Winter Bullrushes

“Never cut a tree down in the winter time. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.”
- Robert H. Schuller

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!

Winter Bullrushes - W & N Watercolours on Arches 300gsm - 7" x 10"

I absolutely LOVE Bullrushes and used to have them growing at my pond (in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa), until I discovered how quickly they take over an area, killing everything in its path. I also used to cut the velvety flowering spikes to arrange in a vase, absolutely gorgeous!, also only until I discovered that, when they're ripe and ready to disperse their seeds, the velvety spike would burst open, covering the house with bundles of dense, cottony fluff! Only the female flower does this, the male withers and dies once it has dispersed its pollen.

Typha Typhaceae is found in a variety of wetland habitats. These plants are known in British English as bulrush, bullrush, or reed mace, in American English as cattail, punks, or corndog grass, in Australia as cumbungi & also bulrush, and in New Zealand as raupo.

Some interesting information : the dense cottony fluff was used for stuffing Futons in Japan before the advent of cotton.