Poem: "Eager, Hopeful Shoots"
Dec. 12th, 2022 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the December 6, 2022 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from wispfox, siliconshaman, and Anthony Barrette. It also fills the "trees" square in my 12-1-22 card for the Wonders of Nature Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by wispfox. It belongs to the Big One, Dr. Infanta, and Shiv threads of the Polychrome Heroics series. For an introduction to sequoia restoration after the earthquake, see "To Repair the Damage of the Lumberman."
"Eager, Hopeful Shoots"
[Sunday, August 14, 2016]
Boss Quiwil had asked Luci and Shiv
to take a look at Shinrin-Yoku, so
they had caught a ride out with
Alicia and some of her people.
"Here we are," Lorry announced,
teleport setting them down smoothly.
"Welcome to Shinrin-Yoku, everyone."
They were supposed to scope out
the sequoia trees and stuff, then
report back with the news.
Shiv had brought along
a couple of plein air art kits
and sketchbooks, because art
was better than photography
for catching the feel of a place.
Luci had brought her silks so that
she could swing up into the trees.
"So how did you get involved
in this?" Shiv asked Alicia.
"As soon as a redwood is
cut down or burned, it sends up
a crowd of eager, hopeful shoots,
which if allowed to grow, would in
a few decades attain a height
of a hundred feet," said Alicia.
"The strongest of them would
finally become giants as
great as the original tree."
"Okay," Shiv said, looking
around at the trees. Some
were huge, towering things
while others were smaller.
"Apparently redwoods can
also survive a long time as
stumps, so I got invited here
to revive old ones," said Alicia.
"Shinrin-yoku is expanding,"
Nanette added. "What started
as a small forest-bathing area
has grown out into what used
to be nearby suburbs, as
former owners moved away."
"We have acquired hundreds
of acres since May," said Moriko,
the Shinrin-Yoku employee. "We
could use more promotional materials
if any of you feel like sharing your crafts."
"Yeah, maybe," said Shiv. "I've done
like flyers and stuff before." He waved
his sketchbook. "You can look later."
"Thank you," said Moriko. "We can
use all the help we can get after
the earthquake and its changes."
Luci tilted her head to survey
the sequoias above. "I think I
could dance in these," she said.
Shiv looked up too. The oldest
of the trees were just enormous,
and even the ones Alicia had been
helping along with Time Powers
stood at least fifty feet tall.
Normally Luci danced with
aerial silks hung from rafters
indoors or a tripod outdoors.
The sequoias here reached
much higher than either.
"You've got a lot of airspace,"
he agreed. "Go on up. Did
you bring enough silk?"
Luci just laughed and
unzipped her dufflebag.
She wound long streamers
of silk around her body to make
a harness, then wrapped more
around her arms so she could
swing the ends up into the trees.
From there it was easy to pull
herself up with her superpowers.
Shiv watched Luci monkey around
the trees, brachiating from one to
another using the silk streamers.
He opened his sketchbook and
began to make quick studies of Luci
swinging from branch to branch.
He sketched the sequoias, too,
from the fluffy little ferny things on
the ground to the fifty-foot saplings
to the mature trees towering above.
Lorry leaned against a trunk,
looking half-asleep, but Shiv
would bet that he could jump
to instant action if necessary.
Nanette and Moriko were
talking about herbs that
grew in redwood forests.
Alicia cupped her hand
over one of the seedlings
that had been transplanted
in from a too-sunny spot.
As Shiv watched -- and
hastily sketched panels in
sequence -- the seedling
shot up from knee-high
to well over their heads.
Alicia paused to devour
a candy bar, then moved
on to another seedling.
Some of them only grew
a few feet, while one seedling
skyrocketed to twenty feet.
Luci dropped back down
and said, "You should
probably think about
tree height if you're
trying to funnel clouds."
"The trees do all that by
themselves," said Moriko.
"Yeah, but look, it's harder if
the heights break up the air flow
instead of channeling it," Luci said,
trying to show them with her hands.
"Something like this?" Shiv said,
doodling ideas in his sketchbook.
He turned it so she could see.
"Sort of," said Luci. "It would
be easier to show than to tell."
Shiv looked at Moriko. "Can
you handle riding a board swing?"
"Sure," said Moriko. "What did
you have in mind with that?"
"I can carry you into the canopy
with a swing," Luci said. "That way
you could see it for yourself."
"Okay," said Moriko. "I'd
love to get a view up there."
So they scrounged around
until Shiv found a loose board,
then Luci made a swing seat
with that and some of her silk.
Shiv watched as Luci lifted
Moriko high into the treetops.
They kinda looked like fairies
with all that airy silk up there.
Shiv made a few sketches
of the two as they surveyed
the sequoias in the area.
Then he turned his attention
back to the ground level.
There were waist-high ferns
and bunches of wildflowers.
In among the redwoods were
also spruces and hemlocks,
which would have looked huge
anywhere else but here were
dwarfed by the mature sequoias.
Shiv filled up a whole page with
closeup studies of the bark in sepia.
When Moriko finally came down,
she said, "I see what you mean.
We'll need to make a 3D map
showing tree heights. Alicia,
can you help adjust the height
of trees to manage air flow?"
Alicia tilted her head. "If they
agree. Some of them soak up
more power than others do."
"Well, anything will help,"
Moriko said. "We'll manage."
Shiv nudged the swing. "Hey,
Luci, can I get a lift up, too?"
"Sure, hang on," she said.
Shiv sat on the boards and
flipped the tail ends of silk
over himself so Luci could
secure him into the swing.
Then she pulled him up
into the green canopy.
Shiv could look out over
the valley and see the trees
scattered among the houses.
Yeah, no wonder Luci was
concerned about the heights.
They were all up and down,
not making a solid canopy
that would catch the sun
and the rain efficiently.
He tugged the silk, and
she lowered him down.
Shiv flipped to a fresh page
and sketched what he'd seen.
"Luci's right, the trees are
all over the place," Shiv said,
drawing a ragged line. "They
need more tall trees so that
they can lean on each other."
He'd learned that from working
up on the Omaha Reservation.
Black walnuts would stand up
to the wind and ice just fine, but
the mulberries were brittle, and
worse without anything to lean on.
Moriko watched Shiv draw lines
along the treetops to show where
they rose and fell in ragged peaks.
"I took some pictures from aloft, but
could I get a copy of your drawings
to go with those?" she asked him.
"Sure, if your phone can take
a good enough picture," he said.
"My copiers are back in Omaha."
Moriko snapped a picture. "Thanks."
"Give me a few days to finish some
larger watercolors, and I'll send you
something for a brochure," Shiv said.
"You got a preference?" He pointed
to several small ones he'd just done.
"That one," Moriko said, pointing
to a small painting that went from
the tall sequoias to smaller ones
on down to ferns and flowers.
"I would like to commission
a large, finished cartoon from
that panel set you did of Alicia
growing the trees," said Nanette.
"I uh, I'm not really a cartoonist,"
Shiv pointed out. "It's just doodling."
Nanette snorted. "Don't sell yourself
short," she said. "Lorry and I love it."
"Me too," said Alicia. "Pretty please?"
"Ah, cut it out with the cute puppy eyes,"
Shiv said. "Okay, already, I'll do it."
But he was laughing about it.
He'd just have to hit the art store
to get something big enough
to draw a whole cartoon strip on.
Shiv looked at his sketchbook
full of eager, hopeful shoots.
Yeah, it had been a good trip.
* * *
Notes:
"As soon as a redwood is cut down or burned, it sends up a crowd of eager, hopeful shoots, which, if allowed to grow, would in a few decades attain a height of a hundred feet, and the strongest of them would finally become giants as great as the original tree."
-- John Muir
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_muir_752660?src=t_redwood
Plein air art is done outside. Explore paints and other supplies for it. Oil paint, watercolor, and drawing all work. This kit features oil paint and this one is watercolor. Choosing a surface can mean watercolor canvas or paper, regular canvas, pastel paper, or studio canvas.
An Altoids tin makes a great case for a pocket kit, and can hold many different things. This one has stub ends of creme pastels. You can also pack whole pastels, but it won't hold as many. That's fine because plein air art relies on a few versatile shades rather than having many colors. Too many colors can be distracting and encourage an over-emphasis on detail. The palette shown here would be ideal for drawing wildflowers.
A pastel holder keeps your hands clean and makes it easier to work with short stubs. Because Shiv's hands area smaller than average, he can work comfortably with stubs that are uncomfortable for others, and somewhat less comfortably with stubs that are too short for others to use at all.
You can fit a lot of watercolors into an Altoids tin. This one has 14 colors. That's a warm and a cool shade of red, green, yellow, and blue; four earthy browns; black and white. The top has a sponge and four cut-down brushes. Each half-pan has a magnet on the bottom to hold it in place. Each half-pan is labeled with the color of paint inside. Shiv's studio set is much bigger but uses the same methods.
To make painting easier, a travel paintbrush breaks down to a shorter size and reassembles to a longer one. A paintbrush holder turns a short paintbrush handle into a longer one.
The sketch kit includes mixed media with creme pastel sticks and pencils, along with holders to make them longer, all the other supplies, and a sketchbook about the same size as the tin. This way, Shiv can carry art supplies everywhere he goes, saving the larger sets for planned art trips.
Inside you will find:
-A mechanical pencil
-leads
-pastels or crayons in a separate compartment
-variety of wooden pencils (be it drawing or coloring pencils)
-pencil sharpener (fixed to one side with a hole so you don't have to open the box each time you sharpen a pencil)
-chalk (I like to paint in the Blackboard if I arrive early to a lecture, can also be used in a rough dark surface)
-vine and compressed charcoal
-kneaded and rubber eraser
-Blending Stump
-small brush
-small pen with masking tape (I show you how I did it, but usually don't carry it around)
-Sanding paper on one side
-Ruler marked in another side
Entertaining BONUS
-magnetic chess set
-magnetic Domino set
wispfox, siliconshaman, and Anthony Barrette. It also fills the "trees" square in my 12-1-22 card for the Wonders of Nature Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by wispfox. It belongs to the Big One, Dr. Infanta, and Shiv threads of the Polychrome Heroics series. For an introduction to sequoia restoration after the earthquake, see "To Repair the Damage of the Lumberman.""Eager, Hopeful Shoots"
[Sunday, August 14, 2016]
Boss Quiwil had asked Luci and Shiv
to take a look at Shinrin-Yoku, so
they had caught a ride out with
Alicia and some of her people.
"Here we are," Lorry announced,
teleport setting them down smoothly.
"Welcome to Shinrin-Yoku, everyone."
They were supposed to scope out
the sequoia trees and stuff, then
report back with the news.
Shiv had brought along
a couple of plein air art kits
and sketchbooks, because art
was better than photography
for catching the feel of a place.
Luci had brought her silks so that
she could swing up into the trees.
"So how did you get involved
in this?" Shiv asked Alicia.
"As soon as a redwood is
cut down or burned, it sends up
a crowd of eager, hopeful shoots,
which if allowed to grow, would in
a few decades attain a height
of a hundred feet," said Alicia.
"The strongest of them would
finally become giants as
great as the original tree."
"Okay," Shiv said, looking
around at the trees. Some
were huge, towering things
while others were smaller.
"Apparently redwoods can
also survive a long time as
stumps, so I got invited here
to revive old ones," said Alicia.
"Shinrin-yoku is expanding,"
Nanette added. "What started
as a small forest-bathing area
has grown out into what used
to be nearby suburbs, as
former owners moved away."
"We have acquired hundreds
of acres since May," said Moriko,
the Shinrin-Yoku employee. "We
could use more promotional materials
if any of you feel like sharing your crafts."
"Yeah, maybe," said Shiv. "I've done
like flyers and stuff before." He waved
his sketchbook. "You can look later."
"Thank you," said Moriko. "We can
use all the help we can get after
the earthquake and its changes."
Luci tilted her head to survey
the sequoias above. "I think I
could dance in these," she said.
Shiv looked up too. The oldest
of the trees were just enormous,
and even the ones Alicia had been
helping along with Time Powers
stood at least fifty feet tall.
Normally Luci danced with
aerial silks hung from rafters
indoors or a tripod outdoors.
The sequoias here reached
much higher than either.
"You've got a lot of airspace,"
he agreed. "Go on up. Did
you bring enough silk?"
Luci just laughed and
unzipped her dufflebag.
She wound long streamers
of silk around her body to make
a harness, then wrapped more
around her arms so she could
swing the ends up into the trees.
From there it was easy to pull
herself up with her superpowers.
Shiv watched Luci monkey around
the trees, brachiating from one to
another using the silk streamers.
He opened his sketchbook and
began to make quick studies of Luci
swinging from branch to branch.
He sketched the sequoias, too,
from the fluffy little ferny things on
the ground to the fifty-foot saplings
to the mature trees towering above.
Lorry leaned against a trunk,
looking half-asleep, but Shiv
would bet that he could jump
to instant action if necessary.
Nanette and Moriko were
talking about herbs that
grew in redwood forests.
Alicia cupped her hand
over one of the seedlings
that had been transplanted
in from a too-sunny spot.
As Shiv watched -- and
hastily sketched panels in
sequence -- the seedling
shot up from knee-high
to well over their heads.
Alicia paused to devour
a candy bar, then moved
on to another seedling.
Some of them only grew
a few feet, while one seedling
skyrocketed to twenty feet.
Luci dropped back down
and said, "You should
probably think about
tree height if you're
trying to funnel clouds."
"The trees do all that by
themselves," said Moriko.
"Yeah, but look, it's harder if
the heights break up the air flow
instead of channeling it," Luci said,
trying to show them with her hands.
"Something like this?" Shiv said,
doodling ideas in his sketchbook.
He turned it so she could see.
"Sort of," said Luci. "It would
be easier to show than to tell."
Shiv looked at Moriko. "Can
you handle riding a board swing?"
"Sure," said Moriko. "What did
you have in mind with that?"
"I can carry you into the canopy
with a swing," Luci said. "That way
you could see it for yourself."
"Okay," said Moriko. "I'd
love to get a view up there."
So they scrounged around
until Shiv found a loose board,
then Luci made a swing seat
with that and some of her silk.
Shiv watched as Luci lifted
Moriko high into the treetops.
They kinda looked like fairies
with all that airy silk up there.
Shiv made a few sketches
of the two as they surveyed
the sequoias in the area.
Then he turned his attention
back to the ground level.
There were waist-high ferns
and bunches of wildflowers.
In among the redwoods were
also spruces and hemlocks,
which would have looked huge
anywhere else but here were
dwarfed by the mature sequoias.
Shiv filled up a whole page with
closeup studies of the bark in sepia.
When Moriko finally came down,
she said, "I see what you mean.
We'll need to make a 3D map
showing tree heights. Alicia,
can you help adjust the height
of trees to manage air flow?"
Alicia tilted her head. "If they
agree. Some of them soak up
more power than others do."
"Well, anything will help,"
Moriko said. "We'll manage."
Shiv nudged the swing. "Hey,
Luci, can I get a lift up, too?"
"Sure, hang on," she said.
Shiv sat on the boards and
flipped the tail ends of silk
over himself so Luci could
secure him into the swing.
Then she pulled him up
into the green canopy.
Shiv could look out over
the valley and see the trees
scattered among the houses.
Yeah, no wonder Luci was
concerned about the heights.
They were all up and down,
not making a solid canopy
that would catch the sun
and the rain efficiently.
He tugged the silk, and
she lowered him down.
Shiv flipped to a fresh page
and sketched what he'd seen.
"Luci's right, the trees are
all over the place," Shiv said,
drawing a ragged line. "They
need more tall trees so that
they can lean on each other."
He'd learned that from working
up on the Omaha Reservation.
Black walnuts would stand up
to the wind and ice just fine, but
the mulberries were brittle, and
worse without anything to lean on.
Moriko watched Shiv draw lines
along the treetops to show where
they rose and fell in ragged peaks.
"I took some pictures from aloft, but
could I get a copy of your drawings
to go with those?" she asked him.
"Sure, if your phone can take
a good enough picture," he said.
"My copiers are back in Omaha."
Moriko snapped a picture. "Thanks."
"Give me a few days to finish some
larger watercolors, and I'll send you
something for a brochure," Shiv said.
"You got a preference?" He pointed
to several small ones he'd just done.
"That one," Moriko said, pointing
to a small painting that went from
the tall sequoias to smaller ones
on down to ferns and flowers.
"I would like to commission
a large, finished cartoon from
that panel set you did of Alicia
growing the trees," said Nanette.
"I uh, I'm not really a cartoonist,"
Shiv pointed out. "It's just doodling."
Nanette snorted. "Don't sell yourself
short," she said. "Lorry and I love it."
"Me too," said Alicia. "Pretty please?"
"Ah, cut it out with the cute puppy eyes,"
Shiv said. "Okay, already, I'll do it."
But he was laughing about it.
He'd just have to hit the art store
to get something big enough
to draw a whole cartoon strip on.
Shiv looked at his sketchbook
full of eager, hopeful shoots.
Yeah, it had been a good trip.
* * *
Notes:
"As soon as a redwood is cut down or burned, it sends up a crowd of eager, hopeful shoots, which, if allowed to grow, would in a few decades attain a height of a hundred feet, and the strongest of them would finally become giants as great as the original tree."
-- John Muir
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_muir_752660?src=t_redwood
Plein air art is done outside. Explore paints and other supplies for it. Oil paint, watercolor, and drawing all work. This kit features oil paint and this one is watercolor. Choosing a surface can mean watercolor canvas or paper, regular canvas, pastel paper, or studio canvas.
An Altoids tin makes a great case for a pocket kit, and can hold many different things. This one has stub ends of creme pastels. You can also pack whole pastels, but it won't hold as many. That's fine because plein air art relies on a few versatile shades rather than having many colors. Too many colors can be distracting and encourage an over-emphasis on detail. The palette shown here would be ideal for drawing wildflowers.
A pastel holder keeps your hands clean and makes it easier to work with short stubs. Because Shiv's hands area smaller than average, he can work comfortably with stubs that are uncomfortable for others, and somewhat less comfortably with stubs that are too short for others to use at all.
You can fit a lot of watercolors into an Altoids tin. This one has 14 colors. That's a warm and a cool shade of red, green, yellow, and blue; four earthy browns; black and white. The top has a sponge and four cut-down brushes. Each half-pan has a magnet on the bottom to hold it in place. Each half-pan is labeled with the color of paint inside. Shiv's studio set is much bigger but uses the same methods.
To make painting easier, a travel paintbrush breaks down to a shorter size and reassembles to a longer one. A paintbrush holder turns a short paintbrush handle into a longer one.
The sketch kit includes mixed media with creme pastel sticks and pencils, along with holders to make them longer, all the other supplies, and a sketchbook about the same size as the tin. This way, Shiv can carry art supplies everywhere he goes, saving the larger sets for planned art trips.
Inside you will find:
-A mechanical pencil
-leads
-pastels or crayons in a separate compartment
-variety of wooden pencils (be it drawing or coloring pencils)
-pencil sharpener (fixed to one side with a hole so you don't have to open the box each time you sharpen a pencil)
-chalk (I like to paint in the Blackboard if I arrive early to a lecture, can also be used in a rough dark surface)
-vine and compressed charcoal
-kneaded and rubber eraser
-Blending Stump
-small brush
-small pen with masking tape (I show you how I did it, but usually don't carry it around)
-Sanding paper on one side
-Ruler marked in another side
Entertaining BONUS
-magnetic chess set
-magnetic Domino set
(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-13 04:13 pm (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2022-12-13 08:23 pm (UTC)While aerial silk is not for everyone, there are other alternatives such as treehouses, boardwalks, ziplines, and things like ski lifts minus the snow. Plus of course, it's possible to rig a lift swing like Luci did by using pulleys and/or winches instead of superpowers. Some people even climb large trees instead of mountains.
>> I liked the previous one, and this one again for different reasons. <<
Yay! :D
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2022-12-13 09:49 pm (UTC)Aaaaand that's going on the "ways to get into the sky" list. Yes, it's an actual list! I have done several items on it already.
Ziplines, both mechanized and weight-driven, and aerial arts are both favorites (though I favor lyra over silks, as I don't like being squeezed by the fabrics.)
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2022-12-13 10:19 pm (UTC)https://www.climbingarborist.com/basic-climbing-techniques/
(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-13 05:28 pm (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2022-12-13 08:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-13 07:35 pm (UTC)I love this ... although on the reread I have a mental image of Luci and Alicea swinging among the trees, peals of laughter trailing behind them like streamers.
Thank you!
Date: 2022-12-13 08:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-14 10:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-13 11:17 pm (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2022-12-14 03:48 am (UTC)A pocket sketch kit is literally that, meant to be so small it works for everyday carry. A good plein air kit is often somewhat bigger, if you're only planning to carry it to a good spot in a park. But if you're backpacking, you really need to go light, and that means not trying to haul your whole damn studio 5 miles through the woods.
Shiv has kits of varying sizes, but his background inclines him to think small. He really likes that when he gets to the stub ends of his creme pastels, he can chuck them into an Altoids tin and have a good pocket art kit. Same with a broken brush, just trim the handle smooth and it becomes another traveling brush.
I am also fascinated by limited palettes. The Zorn palette uses only 4 colors -- red, yellow, black, and white. Compare this to the prehistoric palette, of which the most common pigments were red, yellow, brown, black, and white. But they also had less common blue tones from clay or rare blue ochre, and Africa had an iron-based blue. You can make a primary set with ochres, or look at these other small sets.
This is Labelleizzy
Date: 2022-12-14 02:47 am (UTC)Re: This is Labelleizzy
Date: 2022-12-14 03:01 am (UTC)I got to meet sequoias when we went out west.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-14 03:06 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2022-12-14 03:12 am (UTC)you did?
Date: 2024-11-27 10:00 am (UTC)in this?" <<
Is this a Shiv-ism, or was that supposed to be "So HOW did you"...?
Re: you did?
Date: 2024-11-27 10:27 am (UTC)Re: you did?
Date: 2024-11-27 10:35 am (UTC)Re: you did?
Date: 2024-11-27 10:48 am (UTC)