsure if I'd get what I wanted.

 

Too yellow... too unclear... too rough... too everything really!

I persisted in order to see the seeds from various angles and appreciate both the form of the pods and the seeds.

This one was quite natural in appearance

Trying to get closer was hard.

Some of the shapes really appealed as I looked closer.

Tonal qualities accentuated

Closer

I liked the seeds in this one

Photos taken under a light

I'll come back and draw these this week.

A poor image looked slightly better in black and white.

This colour was quite true to life really.

Textural pods on the lower half of this one

were in high contrast to this one above

seeds

interesting to see the details in form... at first glance they seem all the same

I'd like to see these under a microscope

back to the pods

pods via Instagram

Close up of seed capsule and pods after photo-shop.

Last week a video of my artwork with audio of recorded thoughts about the Homage to the Seed project was released and I've written about it at my STUDIO blog and added links to related sites. This was the result of a collaboration with a leading Seed Not-for-profit organisation in Germany.

TO WATCH THE VIDEO CLICK ON THE HYPER-

LINKED TEXT UNDER THE LOGO/IMAGE

CLICK HERE:    VIDEO _ HOMAGE TO THE SEED

Click and watch this 3 minute video of Cary Fowler discussing one of the Global Crop Diversity Trust's key partnership projects in Norway ... the well-known Seed Vault at Svarlbard in the Arctic Circle.

                                      

Cary Fowler talks about the Svarlbard Seed Vault in Norway

Wishing all a very good week!
Sophie

its never too late for the Homage to the Seed Mail Art show ...

all the way from Canada

Montreal in fact....

Trillium sp?

This package of 4 excellent photographs mounted on high quality water colour postcards arrived in the mail and I was given them today when I spent the day at the Botanic gardens where this Mail Art show was held.





I am so utterly delighted to receive them as I am hoping to show all the Mail Art cards again before the year is out. These will be proudly archived for future showings. Do please visit   Nathalie   if you wish to see her wonderful photography. She paints as well and is  Graphic designer who's work has crossed into science publications, various genres, public issues and such.
Over the past year I have very much enjoyed visiting her blog to see the wonderful shots from her daily life in and around Montreal and beyond.

Asclepias syriaca

Achillea millefolium

NB I do apologise for not managing to scan these images and instead photographing them with a less than wonderful camera to post here!!

up close.... from Kew Gardens

Escape pods: The Kew Millennium Seed Bank

These strange alien structures are among the seeds and pollen conserved at the Kew Millennium Seed Bank. Seeds from more than 10% of the world's flowering plants – around 30,000 species – have been collected in the decade since the bank was established. Kew is celebrating this milestone with an exhibition Banking on Life (4 April – 13 September), and a book of electron micrographs The Hidden Sexuality of Flowers by Rob Kesseler and Madeline Harley (Papadakis, £35)   View here:

Fireweed seed (Epilobium angustifollum) photographs - Rob Kesseler and Madeline Harley.



Lamourouxia viscosa seed




Eastern sun (Scutellaria orientalis) seed



Sun star (Ornithogalum dublum) seed



Seed of Castilleja flower, popularly known as Indian paintbrush or prairie-fire.


This segment below is from the Kew Gardens website and refers to the Queensland chapter of the Millennium Seed Bank Project. (Note: not a recent summary - this perhaps is from around 2005)

Seeds for Life (Qld): a Seed Conservation Partnership between the QSEED Consortium and the RBG Kew Millennium Seed Bank Project

An ambitious seed collection and research program for Queensland.

This partnership is one of seven Australian partnerships in the Millennium Seed Bank Project (MSBP).  Over 6 years, the 'Seeds for Life' programme will collect seeds, herbarium specimens, and other associated information from 1,000 Queensland plant species.  These seeds will be stored as duplicate collections in Queensland and the UK, and used in research undertaken by Griffith University and the University of Queensland, as well as the Millennium Seed Bank Project (MSBP) in the United Kingdom.  Similar work will be undertaken in all other states as part of other MSBP partnerships. 

The three 'Seeds For Life' themes are: 1) Endangered species and ecosystems; 2) Landscape rehabilitation; and 3) Training and extension.

The MSBP will contribute considerable direct funding ($1,590,000) and in-kind support to the Seeds For Life Project. The QSeed Partnership will also contribute significant funds, together with in-kind contributions.  Financial support from the Australian mining industry has enabled a more comprehensive program. 

The Queensland Seeds for Life Project is a collaboration between the Millennium Seed Bank Project at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, United Kingdom, and Queensland research, non-government organisations and Government bodies collectively called the QSeed Partnership.

Project targets include: 1,000 species new to MSB; two PhD studentships, three technical training attachments and one post-doctoral programme.

Go to the Kew Site here.

seedheads...

great images from crownology

from garden fool now - an echinacea seed head. Em is a wonderful photographer who would never claim that  as her profession is altogether in a different direction - but for well over a year I have been inspired by visiting her blog and see what is occurring in her fabulous garden in the state of New York.... 4 seasons with very distinct changes... for someone in the sub-tropics this is a revelation!

clematis roguchi seed head - gf

dandelion - gf

 Of late my camera has not been working too well... and i have been having a mid year break. Back soon!

les contours du silence

This is the poetic name for a wonderful weblog from France by artist Fanny whose photographs often take my breath away - they also inspired a painting not so long ago! Correspondences last year with Fanny re use of photos  resulted in brief and very pleasant exchanges. Unfortunately my French is non-existant so I was deeply grateful, even if somewhat embarrased, for Fanny making all the effort to communicate in English.  




































































































... and perhaps you now see what it is so wonderful about fanny's way of seeing that so engaged me. Her life is situated in a small isolated village in the South west of France, near the Pyrenees - a life that appears to include a strong relationship to the rhythms of nature and the seasons - a life not quite so interrupted by dramatic changes in the ways people live. With camera in hand her frequent searches take in the tiny details of the world about her. I have given you a selection only of the images from nature - seeds, pods, things related to 'Homage to the seed' after all! Go back to the top and click on the highlighted link to go on your own journey to Fanny's world.
























This delightful excursion to France above is far removed from what has been been absorbing me these past few days. A stunning book which I will soon feature on this weblog - "Australian Seeds" edited by Sweedman and Merritt - explores the fact of Australia being the most arid vegetated continent. The book states "most of the western two-thirds of the continent has experienced 270 million years of uninterrupted terrestial life on predominantly old, flat, weathered, nutrient-deficient landscapes - providing conditions for the evolution of seed attributes that are globally unusual..." Thats just the beginning... interesting indeed!
To fully consider the story of seeds we are looking back over millions of years to the present time provoking much to wonder about for the future!

This easter will be quiet but a busy time in the studio. Interviews on the work of the Seed Lab with the people who are part of that are next to be written up....back to the studio for now!