white pine, pine cones and pineal gland

With some new snow on the ground, I hiked into Maudslay State Park for a morning of painting.
At the far park's edge along the Merrimack River, I found a mound of wind blown pine boughs.   A curious display of numerous neophyte pine cones covered the fallen branches. What a unique find. So instead of focusing my painting on a panoramic  of the Merrimack River with ice flows traveling up the river, this gathering of winter green would be the painting's subject.  Organizing such a jumble on canvas would be quite the challenge for a three hour session.

Since it's illegal to take anything from the park, I snapped a few close ups pics of those petite pine cones. In the studio for further study, I drew with charcoal the pine needle clusters and the pine cones from the photos.

 

 

While researching white pine, I came across information about the pineal gland.  The shape of the gland is that of a small pine cone and is known as the third eye.   It regulates the circadian rhythms, that internal clock that affects actions such as when we sleep and wake.