Spin-Spin Leaf Circle

Spin-Spin Leaf Circle, originally uploaded by e s c h e r.

This is a still shot from the film below. It's the film that really shows you what I was doing.

I have discovered that the answer to the question "am I mad" is most definitely yes.

The other day I found a new type of grass growing (to me anyway I assume it isn't a new species ;-)) that I hadn't seen before. The stems were very interesting as they were triangular in cross-section. I really wanted to make something with them. I've had an idea to make some sort of water sculpture using a waterfall for a while so I decided to make some chutes with the grass and build something to redirect the water.

We headed up to Clougha to use the stream there that has lots of steps as it descends the hill. Its been very breezy today so it seemed a suitable plan.

Someone had not told the biting midges that it was windy. Midges don't like the wind and only like to come out when it is calm. At least that is what I thought. There seems to be a new type of super-midge that is windproof and they seem to have an awful lot of brothers and sisters, children and aunties and uncles and it seemed they had ALL come out for freshly cooked meat. And I was it.

So there I was standing in the stream rigging up a frankly, quite mad heath-robinson affair with sticks and struts, troughs and chutes. Not at all my style of land art and will require quite a bit more experimentation before I get it right but it still made me chuckle. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? It is all very well if you produce a beautiful photograph at the end but this thing? What purpose could it possibly serve? One persons comedy is anothers insanity and which someone would pick if they saw me covered in biting midges, cursing and swearing at the sods, hundreds of them up my nose and in my ears with me leaping out of the stream at regular intervals scratching at bites and squishing handfulls of them while rigging up a strange water diversion device. I am not sure the diagnosis would be good.

I said to my partner "if proof was needed then this is it, I really am mad!"

"You're mad?" she replied with a roll of the eyes. "What about me? How mad am I to be standing out here getting savaged by midges watching you make that mad contraption?! How do you persuade me to come and witness your mad schemes?"

It's a fair point well made.

Anyway I am not going to show you the heath-robinson water works, no matter how much you beg. Sulking will get you nowhere. Anyone who can prove that they have spent the last hour knee deep in water getting bitten by insects may be allowed a private viewing. The rest of you won't be up to it I am afraid. It's a tough game this land art stuff you know, I want you to be fully aware how much I dice with death for my art.

Just upstream of the water works was this pool with little eddies. My leaf circle fancied a little jaunt and I was happy to oblige.

This was made for the Land Art Connections Project on 7/6/09 June Theme "Water"