This beautiful mushroom, a deep red, glossy-surfaced polypore, starts out as a wackily obscene knob topped with a ruby shine. I first saw the knob last summer, and watched as it grew outward into a fan. Looking at my mushroom book, I'm guessing that it's called a Hemlock Varnish Shelf. It's lovely to see the color red among the greens and browns of the woods, the hard bright surface alongside the soft mosses.
Looks like an old Chinese ceramic with an ox blood glaze! Life imitating art imitating art maybe?
ReplyDeleteCarolyn x
That's a wonderful reference, Carolyn. I love the simple shapes and beautiful colors of Chinese ceramics. There are a few cases of classic Chinese ceramics on the second floor alongside the Great Staircase at the Met in NYC; I visit them whenever I'm in the museum.
ReplyDeleteVery much like a shell you would pick up along the beaches of Sanibel Island
ReplyDeleteI paint on these shelf mushrooms (the flatter side) as taught to me by Rudy Burckhardt. They are already magic mushrooms, the images aspiring towards even more.
ReplyDeleteah, yes, Kim, I've drawn on them too, inspired by Rudy. I also have a "folk art" painting on a mushroom in my collection. I've been enchanted by mushrooms this fall.
ReplyDeleteI have used that polypore in a number paintings and reliefs over the years. But I have never noticed its growth in its initial stages. I have never seen them much bigger than your hand.
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