The Art of Nature

There are no lines in nature, only areas of colour, one against another.” ― Edouard Manet

*

Manet’s thought seemed borne out as I gazed at the red maple leaf buds against evergreens along the shore at Low Plain (in central New Hampshire)  in late April.

redmaplesevergreensshorelineartsyLowPlain23April2017redmaplesbudartsyLowPlain23April2017

And at the moss and last year’s fall leaves alongside the trail under melted ice, shadows of branches giving the appearance of a frame:

mossunderwaterLowPlain23April2017

*

It was 70F that day, after a high of 48F the day before and a low of 31F overnight. So the melt was on. Luckily, I had on my wading boots.

HighWaterDetoursignLowPlain23April2017

someboardwalkunderwaterLowPlain23April2017boardwalkmaintrailwaterLowPlain23April2017

Eastern red-spotted newts — the adults, shown here, are a sort of olive green with blackish-brown spots, but the juveniles, or efts, are bright orange-red with bluish-black spots — were mating or fighting or both in the water on the trail by the bridge shown above. It was a challenge not to step on them.

greenredEasternNewtunderwaterLowPlain23April2017messofEasternNewtsunderwaterLowPlain23April2017threeEasternNewtsunderwaterLowPlain23April2017

They can live 12-15 years! (If not stepped on.)

*

Despite the feverish melt, there was still a little ice on the trail and in the wetlands:

lasticetrailLowPlain23April2017cattailstemsicesmallpondLowPlain23April2017

*

Willows and red elderberry were budding:

willowbudLowPlain23April2017redelderberrybudLowPlain23April2017

And a male mallard and song sparrow (and Canada geese, kingfishers, chickadees, and other waterfowl) were out and about, plus a colony of painted turtles on a log — 10 shown here but there were probably twice as many on the whole log:

malemallardduckmovingfastLowPlain23April2017sparrowbirdlongtailondamLowPlain23April2017tenofdozensofturtlesonlogLowPlain23April2017

*

I was taken by these juxtaposed areas of colour:

weatheredlogmossinsetLowPlain23April2017

*

“What keeps my heart awake is colorful silence.” ― Claude Monet

Leave a Reply