Deliquesce

I learned the word Deliquesce when I looked up a little mushroom I discovered in a field near my home. The mushroom started as a white bulb in the morning, developed a drippy black skirt by midday, and collapsed into a smudgy heap by afternoon. The word means liquify or melt which is what the Inky Cap mushroom does.

Mushrooms occupy a precarious space in nature, needing the correct balance of light, water, food, temperature and habitat to be healthy and grow. Sort of like us. But unlike mushrooms, we can’t suspend our lives until conditions improve.

The life cycle of the Inky Cap mushroom is a beautiful metaphor for the fragility of life and cycles of regeneration.

Deliquesce is 12″ x 36″ oil on cradled birch, available in my studio.