Sometimes What Falls on the Ground is the Most Precious

Petals on the Pavement, Copyright 2013

      Walking this morning I came upon these fallen blossoms.  Like grains of sand individually they may be attractive, intriguing and such as individuals. Collectively laying there they form a pattern of interwoven beauty. 
      However, it is often what you can not see which is most revealing. The petals together created a wafting sweet spring like aroma on the wet pavement.  An interesting juxtaposition of the natural and the man-made.
      Spring brings to the forefront senses which lay dormant in the winter as growing things burst onto the scene.  This moment is an unlikely example of design cultivation.  Do you have ones to share?


   

Light Snowfall

Early Morning Sun - Dec 2011

Last December I captured a nearby neighbor's tree in early morning light.  The sun was coming in and out of the clouds highlighting, then dimming on the spindly branches.  A visual treat against the blue sky. 

Backyard Sunset

Backyard Sunset - December 2011

Winter in Vermont brings sunsets such as this bringing our many trees to life.  I especially appreciate the subtle gradation of the fiery orange to purplish blue of the twilight sky.

As you know, or don't, I spend a lot of time admiring tree branches and their unplanned figure ground interactions with each other.  It continues to fascinate me and inform my design thinking.  

What nature gives us I share with you.

The sins of regurgitation and the art of rearranging

Do you ever say to yourself, "Wow, I should blog about this or maybe I should tweet this!"  You know, the moment of recognition, the aha you feel when you read, see, hear something worth sharing?  You turn to your left and no one's there, but you wish you could tell someone?  That's what it's like to participate in blogging and sometimes in the act of not blogging.  Why is this distinction worth sharing? 

Sometimes it's more important to really read that interesting blog post, article, magazine piece, explore that link and

Water and renewal_On memories, architecture and biophilia

One of my favorite memories as a young man was the day I went fishing with friends in Walden, VT. We found a small trout stream and went to various places on it looking for the perfect fishing hole. It was a warm sunny summer day. The place I found vividly remains in my memory. The stream was about 10' wide and was covered in a shadowy canopy of trees offering comfort from the hot sun. You could feel the coolness of the running water and hear it burbling over rocks, fallen trees and the like. You could see trout rising to the surface nibbling on flies, rippling the water with concentric waves. After a while I lay down on my belly, setting my rod to the side and just watched and listened in a reverie of sorts. This randomly found place fully engaged my senses and feelings of wonder where at one point the hair on the back of my neck raised up in response.

Years later I have come to understand this experience as a turning point of my life and an awakening of a deep set recognition of the importance of nature and her living systems. There is even a term for it, Biophilia. EO Wilson developed a theory called the Biophilia Hypothesis, which suggests there is strong link between human beings and living systems. That there is an innate preference for things in and of nature by humans. I have come to believe there is a strong connection between harnessing natural forces and creating memorable, lasting architectural experiences. They work hand in hand to strengthen and enhance a sense of place and a lasting connection to those whom experience it. And often, quite sadly, this sense of connection is missing in our daily lives.

In the buildings and places I have been part of designing with our team and our clients we have sought to bring the out of doors indoors, bringing the kinesthetic, sensual experiences of living systems into the everyday shelter of our homes, our worklives, our places of play and community.

This stream side moment long ago was just such an experience of Biophilia. This moment of immersion speaks to the trans formative power of water and the place it has in our lives. We come from water at birth and water is fully part of our lives thereafter. This stream formed an outdoor room providing a deep sense of shelter, it activated my senses of sight, sound and touch and smell. The earthy loam of the soil, moist to the touch combined with the rough hardness of stream side stones and smell of the moss and fragrances of plants created a total kinesthetic experience. Bringing people in touch with their senses as I experienced along the stream offers a a path to follow or a potent example of biophilia to foster memorable and long-lasting experiences of place and space.

EO Wilson's Biophilia Center at Nokuse Plantation offers a nature center experience attempting to harness the theories he's developed over his career creating a physical, transcendent multi-faceted example for generations to come. Here's fourth grader's teacher's testimonial after visiting.

""Without this Center our students would not have had these chances to open their minds and spirits to nature in the most up close and spectacular ways. Just listening to their conversations sparked by these opportunities I can tell you that lives are changed. Our students are passionate about the world in which they live and for which they will, one day, be responsible. It has been a priceless time for them and one that will have far-reaching benefits for many.”

- Anna Hull, Patronis Elementary Fourth Grade Teacher

Need I say more.

Exploring tonality_Ink washes and natural subjects

Here's some recent ink wash drawings I made over the last week or so. I recently picked up a Sumie Ink Wash brush and was enjoying trying it out on some subjects close at hand. I often am painting in full color with watercolor so working only in tones was a treat and very informative to me. With the Stones image, I found the ink wash behaved very differently on the 140 lb cold press watercolor paper than on the 90 lb drawing paper. On the heavier paper it blended so nicely and moved through the sizing in very interesting and somewhat unexpected ways.

On the lighter paper, with the Flowers,the ink wash laid more on the paper surface with a more spotty, dappled light effect. I had to layer successive wash tones atop one another to achieve a greater tonal range. But very interesting still the same. What do you think? Any suggestions?

I often believe all I need are stones, trees and water as my subject matter. The compositional and conceptual opportunities with just these three are endless and continually inspiring. I find relief not to be thinking about buildings but rather get lost in elements of the landscape such as these. I spend a lot of time designing buildings and spaces. I look to natural influences like these stones and flowers to provide respite and renewal emotionally, creatively and professionally.

The Gift of Fall - Nature's Design

I walk alot and picked up these two leaves the other day. They caught my eye. One large leaf. One small. The large leaf is a cacaphony of variegated colors from summer green to autumnal reds and yellows. The small one more a dull reddish purple with hints of green. What I like is the organization of the leaf structure with primary veins descending to smaller sized capillaries. In both, there is a true sense of center and a parts to the whole relationship which is stunning.

The larger is more rambunctious. The smaller much more subtle. Take a look for yourself and tell me what you see and how these connect with you.

on Lightening Up (And doing something different)

This fall brings many things. There is heaviness and there is lightness. It brings return to familiar activities here in Vermont and elsewhere, the end of summer, the beginning of fall and whispers of winter's approach. It's back to school time for many, a time to buckle down and stack firewood, preparing for the cold. For others it is time to refocus and dig into one's endeavours with a seriousness to match the season. It also is a time where the leaves float and swirl into piles and crackle beneath your feet, where giddy laughter of children and adults jumping into leaf piles echo in the trees and parks.

This sense of ritual and patterns of time and season bring peace for some and stress for others. It is hard to forget a year ago to almost the day the sky was literally falling into itself with the splintering apart of Lehman brothers, Merrill Lynch and our financial system as we understood it. If feels like ten years ago rather than a mere 12 months. Many are left with their world changed for what seems like forever. It feels heavy, very heavy.

Pema Chodron, buddist teach and author of small but powerful book "Comfortable with Uncertainty", published in 2003 by Shambala, offers 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion of which I'd like to share but one. The chapter called "Lighten up (And do something different) speaks to me more so than others.

So often in these times it's really difficult to be light when faced with such dire seriousness. It's important to find space to loosen up, to play and to laugh. Without such, anxiety and stress overwhelm, consume. Especially so for the cultural creative types who strive for inventiveness and inspiration in unlikley places. It's hard to summon when you are down, scared, anxious. Given our economy, general strife and society chaos, these feelings will be with us for a while I believe. Thus it's imperative to learn how to lighten up ...do something different...make a different choice...intentionally don't do what's familiar and welcome the unknown, the untried.

Pema writes, "Being able to lighten up is key to feeling at home with your body, mind, and emotions, to feeling worthy to live on this planet"....."When your aspiration is to lighten up, you begin to have a sense of humour. Your serious state of mind keeps getting popped. In addditon to a sense of humour, a basic support for a joyful mind in curiousity, paying attention, taking an interest in the world around you. Happiness is not required, but being curious without a heavy judgemental attitude helps....Curiousity encourages cheering up. So does doing something different...it's sometimes helpful to change the pattern."

So instead of walking the way you always walk home, walk another way and remember to look up in the sky and not at your feet. Do one less thing which you normally do each day and see what opens up in the space left over. It might be nothing at all, silence. However, that nothing might lead to something...unexpected...an inspiration, a long-percolating creative connection or something you forgot to do which was really important or meaningful for yourself or someone else.

Smile and be light. Make funny faces in the mirror. Loosen up, don't take yourself so seriously. Practice this skill often, learn how to shift your perspective, change your point of view, walk in other people's shoes. Doing so will help navigate the uncertain future gracefully with poise and balance.

(The image is from a recent family trip to Mt. Philo which when climbed, offers lofty views of Lake Champlain and the expansive valley surrounding)

Seaside Atmosphere Painting and Knowing When to Stop

In Watercolor, how to show mood or ambiance with minimal strokes or over-working a piece?

One idea I tried while taking a class with Frank Constantino, an architectural rendering and illustration and most of all artist mentor friend of mine, was to think of a mood or poetic, reverie type moment and attempt to convey it. Less is truly more in terms of strokes and a reduction of thinking and working a painting, something I often have trouble with.  

I found more here by strongly of thinking of a memorable image or combination of memories of places I've been to find this one image.   I held the gestalt in my mind while I began laying down initial light blue overall wash wetting the entire paper and then applying all of the successive  layers of color and washes.

While the image matured in the course of an half hour or so I slowed down and began to realize it was nearing completion and eventually stopped.  Working with the wetness of the paper and laying down colors is an unforgettable and engaging process.  When it's done, it's done.  It is very satisfying to know when to stop.

Friday Poem #2

To the Sky and to the Trees:

Interlacing branches reach for the sky

Wandering fingers framing the winter's day

Twisting and turning, growing thinner the higher they go

Waving and undulating with the wind's ever changing embrace

Barren in this cold time while plush in the summer

Budding in chartreuse electric glory in the spring

Stately greens of varying chroma in the summer

Firey colors in all their fall glory

Dancing slowly at night with the moon and the stars

Energetic conversations with all living creatures

Whispering of leaves and waving branches

The sighing of the living earth surrounds

Hypnotic drone of ciacadas and tree frogs 

Hoots and howls, barks and whispers of the evening

Combine together with the rhythm of the wind

Forging the music of summer

So different from Winter's slumber

Barren branches, hibernating creatures

A time of slow anticipation

The promise of summer so appealing

Coy promise of winter's quiet

Leads to joyful springtime delight

Dancing through the seasons

Eternal rhythm's of life