Combining willow and words, thoughts bound inside and round the growing process.as I prepared the willow for cutting I began to think through all the time I have spent on the allotment working ropund the trees as they grow. I have been there in all weathers, watched birds and animals using them for shelter and found refuge myself when I needed to from intrusion or disturbance.
Climbing and manipulating the upper branches, finding out the flexible from the fragile - this is after all the salix fragilis - very appropriate to work with when thinking about my ecological footprint.
The smell of the willow hgas a calming effect on me, I know it contains salicitic acid - used in aspirin: but I have also been told it is used by homeopaths as a remedy for seperation anxiety and bereavement as well as resentments. I wonder how much I have absorbed while working with it, breathing in the atmosphere and through the skin it must have some effect.
The pace of work is different when working with natural and growing forms, I am sure it has a positive effect on me, it is impossible to force a tree to grow faster so what is the point of trying!
Perhaps I should be more conscious of the time frame of 'growing' ideas and producing words. The link between hand writing and thinking, as opposed to writing with a keyboard and being able to make infinite changes so fast that I cannot imagine must affect the way I am forced to think.
By the way I still like writing by hand, and do so in my 'sketch book' far more than drawing now. It feels like the same process at the moment, I never used to write anything!
