resurrection fern

long awaited autumn update of the art installation in a secret location

So many exciting things have happened to my little secret art project over the past month get ready for a very visual post today. I am going to show you series of photographs over the past weeks so you can see the transition and layering of color ( oh how I love autumn in Ontario forests) over the lace installation. Very soon we might see a different sort of layer on top. I promise to do my best to try to capture the first snowfall. I have decided to leave the installation for the winter to complete a full year cycle. If you are new to the blog or have never read about this project you might want to read the background here and do a little category search for the other installments. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isn't it wonderful how one of the lace pieces has been rolled back by a curious little forest creature, searching for food perhaps , revealing the pattern of the lace penetrating the soil. Maybe it was lisa's adorable little squirrel couple thinking about redecorating their nest for winter, lace is the new shag rug, or so I have heard. Or maybe the world famous maythyd owlettes  and the brimming with personality owls made by nanou were looking for a little sustenance.

I wish I could take each and every one of you on a walk in the forest today. That would be amazing. 

update on the nature feels art installation in a secret location

It has been a long while since the last update. I visit the installation every week but the progress appears slow or almost unchanged most visits and then something very special occurs like what happened about a week ago where one of the lace pieces that was attached to the tree fell directly on top of the lace covered stone in perfect placement. Hard to believe that the wind, rain or even that fierce storm we had last week could have caused this perfect arrangement. I also love how the piece on the neighboring tree that fell off long ago onto a piece of birch park has converged so beautifully with its carpet that they appear almost as one. If you are new to reading this blog I welcome you and invite you to look back at the earlier posts describing this ongoing project of mine.

Nature was making it's own soft white covers of fungi right next to my crocheted lace and the moss was very slowly starting to grow through the small openings in the pattern. Very close by I saw something that made me startle a little. I thought someone had laid out another piece of lace but on closer inspection I realized it was nature who was the artist in the form of a shed skin, perhaps a snakeskin.

I loved that so much!! I also noticed some amazing scratches in a fallen tree and fungi galore joining in the show.

Signs of autumn were evident in the colorful leaves on and off the branches and the first fallen acorns of the season.

I took this picture of a fungi with highly colored spores only to read about it later when researching spore printing that you can actually gather these spores, dissolve them in water and make a wonderful indigo colored ink from them. I will try to find it again this weekend and let you know if it is really true. 

While we are on the topic of spore printing I think I have completed my preservation experiments and I will share the results with you next week. I am also hoping to covert some of the prints into suitable form for shooting a new screen for screen printing. I would love a spore printed skirt, tote bag and some pillows for the porch for fall. If it works out well I might even make some for the shop.

Have a wonderful weekend. We are expecting cooler weather and rain.

It's been so long since I showed you the art installation in a secret location

This was a picture I shared with you back in the spring.

Yes , that would be snow. We still had snow in April and even a little surprise flurries in May this year.  I have been back to visit the installation at least once a week and have been somewhat disappointed at the lack of dramatic change from week to week but when I look back on the earlier photographs I guess it really has been dramatic after all.

Wildflowers have come and gone and how it is the lush greenery of the trees, bushes and the slower growing mosses, grasses and sedges that dominate the visitors view. 

I love how that tiny little maple leaf unfolded just in time for Canada Day!!

The art show has been visited by a few special creatures.

I saved the best for last.

Imagine my delight when I came and saw that little fellow enjoying the lace and moss.

Nature feels art installation : Update

It seems like quite a while since I have taken you back to the secret location of my first art installation and shown you what has been happening there. Last time I showed you it I think there was still snow on the ground. So much has changed since the forest has woken up after such a long hard winter. The area was also hit be a dramatic wind storm while I was in Austria and so many of the trees had fallen over I was really concerned that their would no longer be an art installation but it seems as though the trees that I chose to lay my stone and crocheted pieces down next to were unharmed. Nature has begun to enter into a symbiotic relationship with the lace pieces. This is most evident with the growth of trout lily plants through the lace matrix. The moss on one of the tree pieces has started to grow over one edge. The other lace piece that was tucked into an edge of rolled birch bark has started to become a home for little insects and a family of mealy bugs. n the dead leaves just to the right of the stone I found a morning cloak butterfly resting its wings. All around I spotted white and red trilliums, trout lilies, ferns, the sporophytes of moss and other wild flowers. I almost forgot the pair of darling slugs that were at the base of the tree.

I hope to visit at least once at week because I feel that so much will change in the next few weeks. Please check back later. 

I want to mention if you want to read the best blog post I have ever read about the poetic nature of ferns please read this. 

My First Art Installation in a Secret Location

I set up my first art installation on the weekend. It is an outdoor art exhibit that will run indefinitely. The unique thing about this is that only I know of it's location but you are all invited to see it. It is something I have been thinking about as long as I have sketched down some ideas for my 

Nature Feels series of crochet covered stones. 

I will be posting updates on this project as it evolves over the spring , summer and autumn this year . The updates will be photographic but also I hope to document the changes as a curious naturalist in a journal.  I bet at this point you are wondering what on earth I am talking about. Well, follow me into the forest and you shall see.

Finally we come to the secret location where the "Nature Feels" show is set to start. It involves a crochet covered rather large egg shaped stone and some smaller lace pieces. 

My vision is that nature will cover the coverings and the resulting symbiosis of nature and fiber art is what I hope to document. 

I wonder if a stone is covered in the forest does anyone feel it.