Image of the Week: Merry Mushrooms
© D. Yael Bernhard
Here's a simple illustration I did last year for a hand-painted Christmas card. The card was for John Michelotti, owner of Catskill Fungi, where I've worked part-time for the past five years foraging wild mushrooms, making medicinal mushroom extracts, managing online orders, and writing newsletters. Any job that gets me out in the forest makes me happy – and enriches my art, directly and indirectly.
Working with John is a trip. As a top-notch mycologist, he's taught me so much – and there's so much to learn about the world of fungi! Each year I become a little more mycocentric, as I increasingly understand the vital role mushrooms play in supporting life on earth.
Mushrooms come in all colors and shapes, and are a great subject for art. From fabric designs to kitchenware to Christmas tree ornaments, there's no end to their decorative potential. Each of the mushrooms shown here is a specific species, with Reishi as the star crowning the tree – for Reishi is known as "the Mushroom of Immortality" in Asia and has been prized for its life-giving properties for thousands of years. Reishi's benefits to the cardiovascular and immune systems are particularly impressive – but I won't get into that here. It's Christmas! Time for merriment – and merry these mushrooms are, intermingling their mycelia with the roots of this lucky tree, and fruiting all over its fictitious branches.
I don't use black outlines very much, but a cartoonish style seemed fitting for this humorous little drawing. Outlining is also a great time saver. I think I knocked this off in about an hour.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate this happy holiday! And remember, trees need mushrooms in order to survive. Without mycorrhizal fungi, trees would not be able to draw minerals from the soil, or to exchange nutrients and biochemical signals with other trees. Mycelia are the hidden networks of life, silently working in the roots and flesh of 95% of plants and trees on earth, holding soil together, and gracing our world with wonder.
Love and light to all!
D Yael Bernhard