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For those of you who are from the MTV/Look at my shiny IPOD/IPhone/can't spell/can text generation who like instant results and have the attention span of a gnat then:-
This sculpture is made from mud and birch bark and is stuck on a rock. It's of a seedling and is supposed to be marking the arrival of spring, geddit!
And news just in: I was interviewed on the Etsy Blog yesterday.
For everyone else, especially those in the psychiatric profession or anyone with ALOT of spare time, you may carry on and read my insane ramblings below:-
I began the day with a stroll around the park to see what is growing (well I actually it began with peanut butter on toast and taking the recycling boxes down to the sidewalk - hello my stateside friends ;-) - but this is supposed to be about land art after all).
It was almost a year to the day that I made this dandelion sculpture. I noticed the first dandelion flower this last Wednesday and the very next day there were already hundreds in flower. So excited I am about spring that I am desperate to mark its coming (not in a canine way) but although the changes are already immense they are only just beginning. There is some blossom, the beginnings of deciduous leaves, catkins galore, hawthorn in flower, grass beginning to grow, the sap risen in saplings, ground covering plants starting to spread, bees and butterflies and good moods and smiles all round. To wake up to a balmy Saturday, with the weather set fair for the entirety of the weekend, already t-shirt temperatures, no wind and plenty of free time means the spring lover in us all is embued with excitement and expectation.
But despite all these really noticeable changes many of the materials I crave and not with us yet and there is so much more to come. My walk around the park revealed very little in the way of new deciduous leaves from native trees, nearly everything is from hardy shrubs that have been ever-present all winter.
But still the stroll was delightful and the three dogs chasing each other in circles, bums down performing that comedy gallop when they are having rollicking good fun, summed up my mood perfectly. A picked leaf held against shadow whilst the sun pierced it and made it shine, took my breath away just as it does every time I have done that. Something that I will never tire of. And yet despite the fresh air, warmth and promise of spring bringing contentment I hand't found anything that inspired me to mark the coming of spring. Instead I would use the time to explore techniques and materials for something I am proposing to create in someones garden, I would use birch bark and mud. So I set off to return to where I made the Leaf Lightning sculpture, which had now almost disappeared completely and I would create something new to take its place. The designs I'd been mulling over were a deciduous leaf, or new fern tendrils curling out into life. I would follow this theme to mark the coming of spring.
Are you familiar with how rambling thoughts can be? If you've ever read any of my stories, I am sure you are as I quite often write mine down! Are yours the same?
By way of an experiment I will write what follows as though someone was listening in my thoughts. Now this might be enlightening, worrying or very boring or perhaps a combination of more than one. We'll see... If I get a visit from those nice men in the white van with the 'special' jacket then I'll know your reaction...
"Thoughts"
"Wow look at all these red leaves, cool! Uh-oh there's a car coming! I bet they think I'm up to no good. JUst keep your head down, if I want to pick up leaves I shall! I'm not a burglar!"
"Yes I do some fell running too, it's the only way I can be fit enough to carry all this stuff! 'All this stuff' you are hardly carrying anything! Its nothing like the huge pile of stuff I had to carry on that climbing trip to Peru, now that was heavy! I wonder if I'll ever do a mountaineering expedition again? Probably not I am such a wuss! Oh look there are some people over there climbing on boulders, never seen anyone do that here before, funny coincidence seeing as I'm day dreaming about climbing!"
"Ah another coincidence, 'The Curlew' was the first pub I used to drink in when I was fifteen!"
"I wonder if I will make anything today or just sit on a rock? I don't really want to today, but then I always think that, I really can't be bothered..."
"Hmm what shall I do? None of these boulders seem suitable. Shall I just go home? Where I made Leaf Lightning is not the right shape, I'll have to find somewhere else."
"Cool, would you look at that lovely, filthy dark wet mud, perfection!"
"The sun is a bit strong I reckon I'll burn, best put my jacket on and pull up the hood, it's the only protection I've got. I wonder what we'll have for tea tonight? I wonder what the time is? Shall I eat my sandwiches now? Oh look a bumble bee has landed on my jacket. I wonder if it likes the blue colour? I wonder how the bee sees it? I wonder if the colour is the same as a particular flower? Wow that emerald green butterfly is beautiful and its crawling in my camera bag. I wonder what it likes in there?"
"So come on what are you going to make? It'll be rubbish anyway, why bother? It's silly to judge the success of a sculpture by how many comments you get on Flickr, you do this because you enjoy it. But I do like to get feedback. Well you should get on with it anyway, so what if it is rubbish, don't post it on Flickr then! I'm sure I've run out of ideas anyway, I had all the best ones last year, now I'm just repeating myself. What if my new ideas are rubbish?"
"Oh look another bee! What is it about this blue?"
"Yep, definitely going to look rubbish. Maybe just try this as an experiment and then do something better somewhere else?"
"Ah a ladybird!"
"Hmm, quite liking it now, but I should've done it higher up, that crack is spoiling it, the balance is wrong, the circles of bark do add something but this still going to be a bit substandard."
"Yes that's looking better, but how many leaves shall I add? Hmm I don't like even numbers. But why don't you like even numbers, what does it matter? I don't know, odd numbers just seem to work! How many then 5, 7, 9? I don't know, stop asking me stupid questions!"
This is the way it goes with just about everything I make. Self doubt is in control until three-quarters of the way through where I suddenly find myself liking what I see despite my psyche wishing the contrary.
I don't know why this is or indeed how the creative process evntually leads me from one to the other and whether the self doubt actaully means that I try harder to create something pleasing. This seems odd as the self doubting voice is encouraging my to give up the whole time, not to try harder.
It seems the voices in my head, the internal dialogue never stops (perhaps
that is how it is for everyone except for hardcore meditators) and what it is saying influences strongly how I feel and what I am able to do.
This must be a big reason why I am now drawn to create as despite my internal dialogues strongest intentions to hold me back and make me give up at whatever I am doing, the sculptures I create provide me with clear direction that it is worthwhile to persist.
"Wow, look at that Peregrine falcon! It's going for that bird, poor thing! It's missed what a relief! But then what will the Falcon eat?"
"Bugger what's going on here?! Ah they're next door, phew!"
Please tune in next week for more unadulterated ramblings.
Name: Sainka
Class: Sentient Flora (some), Intelligent Flora (some) Species
Appearance: The Sainka’s appearance depends on which class/sub-species is being dealt with, but all share some commonalities. The bush/plant-class is most similar to that of Morbuzakh and Karzahni, typically being this spherical base with a bundle of vines and roots spreading out from it. The plant-class is primarily black in color, though can have some lime green vines, various types of silver metallic pieces jutting out of it, as well as translucent blue crystals.
The seed, spore, and sapling classes, while differing in many ways, are far more similar. Starting with the spore-class, these look like a spherical triangle standing up, with an extra cylinder protrusion coming out the back. They have a singular blue eye in the front, their outer shell is made of the translucent blue crystals, protecting the loose green seed and mechanics inside. Three lime green roots/vines sprout out from each corner, with an additional three coming out the back. On the front are three little blasters devices fused in the crystal shell.
The seed-class is much like the spore-class, though does not have the cylinder protrusion in the back and is instead composed of two the spherical triangles, the corners of one triangle rest in the opposite of the other. Its shell is black, with additional blue crystal coverings, and have four black roots/vines, two coming out of each side. It also has three blasters fused into the front of its shell, but has additional ones in its roots/vines.
The sapling-class is closer to the spore-class, but differs in many ways. While its shell is translucent blue crystal, its shaping is more of a spherical plus sign laying down, with cylinder protrusion in the middle, both top and bottom. Harder, blackened roots forming a base on the bottom cylinder stretch out from it, with either lime green or orange roots/vines attached to the ends. Unlike the other two, it has no visible eyes and no blasters in its casing.
Physiology: Sainka is a biomechanical plant, meaning that like other Matoran Universe beings, it is a mix between organic and mechanical nature. The exterior of Sainka is covered in Protodermic armor, with gaps and breaks in this armor revealing the cellulose underneath. It possesses all the typical plant makeup and structure internally, though made of Protodermis like all MU plants, but also has an additional internal mechanic skeleton and parts for structural support and functions. Design to obtain nutrients from any environment, Sainka can live anywhere from inside volcanoes to frozen wastes, but tends to prefer places with lots of existing plant life. To best explain the Sainka plant, it must be further split into several sub-classes.
Plant-Class: The Sainka plant-class, sometimes also known as the bush-class, is the primary species. It is a large factory plant that places itself in an area and begins to swiftly take over, draining away all nutrients and materials to itself. Materials gathered are refined and either used to help expand and grow the Sainka or to manufacture war machines. The primary purpose of the Sainka is the creation of these war machines and soldiers, continue to spread, gain resources, increase military size and strength, and expand conquest.
Members of this class are all sentient and highly intelligent, more so than that of Toa. Their bodies produce a chemical that allows them to feel vibrations in the air to sense movement. Similar vibration senses in the ground as well to detect objects and creatures. If need be, crystalline eyes can be grown anywhere on its body to further check the area. If needed for self-defense, the eyes can grow into heads with sharp teeth and spew out poison or acid. Often at least one head can be found rising out of the primary base of the plant, but the consciousness does not reside there. It is merely a distraction to have attackers focus on the wrong area. Consciousness primarily resides in the main base and master root. For some reason, Sainka are weak to the Element of Air and a blast of that elemental power to the master root will kill the entire creature.
Size of the Sainka varies, depending on how long it has been growing, but the main base is typically no smaller than a city block and several stories tall. As the main base is also primary manufacturing area, it is commonly defended by blades and crystalline structures in addition to vines and heads. The roots and vines it grows can borough quite deep in the ground and easily through buildings and Protodermic defenses. Thorns can also be grown on the roots and vines, provided simply crushing or tearing apart the attacker doesn’t solve the issue. If the area has run out of nutrients and materials, the primary base can consolidate and recycle the extend parts of itself to convert into a large airship of sorts. It can then rocket up into the air and fly to a new location to replant itself.
The plant-class is the only class able to propagate, however, it can only do so once. It must choose the correctly when to do so, for its offspring will have all the knowledge and abilities gained. It can gain abilities from other plant life in the existing area, taking any desirable traits they may possess. However, these traits can only then be passed onto their offspring and are unable to add it to themselves. The only known member of this class is Venivvy.
Seed-Class: The seed-class are the singular offspring of the plant-class, design as such to keep the creature’s population under control. The internal means of growth into the plant-class are protected by a durable outer shell, which has additional physical defenses by ways of crystal armors. They tend to be larger than Toa and their beginning sprouting roots are strong enough to pulverize boulders. Highly intelligent, they can choose when where they want to plant themselves and when they should be planted. After which they can access to all the traits of the base plant-class and the addition acquired traits. Only known member of this class is Khronstor.
Spore-Class: The spore-class, often referred to as the Sparnturtors by the Sainka, are similar to the offspring seed-class in design. They tend to be the first war machines built by the plant-class, based upon the blueprints for the seed-class, and are small, easily manufactured drones. Though they are easily larger than Matoran, they are not quite Toa sized. Their outer shells is fairly thin and weaker, being made of the crystal material, which is filled with fluids and attempts to protect the little seeds inside. Unfortunately, the gaps in their design make it easy to destroy them. A simple blast of Fire or poison in the gaps will instantly kill them. Their vines/roots can crush Matoran, but they don’t have much in the way of intelligence and can be easily outmaneuvered. Their functions are simple, scout, occasionally gather materials, and attack in swarms. Though mentally connected to their plant-class creator, they act as a hive mind, knowing the plant-class’s will and needing little direct orders. They are not considered sentient like the plant and seed-classes and if the plant-class is killed, all Sparnturtors will deactivate. However, like the seed-class, they can plant themselves and become the sapling-class.
Sapling-Class: The sapling-class are the planted versions of the spore-class. They tend to be bigger, more intelligent, and more powerful. Like the plant-class, they can grow more vines/roots and their vines are now strong enough to pulverize boulders. However, unlike the spore-class, they lose all ranged weaponry. Instead, their primary focus is to act as wireless transmitters, sending nutrients and more detailed data back to the plant-class. They can also be the growth quick starter for the plant-class, allowing the roots to instantly connect and grow out to all areas the sapling knows. Though it has lost its ability to fly, the sapling-class can uproot themselves and walk to other areas. They also gain minor manufacturing capabilities, able to repair any damaged Sparnturtors. Ones that plant themselves in the water tend to have the orange vines/roots and looks more like sea kelp.
Powers: Both the plant and seed-classes have Telepathy, able to read minds of beings and creatures, as well as speak to them. Seed and spore-classes have the ability to levitate and fly, though the Sparnturtors are much faster than seed-class, they can’t go as high up. Unique to the base plant-class, it can alter parts of itself to spew out acid or poison.
Weapons: The plant-class can use thorns and vines as weapons or manufacture defensive blades to sprout from its base. The seed and spore-class are the only ones with real weapons, having small elemental blasters built into their protective shells. Spore-class only has three of these and they fire a powerful acid, similar in potency to that of the Bohrok’s Acid Shields. The seed-class has more blasters coming from its vines, but the power depends on the traits it inherits. The only seed-class known so far is able to fire an acid-lava mix.
Ricky : “Look at how big Grandma’s memorial tree is!! I can’t believe it was a tiny nut less than two months ago!! We have to plant it in the yard now. I think we’re going to put it over near the garden. That way the dogs won’t dig it up.”
Me : “Yeah. It’ll be much safer out back by the garden. The boys never go in the back yard because it’s not fenced in like the front yard.”
Ricky : “Make sure you get my fancy dress in the shot. Can you see my underwear’s??!! I’m not wearing a slip.”
Me : “You’re fine.”
A shaft of light finding its way from the canopy to the floor provide the life giving light these young trees will need.
...young sequoia, Mariposa Grove, Yosemite NP
Chamonix 045F1, Apo-Sironar-S 150mm, Provia 100F, Tetanal E6 Colortec
Part of a series. A new generation of Bristlecone pines. They are some of the oldest trees on the planet and found in the Rocky Mountains of the U.S. Prints available website with holiday specials.
"There has to be an invisible sun" - The Police
A failed contre-jour trichromy experiment: the sun moved past the tree during successive exposures, giving this difference image when the earliest and latest exposures were composited (absolute difference). Uploaded to Flickr and forgot to make public 11 years ago...