The meeting points of machine and nature

I have been drawing lately. Now that I'm putting pen to paper again it is reminding me of how long it has been since doing it last with the intent to just draw. Usually I only sketch out images I plan on shooting which are... VERY rough. However I used to love to draw, Its all I did in high school. I would take the paper book covers you would get at the beginning of school and turn them inside out so that the outside of my books where blank. Then I would proceed to spend the entire year trying to make drawings that would connect in various ways until the book was completely covered -effectively keeping my books closed all year. I often wish I had held on to some of those book covers - I digress.

In any case I started a sketch in which a bonsai like tree is suspended in air, its roots dangling down beneath it. Within the roots are three cogs or gears acting as the heart of the tree. I'll post the image when I have finished it. While making the drawing I wondered what bonsai tree roots look like, so I google'd it. Right there on the first page was this image of a Steven Panarelli wire sculpture tree, something I had to share. After exploring the parent site I could not help but be drawn to Stevens sculptures. They have such fantastic movement to them. Even though each one is fatalistically tied to the foundation upon which it stands, the branches, and sometimes roots, reach out in fanciful ways. The sculptures where the roots are visible seem far more effective at displaying this relationship between reality and myth. I find the the symbolism between the purpose of the roots and the purpose of branches and leafs fascinating. Both the leaf and the root together allow trees to be completely self sustaining, exhibiting a perfect flow of energy. The art of balance, Feng Shui, practiced on a tree cannot be mere coincidence.