Photo: Elaine Webster
Sketch Rendering: Blake Webster
www.mediadesignservices.com
Datura
Beautiful poison
Inspired by love and death
Irresistible.
Illustrations add pizazz to poetry collections, cookbooks and children’s books. Many writers don’t include original artwork because of the expense involved. Today’s technology, however, can create sketches from photographs.
I took the original photo of a Datura flower at Fort Ross in
Sonoma County. Mercedes Call, the beautiful Chilean wife of
George W. Call, who purchased the Fort in 1873, was an avid gardener; the legacy of her efforts can still be admired in the garden she tended until her death in 1933. I was surprised to find this powerful plant among her collection. The substantial aged vine drew me in with its magic. The poisonous plant also has hallucinogenic properties. I wonder if Mercedes planted Datura only for its beauty or did she have other planned usages?
The sketch rendered by Blake Webster, captures the intensity even more. Blake’s experimentation with various enhancements has produced special effects that previously required an artist’s hand and he has added photographic rendering to his list of services. For more information contact Blake at blake@mediadesign-mds.com
ShareSEP
2015
About the Author:
Elaine Webster writes fiction, creative non-fiction, essays and poetry from her studio in Las Cruces, New Mexico—in the heart of the Land of Enchantment. “It’s easy to be creative surrounded by the beauty of Southern New Mexico. We have the best of everything—food, art, culture, music and sense of community.”