“As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation, I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications”
— Charles Darwin
The Origin of Species
1859
 
(Happy belated birthday, Mr. Darwin.)

Somekindeous vineyflowerous, growing outside our front door. Over the past month or so, this vine has produced over one hundred blooms.

Here’s a happy thing to discover:

The book is Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists by Casey Reas and Ben Fry. The fun part is that I did not know that I was mentioned in the book. I had purchased it as reference for a programming class I teach and stumbled upon my name weeks later.

I am a long-time fan of both Mr. Reas’s and Mr. Fry’s work. Their efforts to develop the Processing programming language and their individual works are inspiring (example and example). In the book, Mr. Reas writes a bit about my print-based work and the inspiration behind it.

In other book news, Aesthetic Computing has gone paperback:

I created the cover artwork for the book and wrote a chapter about my Encoding with Prime Factors series. (There is some information on the series and process here and some example works are shown here.)

When in New York recently, I also noticed on the bookshelves that Bruce Wand’s Art in the Digital Age is available in softcover. A number of my pieces appear in the book.

In unrelated reference photography, here are a couple of details from buckeye seeds and seed pods:

Back to preparations for Saturday’s installation…

“We are most truly ourselves when we achieve the seriousness of a child at play.”
— Heroclitus

A few months ago, I found some of these:

On my early morning walk a few days ago, I found another and decided to adopt it.

I was remembering again my favorite biology teacher and thinking to myself, “Self, what is this caterpillar going to become?” So I brought it home, placed it in a jar with a shoot of bamboo (for structure), a sprig of basil (for sustenance) and a wisteria seed pod (for transportation). I thought I would take some photos of the current specimen, but it turns out it was shy, and by the afternoon, it had wrapped itself in the leaves. So now I have this:

A wonderful structural detail:

From the archives, a mug shot (or a tail shot, it’s hard to tell):

I love these feet:

That’s all. Well, okay, one more of those wonderful feet:

So, after I found my caterpillar and decided to adopt, I had to carry it back home. I placed it on a leaf and went on my way, only to pass three or four people walking their dogs. Some people walk their dog, I walk my caterpillar. You know, ’cause that’s what you do when you have a caterpillar.

I am not going walk the cocoon…that would be weird.

Stay tuned…

“Nobody sees a flower — really — it is so small it takes time — we haven’t time — and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” — Georgia O’Keefe

A few weeks ago, this moth caught my eye in our garden. I grabbed my camera and stealthily took pictures of my newly-found subject. Well, I thought I was stealthy. After a few minutes, I wanted to see if I could coax the moth to change position (“Turn a bit more toward the light please and chin up.”) only to find that it was dead. Now it is part of my collection of curiosities and a permanent point of inspiration.

One of the things I love about macro photography is that I end up being able to see things in the captured image that I cannot see with my naked eyeballs. Case in point:

Luscious. If there are any lepidopterists reading this, I would be grateful to know the species of my furry find.

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.” — Martha Graham

Here are some early morning reference photographs I took today of elements found in the overgrown empty lot next door.

Take care,

— Ken