Standing Close for the Big Picture

Now I’m having fun. I’ve passed the “Never Ending” phase and have entered the “I Don’t Want It To End” phase. I feel like Mother Nature. If I want a Day Lily… so be it! A Rose… there you go!

I’ve finally finished the exterior main coat panels. What remains are the exterior collar panels (eight to match the coat panel shaping) and details for the humongous sleeves. The interior details still need some work too. My goal is to have all the remaining detail work finished by the weekend of April 21st—the MEGA wet-felting weekend.

This week, my thoughts have roamed around the experience of changing positions from a close-up working stance, to a larger-scale view. From a distance, I found that my most detailed painting became weak and lost its detail. But when my painting style was freer and less detailed, it actually held its form better from a distant view on the large-scale coat.

I think this is another lesson for life. When we stand too close to something (our problems?), we can’t see the bigger picture as clearly. We need to find balance in our viewpoint by occasionally switching our views.

But enough philosophizing. Let’s get close to nature again…

This is the mystery plant from last week. It's a Blue Cohosh! This plant has blueberry-like berries in the fall. But don't eat them! They are poisonous!

This Trillium/Jack-in-the-Pulpit remains to be decided. Although, since the other Jacks are starting to appear, and I've never discovered Trilliums in our woods (and it doesn't especially look like a Trillium now), I suspect this is an entirely different plant. Can anyone help identify this one?

But here is a confirmed Jack-in-the-Pulpit, ready for its sermon!

Even though we’ve had a few frosts after the spring growth has appeared, the wildflowers are thriving. They are well-suited for fickle Minnesota weather! And perhaps they aren’t “stressing” the details. (-;