before dismantling the press...

... the sprouting Curly Dock roots after dismantling the press.

a couple feet observing the prints before drying...

 

some notes;

I cleared an area of Broadleaf Dock Rumex obtusifolius for my landloard. Related to Yellow or Curly Dock Rumex crispus, it doesn't have quite the content level of berberines, and is a lighter shade of yellow. It is aptly medicinal with less intensity. 

After rinsing I strew the roots upon four Khadi papers in the rain (medium: watercolor). Then I pulverized with a granite stone and placed some rotting, moldy, mossy, wet 6" x 6"s I borrowed from the woodpile to press (grid markers). We're due for some heavy rains... the "rest" will be up to nature's enfoldment. A final lathering with whole milk goat yogurt will finish the pieces...

I've been eating rabbit this past week... pareidolia expression?

moss garden

Moss growing in the cracks of the concrete steps in the backyard is where I harvested for "life is good waiting for moss to grow" and "spiral fan".  Wanting to tend the moss as a wild environment I carefully selected the moss I harvested, less than 25% of the colony, leaving most in place so to continue its growth here. In the early stages with my experimenting using moss growing in a yogurt culture in my painting I also want to have access to this moss in the future. In the finished pieces the moss/yogurt hasn't taken due to my stopping watering the moss. I'm satisfied for now with the textures, form and the energy of the moss/yogurt with the two paintings. There's a certain expectancy of life in them.

spiral fan

2/28 as the yogurt/moss mix dries seismic/arid drying occurs that create interesting line  formations that further
describe spiral with a drawn patterning and its relation to line and form of frond fanning.

                             

2/29 (leap year/mathematical correction day is another mis-alignment with our natural process with dark and light) have taped/papered foundation in prep for application of pigment.

"spiral fan"

"spiral fan" began in late January with playing with conceptual designing. It started out of the processing with "life is good waiting for moss to grow".  In "spiral fan" and "life is good waiting for moss to grow"  I'm experimenting with yogurt/moss growing, incorporating it as an element in my art work. In "Spiral Fan" I've simplified the yogurt/moss formula to just yogurt and the moss with its' root/dirt and am using a different genus of moss without adding hemp seed powder and am using a smaller ratio of moss. This moss is a more lush variety growing in the cracks of the concrete steps leading down into my backyard.
  

The moss in "life is good waiting for moss to grow" has not taken, creating an interesting color/texture with moss form protruding out of the yogurt. A combination of bringing it inside w/out much light and not sufficient watering it lays either dead or dormant. It may not have particularly liked yogurt! 

In this work I didn't create a bedding. I simply drilled holes in the desk surface and applied the yogurt/moss. The roadside desk is foundational and the fan created from the dead/dried fan like fronds of the backyard Windmill Chosun Palm.

With my work I'm allowing my daily environment experiences to enter into the work in an expression through the process of our/my art making. It is myself in simbiosis with my environment; animal/plant, air, earth, fire & water, all the above and the below and the meeting of my own ego and survival driven energies balance with the interchange.

life is good waiting for moss to grow

life is good waiting for moss to grow

mixed natural & recycled materials

45" x 23 1/2"

a/part of new work... 4

one less camera strap, a few screws and growing moss