amber

Baltic Amber
Title: Rural CountrysideArtist: Chris PalmerBaltic Amber Amber is ancient tree resin that flowed out of a combination of coniferous trees in what today is geographically called the Baltic regions. What we know today as amber formed 40-60 million years ago as the multi-colored substance (it was white, clear, yellow, orange, and has over 250 known hues in various forms) seeped from pine bearing trees that might have been even larger than the Redwoods found in northern California. As the, then liquid substance, trickled slowly down the bark it was deposited in the soil at the base of the trees. Over the years it was covered, while still in its gummy form, until there was enough pressure exuded on it that it could now harden. Unlike fossilized wood it does not hold properties of minerals, but nature's version of million year fiberglass. Because it was compressed by sediment, experienced severe climactic changes (like the great ice age), and was in some instances submerged by salt water it oxidized over millions and millions of years. However, this oxidization was so slow that the chemical properties that made it sticky left the material, shrunk it, but without causing cracking. As it oxidized it hardened due to the polymerization (the rearranging of molecules) of the resin under the conditions that it was found

haqiqat--the reality
Title: The Deer Park Artist: Carl Frederic Aagaard