Becoming

by Connie Handscomb

Title

Becoming

Artist

Connie Handscomb

Medium

Photograph - Photography - Fine Art

Description

It had slender green leaves the colour of emeralds, and in the centre of the leaves a blossom like a golden cup.
~ Margery Williams [fr. The Velveteen Rabbit, or How Toys Become Real]

Clarity is the perception of wisdom ... being able to perceive and understand the illusion, and to let it play.
~ Gary Zukav

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Tulip
Genus : Tulipa spp.
Family : Liliaceae

The tulip grew wild abundantly in the central Asia mountains, in China & Mongolia, in North Africa, and later throughout Europe. Tulip designs have been found on pottery dating back to 2200 BC. So, while one might tend to think of Netherlands as home of the tulip, it was actually first cultivated in Turkey, grown in the palace gardens of the sultans, and is in fact the national flower of Hungary, Turkey & the "Tulip state" Kyrgyzstan.

The Flemish ambassador wrote of it, and it is believed a botanical professor, Charles de L'Ecluse, brought the tulip to Holland in 1593, having purchased it in Istanbul. The professor admired the work of the Flemish painter Paul Rubens, and after the tulip was propagated at Leiden University, it was shipped to him. Painters loved to paint the tulip. The Golden Age of Dutch painting was abundant with still life compositions of the tulip. Special tulip books were published, as were catalogues for wealthy collectors.

By the 17th c., 'Tulipmania' was in full swing: a single bulb was worth the equivalent price today of a house and a garden. The Dutch created formal geometrically shaped gardens and fountains in the Italian fashion, and the plants became "botanized" (grown for decorative qualities) whereas previously they had been kept by physicians and cooks.

Today, 15 groups with approximately 2,600 varieties of tulips exist, with Holland exporting 60% of the world's tulips.

A yellow tulip is a symbol of cheerfulness ... and sunshine.

Sources:
Fifty Plants that changed the Course of History (Bill Laws)
Four Chefs, One Garden : Seasons Of West Coast Living [Roy]
Painterly Plants [Clare Foster; Photog.Ruber]
The Romantic Language Of Flowers [Davies; Saunders]

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One of the wonderful things about macro photography is the chance to see the elements that compose our world around us from a different, often unique, perspective. Here, close up, the tulip presents its slim sheath of gold and yellow petals, much more personally than when I step back and view the entire bloom from a distance. Its elegance is more refined, has more definition. This one, depending how the light falls upon it, is golden ... or is yellow. Is the yellow becoming gold? Or is the gold becoming Yellow? Whatever and whichever, it is very elegant, very becoming.

Taken in natural light ; uncropped; unaltered : Nature in all its natural splendour.

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♥ Heartfelt Gratitude to FAA groups for featuring this image :

Visions Of Spring
Tulip Macros
All Things Golden

Uploaded

June 20th, 2014

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