….I love how birch bark curls when it ages
I don’t advocate peeling back the bark of any tree for it can do serious damage to the tree. The birch tree as it ages and with the effects of wind and rain experiences changes to its outer bark. If you look closely it reveals all kinds of mysteries that lie within the tree.
…..painting birch trees on a piece of carpenter’s shim
I’ve recently taken an on-line course called Paint Your Garden where most of the projects were done on birch plywood. I loved using this surface for painting. While at at the cottage I noticed that we had a lot of shim left over from a recent building project so I chose a piece and primed it with Gesso.
I’ve always loved birch trees and since I’m surrounded by them I decided to use the forest as my garden for this project.
Acrylic paint on 8 x 18 inch cedar shim.
Close-up of tree on the right.
Close-up of the base of one of the trees.
To finish this project I’m planning on drilling two small holes at the top and adding wire to hang.
…. almost stepped on the first and have an obsession with the second
Just got back from the cottage and I immediately downloaded my photos from the camera. I had a relaxing weekend with my husband. No stair building, no leave raking… nothing too strenuous.
On our walk of the beach yesterday I almost stepped on this little guy. Good thing I was looking down at the time. A little further down I found a second one.
I love the texture of bark and think it makes great material for photographs. The lichen on this maple tree gives the bark a beautiful bluish tinge.
A lot of the trees have these interesting scars on the bark. We think that it’s due partially to the deer that sometimes come across the ice in the wintertime and chew on the bark for food.
On our recent trip to Niagara Falls, I came across this beautiful little grove of trees at the Botanical Gardens. I’ve never seen such white, perfect little birches in my life. My cottage is surrounded by birch trees but the young saplings are never this white and the older, more mature trees are gnarly and textured with peeling bark.
A grove of young birch trees at the botanical gardens in Niagara Falls, Canada.
Mama Cormier 