Mangrove Buckeye, Monarch & Yaupon Holly

Mangrove Buckeye, Monarch & Yaupon Holly

 

Mangrove Buckeye & Monarch Frolicking in the Yaupon Holly. I love the color and texture of Yaupon Holly, Ilex vomitoria. The surreal grey & white hues always light up the dark organic understory of many of Florida's native ecosystems. Yaupon holly's leaves are special as they contain several beneficial alkaloids, including caffeine and can be roasted to make a pick-me-up beverage. Yaupon tea/coffee is actually becoming more and more popular today and I see the leaves offered in a variety of establishments. Yaupon's berries provide food to so many different birds and it's quasi-thorny stem habit creates preferred safehaven for hummingbirds to nest within. This piece is 2" thick Eastern Red Cedar I etch-burned with torch, adding oil pigment afterwards. The blue seepage stream is resin poured into voids in the roughsawn slab. 12" x 15" x 2"

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in the Bog

 #3 of 6; "Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in the Bog"

17" x 16" x 2" live edge Eastern Red cedar slab (Juniperus virginiana). This piece is number 3 of 6 pieces in the Discovering Florida Seep Head Bog collection set. Fire torch, oil pigment & resin.
Florida native plants & wildflowers included in this piece are; fruiting Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), Flowering White Topped Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia leucophylla), Bog Buttons ( Lachnocaulon anceps), Florida cooters, (Pseudemys floridana floridana), Bidens mitis (Small fruit beggarticks), Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), Xyris floridana (Florida yellow-eyed grass), Marsh rosegentian (Sabatia dodecandra), Eastern Tiger Swallowtails Papilio glaucus

Florida Native Bog Plants 7 the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Alligator Springs Afternoon

 40" x 10" glicée on aluminum, neo-realistic vector, Alligator Springs lazy afternoon.

Alligator Springs Afternoon by Kevin Songer, #NFT #natureart

Sunrise sounds inside the foliage of the American Holly by the pond.

Florida Nature Art, Native Shrub and Tree Mandala Square

Native shrubs and trees are amazing as are the different ecosystems these plants make their home within.

Nature Art, Native Shrub-Tree Mandala by Kevin Shea, Gíclee on Aluminum Plate, limited signed edition

My Florida Native Shrub-Tree Mandala Square is comprised of three separate and unique mandala triads; one for uplands, one for wetlands and one for the seashore.

Assembled together they represent the nine trees and shrubs I've grown to love and adore here in Florida and together create the Native Shrub-Tree Mandala Square.

The upland mandala triad is illustrated with beautyberry, Callicarpa americana; saw palmetto, Serenoa repens; and winged sumac, Rhus copallina (aka lemonade bush) all framed with a coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens vine.

Native shrub Upland Mandala by Kevin Shea, Gíclee on Aluminum Plate, limited signed edition

Wetlands are represented by bald cypress, Taxodium distichum; red maple, Acer rubrum; and wax myrtle, Myrica cerifera enclosed in Carolina jessamine vineage.

Native shrub Wetland Mandala by Kevin Shea, Gíclee on Aluminum Plate, limited signed edition

Seashore mandala is created using sea grapes, Coccoloba uvifera; dune daisy, Helianthus debilis; and coral bean, Erythrina herbacea embraced by railroad vine, Ipomia pes-caprae.

Native shrub Seashore Mandala by Kevin Shea, Gíclee on Aluminum Plate, limited signed edition

Native plants are now being recommended and specified by both local and state governments for landscape projects, such as FDOT's wildflower and right-of-way native plant programs as well as used by private developers for commercial projects.  Of course, native plants are very often found in residential landscapes.

As word spreads of the beauty and sustainability characteristics of native shrubs, trees and wildflowers usage within the urban and created landscapes hopefully will continue to proliferate.

Florida's wilderness is filled with amazing texture, color, and importance to all life.

Florida's native plants are truly a wonder worth learning of and preserving.

Gíclee on aluminum plate, high gloss, limited editions, signed by Kevin.

Inquiries to kssonger@gmail.com.

Seepage Sand Mandala, Florida Native Plant and Wildflower Art

Seepage Sand Mandala. 

Seepage Sand Mandala by Kevin Shea

About a year's worth of illustrating. Seepage sands habitat are special. Our plant nursery was located in such an area and I grew to love and appreciate the native plants and wildflowers. Seepage Sand Mandala incorporates; gallberry, shiny blueberry, smilax, rayless sunflower, xyris, pitcher plants, Sabatias, Grass pinks, Sundew and more ( check out the level of amazing detail ). Limited edition ink on aluminum plate. Inquire kssonger@gmail.com

Level of detail

Railroad Vine Mandala, Ipomoea pes-caprae Gíclee on Gloss Aluminum Plate

Mandala art form has always touched my heart.  I see the infinite cosmos and minute life forms flowing through the circular designs.

Railroad Vine Mandala Ipomoea pes-caprae, 16" dia Gíclee on Gloss Aluminum by Kevin Shea

Working on a collection of native plant mandala's I began to really become attracted to the luminescent railroad vine, Ipomoea pes-caprae.

Railroad vine grows in the salty sands of frontal dunes and attracts so very many beachfront pollinator insects as well as me, too.

I invite you to journey into railroad vine mandala.  You can actually hear the waves come ashore then flow back into the deep.  With wind in your hair, sand between your toes and salt on your lip, let railroad mandala minister peace to your urban soul!

Really, I just love the colors of this Florida native plant.

If you'd like a 16" diameter Gíclee on gloss aluminum with a hanger attached, then please order below. The 16" diameter railroad vine mandala is a limited edition production, 250 total and each piece is signed and numbered.

Thank you!

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.  My email is kssonger@gmail.com