Wednesday 5 November 2014

Seeing faces in trees


I hope that Em won't mind me reproducing this image of hers without her permission, but I really think it deserves as wide an audience as possible.

Em lives on Dartmoor, which - as you probably know - is home to great herds of wild ponies. If it were not for the fact that she tells us this 'pony' is a randomly accidental growth formation of ancient algae and lichen, I would have said she painted it on the stone herself! Go here to see all the other wonderful photos she puts up, taken in the beautiful and desolate moorland which is her home.

Don't you love it when you see other-worldly images in plants, trees and all things non-human? Is it our brains and eyes - like the face-recognition devices on cameras - or is it something else? Don't spoil it for me by answering that question. There is not enough fantasy in our lives as it is, unless you are a Steam Punk, that is.

31 comments:

  1. That link doesn't work for me this morning, but it's probably a temporary glitch.

    I later thought that if this was a John Gray post, it would be called, 'Seeing Faeces in Trees'.

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  2. That's quite spooky, isn't it ? I am a Steampunk fan and I see faces everywhere …. do you think that the two are connected ?!! XXXX

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  3. Have you ever seen faces in the rock formations at the top of mountains? They nearly always face the sunset.

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    1. I saw a very spooky set of faces on Mount Rushmore once. I have never forgotten them.

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  4. Phantasy is a wonderful gift, and seeing faces or figures shimmering through cracked walls, on wooden floors etc is a fantastic way to discover meaning. I don't know Steampunk - but love to look into the cloudy hazy world behind the world.

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    1. In Friedrichshain there is a '12° Aetherologe' with smoker's lounge, and there is a German Steampunk Society - but till now I had no idea that they exist (now husband is in for a nice surprise at the weekend - will visit it. If I find a Victorian dress).

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  5. Faces in the embers? See them every night.

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  6. That is amazing...a perfect little pony. I like it. :)

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  7. I was intrigued by your comment on Em's blog about the painting.

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    1. It is a thought - stranger things have been known to happen.

      I have a friend whose job it was to blast off some sprayed graffiti from a stone at Avebury, with a powerful laser. The lichen on those stones is protected, because they are as old - as individual plants or entities - as the stones themselves.

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    2. I remember the graffiti. Some sites are awarded SSSI status for historical and botanic reasons combined. It sounds as if Avebury fits into that category,

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    3. Yes, and the amazing thing was that the laser took away the paint and left the lichen unscathed - but kept overheating and breaking down.

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  8. I am considering Steampunkism, and very much look forward to seeing faeces in unusual places.

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    1. Get the zoot suit and you can do both at the same time.

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  9. Of course I don't mind. I went shlepping up there this morning just after 7.00am and couldn't bloody find it. Will have another go later with strong specs and waterproof trouses and have a really close look at the margins. I was convinced I knew where it was. OB pointed out an elephant shitting in the clouds last weekend. He's ten.

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  10. I like seeing old faces in trees and worn in rocks.
    When I saw this picture, I didn't see the picture, just the lichen and my first thought was hoping some fool natural dyer didn't strip it for the color pot. The lichen take years and years to grow.

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  11. I used to see the outline of a witch in the tree outside my childhood bedroom window - I loved it! Hello Tom. And I am also a steampunk fan.

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  12. Hey, I'm not P!
    I would prefer to see the face of Liam Cunningham in a potato, or anywhere, actually (sports guys are too young and don't do nothing for me ).

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