sand sketch

When I was a kid I called Maple tree seeds helicopters. I made this sketch today with last summer's helicopters. Now they are brown, cracked and decaying. I've noticed that when I bring a good camera with me to photograph a sketch it doesn't turn out well. When I have no camera and do one of these spontaneously it turns out much better.

Decay

I like decay. I like this.
Laurie, will you show us your rotting kale flower?

Persimmon bloom

I LOVE persimmons. They grow here in the Bay Area and I just devour them every winter. I've been watching the persimmon tree around the corner lately as it's put out new baby leaves.

Today I noticed that it's blooming. Here's a bloom I picked. (Sorry for the blurriness - I don't have an adequate camera, but that's being resolved as we speak.) The green parts are very stiff and full of cellulose. The yellow parts are very waterlogged and have square edges where they meet the green parts. I realized that the green parts, if the flower develops into fruit, become the stiff, woody green parts on top of a persimmon fruit. I've never seen them bloom before, so I'm really into it.

Of course this relates to our flower-tagging ideas. But I've got a dilemma. I love this flower and I'd love to have 500 of them to do some temporary sculpture. But it's not my tree and if I plucked them all the poor tree would be fruitless this year. Besides, it's not my tree.

I'd like to cast this little guy and make a mold and reproduce it. In wax? Wax. Yes. Yes! I'll make reproductions.

Yes.

Help from anyone who's made molds? It's been forever and a day since I have, and I'd love some guidance.

A

yellows and greens

Dandelions are versatile building elements. Their petals inter mesh nicely with grass, leaves and other dandelions.

I've been wanting to make something like this since Amelia introduced me to Andy Goldsworthy and the dandelions seemed like a good place to start.