Beautiful and Dangerous Nature

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've been blogging, because it finally thawed out around here and I have to be outside! Can you believe we had snow in late April and today we had over 80° weather? Because I haven't been checking in here much, I've ended up with a number of things to share. So this is going to be one of those Justine's favorites kind of blog posts.

Something I wanted to be sure and share with you guys was a display from last month's Art in Bloom at the Milwaukee Art Museum. You might remember Art in Bloom from past years. If not, it's a wonderful show of flower arrangements that are interpretations of the art.

This arrangement was in the Haitian gallery space. Check out that skull!

This display had a lot of exotic looking plants in it. I actually took a photo of the plant list, because some of these were new to me. I was especially interested in the spidery or octopus looking one in front. This one:

After googling pics of every plant on this list, I didn't find it. So if any of you know what that plant is, please let me know! Here's the flower list:

This is the painting that goes with the floral display, Baron Le Croix (Bawon Lakwa) by André Pierre. If you read the "Designer Statement" at the bottom of the flower list, you'll understand a little bit about the painting and the symbolism. Although, I'm pretty sure you guys had a general idea of what's going on here.

It's worth reading this brief paragraph about Baron La Croix:

Baron La Croix Wiki Page

"The ultimate suave and sophisticated spirit of death" How about that?

Speaking of new and spooky flowers, I saw these little cuties in the woods a few days ago. I was told that these are Bloodroot, and from a google search it would appear that's correct. They don't look like they'd be called Bloodroot, do they? But from what I just read, the juice from this plant is both red and poisonous. And the flowers look so innocent!

If you'd like to read more: Bloodroot Wiki Page

If you read down to the "Toxicity" section on that page, you'll learn why you shouldn't mess with this plant! What I read here is actually pretty scary. To put it simply, do not apply this to your skin because it will destroy your tissue. Don't ingest this or you might vomit or pass out. And you might want to check your mouthwash for "sanguinaria" (another name for Bloodroot) because it could lead to oral cancer down the road. Wow! Nature can be pretty powerful and not always in the best of ways.

Another find in the park was this "Tree Bracket Fungus". I would have called it Seashell Fungus. Don't these look like shells?

From what I've been reading, some of these are not super healthy for trees, but people have turned this bracket or shelf fungi into art. Evidently, it's super hard and makes a good painting surface. If you google "Tree Bracket Fungus Art" you'll see some pretty cool examples.

In other nature news, some of you may have seen this little zebra spider when I shared it on Twitter.

I blogged about these once before. Some fun trivia about zebra spiders is that they don't make webs. Instead, they sneak up and pounce on their little insect victims like a cat! By the way, these spiders are much smaller than this one appears! They're like half the size of a normal ant. Ah, the magic of cropping.

This next picture was scary for me only because I didn't see more than one deer with my eyes before taking it. Then I looked at my camera screen in surprise! There were six deer that I could see, standing out in the open. But those behind this obvious deer totally blended in to the trees. Deer aren't exactly scary, but not realizing there are extra eyes upon you is!

Now that I'm studying this photo, I don't even know if I'm seeing more eyes in the woods! I think I may have just spotted a fifth head back there. I ended up seeing a good 10 in this herd, but who knows how many were actually there.

Onto a view of the outdoors at night. These are pics of the last two full moons we've had. They appeared very differently!

March 31 ~ The Sap Moon:

April 29 ~ The Pink Moon:

It's worth reading this page: Full Moon Names if you'd like to learn why each full moon has the name it does. I hope you guys enjoyed seeing my past month or so in little pieces. I'm finding it fun to write this way, with a little of this and a little of that. Let me know if you guys are seeing any new and interesting plants or insects. Everything is popping out now!

Beautiful Blooms at The Milwaukee Art Museum

Regular readers of this blog know that every year I share photos from The Milwaukee Art Museum's "Art in Bloom" show. The show is a chance for floral designers to interpret the museum's art collection through plants. I enjoy sharing what I thought were the most beautiful and creative arrangements. I usually try to find something somewhat spooky to share from the show. None of the flower arrangements could be interpreted in that way this year, but there is a somewhat Gothy object at the end of this post.

Be sure to click on the images to view them larger.  It really makes a difference!

I love orange roses! For some reason, they're always hard to find around Halloween.

This was an interpretation of the icon on the wall.

I just noticed someone peeking over the display when I enlarged this photo. He's in the upper right hand corner. This arrangement had some warm, exotic orchids. To me, this has an autumn theme.

Here is the full display. The designer did a great job matching the colors to the painting and representing many of the animals with a different shape or color.

This arrangement was my second favorite. It's kind of hard to see, but there are arching tree limbs in the painting. Those are mimicked by the arch at the top of the display. This arrangement reminded me of a basket.

Isn't this rose pretty? It's called an O'Hara Rose.

I have no idea which painting this one represented. I was calling it "The Marge Simpson" because that looked like blue hair springing out of the top.

I took this photo mostly for the sculpture. You can see part of the wall behind the floral arrangement. Which painting do think the flowers went with? Maybe the painting of the trees blowing in the wind. The blue flowers look sort of like fluffy trees.

I really liked the bark wrapped vases in this arrangement. There were some interesting twisted twig arches in front of it too.

Looking closely, there were lots of pretty purple flowers in this one. What a beautiful Iris.

This is one of my favorite photos from the show. This arrangement almost became a part of the painting. It looked very exotic with the Bird of Paradise on top.

See the bridge shape in the flowers?

This looks like some kind of sea sponge.

Another mysterious element in this display was the fungus under the roses. I think that's a cotton bonnet on the left. It would help if I could remember which painting this went with. The museum was crowded so I was moving through some of these rooms pretty fast. It's amazing that I managed to take this many photos without people in the frame!

This high display was mimicking the woman's high hairdo. I'm guessing the white flowers at the bottom are her book.

Does anyone know what these delicate little flowers are?

This display was one of the most direct representations of the art. The black parts aren't plants, but big feathers.

Colorful Parrot Tulips.

This was my favorite display at the show. The containers are sprayed gold like the award/trophy the man is holding in the painting. There was so much color in this display and so many different shaped flowers. I found myself taking photo after photo of it!

I really liked the pink loops circling over and through the flowers.

This is another really direct interpretation of the art. Pretty clever! There's even some red-coated wire to represent the red line on the painting.

Such pretty orchids!

Can you spot the peacock feather?

Ranunculuses are my favorite flower. I bought two different kinds of Ranunculus bulbs recently, so this summer I will be growing them for the first time!

These Tie Dye Dendrobium Orchids start off as purple orchids and are dyed blue so you get this kind of gorgeous color combination.

Some wild, striped little roses.

Another cool orchid.

This is an interpretation of the Marc Chagall painting behind it. It's hard to see, but the man in the painting is wearing a bowler hat and there is always a violin somewhere in Chagall's paintings.

Does anyone know what these yellow flowers are? I see these included in the arrangements every year and wonder what they are.

The exotic, light pink flower is called a King Protea.

Isn't this a clever way to interpret an Andy Warhol soup can print? It's like the soup got opened and fell into a bowl on the table - complete with a grilled cheese sandwich on the side.

It looks almost good enough to eat!

So, here's the Gothic object I promised at the beginning of this post. I think this is an antique hanging oil lamp. It was really pretty when the light caught the red glass. As I remember, this lamp was made during the late 1800s. It was hanging in the antique furniture and decorative arts section of the museum.

After a long and freezing winter like the one we experienced this year, it was nice to see some actual flowers. If you'd like to revisit some of the past Art in Bloom shows, here are some links to my previous blog posts:

Flowerbot and the Friendly Greeter - 2013

Spooky Blooms at The Milwaukee Art Museum - 2012