After a windy night (and we get lots of those here in south Texas), palm husks can be found scattered along our streets and in yards.

When I first started noticing them on my morning walks , I found their shape and texture to be intriguing. One would think they’d be hard and brittle, like wood. I’ve since learned that they’re not wood at all, so that’s why they’re soft and supple.

The fibres on the edges reminded me of whiskers and the more I kept looking back at this photo of one I found on the street, the more I thought that there must be a use for these.

The dilemma was knowing what they were called. They weren’t really fronds. They were more like sheaths for the fronds. I finally Googled “palm husk art”, and sure enough, all sorts of ideas came up!

On my next (post-windy-night) walk, I took along a plastic bag and gathered up every piece I could find of my newfound “canvas” . I hope our maintenance crew appreciated that this job had already been done for them.

I’m not one bit artistic when it comes to drawing or painting, but perhaps I can learn through YouTube. You’ll be sure to see the results if I have anything that resembles success!

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

Pablo Picasso