Flying flower mother ship

Up in the mountains near my village is a spring-fed pond surrounded by pine trees. The banks of the nearby stream were covered in white and purple violets. I had brought with me some Vinca blossoms that I had picked from my garden that morning. I had hoped for a windless day, but there were gusty breezes reaching down into the pond blowing the downy puffs of Coltsfoot seeds across the water.

It took me many tries to figure out how to get the blossoms to stay together. I'm not sure I want to reveal the trick just yet. It was incredibly hard to do at the beginning. The blossoms all pushed away from one another and I had to work very fast to keep them all floating but still together. I had to work completely from shore because one step into the water disturbed the clay bottom and clouds of clay would boil up and ruin the effect. The battle with the wind to keep things close enough to shore to finish the piece was very challenging.

When it was finally finished, I could relax a bit and take the photos. It was fun to see it drift up and down the pond with the wind pushing it around. But eventually the circle started to give way to a more organic form and in the end, the whole thing came apart and blossoms were scattered along the shoreline. I loved the reflections underneath the cloud of blossoms... this was for me, the most interesting aspect of the sculpture. In the second photo you can see that the dark purple flowers have formed into a triangle... I did not do that, the combination of wind and flowers did that. And in the shadow underneath there are spots of light that echo the triangle above... again, this is not a photoshop trick, this is just what happened... it was really hard to photograph because I could not wade into the water to get closer. I hope you can see it in the photo.