I am not only fond of trees, for many reasons; I am also very intrigued by the Branching Pattern, of which trees, and many other plants, are a beautiful example. The branching pattern is found in so many places in Nature, such as in the human body in the circulatory, nervous and respiratory systems.
It shows in geological forms such as the branching of rivers and waterways.
But it is also found in genealogy, in statistical and web pathways and many other ways of organizing information too numerous to mention. Basically, it is about Flow, the flow of physical matter, energy or information, from one place to another.
Here, this Tree is an expression of gratitude to the human heart, both our biological one and the “ heart ” with which we connect with others.
This is not really a mandala. It is not really a Blue Moon either, maybe not even a moon at all! You might see a moon like this only once in … a blue moon! When a title for some art piece just arrives to me and I like it, it sticks!
In this case, what I began with reminded me of the way a full moon often looks in a dark sky, when you see the clouds lit up over the moon. The moon on that night, the real moon, had a shadow somewhat resembling the Ying-Yang sign, which happens to be a favorite symbol of mine, for many reasons.
The symbol was familiar to me many years before I knew what it meant, because, when I was a young child, my Dad subscribed to a magazine with that symbol, in red and white, on the cover. Many elements of early Taoism still appeal to me. So I decided to put one in my picture!
Art Method follows, for those who are interested:
This was made by my favorite method: chance, natural processes, liking a pattern, plus foto-fiddling.
This is a “black plate” piece. My “black” plate is a Japanese-style small square plate (made in China !) and glazed with a dark-grey pewter-like “metallic” glaze. When certain liquids left on it dry, they form dried puddles in various shapes, different each time. On a photo of the plate, I draw out the colours which I want, and add or change other details as I wish to.
What do I mean by drawing out the colours? As painters know, grey is not always a mixture of black and white but may be made by mixing complementary colours. The beautiful thing is that colours reside almost everywhere, even tho’ you may not notice them! If you take a photo of a dark scene, and later try to increase the saturation of the darkest areas, you may find, not black, but coloured pixels. You may be able to look at the corners of a darkening room and see that the grey is not black-white, but a scintillating “grey” made of the colours which you see in the daylight.
Here is the black plate original. I up-saturated the colours, found shapes which I wished to emphasize, and drew a ying-yang symbol in the centre.
What a lovely surprise to finallly discover how unlonely being alone can be.- Ellen Burstyn
The longer one is alone, the easier it is to hear the song of the earth. -Robert Anton Wilson
Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying. -Martin Luther
Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets. -Paul Tournier
Language has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone; and it has created the word “solitude “to express the glory of being alone.- Paul Tillich
When I’m alone, I can sleep crossways in bed without an argument. – Zsa Zsa Gabor
I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone. -Robin Williams
From the Tree as Symbol Series: The Tree Knows its Roots
“ To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul” -SIMONE WEIL
The concept of roots interests me in so many ways :
Root systems display the branching pattern seen in so many places in nature, roots for nourishment, connection,transportation, information . . . survival !
Roots as in origins. I note that about half of my friends, like many Canadians, were not born in Canada, and thus, at some point in their life were “uprooted”, as was I. Or perhaps our families moved when we very young. For everyone, finding true roots (and for some, “new roots”) and continuing to nourish those roots, is a lifelong process.
Roots as stability: one who is rooted does not get easily blown down by a storm!
Where do you feel rooted, where do you belong : in your body, family, friends, work, community, country, World, practice, faith, Nature, Universe, or…. …? So many possibilities!
