NEW MOON NEWSLETTER:
Issue Seventeen
Tradescantia
Wide-leafed Spiderwort
This Summer I have been auditing a field biology course called Flora of
Southern Illinois. We met every Friday for six weeks, striking out into
the life-rich forests and woodlands of my native region. In order to
help me learn, between our meetings I would do a small painting sketch
of my favorite plant from the week before. This is the series of the
paintings I made: they are all 6' x 6', acrylic, gesso, and Sakura
fineliner pen on canvas-little Walmart maker squares!
The one right above is a Spiderwort, which was a familiar face on an
overwhelming day in a sea of green ((I was trying to learn *how* to
learn, and not very sure I succeeded!)) Spiderworts are so named
because if one rips their leaves in two, one will find the leaves
delicately connected by sticky threads of spidery silk.
Juncus
The very effusive Juncus effusius
Juncus means rushes, and this Juncus is in a rush to bubble and fluff
its flowers right out the sides of its stalk! Spotted at Southern
Illinois University's Campus Lake, which is where I do my dragonfly &
damselfly survey-I had to make myself *not* look at them flitting about
so I could focus my attention on the plants. This exuberant rush made
that easy, at least for the moment we were discovering and discussing
it.
Hieracium
Hairy Hawkweed
This little Hawkweed does everything more extra than it needs to:
adorably fuzzy palmate leaves, and tiny yellow flowers that it launches
on a single slender stem about three feet in the air!
Asmina
Pawpaw
John James Audubon would break off the terminal buds of Pawpaw trees
and use them as paintbrushes while he was surveying and making his
field sketches for The Birds of America. They have a velvety-smooth
texture: maybe eventually I'll do a painting using one ;o)
Phemeranthus
Fameflower (plus unidentified caterpillar as seen in the wild)
The Fameflower is a rare species of plant that we counted in transects,
high on an exposed bluff at Camp Ondessonk in the Shawnee National
Forest. 'Phemeranthus' is its genus name because its flowers only bloom
for one hour, as ephemeral as fame.
Hedeoma
American Pennyroyal
American Pennyroyal was a plant we found along the hiking path the
final day of class, which was the day we were taking the practicum
final. Almost every other plant that day was review, and we hurriedly
wrote our test answers while hiking through the forest, with our
instructor putting down flags along the way alongside the plants he
wanted us to be able to i.d. by their scientific names. A walking final
exam~ since the Pennyroyal was new to us, and the course leader
encouraged us to crush some in our hand and deeply inhale its
fragrance, this moment was a welcome little island of sensual
connection with a plant on a day that over five hours we were meant to
i.d. 110 of them (!!!).
Making these small paintings between every class meeting helped me
develop an additional relationship with these plants through the
activity of my imagination and my hands, instead of just trying to
memorize them with my 'mental brain.' It may be a different approach to
learning that you'd like to try, that is playful and at the same time,
very effective. ((If only I'd been able to do it for all 250 plants!))
The next New Moon Newsletter will be ca. the 11th of September ~ before
*that* a Full Moon Blog may or may not appear on time ;o) , on my
website , ca. 28 August. I am
preparing to move house on the first of September, though-so no
promises! My new apartment is a beautiful old downtown historic
building which has a room that will be my painting studio so I'm very
much looking forward to showing that to you, as soon as I can take a
breath ~ In the meantime, may art and Nature aid you in finding deep
peace beneath the wave zone of modern life, especially if you are going
through a changeful season <3
Sending you love,
Laura
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