Laura's Art Blog, Exploring the Material World

in•flo•res•cence
noun Botany
• the arrangement of the flowers on a plant.
• the process of flowering.

Bleeding heart, Boulder, Colorado

I just took Botany for the Botanical Illustrator at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The vocabulary was gobsmacking. (Did you know, for example, that the female part of a plant where pollen enters the flower is known as the stigma?)

My new favorite word is “inflorescence,” rhyming, as it does, with the other “-ence” words that refer to processes or states of being.

Luminescence, incandescence, effervescence, inflorescence . . .

Catmint, Boulder, Colorado

Now I can say, “Look at the inflorescence!” when talking about a garden and mean the whole unfurling of it. Not just the flowers but whole damned shebang. Like it’s a holiday or something.

It’s decided. I’m taking Monday off for the Inflorescence.

noun
anguish, grief, suffering, distress, unhappiness, misery, sorrow, sadness, heartbreak . . .

I have a problem with the term “colony collapse disorder” because the word “disorder” implies sickness or disease. What if healthy bees are being made weak due to exposure to chemical pesticides? Does the word “disorder” contain that possibility? Or does it keep us hunting for something wrong, diseased or inadequate within the body of the bee?

A detailed imaginary world involving humans and/or animals, or perhaps even fantasy or alien creations. Often having its own geography, history, and language, it is an experience that is developed during childhood and continues over a long period of time: months or even years.

Courage, also known as bravery, fortitude, will. “Physical courage” is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat of death, while “moral courage” is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.

Lion Passant, fresco mounted on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum Cloisters, New York

noun
the realization of potential.

• the supposed vital principle that guides the development and functioning of an organism.

• the soul.

ORIGIN late Middle English : via late latin from Greek entelekheia, from en- ‘within’ + telos ‘end perfection’ + ekhein ‘be in a certain state.’

The condition of something whose essence is fully realized.

A new painting.

“Psychopomp, Gold and Blue Bird,” encaustic, ink and gold leaf on panel

psy•cho•pomp
noun
In Greek mythology a guide of souls to the place of the dead.
The spiritual guide of a living person’s soul.
In Jungian psychology the psychopomp is a mediator between conscious and unconscious realms personified in dreams as a wise man or woman or sometimes as a helpful animal.

Flow•er
noun Botany
The seed bearing part of a plant consisting of reproductive organs.

verb • figurative
To be in or reach an optimum stage of development. Develop fully and richly.

There’s a beautiful story about the evolution of flowers in today’s NYTimes.

Gravid, 10″ x 8,” encaustic, ink and gold leaf on panel

Grav•id
adjective technical
pregnant; carrying eggs or young.
• figurative full of meaning or a specified quality : the scene is gravid with unease.
ORIGIN late 16th Cent. from Latin
gravidus ‘laden, pregnant,’ from gravis ‘heavy.’

Art Opening and Hors D’oeuvres
Thursday, August 13th, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Wright Kingdom Real Estate
4875 Pearl East Circle, Suite 100, Boulder
Hosted by Open Studios and Wright Kingdom

The philosophy of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter, and is considered a form of physicalism. Fundamentally, all things are composed of material and all phenomena (including consciousness) are the result of material interactions; therefore, matter is the only substance.

Pigeon egg with hand and clover

Something eerily beautiful. Asperatus clouds! Apparently, they’re new. You can read more at MailOnline.

“It is a bit like looking at the surface of a choppy sea from below.”

- Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society and namer of asperatus clouds.

psy•cho•pomp

noun
In Greek mythology a guide of souls to the place of the dead.
The spiritual guide of a living person’s soul.

In Jungian psychology the psychopomp is a mediator between conscious and unconscious realms personified in dreams as a wise man or woman or sometimes as a helpful animal.

ben•thos
noun Ecology
The flora and fauna found on the bottom, or in the bottom sediments, of a sea, lake, or other body of water.

DIRIVATIVES
ben•thic
adjective

ORIGIN late 19th century: from Greek, ‘depth of the sea.’

A favorite word overheard in my studio last weekend…

Playful – fond of games and amusement; lighthearted; intended for one’s own or others’ amusement rather than seriously; giving or expressing pleasure or amusement.

I take painting seriously. But there’s a playful part to it too – especially around titles. This type of feedback – the soft words that swirl around new work – is priceless. It’s one of the things I love about Open Studios.

Elephant 5″ x 4″ encaustic an ink on panel

… In the form of a list of HAS events:

Welcome and announcements
CCD update
The cell punch method of queen rearing
Insurance for beekeepers
Nosema Cerane and Nosema Apis
A model bee breeding plan for sideline beekeepers
Living with the African honeybee
American Foulbrood: identification, eradication and control
Scrapbooking for beekeepers
Laying workers in the hive
Basic hive inspection
Factors affecting drone production
Raising your own queens
Reading the frames for better hive management
Using Apiguard for mite control
Cooking with honey
Making beekeeping equipment
The art of making beeswax candles
Bee beard – how to do one and why
How to move bees safely
Bee friendly insect control in the home landscape
What Brushy Moutain has to offer in equipment and supplies
Building a honey house from the floor up
Starting a master beekeeping program in your state
The Lost Mountain Honey Project
Beekeeping in South Africa
IPM for varroa mite control
Swarm control and splits
Using bricks to mark your hive’s condition
More on CCD problems
The classroom questions and answers
Beekeeping 101
Allegany protocol for saving the bees
Adding wax to plastic brood foundation – bees will pull it out fast and perfect
How to use everyday or inexpensive items in beekeeping
Hive scale to check honey build-up and the change in the calendar date
Greeting and gift cards and tags
Over-wintering nucs
What’s in your comb?
Dinner meeting HAS executive board
We Are Marshall movie
Where are the African bees now?
Sister Bee movie
Overview of instrumental insemination
Scrapbooking for beekeepers
Finding the queen
Learn the ins and outs of making Sister Bee movie
Making beekeepingi equipment
Autoclave: the best treatment for AFB equipment
Getting bees ready for pollination
Using small hive beetle traps
Selection & breeding of hardy queen stock
Teaching bees to school students
Queen banking
What’s new with the Walter Kelley Company
Keeping the Buckfast queens on the market
Weighing the hive day to day
Building a good bee club
Homemade honey ice cream social with bluegrass band
Queen quality
Pollen Nation movie
How to market your honey and wax
Quick snacks made with honey
Laying workers in the hive
Why nucs?
Information and help for the beginning beekeeper
Making splits to increase your numbers
Back care for beekeepers
Grand prize drawing

A few of these would make great novel titles. Can you guess which ones I mean?