Brian has kindly been hosting this week’s Lens-Artists’ challenge from his home in the Australian bush and I’ve enjoyed seeing the submissions. His topic is inspired by, in his words, the ‘fragmentation around the world, a disconnect. But we have always been made of pieces’.
I’m (largely) sharing fragments put back together in different forms, starting with a detail from a decorative drainage sump in last year’s ingenious Wilde Weelde exhibit at Floriade ’22.
I’ve met several gardeners who cover planters with shells, fragments of bark or glass, but I’m not sure if this one was home-made. It doesn’t look mass produced, does it?
You can be forgiven for thinking the above is a rug, but it’s a traditional well dressing, made from petals, seeds and other gleanings. The idea brings communities together to celebrate local sources of fresh water.
A detail from another design shows the technique. You can scroll down to see a fuller view in this post about the Chatsworth Flower Show.
It also readies our eyes for the subtle, natural colours of the next few pictures.
A wooden birdhouse might have had its day when it fell from a tree, but is saved in pieces at the base because one of its owners, Frances Doris, thought it was too nice to throw. I agree. If just two pieces don’t count as fragments, I direct you to the layer of leaf and bark fragments covering the ground.
Bark lying on the floor of our local wood seemed like treasure with its confident patterns. I wish I knew what kind of tree it was from, although reading this comforts me a little:
There isn’t a soul on the planet who can identify the species of most of the trees on earth on sight. There never has been and never will be.
– Tristan Gooley, How To Read A Tree
Faith Estes’s garden on the edge of a forest is packed with treasures that have been lovingly gathered, often gifted, and arranged, including rocks, pebbles, wood, pottery and succulents. I would not be at all surprised to learn that every piece had its own story that we can only guess at.
At the moment, I have so many posts half-written, or more accurately, not written at all but with pictures ready to share. Faith’s and Frances’s quirky gardens are the topics of two of them. It’s hard to know why, but words come more easily at some times than others. I suspect it may be a side effect of trying hard to cut down the number of images in my main photo-library, a task I truly hate.
My picture of geranium petals held up by a spider’s web survived the cull, even though it isn’t 100% clear what it is. Like the partly-broken birdhouse, things don’t have to be perfect to be, well… perfect.
I thought I had shared this colourful deterrent before, but can’t find it. Here’s a closer view:
This was in its prime. I’ve noticed the shards have almost all fallen a few years later, but it was pretty while it lasted and especially so here, with a light covering of snow.
Spray-painted fragments were left on a pallet for visitors to take at a graffiti park in Austin, Texas – a thoughtful gesture for the magpies among us.
Until next time, I’ll leave you with a refreshing splash of colour and some fragments about to take a tumble, but in no great hurry.
Thanks for hosting, Brian!
Susan Rushton 
What a fabulously eclectic and thoughtful post.
That’s the way with challenges – they link things in ways we’d not have thought of.
Margaret got there just before me. Utterly enchanting.
You are both very kind.
The birdhouse, bark, and stones are my favorites. Your post did bring to mind one of my mother’s most inexplicable stories. She had an aunt named Rilla who taught in a one room school and never married. Occasionally, she would keep my mother and her sisters. One day, Rilla turned them loose in her garden with a stack of phonograph records and hammers. Fragments!
I was reading recently about the curiosity gap – the idea we need some information to frame questions and provoke curiosity. Why did she want them smashing or was it more a need to find occupation for children? What records were they? What happened to the fragments?
All good questions, which I asked my mother. She didn’t know; she just remembered how much fun it was to be able to break things without being fussed at!
So many interesting ideas. I have the same issue with writing. I am not much of a writer to begin with, so when I’m blocked it seems doubly hard.
Writing (and especially blogging) seem to be habits it’s easy to get out of.
Nice selection Susan. The mosaic pot reminds me of my visit to Barcelona and especially Gaudi’s buildings.
On a much smaller scale!
Lots of unique selections for the prompt Susan. The well dressing was interesting. A lot of work goes into those masterpieces.
I loved the mosaic pot and always say I am going to use old fragments to spruce up pots. Never get to it, but hopefully your post motivates me to get out there (or make time to get out there) Loved them all. The shards, art, the birdhouse, natural elements. Well done.
There are lots of good uses for fragments. A colourful mulch would be interesting.
Some beautiful choices this week Susan. Loved the mosaic pot and the well especially
The well dressings are remarkable.
Small points of interest in each photo… I wouldn’t be able to delete them either!
I’m trying to persuade myself to take less pictures (which is probably not going to happen).
I try to check them after I take them and delete right then and there, but that isn’t always possible!
My sweetheart does that and he is very decisive. If there’s one that meets what you hoped for when you took the picture, or any really bad ones, it’s quite straightforward, but I tend to find mine somewhere in the middle.
So many wonderful photos and a story well told Susan. The fallen bird house will have some terrestrial owners no doubt. You did find fabulous mosaics, the one at the well is my favourite, very rug like as well as the Geranium petals and seeds.
Deleting photos is a pain and a very off and on again process.
I’m glad you liked them, Brian. Try as I might, I can take new pictures at lot faster rate than I can delete old ones.
What a wonderful theme! Life is so much about fragments, and they should be honored. I love the well dressings and went back to look again; what a tribute to community! You know I send buckets of sympathy on the matter of writer’s slump. Our muses can be so contrary.
I suspect we don’t know the half of it about the fragments. I’ve even been reading less than normal, which is very strange. While I may never have had a writer’s muse, I have always had a very attentive reader’s one.
Oh, I think you have an exceptionally gifted writer’s muse, and she is perhaps related to your reader’s muse. These are hard times for muses.
I am so pleased you retained this varied selection which had me switching my number one choice as I scrolled down. Perhaps the geranium seeds and petals subtly steals the show
I’m glad you liked that one.
I know what you mean about having a back-log of posts yet to be written and/or illustrated! I’ll look forward to those garden ones you mention as these glimpses are fascinating! Beautiful well dressings too, and perfect for this theme 🙂
Good luck with your to-do list!