Life Is In The Balance

As I conceived these drawings I was intuitively selecting organisms to represent the symphony of collaboration and connection that is this small ecosystem at Narrows Botanical Gardens. As I look back over the series of drawings, they reflect the bigger picture of how each one of these organisms represented in the drawings plays a role in the whole ecosystem of the garden. This corkscrew willow provides shade, modifies soil density with its roots and provides a haven for birds and insects. They all live in relationship to each other.   The mullein of this drawing grew under the canopy of the willow, sharing resources. When the mullein dies it will be composted back into the soil to enrich the resources available to the tree. Mullein and Inula, 30" sq, mixed media on paper Close by and with roots in close proximity, the trumpet honeysuckle grew on the fence right behind the tree.   Trumpet Honeysuckle and Chinese Redwood These redwood trees, in a spectacular grove of five support

On September 9th, I had the wonderful opportunity speak with an enthusiastic group of Narrows Botanical Gardens visitors about the Life Is In the Balance series of drawings. I briefly discussed my academic background and related work from my fifty year career as a professional artist. There were questions about the materials used in the original drawings and how they were reproduced to be weather resistant. I talked about each one of the drawings in the order they were created and identified the plants and where they can/could be found in the gardens, when seasonally appropriate.     Photo:Luz Diaz The most informative for the visitors, and the most fun for me was to go around the gardens and visit a few of the locations where they could see the plants that inspired me.  As luck would have it, the milkweed seed pods were "ripe" and full of seeds. We reminisced about our intrigue as children with the floating seeds. We all had forgotten how soft they are. Photo: Luz Diaz Next

I am having lots of fun collecting t-shirts with the Life Is In the Balance art on them! You can have your very own!    Trumpet Honeysuckle and ChineseRedwood drawing My Zazzle Store is open and ready for your order. Want to make my day? Wear your t-shirt to my Artist Talk on Saturday, September 9th. See you there. I continue to be humbled by this wonderful opportunity to share my work and my passion for exploring the wisdom and beauty of the natural world. We are really all connected and we can see those connections all around us IF we look. Learn more about my work at KristinHarrisDesign.com