Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Textures in Nature and Art
I love the word ‘textures’ – say it slowly and you can hear its rich sound and even see its meaning in your mind’s eye.
Nature, like life itself, is textured and nuanced. Not only smooth, but sometimes rough, not merely soft but also coarse; sometimes wet and sometimes dry. Thick and thin, lumpy and bumpy, and full of ups and downs. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I was born and raised in Seattle and have seen plenty of gray skies, completely gray in fact like today. Though we don’t top the list of rainiest cities in the United States, we are near the top of the cloudiest. So, I might reasonably wish for more sunshine and blue skies but then I’d miss out on breakthroughs like this,
and buoyant clouds like these.
And what a treat to see skies filled with cirrocumulus clouds!
Perhaps my favorite are lenticular clouds – I brake for them when I can.
They sometimes hover over Mt. Rainier, looking quite like a UFO, and did you know it was here the phrase was coined, though called flying saucers first. I often see Mt. Rainier wearing a cloudy cap, but unfortunately, often while driving on the highway.
I found them here racing toward the mountain, though not there yet.
Trees come in all textures too. I like the big foot on this one.
And the bark on this one, a Redwood.
The bark on the Madrona is special, crispy and peeling to reveal a slick and shiny surface beneath.
Rocks come in all textures from ordinary pebbles to magnificent gems deep in the earth.
Artists understand the importance of textures perhaps more than most, and I’m grateful for their work.
Sharing for this week’s Sunday Stills, #Textures.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
So many amazing shots of clouds, nature and more, Susanne! I love those lenticular clouds–just stunning! An Mt Rainier in the back ground, yes please. We used to see the lenticular clouds in the Sacramento delta–mesmerizing! I love your tree textures too. Beautiful!
Thanks so much, Terri! I’ve taken pictures of Mt. Rainier with its lenticular cloud cap before, but usually from a moving vehicle. And I couldn’t find even one of them in my archives! I’m going to keep on the lookout. 🙂
Lovely textures Susanne. I love all the different examples you picked.
Thanks, Graham. It took me a few days to figure out what to include but it finally came together for me. 😊
Art AND nature?! Your blog is up my alley for sure. Happy to be a new subscriber. Gorgeous pictures.
Thank you so much!
Wonderful textures Sue! I thought I was going to like the clouds best but then I came to those beautiful rocks and now I can’t decide 😀
Thanks, Sarah! 😊 I had a hard time too, knowing what to include!
A great selection of photos, Susanne. Big-sky clouds are great, and so are trees!
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks, Pete! I hard a hard time knowing what to include! 😊
Beautiful photos.
Thank you. 😊
Great texture photos….the last one is intriguing. We also get ‘flying saucer’ clouds in Tasmania but I’ve never seen them anywhere else in Australia.
Thank you! It’s always special to see Mt. Rainier wearing its cloud hat! 🙂
Great textures! And LOVE those clouds!!
Thank you! 🙂