Poisonous to eat, irresistible to paint
Mysterious, varied, hard to identify, and so alluring to paint—I just can’t pass up a good mushroom. Though I thought I was finished with them for the year, you can see that I am not. A group of amanitas as big as dessert plates appeared under a spruce tree down the road and begged me to investigate. Poisonous to eat but not to paint, those first finds compelled me to check another spruce, where I discovered still more species emerging. Then my husband spied a cluster of huge mushrooms growing in our meadow, spared them from the lawn mower, and fetched me instead. Now, after another week of mushrooms and field guides taking over my desk, I am ready to turn the page.
Jean, you are the mushroom ( and bird nest ) whisperer. These are beautiful. Wasn’t Dan the best guy to know that you would be thrilled by more fungi. 🤪
Dan is my best scout! Glad I seized the moment…they were trampled and ruined by some critter the following day and the one I painted never got to open.
Are you really sure?! Something tells me you may be checking under spruce trees for weeks to come!
‘Beautifully captured’ mushrooms, Jean! Love that their color is a bashfully pale cream rather than a hands-off fire-engine red. Wonder if the cream amanitas are less dangerous than the red ones? Hmmmmm?
Fair point Barb! I’m never finished. And yes, it’s not advised to eat the yellows var.
😵💫
Love when you paint mushrooms. I am off to the north shore of Lake Superior this weekend. I am hoping the wood have a few little mushrooms for me to paint as well.
I hope so! It seems to be a good year for them, but much will depend on recent rain and weather up there. Enjoy your trip and hope there’s some beautiful foliage, too!
Wonderful! I find mushrooms to be the most interesting plants. We had a giant Scarlet Saucer in our yard once and my kids [now adults] and I were hooked on mushrooms. This book is very good about mushrooms & the culture around them https://hopewellslibraryoflife.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/review-the-mushroom-hunters/
Thanks for the tip about the book. I haven’t read that. I seem to be hooked on mushrooms too. I feel a little apologetic about it, but I’m not sure why– maybe it just seems like a strange thing to get excited about– except that when you start looking and learning there’s no turning back.
Right? We [now adult] kids and I end each other mushroom photos! And YES they SEND to! lol
Another masterpiece! Love the light, Jean. 💕
Great story, lovely paintings! And I love it that your husband enables your mushroom-painting obsession !