MY AUTUMN COLLECTION
Like everyone else in South Africa, my Coronavirus lockdown arrived in the early part of autumn 2020 just as the deciduous trees were starting to close shop for the winter. Their falling leaves were making a silent journey into foddering the Mother tree — nourishing gooey humus, Mother laps up like a cat gobbling fresh creamy milk. Stuffed with nourishment she was planning her survival through winter.
Living out of the city, my quarantine was trees, bushes, birds, frogs, darting Duiker’s and watching cheeky Mongoose who love to tease our dogs when a fence separates them
Autumn leaves vary from tree to tree with Chameleon-like colours. I watched them falling. Some gyrate – Elvis the pelvis until they hit the ground. Helped by the wind, others oscillate; backwards and forwards like a pendulum until a bump in the air changes their direction. Smaller leaves like the dainty Crab Apple leaf liked to pirouette — spinning and spinning until a jolt from mother earth tells them to keep still and just accept the inevitable.
Some leaves poked fun at me. Many danced a ritual to the wind. Others, jingled-belled. I was presented with an Autumn Umbrella for the rainy days ahead. A gentle wind came by with an Autumn Hurdler. An Autumn Ninja showed me how to kickbox.
Some mangled desiccated leaves asked me, “Why did Mother Nature not make me beautiful and vivacious and colourful like a rainbow?” I tell them not every leaf is born a Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Beyonce, Brad Pitt, James Dean . . . But when I look at you all, often in murky sodden rainwater I see beautiful browns speckled with gold and lavender.
“You are not ugly. You are beautiful.”
If you wish to order a signed print the cost for *A3 is *R4,400.00 and *A2 R5,600.00 is a guide.
*Prices may vary. Combination prints featuring different leaves are also available
Enquiries: info@mikerossi.co.za or phone/sms +27(0)83 260 4632