Medium: Ink
There's a strange aspect to Sausal Creek:
At a glance it's a tangle of wild vines, old oaks, and giant pines. I walk along the path at the top of the ravine that cuts from my house to be swallowed by the green. And then suddenly in the middle of the path is a manhole cover. Incongruous, like it was dropped there in the dirt. A prop. But no, you can hear the rush of water far down below that dark iron circle. The sound is as real as the louder rush that trickles along the open stream at the base of the ravine.
It's an overlay of the man-made and the wild, a weird juxtaposition; like a lamppost in the middle of the frozen forests of Narnia. Instead of being a reminder of the streetlamps and roads I step off of when I set foot on this path, the manhole cover seems instead to be a marker, a footprint to follow down into the dense woods. As if to say, "Someone else was once here." And now there is just a dirt path slowly obscuring the evidence. Keep walking along the path and perhaps I too will be swallowed into the green.
Crouch down over that dark hole in the path. What lies beneath this hill?
Crouch down over that dark hole in the path. What lies beneath this hill?
When I saw this on dA, I thought it was just awesome, but this story makes it better! I love the reference to Narnia. It's so true. Mankind can subdue nature in so many ways, but there are always those spots where it just seems like nature left something manmade on a whim.
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to thank you for always sharing your work and your process.
Its wonderful to see how other artists make it all come together. Amazing as always.
Kindest regards
This drawing reminds me of how I used to wonder around in the woods behind my house as a kid. I used to find all sorts of manmade things that shouldn't be there.
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