Biology

Basil and Future Bonsai
Originally uploaded by RedTea

I am discovering a lot about seeds as the days pass. For one thing my sister thinks I am going to have a hard time growing trees from seed. I guess I figured this, but I had high hopes. I wonder what my project would look like if it were about seeds not growing? I think I could work through that little bump. As for now I am done buying seeds.

I collected seeds from my yard back at my parents’ house. It was a disgusting ordeal. I was collecting White Oak acorns, and when I creaked some open to see if they were good they where full of maggots. No wonder I have never seen a young White Oak seedling around the yard. One thing that I have seen a lot of are the green maples. Not the Crimson King, birch, some sort of blossom etc.

Do you think that my seeds will grow? I wish there was a way to speed things up, but an important part of this artwork is patience, but does this go with the Senior project? Do you want to know a secret? I have wanted to grow trees for a long time now. When I was young I would think about planting apple seeds. I kind of slipped into this project. In fact I don’t even remember how it came to be like this. Where did I get the idea of transferring the essence of the medication in my veins to trees? Couldn’t I pick something easier? What will I do if the trees do grow and I don’t get the greenhouse space? How will I take care of them?

Oh, because I never told you I will explain. You see the University has a lot of greenhouse space that goes unused (according to my sister). It is for Biology students. I am trying to get some of this space.

What would have my life been like if I had went into Biology instead of art? I do not regret my choice, I have learned much, but there is something to be said about Science. Math. Math is only important in that it is connected with Science. It has been to long since I have been in a lab coat, sure I took Biology, but I am wondering if I can take it again. I guess I can take a harder Biology. What do I have to lose? My grades?

Is the day over yet?

meow
Originally uploaded by RedTea

Here I am waiting until the time I can go to the clay studio.

Sliver curtains hanging from a black bar and a melon green blanket on a black chair with matching pillow. In front of me is a room. In back of me a wall. Spiders crawl around the school. I wonder how I got in the school to begin with. Looking at all the skills spread out before me mine look like children’s drawings. In fact I was told once I would make a very good children’s illustrator. That was long ago. Today I made my children’s drawing in a small notebook. A horrible feeling hang over me, and all I could bring myself to do was draw.

Seeds. I wish I had my seeds now. I wish I could soak them in water, put them in my refrigerator, and wait for the cold to make them germinate. I wish I could plant the seedlings in the perfect combination of sand and soil. I wish I could put the little seedlings into pots (pots that I made) and place them around a gallery space coupled with starter plants.

Patience. It is something that I am going to have to learn. Bonsai trees take time. There is an Ann Arbor Bonsai Society that has an auction every year on Sept 26. I will be attending this auction. I hope it is everything that I have been told it is.

I am supposed to be seating here as wonderful things explode from my fingertips. Every key pressed makes a wonderful sound and the song is quite nurturing. It is encouraging hearing that sound. It makes you think things are happening. You are going somewhere. It encourages you to write more bolder, crazier ideas.

It has been a half an hour. Now it has been an hour.

Sketching cats endlessly, such a mindless action. Everyone else has such propose, they have ideas that need to be done right away or the winter will get in the way (or such and such). I decided not to work on the potter’s wheel today because I forgot my supplies.

HA! I tricked you. I went and worked with clay anyway. The story goes like this. I was drawing cats and then trees when I realized that I didn’t want to be in my Senior studios just writing and drawing and doing stuff like that.

I am free! Studio time is over!

Mission Statement

I will take you on a quest to embody in the real world the essence of the medication that runs through my veins into trees.

This quest will require the development of a strong inner self which I will develop through meditation in the form of writing and clay, and in the process document my journey throughout the year for your benefit. I will explain how this medication came to be in my body, reveling memories and weaknesses. Finally I will explore the impact of the essence of these medications on the world today, putting up advertisements to raise awareness about how they enable the mentally ill to live normal lives.

To make a bonsai pot

Covered in earth. Clay dried on my pants, Green tea in my fridge. Today is a good day. I meditated today, with my hands molding the clay between my fingers. It span, I tried to find the center. For that sweet moment in time, I found my place. I was there in the clay studio in a way that I haven’t been in a long time for so many forms of art.

Everything made sense. I had big plans on how I was going to continue my practice in Maya and mix oil pastel (a medium from my youth) and digital. Computer animation, digital photography, and oil pastel all blended together in a seamless scene moving breathing. Then my brain hiccupped, and I faced a long drawn out depression. I stopped doing artwork. Then I stopped being able to do artwork. Then I stopped wanting to do artwork.

Part of me misses those two years I let art pass me by. What would I have become if I continued my Maya project. What would I have become if I continued to float just below mania. What a wonderful state. Some people spend years in hypomania, some people spend more time in mania then depression. I guess that everyone is on there own special ride.

I should tell you about my meditation for today. As I slipped my hand into the bucket of used clay slip and pull up a little handful a smile appears on my face. I think back to my first day in a clay art class. Wow that was long ago. FYI Based on my performance today
I will have to put more time into meditating with Clay.

I feel that Clay is a wonderful tool for getting in touch with my Bonsai trees. It is a natural material found in the soil that the trees grow out of.


Oh, oh so far I have collected the following seeds all very fresh:

10 American Wisteria Seeds (the American is supposed to be easier to get to bloom then the Chinese kind)
100 Chinese Elm Seeds (I have no idea what I will do with all these trees, of course not all of them will become seedlings)
30 Liquidambar Seeds
30 Judas Tree Seeds (with a name like this I am assigning it to Geodon)

I am biding on:

30 Japanese Cedar
7 Variegated Japanese Red Pine
5 Japanese White Pine
30 Trident Maple
30 Red Maple (one of the many kinds)

P.S. Today is my Birthday!

Grape Juice

While dancing on the bubbles of grape juice I decided to go on a quest. Tapping keys slowly every word a small quest in my brain, neurons flaring flowing trough tunnels as deep and as vast as space.

A Great Quest lies before me, like Gandalf knocking on Bilbo’s door the time has come for me to speak. To be heard over all this noise seems impossible, but I will draw out my space for generations to gaze at in the future.

The web under the old dot COM will be great graveyard of the past. A small tree, The Tree of Yoga, held after so many years.

A mind. A mind trained and molded. A mind broken and mended.

Fragments drawn out.