A DREAM OF TREES

Garden of Memories. Beautiful lithograph by Egidijus Rudinskas. Please click here for enlarged image and here for more about Rudinskas

A Dream of Trees by Mary Oliver

"There is a thing in me that dreamed of trees,
A quiet house, some green and modest acres
A little way from every troubling town,
A little way from factories, schools, laments.
I would have time, I thought, and time to spare,

With only streams and birds for company,
To build out of my life a few wild stanzas.
And then it came to me, that so was death,
A little way away from everywhere.

There is a thing in me still dreams of trees,
But let it go. Homesick for moderation,
Half the world's artists shrink or fall away.
If any find solution, let him tell it.
Meanwhile I bend my heart toward lamentation
Where, as the times implore our true involvement,
The blades of every crisis point the way.

I would it were not so, but it is.
Who ever made music of a mild day?" - Mary Oliver

Brainwave. Mixed Media Collage by Wen Redmond. See website here.


Mixed Media piece by Lynnette Miller. See Tumblr blog here and other blog here.

Growing in the Dark. Mixed media on paper by Jeane Myers. See website here.

Tendrils of Time. Photo-Surrealism by Michael Ticcino. See Flickr photo stream here.

Sophie Munns is an artist of seeds, leaves and anything pertaining to plants. This piece glows! See more of Sophie's work here and here.

Music and Nature by Donna Malone. See Flickr photo stream here.

Blue Trees in the Afternoon by Ken Swinson. See more of Ken's work here.

Memories of Trees by Robyn Gordon. Website here.

The Most Awkward Dance by Marcella Anna Stasa. See more of Anna's quirky sculptures, here.

Art in Nature by Rumen (Popa) Dimitrov. See more sculpture here.

Art in Nature by Rumen (Popa) Dimitrov . See more art here.

"Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life. " - Hermann Hesse

Just over 6 months before Seth Apter's book is out ! At last his hard work is coming to fruition and I am so chuffed to be in it!

FOREST

Spring Forest by Andrew Wyeth. Website here.

Walking through forests, especially in the Drakensberg of KwaZulu Natal, is always a rejuvenating experience for me. Just recently I read an article in Science Daily about studies indicating the good effects of natural environments on one's nervous system.

Dr Eeva Karjalainen, of the Finnish Forest Research Institute says "Many people feel relaxed and good when they are out in nature. But not many of us know that there is also scientific evidence about the healing effects of nature."

Forest Remembered by Wen Redmond. Website here.

The article continues....

"Forests -- and other natural, green settings -- can reduce stress, improve moods, reduce anger and aggressiveness and increase overall happiness. Forest visits may also strengthen our immune system by increasing the activity and number of natural killer cells that destroy cancer cells.

Many studies show that after stressful or concentration-demanding situations, people recover faster and better in natural environments than in urban settings. Blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and the level of "stress hormones" all decrease faster in natural settings. Depression, anger and aggressiveness are reduced in green environments and ADHD symptoms in children reduce when they play in green settings."

This doesn't surprise me at all. Read the whole article here.

Nils-Udo 4. Photograph by Dylan Wolfe. See Flickr photostream, here.

Whilst googling work by Land artist Nils Udo, I was delighted to stumble upon Dylan Wolfe's Flickr photostream and 639 photos .... yes 639 photos! .... of the behind the scene creation of Udo's Clay Nest. I've not seen such an amazing record anywhere else on the internet. Do yourself a favour and have a look, here.

"The photos are an archive I've been collecting in association with the Nature-based Sculpture Program of the South Carolina Botanical Garden. Some of the images are the actual portfolio shots taken upon completion of the project, while others were added to the collection by program staff, the artists, community members, and other people working on the archival project. We've started a website, naturebasedart.org, and are working on a book about the sculptures produced by the program." - Dylan Wolfe.

Nest in Red Clay by Nils Udo. Read about it here.

Tower by Nils Udo

Forest Spirits by Sedona artist, Deanne McKeown. Website here.

Palmsonntag. Mixed media by Anselm Kiefer. See more enlarged photos here.

Leaf Loot by Carolyn Saxby. See Carolyn's Flickr photo stream here and blog here.


Detail from The Book of Forests by Kathyanne White. See large photos of the Book of Forests, here.

Forest Walk by Nerine Tassie. See more of Nerine's work here.

Handmade artist's book by Catherine Nash. See more at the Conrad Wilde Gallery, here.

I found this Rene Menard quote in Catherine's artist statement.

".....I live in great density....Shelter lures me. I slump down into the thick foliage.... In the forest, I am my entire self. Everything is possible in my heart just as it is in the hiding places in ravines." - Rene Menard, Le Livre des Arb

The Forest by Ton Dubbeldam. See more of Ton's work here.

FEATHERS

Three Feathers by Wen Redmond. Sewn watercolor and masa papers, acrylics, collaged digital images, monoprinting, inks. See Wen's website here.

Whenever I find a feather I'm taken back in time to my first year of school. We had a large, low, square table in the front of the classroom which was the designated Nature Table. I loved the nature table! It made Monday mornings very exciting because there were always new gatherings after the weekend. Sea shells, porcupine quills, snake skins, birds nests, wasps nests and an abundance of feathers from many different birds ..... most of which were provided by me. The large quill feathers were arranged in an open calabash (gourd). Even now, umpteen years later this calabash flashes through my mind whenever I find a feather.

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Silence Spoken by Lewis Knauss

This piece is by Novie Trump. See Novie's Flickr photo stream here and blog here.

Paper Cuts by Lucy Player. See Lucy's Flickr photo stream here.

the lightness

sweeps through the feathers

lifting my spirits

-Neva Gagliano

Turkey Feathers by Amber Alexander. See Blog here and Etsy shop here.

Jude Hill's beautiful Feathers. See blog post here.

Far by Feather by Louise Richardson. See more here.

Nest IV. Mixed Media: distressed twine, wire mesh, twigs and feathers by Natasha Duwin. Website here.

Library of Babel by Brody Neuenschwander. Website here.

Feather. Metal wall sculpture by Mark Goodier

Starlings in Winter

by Mary Oliver

Chunky and noisy,
but with stars in their black feathers,
they spring from the telephone wire
and instantly

they are acrobats
in the freezing wind.
And now, in the theater of air,
they swing over buildings,

dipping and rising;
they float like one stippled star
that opens,
becomes for a moment fragmented,

then closes again;
and you watch
and you try
but you simply can’t imagine

how they do it
with no articulated instruction, no pause,
only the silent confirmation
that they are this notable thing,

this wheel of many parts, that can rise and spin
over and over again,
full of gorgeous life.
Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us,

even in the leafless winter,
even in the ashy city.
I am thinking now
of grief, and of getting past it;

I feel my boots
trying to leave the ground,
I feel my heart
pumping hard, I want

to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.

Wing and stone for Morgan. Watercolor by Tim O'Kane. Website here.

Uccelli by Tim O'Kane. Website here.