Love is a Canvas - Nigella damascena

by Julia Springer

Title

Love is a Canvas - Nigella damascena

Artist

Julia Springer

Medium

Photograph - Digitally Enhanced Photograph

Description

Julia Springer
Love is a Canvas � Nigella damascena

Embellished with a quotation from Voltaire, this painterly image of Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascena) has a dream-like quality due to the spot focus and to the application of several layers of texture. Formally known as Nigella damascena, this enchanting flower is better known to her friends by a host of common names including Love-in-a-Mist, Devil-in-the-Bush, and Ragged Lady. In Portuguese she is known as Barbas-do-Velho (Old Man�s Whiskers) or Damas-entre-Verde (Ladies in Green), whilst the French prefer Cheveaux de V�nus (Venus�s Hair), and the Spanish opt for Ara�uela (Little Spider). See how many other names you can spot in the background of the alternate version of this image �Love is a Canvas.�

Nigella damascena is native to southern Europe, southwest Asia and northern Africa. Growing some 8-20 inches (20-50 cm) tall, the early summer flowers nestle in a ring of lacy bracts, the source of many of her common names. Typically the flowers come in shades of blue, but they may also vary from white, through shades of pink to a pale purple color. The petals are inconspicuous, with the visible color actually being presented by 5-25 sepals. Centrally each flower bears a cluster of 4-5 carpels with their erect, often twisted, styles. With maturity, the flowers produce a large fruiting capsule containing large numbers of small seeds; these seeds darken on exposure to the air, but they do not have the same medicinal properties as the seeds of the closely-related Black Cumin plant, Nigella sativa. Nigella damascena is a member of the Ranunculus (or buttercup) family and freely self-seeds, preferring damp growing conditions.

Voltaire was a prolific 18th century French writer and philosopher. Born Fran�ois-Marie Arouet, he assumed the pen-name Voltaire following his imprisonment in the Bastille. The name is an anagram of the Latinized version of his family name, and also echoed the reversed two syllables of one of the family ch�teaux.

Whilst a canvas print would be an obvious choice for this image, it would also look stunning as a framed print, or as a greeting card!
Textures courtesy of Kim Klassen � many thanks Kim.

Uploaded

February 25th, 2013

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