First dandelion of 2016

I'm currently on a residency in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales and I have been exploring the local landscape since I got here last week. It's been a very mild, wet winter here in UK. I have seen a few dandelions ready to flower up in Lancashire, where I live, but I saw this one here in Wales on Sunday 24th January - it seems so early. 

Lebepur Löwenzahn

I have a number of food products in the Dandelion Archive - various teas, dandelion and burdock drink etc... and someone donated this for the collection.
It was sent from Germany and is '100% Bio-Lowenzahn' (organic dandelion) and it suggests adding it to green smoothies. On one hand i'm intrigued to see and taste it, but on the other hand I want to keep the packet perfect. I have until June 2016 to decide when it runs out of date.

Villeroy and Boch Dandelion

It's been a good year for the Dandelion Archive with quite a few donations to the collection and the purchase of a few objects.
Here is a Villeroy and Boch ceramic dish, made in Luxembourg, with dandelions showing leaves and the flower in bud, bloom and going to seed. Rather gorgeous isn't it?

Dandelion Gravy Boat

At the beginning of this year I acquired this jug / gravy boat with dandelions on it - however I don't know the maker or pottery who made it. 'Summer Bower L.419' is painted on the bottom and there is a name stamp in the base, but it's so obscured by the glaze i can't read it. If anyone knows the maker please do get in touch via the comments.
It has a dandelion flower with leaves and seed head on one side of the jug and a smaller pattern of a dandelion in bud with leaf on the other side. It's now held in the Dandelion Archive and it's one of my favourite objects.

Dandelion Cigarette Card

Ages ago I saw that Will's Cigarettes had done a series of wild flower cigarette cards with one being a dandelion and i've been on the look out ever since to try and find either a single card or a complete album. I was in the wonderful Preston Flea Market the other week and on a stall selling old postcards, books and magazines i found a copy of a complete album!

An Album of Wild Flowers, Second Series was issued in 1937 by WD & HO Wills (branch of the Imperial Tobacco Company) priced at one penny. The dandelion is number 25 out of the 50 cards in the set.

The description is this: Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), Thistle family. Were it not so common and a weed so difficult to eradicate, this would be considered a beautiful flower. Although it can be found in bloom during a great part of the year its main flowering time is in spring, when it often turns fields and waysides into a blaze of gold. The origin of the name Dandelion is somewhat uncertain, for although it means "Lion's tooth", like the other botanical names which have been used for it - Leontodon dens-leonis - it is not agreed whether it is the lobes of the leaf or in the tips of the florets that the resemblance occurs.

Dandelion Scarf

The Dandelion Archive holds many objects and people often donate things to be included in the collection.
Here is a scarf donated to the collection - it has different plants in the pattern, one being a full dandelion flower with leaves and seed heads too. It's labeled Officinale Taraxacum which is latin for dandelion, however the words are the wrong way around (it should be Taraxacum officinale).

Filippino Lippi Dandelion

I've just got back from 10 days in Italy visiting Bologna, Florence and a trip to the hills near Bibbiena too.
While in Florence I visited the Uffizi Gallery - an amazing evening looking at some incredible works of art. While in the gallery I spotted a couple of dandelions in Filipino Lippi's paintings: the one here is 'The Penitent St. Jerome' and is tempera on wood, dated c1493 - 5.
I have very elegantly marked where the dandelion is on the painting. It's a dandelion in seed, quite delicate and fragile with the dark of the rock behind giving it contrast.

100 Flowers Collection

Ages ago one of my prints was selected for the 100 Flowers Collection for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's new South Glasgow University Hospital and Royal Hospital for Sick Children. Over 70 artists contributed to the program and i'm thrilled one of my screen prints of dandelions was chosen.
There's a really nice film about the art works in the hospital:

https://vimeo.com/125460571

I'm happy to see there's a few other representations of the dandelion in the collection too. Fab!

Mason's Extract of Herbs

Newball and Mason were manufacturing chemists based in Nottingham in 1800's. It was Thomas Mason who invented the 'Extract of Herbs' a concentrated essence that could be made up into a non-alcoholic Botanic Beer. I've seen a couple of their 'Extract of Herbs' bottle labels and each has an illustration with a dandelion on it. The one here also features bees: 

"The little busy bee improves the shining hour and prefers Mason's Extract of Herbs before the laborious old fashioned method of extracting it itself"

Iceland Dandelion Postage Stamp

I have a number of postage stamps in the Dandelion Archive from a number of different countries.
This stamp from Iceland, with a dandelion flower and seeds running down the side, was issued in 1960 in a series of wild flowers. Unfortunately i can't find the artist's name.

Polish Dandelion Postage Stamp

This is a lovely little stamp in the Dandelion Archive. It's a Polish stamp from 1974 with an artwork by Stanislaw Wyspianski, a playwright, artist, poet (1869 - 1907). Many of his works are held in the National Museum in Krakow - I can feel a trip coming on...

Austrian Dandelion Postage Stamp

Here's another example of a stamp in the Dandelion Archive with a dandelion on: it's a 2007 Austrian Lowenzahn from an Alpine Flowers series. 

German Dandelion Postage Stamp

Representing Germany with stamps in my Dandelion Archive is this stamp.*
It was released in 1977 and has the German for dandelion on the stamp: Lowenzahn
I'm struggling to find the artist who did the illustrations, however I did read in a stamp catalogue that the print run was 12,217,000 - if that's of any interest.

*I also have a first day over of this set this is from, with a lovely embossed dandelion on the envelope - please see March 2013 post on this blog.

Swiss Dandelion Postage Stamp

This is a really beautiful stamp in my Dandelion Archive: it's from Switzerland (Helvetia) and was released in 1960. It came in a set with other wild flowers, however it was the dandelion I was most interested in (obviously).

Eire Dandelion Postage Stamp

I have an Irish dandelion postage stamp in the Dandelion Archive too - it's a drawing of the plant (no artist is named on the stamp, but they are by Irish artist Susan Sex) and it has the Gaelic name for dandelion: Caisearbhan. It was released in 2004 from a series depicting the 'Wild Flowers of Ireland'.

Estonia Dandelion Postage Stamp

Here's a stamp from Estonia that is also in my Dandelion Archive. It has the Estonian for dandelion on it: Harilik voilill and is dated 2004. Designed by Lembit Lohmus it's a tiny little stamp measuring 23 mm x 23 mm

Critical Supplement to the Atlas of the British Flora

By complete coincidence in addition to the Atlas of the British Flora (please see post below) I have also been given a copy of the Critical Supplement to the Atlas of the British Flora edited by FH Perring, published by the Botanical Society of the British Isles in 1978. How that's interesting is the maps contained in this one give a more detailed view of the distribution of micro species, subspecies, varieties and hybrids. Here three dandelion species: Taraxacum palustre, Taraxacum spectabile and Taraxacum laevigatum.

Atlas of the British Flora

I was given a copy of Atlas of the British Flora edited by FH Perring and SM Walters and published for the Botanical Society of the British Isles by Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd in 1962.
The atlas contains distribution maps of nearly all the flowering plants and ferns native or naturalised in the British Isles. There are over 400 pages of maps showing the distribution of around 1,700 species and in the back of the book are transparent overlays to help the user to interpret the data and determine soil preferences, climate limits, altitude range etc...

A you can see from the map here Dandelion Taraxacum is pretty much recorded all over the British Isles.

A friend gave me the book as they knew i'd love all the maps and data and it's true - i really enjoy looking through it, it's a fabulous book.

Huddersfield Dandelion Trail

People interested in dandelions contact me frequently and also link me to other projects and relevant information etc - and the other day my friend sent a link to this fab project Huddersfield Dandelion Trail by artist / writer Kevin Boniface.
There is a Facebook page for the project here

The image here, by Kevin Boniface, is taken on the trail.

Phytology Dandelion

A beautifully drawn dandelion by artist Talya Baldwin was sited on a billboard in London for the Phytology project. The billboard, installed at the South-West corner of the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve, is hosting an evolving series of interventions across the spring, summer and autumn of 2015. Phytology is an action-research project bringing together artists and botanists to explore the ecology and medicinal properties of wild plants and weeds common to derelict and undeveloped urban sites.

Phytology is a Nomad and Cape Farewell project supported by the Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England and more details can be found  here:

http://www.phytology.org.uk

The photo above is by Michael Smythe

Greeting cards

I'm often given greetings cards with dandelion images for the Dandelion Archive - and this one is particularly nice. It's called "Dandylions of London' by the self titled Nature Nut of Britain Samuel G Winterbourn. I noticed he uses the dandelion on a number of his designs - check out his website:

http://www.samuelgwinterbourn.co.uk

A Bug's Life Dandelion

Continuing with the dandelions in films theme (see post below) I watched A Bug's Life for the first time the other day and there's a fabulous dandelion in it. Released in 1998 by Disney/Pixar and based on the story of the ant and the grasshopper, the scene with the dandelion is where Flik leaves the colony in search of 'warrior bugs' to help fight the grasshoppers. Flik uses a dandelion seed to fly over a deep valley - watch the film to see what i mean. 
Pixar are amazing at animating the dandelion.

Toy Story 3 Dandelion

Dandelions make it into films too - not just by accident, but as deliberate additions. Here is a beautifully animated dandelion in Toy Story 3 (released in 2010) where Buzz Lightyear tries to woo Jessie - it's funny and wonderful and if you watch the film carefully you'll begin to notice a number of dandelions flowering in the playgroup playground too. The animators at Pixar are amazing and I love they've spent time portraying dandelions and including them in the storyline. 

Joseph Crawhall Dandelions

While in Edinburgh (see post below too) I bought a postcard from the National Galleries of Scotland showing The White Drake painted in 1895 by Joseph Crawhall. Unfortunately the original isn't on show at the moment, so I had to be content with the postcard, but i'm glad I spotted it.
The painting is watercolour and gouache on unsized brown linen, laid onto a wooden backboard. Crawhall was born in Morpeth, Northumberland and is chiefly known for his paintings of birds and animals.
I love this piece - the handsome duck wandering through a shaded field dotted with daisies and dandelions. Lovely.

Raphael Dandelion

I was in Edinburgh last week and was thrilled to find this dandelion in the National Galleries of Scotland.
The Holy Family with a Palm Tree is by Raphael and was painted around 1506 -7. 
If you look to the left behind Joseph there's a lovely example of a dandelion (I did get close up shots but decided to show the whole image here). 
This picture was painted in Florence where the circular format (tondo) was especially popular. 

Ikea Dandelion

I was in Ikea the other day and found this pillow with a dandelion on it - alongside what looks like wild garlic (in the middle) and elder (on the right).
The design is called Dorthy and its by Lisel Garsveden: and I bought one for the Dandelion Archive. I absolutely love it.

Joseph Andrews Dandelion

I went to meet Dr Mark Spencer at the Natural History Museum in London the other day (for a different project about invasive plants) and while he was showing me some very old specimens in their collection I spotted a dandelion. It was collected by Joseph Andrews of Sudbury and it's dated 1743 and labeled as Leontodon Taraxacum the old Latin name for the flower.

9/11 Memorial Dandelion

I've been away in NYC for 10 days this month where I was researching invasive plant species for a commission i'm working on. It was a really brilliant trip - i met with other artists whose work deals with issues surrounding ecology, climate change and invasive species and i tried to connect with scientists and ecologists who work in the city. While there I also had time to go to galleries and museums and walk all over the city.

The dandelion is used to symbolize hope and i saw a beautiful example of this as I walked past the 9/11 Memorial site. The large image of the dandelion seed head was used to cover one of the construction barriers that continue to surround areas of the site.

Eileen Mayo Dandelion

I have a copy of The Story of Living Things and Their Evolution by Eileen Mayo. With a foreword by Professor Julian Huxley, the book has nearly 1000 beautiful illustrations by Mayo. 
Dandelions are used as an example of how some plants make movements in response to light, dark, warmth, cold and touch.

Girl Annual, Number 3

I have a copy of The Third Girl Annual. It's undated but has a handwritten message inside the front cover dated 1954. There's a lovely Country Names piece written by Kenneth Sparrow that looks at flowers and the origins of their names. It has beautiful illustrations by Harry A Pettit. Of Dandelions it says this:

"The common Dandelion in bud is sometimes called 'swines snout' because the bud has a turned up end like a pig's snout. The name Dandelion probably refers to the jagged leaves. The divisions of the leaf are rather tooth-like. The French word for tooth is 'dent'. The flower of the Dandelion is yellow and rather like the mane of a lion. From all this we have the word dent-de-lion... lions tooth; and dent-de-lion slurred quickly becomes Dandelion."

I find that rum helps to slur your words - works a treat.

Healthy Planet - Books for Free

There's a Healthy Planet bookshop here in Preston where you can donate books and also have books for free too. With moving house (again) and trying to down size I decided to take a bag of unwanted books to the bookshop today. 

Under no circumstances was i allowed to come home with any more books. And so, with this strict rule in mind, i came away with a book. 

It's How Flowers Grow, published by Macdonald and Company with lovely illustrations - they haven't named the artist but there are initials PAL by some of the images.

There are 3 dandelion illustrations: one on the cover and 2 inside the book. Rules are made to be broken - so i had to have it for the Dandelion Archive.

Symbolism of Dandelion Seeds

According to my book Plant Folklore, Pocket Reference Digest, by Geddes and Grosset (published in 1999):

"The individual seeds [of a dandelion], as they drift on the breeze, are said to be fairies, and it was considered lucky to catch one because when it was let go a wish would be granted."

Dandelions in Iceland

The dandelions in Iceland were fantastic: beautiful, bold and almost everywhere we went.

Here is an image of a dandelion i saw alongside the Svinafellsjokull Glacier in Skaftafell. It was there that i made sound recordings of the glacier melting too. All in all a good work trip.

Johannes S Kjarval Dandelion

Again in Iceland I saw these dandelions on a beautiful painting Icelandic Melody by Icelandic painter Johannes Sveinsson Kjarval (1885 - 1971) at the Reykjavik Art Museum. Kjarval painted the Icelandic landscape and often spent days and sometimes weeks in the countryside painting the larva fields, waterfalls and flora of the country. He sometimes included fantasies and imaginary scenes in his paintings too - and this one is a good example of that.

Dandelion Napkins

While in Iceland I bought these lovely paper napkins with Dandelions on. One side has the design of the full plant, on the other side a close up of the flower head. They are by Hekla Icelandi Design found here:

www.heklaislandi.is

I bought them in Reykjavik but at 990 Krona they are probably the most expensive paper napkins i've ever bought (that's more than £5), however they are for the Dandelion Archive so i had to have them.

Akureyri Dandelion Display

While on my travels in Iceland I saw this window display celebrating the beauty of dandelions in the town of Akureyri. Known as the capital of the north of Iceland it's a lovely coastal town overlooking the fjord Eyjafjordur. It was a beautiful sunny day while i was there so it was nice to explore the place. I also visited the Botanical Gardens and collected a dandelion leaf specimen for the Dandelion Diaries.
Using real dandelion flowers to display ceramics is a cute idea and although i didn't get the chance to ask any locals their thoughts on dandelions, I got the feeling its viewed with fondness.

Icelandic Dandelions - Túnfífill

I have just returned from two weeks travelling in Iceland: an absolutely amazing trip in a stunning landscape. I was delighted to see that the dandelions on the island were still in full bloom or just going into seed, so I was able to collect leaf samples for the Dandelion Diaries, plus get lots of images of dandelions in various locations. 

The Icelandic for dandelion is Túnfífill and many areas of Iceland were covered in sunny yellow flowers. I loved it!

Super Soft Dandelion

The image of the dandelion seed head is used on lots of products and i'm always on the look out to collect examples for the Dandelion Archive.

Here is the packaging for Sainsbury's Super Soft Toilet Tissue (pure white) which is apparently 'luxuriously soft' and has been 'specially designed to combine luxury softness with strength'. They advise that 'for best cleanliness and freshness why not use together with Sainsbury's Moist Toilet Tissue?' Slightly over promoting the consumption of more throwaway products.
The best claim is that 'buying this product helps you care for the world's forests' 
I've never quite understood the equation of buying more paper products = the protection of forests.

Anyway, i bought and used the toilet paper, sorry 'tissue' so i could have the wrapping in the archive. I've never experienced luxury like it.

I found this a couple of years ago - so not sure if it's still available.

Dandelion film

I've been making little films about urban wildlife - making observations of nature in what we might think are unlikely places.
One of the films is about dandelions and how they spread and live almost anywhere. Filmed along the A583 it shows a thin verge of grass wedged between the tarmac road and concrete path that's dotted with dandelion flowers that have self seeded there.
Click on the link below to see the film:

http://vimeo.com/94399874

Piglet's Dandelion

I was looking through old books from when i was little and found this absolutely delightful reference to a dandelion in Winnie-the-Pooh by AA Milne with beautiful illustrations by EH Shepard.

'The Piglet was sitting on the ground at the door of his house blowing happily at a dandelion, and wondering whether it would be this year, next year, sometime, or never. He had just discovered it would be never, and was trying to remember what "it" was, and hoping it wasn't anything nice, when Pooh came up.'

Wonderful.