Patterns with a Purpose

As I was driving along the expressway on my way north, the repetition of the vertical patterns in nature were  everywhere.  The towering birch stands along the roadsides, deliberately planted in rows, to provide a windbreak.   The lodge pole pine stands also flanked either side of the roadway for miles and miles south of Duluth.  They almost appear to be trimmed by a Dr. Seussean barber who left the full, fluffy topknot, but removed almost all greenery and branches from the bottom 95% of each tree.

We have had just enough rain to support lush growth in the ditches between the paved roads and the fence rows of trees.  The spring-green spikes of wild grasses, clover, sumac, and dandelions dance in the back-draft created by massive semi-tractor-trailers, pick-ups pulling campers, and speeding sedans.

Towering above these natural vertical beauties, there was the systematic placement of even taller vertical poles (although once tree trunks, as well,) anchoring announcements and enticements to stop, spend, eat, lust, divert, and spend again.  These signs, too, presented a pattern of sorts; a rhythm known well to all roadway travelers.

A hundred miles into the journey among the verticals, and there she was.....a brown image, blending into the verticalness of her surroundings.  At first it looked like a tree trunk, and then a flick of her ear to remove an irritating fly, gave her away.

A cautious deer added another vertical pattern to the roadside landscape.  Her ear gave her away.   Quick painting; acrylic on sketch paper.   Click on the image to enlarge.

 It wouldn't surprise me at all if a very small fawn was nestled down in to tall grasses, staying hidden from view.  The added marking of each fawn make them even more difficult to "spot" than the parents.  This was the first of almost a dozen deer sightings between Hinkley and Grand Marais.