Unusual Tree Textures From Paris

This sure looks like an interesting image of a horse.
I am in a horsey frame of mind today because I just posted something to my Napoleon blog about one of his horses. It reminded me of this photo I took last month on Rue Rivoli.

The horse image above isn't sketched or painted. It is a sample. A sample from a tree in Paris.
If you have traveled to the fair city you might have noticed that the trees near the main roads all have a very tough outer texture. I am certain this is due to pollution from all the cars.

If you walk by these trees like I do, you notice the most amazing crackling and peeling. Textures which would take me days to replicate with paint.

I started to see some images on the bark on this last trip, hence my beautiful textured tree horse.