Facing the western lily pond. | 45.015716/-92.970043

2024

27" x 21"     soil, acrylic binder, canvas  

June 28, 2024

71°

Wind: 9 mph, but it is very still in the forest.

Humidity: 84%

Paved trails through the woods.

Mosquitoes are following me aggressively.

An algae-covered pond.

A still creek.

A lone jay cawing.

Dog prints in the mulch.

I found a long, wooden bridge running over a large pond. Flowering lilies are on the surface of the water, and the cattails are full of roosting birds; they flitter in and out from between the stalks, rasping and beating their wings loudly. I stopped for a few minutes on the bridge to admire the beauty. A male blackbird on the railing next to me is singing. I feel awe. The mosquitoes are gone. 

From the other side of the bridge, I found a mushroom that looks like coral.

I made a full loop around the western half of the pond, arriving back at the bridge. Blue damselflies. A female wood duck watching me from the reeds. Vireos fluttering.

In total, I walked for over 2 miles before collecting the sample from 45.015716/-92.970043 at 4:02 PM.

June 29, 2024

Oven-dried the sample at 200° for about 2.5 hours.

UNREFINED SAMPLE WEIGHT: 448 grams.

July 1, 2024

39 minutes.

There are many long strands of grass tangled together in the sample, some nearly a foot long. To help break them apart, I added a few stones from the sample into the mortar with them. Some yellow, some mottled on the inside, some red, some quartz. They all crushed easily. The grass broke apart into many fine strands that were thin enough to fit through the strainer.

July 2, 2024

31 minutes.

There is a fairly high proportion of sand in this sample; it is about 1/3 sand. The color of this sample looks nearly identical to the last sample I found under the fungal birch tree, although perhaps a touch more purple.

July 4, 2024

32 minutes.

A small, red stone.

July 7, 2024

32 minutes.

July 8, 2024

16 minutes.

The remainder of the sample is now sand.

July 10, 2024

21 minutes.

Complete.

TOTAL GRINDING TIME: 2.85 hours.

REFINED SAMPLE WEIGHT: 442 grams.

July 16, 2024

Added 22 grams of acrylic binder to sample (1/20 by sample weight). Added water until smooth and spread evenly on canvas.

July 17, 2024

Painting is dry, but the surface has a mottled appearance. Redid painting by adding water to the canvas and using a palette knife to scrape the dust off and into a mixing bowl. Re-applied smoothly.

July 18, 2024

Dry and complete.