My Word with Douglas E. Welch

British artist Helen Ahpornsiri brings whole new meaning to botanical illustration with her incredible artwork made from pressed flowers and leaves. Her delicate compositions depict the diversity of the natural world, from mammals and birds to insects and sea creatures.

 
Using real flowers, petals, stems, and leaves, Ahpornsiri responsibly forages her materials from her own garden and local nature spots. Each botanical component is carefully chosen to celebrate its natural form, and in some works, the artist even uses specific components to correspond with her subject’s natural habitat. In one piece, a seahorse is crafted from tiny pieces of red marine algae, and in another, a majestic blue whale is made entirely from pressed seaweed. “The marine algae I use is foraged from beaches on the south coast of England,” Ahpornsiri reveals. “I search for loose pieces of marine algae along strandlines and in rockpools, especially after stormy seas, to avoid being disruptive to the surrounding ecosystem.”

 

Each spring, California’s Antelope Valley explodes with color as vast quantities of flowers bloom. While there are several types of wildflowers in the mix, it’s the state flower—the California poppy—that is the star of the show. Typically visitors flock to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve to take in the breathtaking scene, but this year is proving a bit different.

With the reserve temporarily closed due to COVID-19 measures, in-person poppy watching isn’t possible. But thanks to NASA, we’re able to have a whole different perspective on the event. As the poppy fields are located close to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, it’s only fitting that a land imager aboard the Landsat 8 satellite captured the superbloom at its peak.