NaBloPoMo
November 23-30.

It was full steam ahead after my last post a week ago. When I get close to a deadline, I “get the bit in my teeth” so to speak and can’t leave head space for anything else until the project is finished. While I have the guilt of ignoring other tasks on my to do list or, more specifically my email, it is very satisfying to be completely immersed in a piece.

Above is a photo of the finished piece Quiet Invitation featuring terrestrial bio-luminescent organisms. I will expand on the project’s scope more completely in a separate post complete with in progress photos and a video of the piece “on”. In the meantime, the picture and the few detail shots below, give a good idea of the piece in its “off” state. Before mailing it off to MIT, photography was wrapped up and there is a full folder of images for me to go through.

Above is a detailed view of the foxfire fungus the piece is centered around. The lucky girl that I am, I have an abundance of beautiful handmade papers that were used for the entirety of the piece, outside of the electronic components and the canvas on which it was all built. The fungus was sculpted from two weights of extra beaten abaca sheets and drawing fluid was applied to a few of them before they were shaped to give them more of a realistic feel.

After collecting a few leaves from my yard, these leaves were made from a mix of flax and abaca papers similar to the mushrooms. The shapes were cut out, threads were attached for stems, and a few thin layers of drawing fluid were brushed on. I wanted the leaves to curl like they do when they fall off the trees, so I let them air dry so that the drying process did the work for me. It works just like outside!

NaBloPoMo Reflections
Despite losing ground at the end of the month, I was happy to have participated in the pursuit of writing daily. Writing a post, taking, formatting, and uploading photos everyday adds up to a lot of time spent. However, this exercise has been a great reminder that I enjoy the writing process as it is a perfect place to consider what I do with a more critical eye. Like anything, without practice, writing becomes challenging and slow, which is no good. Now I feel like I’ve done a month’s worth of mental calisthenics and I’m ready to run.

Stay tuned for the complete post of Quiet Invitation.