Mud
Smells bad
I look weird
Forest smells good, wet
Trees look fecund, perfect light
I rush
Forget to photo in sequence. My keenness blindness
Mud applies odd full of sticks and stones
Realise the smell is also duck shit
Drawing is hard, feels silly
Like a bad idea, not how I had imagined
Run down my arms
Not as good idea as I thought
Drawing is not working how I planned
Maybe that’s ok
I left in a hurry and didn’t ask the tree how it felt about it
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The above is my notes - I was gonna write a detailed journal entry but I think I prefer just the notes.
Further thoughts.
I think about using terracotta clay it would apply easier and I’d have more control with the drawing but I also know that the materials would need to be integrous, If I were to buy the clay it might feel synthetic.
I need to look around and find a river with red clay, maybe go onsite and collect it and work with it. A set of drawings across 5 or so trees?
Sources for naturally occurring clay
https://victorianweb.org/science/geology/smith3.html
https://nativehands.co.uk/2016/11/wild-pottery-clay-digging/#:~:text=You%20can%20also%20look%20for,area%2C%20that's%20a%20good%20sign.
I did like the blackness of the pond mud against the lightness of the tree. It has a quality to it that feels satisfying. The materials matter. It was textured too with leaf matter and sticks, this to gave it a unique quality and tone of voice.
I do need to go back and visit. See how the drawing changes as it returns to the forest 🌳
A ritual tool
Addendum///
I returned a month or so later, I really wasn’t expecting to find much and was suprised to find most of it intact. I find that I like it but not enough, it feels like it needs more, but I can’t quiet figure what. I do like that I’m drawing in mud. Mud made up from decaying elements of the immediate surrounding, leaves , twigs, dust and yes duck feaces. Some how it rising up from the ground feels interesting. I do still worry about it feeling ‘Andy Goldsworthy’ but again if I could push the work a bit harder it might stand on it’s own better.
