16th Entry, July 14th 2008, 3rd installment "To Move a Bloom"
There is a kind of love which happens where it’s fruition into a relationship is irrelevant to it’s existence. It is a wish and a power. Not to be confused with an obsession or desire to possess, it is a hope based admiration which runs so deep it inspires and infects it’s bearer completely. It is both battery and muse.
The words are hard to find to depict such a love but those who know it personally know it exactly. It would be as if to see something in nature, in the wild. Where the desire to walk up to it and touch it or pet it is so great but if one would move they fear it running away all together so they just stay in place and still, watching and waiting to see what it does instead. Imagine then if the admired came a little closer and closer still.
That feeling that something so adored is so near and it’s tangibility is so fragile, as a flower is so fragile. So I went to the next step. Immediately I looked for roses that could encapsulate this idea. After searching for two days I was terribly frustrated because none worked completely. Each one in photograph, art, and life reminded me of all the hundreds of other “flower” things out there that I didn’t want this work to be added to.
Then a light went off, I remembered that the flower isn’t a flower at all – it is a person; each petal of the bloom a facet of their being. It’s opening and closing a metaphor for its presence, proximity and trust as observed by another who adores it so very much.
I then was able to look at the flowers in the right perspective. I needed a flower that best symbolizes a person, where it wouldn’t be a Georgia O’Keefe flower focus look alike. I didn’t want that at all, I wanted the symbolic value of it. Petals layering much like we as humans layer our aspects but connecting them infinitely as we compose our conscious and unconscious selves.
After some additional searching I came across a book titled simply “Flower” (Artisan Books) by Christopher Beane who once worked in New York’s famous flower market. Of the 133 pictures of different blooms and breeds I immediately turned to Ranunculus White – it’s flower seemingly dressed by one single petal that wrapped into a small forever around the bloom. If anyone gets a chance to see the photograph they would know how I could see instantly how that was it.
Using a base of henna, honey, hydrated organic coal and mocha I began it’s placement. I chose an open bloom, or really a bloom which had already opened and is in a position of full faced beauty and vulnerability. In my mind I imagined it doing so and slowly. As if trusting in a safety which although is intangible is quite real. The famous song titled “The Wings” by Gustavo Santaolalla makes me feel that way. When hearing the notes I could almost feel each unclenching of the petals as if requested by love. It’s a short song but potent and haunting in its way if a person is open minded enough to appreciate it’s statement. It is an aching and asking into love. If you aren’t familiar with it you can access the song by clicking below and simply use your browser to come back here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yIDt97zQgY
It is an exposure into vulnerability made by holy and pure request and is in itself a request, not to harm and to see, to see it all completely and understand it.
Then filling each layer with the remaining rose essence it produced the most amazing jewel toned blue based red, the pictures really cant capture the color as it is seen in person. Egg white was used on most of the petal tips to add to depth details and subtly play with light. When dried it produces a light gloss.
The words are hard to find to depict such a love but those who know it personally know it exactly. It would be as if to see something in nature, in the wild. Where the desire to walk up to it and touch it or pet it is so great but if one would move they fear it running away all together so they just stay in place and still, watching and waiting to see what it does instead. Imagine then if the admired came a little closer and closer still.
That feeling that something so adored is so near and it’s tangibility is so fragile, as a flower is so fragile. So I went to the next step. Immediately I looked for roses that could encapsulate this idea. After searching for two days I was terribly frustrated because none worked completely. Each one in photograph, art, and life reminded me of all the hundreds of other “flower” things out there that I didn’t want this work to be added to.
Then a light went off, I remembered that the flower isn’t a flower at all – it is a person; each petal of the bloom a facet of their being. It’s opening and closing a metaphor for its presence, proximity and trust as observed by another who adores it so very much.
I then was able to look at the flowers in the right perspective. I needed a flower that best symbolizes a person, where it wouldn’t be a Georgia O’Keefe flower focus look alike. I didn’t want that at all, I wanted the symbolic value of it. Petals layering much like we as humans layer our aspects but connecting them infinitely as we compose our conscious and unconscious selves.
After some additional searching I came across a book titled simply “Flower” (Artisan Books) by Christopher Beane who once worked in New York’s famous flower market. Of the 133 pictures of different blooms and breeds I immediately turned to Ranunculus White – it’s flower seemingly dressed by one single petal that wrapped into a small forever around the bloom. If anyone gets a chance to see the photograph they would know how I could see instantly how that was it.
Using a base of henna, honey, hydrated organic coal and mocha I began it’s placement. I chose an open bloom, or really a bloom which had already opened and is in a position of full faced beauty and vulnerability. In my mind I imagined it doing so and slowly. As if trusting in a safety which although is intangible is quite real. The famous song titled “The Wings” by Gustavo Santaolalla makes me feel that way. When hearing the notes I could almost feel each unclenching of the petals as if requested by love. It’s a short song but potent and haunting in its way if a person is open minded enough to appreciate it’s statement. It is an aching and asking into love. If you aren’t familiar with it you can access the song by clicking below and simply use your browser to come back here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yIDt97zQgY
It is an exposure into vulnerability made by holy and pure request and is in itself a request, not to harm and to see, to see it all completely and understand it.
Then filling each layer with the remaining rose essence it produced the most amazing jewel toned blue based red, the pictures really cant capture the color as it is seen in person. Egg white was used on most of the petal tips to add to depth details and subtly play with light. When dried it produces a light gloss.
The result - a human bloom, at least to me - but the piece is still a baby at this stage and more is still to come.
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