PenStroke Studio

Thursday, December 29, 2016

A change of art - I have been very forlorn since the election. I am an Independent, but have voted different ways over the years. I was giving Mr. Trump a listen, but as the election drew closer, I felt he was against the true American Flag and Constitution. Not just in a small way. I couldn't speak about the election until recently. I have made Quilts For Veterans in honor of my father's Service, and over the year or so of doing that, I gained a very deep understanding of the sacrifice so many have made to uphold our laws and respect our flag. I do not believe Donald Trump understands what the people, men, women and children, at Fort Henry did when they held the flag up by hand, dying for our freedom. His attitude and way of speaking down to all is unacceptable for the Office of President of The United States. And I am angry. Angry that I can't do anything but make a voice heard and remind people that many, many people have died so that we could be free. My anger cannot get in the way of my life, so I am changing my art.

I am educated in horticulture, after/during/while being a fine artist for 39 years. The University of Guelph in Canada is one of the finest for horticulture and agriculture. But something from the past has kicked me in the pants. An ant farm. I saw them accidentally over the holidays. And then I remembered being five or six and playing with the ants - picking them up, moving them a little ways down the road, bringing them back again. I have drawn many animals, but was headed for flowers again, and so did not just jump up and say "ants!".

I did buy 3 ant farms. :) And I am hoping the ants survive the cold on the way here. I am going to study three communities of ants. They have been on earth since the time of the dinosaurs, they work cooperatively as a community for the good of the colony. They can face problems together, solve them, without having a higher intelligence. They are simple and effective, and true, and honest, and they save each other. I can either scream about Donald Trump undermining the years that my father was in the Army, or I can study ants to see if they have a way to teach us to again work together instead of killing each other. The planet is going to have major global environmental disasters - will only ants, crocodiles, snapping turtles, will only these really tough species survive, or will we as well? What can I learn from ants that I wouldn't know otherwise?

I have stocked up on graphite for my mechanical pencils and will be drawing the ants, listening to them, saving some of them after they die, putting them under a microscope, and watching. Watching to see how they not only work together peacefully, but actually thrive doing so.

Below are some tools that will be handy for my new direction:

I have a Nasco Stereoscopic Field Microscope. It will be wonderful for studying the bodies of ants, shape, size, etc. I have mechanical pencils for lead sizes 0.3mm, 0.5mm, 0.7mm, and 0.9mm. This give me a broad range for line thicknesses. I am not sure yet whether I will do life-size drawings in a sketchbook or individual life-size drawings kept in card protectors.

Below is a photo of two of my ant farms, waiting for the ants. One is a sand farm, where the ants need to have food and water added, while the other is a gel farm, based on NASA experiments, the gel provides tunneling as well as food and water. The third ant farm I will be setting up is another sand farm.

A very good video to watch on Leaf Cutter Ants (who don't eat the leaves by the way), is by the BBC at this link Although this video is not available at BBC four, they do have some other ant information at this link

I may do a video of the ant farms I have going, but my focus will be on drawing the different aspects of their behavior.

PenStroke Studio

Thursday, December 29, 2016

No comments:

Post a Comment