Sketch of Cicada. Aug. 28, 2000. Pencil on Paper. 4"x 4".
A cicada enjoying a late summer afternoon.
Drawing. 1999. Oil Pastel on Paper. 11"x 18".
Here is the result. The work will be painted on handmade paper made from the leaves of this maple tree. The paint will be handmade, composed of dry earth-tone pigments ground in a mixture of unbleached beeswax softened in turpentine, with admixtures of the same pulp used in the paper. The paper will be backed by a tablet of Plaster of Paris. The wet plaster will be poured over the paper, adhering to it without the need for glue or hardware. The plaster tablet will also act as the frame for the work.
I want the materials to be as natural as possible, requiring a high degree of handmade manufacture on my part - cutting, mixing, grinding, heating, boiling, building, and of course, painting. I want the process and the product to maintain a close connection with the earthy quality of the subject; this is important to me. I want the final product to be permanent, but fragile and easily destroyed if handled carelessly again in keeping with the nature of the subject.
During the last two weeks, I managed to create a sheet of paper from
the leaves, and will now proceed to try to cast it in plaster.
Jan. 2, 2001.I cast the piece of paper into a plaster tablet today.
For reasons I can't explain, air pockets formed in the plaster along the
edges of the paper causing the paper to depress into the plaster in places.
Although I did not expect this, the result adds an organic flavour to the
otherwise solid structure of the tablet that is perfectly in keeping with
the overall effect I desire.
Now that I think about it, there were probably air pockets trapped under
the sheet of paper as it was placed in the form. When the heavy plaster was
poured over the paper, these air pockets were likely squeezed out past the
edges of the paper, where bubbles of this air then became trapped in the
dense, wet plaster. Regardless, the result adds to the work.
Aug 19, 2001. The other afternoon, my daughter found a large brown beetle
on piece of wood outside the house. She put it in her bug jar and brought it
in for us to see. We could not identify it, but upon looking it up in
the insect book, we discovered it was a cicada nymph. Kati put some sticks
in the jar, and later in the afternoon, to our amazement, the nymph climbed
a stick, and then the cicada itself actually began to emerge out of the head
of the nymph. If I did not see it happen, I would never have believed it;
such an exquisit creature housed inside such a utilitarian shell - and without
the cicada inside to animate it, it really is nothing more than a shell.
In fact, it does not in its present state even look natural!
At first the cicada's wings were not visible, but we noticed two unusual
buds at its sides. Slowly, over the course of about a half hour, these buds
began to unfold into wings - beautiful, delicate, and unearthly green.
The cicada positioned itself so as to be hanging from a stick. We surmised
this was to help its wings dry and strengthen. Below is a photo of the cicada
hanging from the branch. The discarded chrysalis is visible below it.
The cicada drying its wings? Click for a more detailed image.
Here is another photo taken of the cicada in the jar. The
chrysalis is visible in the lower right.
The cicada and chrysalis.
We weren't sure if it was the right thing to do, but we kept the cicada in the jar in the house overnight. We were relieved in the morning to find it high up a stick by the lid of the jar as though trying to tell us it was ready to leave.
Once we were all up and outside, we tried to get the cicada onto a tree branch, but just like the story from last year, it lost its footing and fell to the grass. None of us could see it, and for fear of crushing it, after a couple of minutes of looking we backed away. Moments later we noticed a robin eyeing the area from a branch. Kati became concerned and went back to look, but again without luck. A few minutes later, something drew her attention to the back of her pant leg. There it was on her! This time she got it to a tree, and away it went.
My favorite book is Zorba the Greek. Here is a quote from the book. Zorba speaks:
"I remembered one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree, just as the butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited a while, but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it, and breathed on it to warm it. I warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before my eyes, faster than life. The case opened, the butterfly started slowly crawling out and I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were folded back and crumpled; the wretched butterfly tried with its whole trembling body to unfold them. Bending over it, I tried to help it with my breath. In vain. It needed to be hatched out patiently and the unfolding of the wings be a gradual process in the sun. Now it was too late. My breath had forced the butterfly to appear, all crumpled, before its time. It struggled desperately and, a few seconds later, died in the palm of my hand.That little body is, I do believe, the greatest weight I have on my conscience. For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm."