Monday, May 05, 2008

Illustration Friday

This week's challenge for Illustration Friday is, "Seed". I haven't posted in months, so this is my submission after my hiatus.

Seeds evoke so many different thoughts and images. Seeds of change, seeds of thought, seeds of growth, bad seed, sowing seeds...usually there is at some level an association of hope, of growth and of possiblilites.

These are seeds (or seed pods; you can see some of the seeds that have spilled out of the pods) that I am fascinated with. The plant itself is lovely; it emerges quite humbly out of the earth and is fuzzy in its foilage. The flower is purple. And then, it transforms itself into this alien-like pod which starts off as green and fuzzy. As it ripens, it dries and begins to change color. It is in the drying porcess that the pod splits in half to relinquish the seeds only when they have reached maturity.

The name of the plant is called, "Devils Claw" (Proboscidea parviflora). It grows quite well here in the Southwest and is described as a sprawling annual domesticated by the Sonoran people.

If you think you must have this to grow, you can obtain seeds from: Plants of the Southwest 6680 4th St. NW Albuquerque, NM 87107

2 comments:

Rui Sousa said...

Cool one, really great work!

d smith kaich jones said...

Well, we really must've been separated at birth. I pick up seed pods when they're on the ground, and this winter kept a whole bowl of them (so wonderfully fuzzy)on a table right inside my front door. Also - A couple of days ago I mentioned your post about painted shoes on my blog - thanks again for the inspiration!

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