I used to walk past rust stains on the sidewalk, then my kid asked me what the 'orange trees' were

Emery Nelson · 2026-09-11T16:50:05.422676+00:00

I always thought accidental art was something you had to hunt for, like you needed a fancy camera or a good eye or whatever. Then about 3 months ago I was walking my 6 year old to school in our neighborhood near Cincinnati and he pointed at a rust stain on the concrete and said 'look dad, little orange trees growing in the cracks.' I looked down and honestly? He was right. The way the rust had spread out from an old bolt in the fence made these branch shapes that looked like a whole forest. I started taking pics of stuff I'd walked past for years, oil spots in the parking lot at Kroger that look like clouds, a crack in the sidewalk near the bus stop that looks exactly like a bird in flight. My camera roll is now like 60 percent random stains and shadows and I've got a folder called 'stuff that looks like stuff.' What got me was realizing I didn't need to go anywhere special, the art was just sitting there the whole time and I was too busy looking at my phone to see it.

🐿️Pinecone Attack

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I used to walk past rust stains on the sidewalk, then my kid asked me what the 'orange trees' were | Accidental Art - Pinecone Attack