of willows...

i love willow trees. i love their color in spring, i love their gracefulness, i love the way their branches arch before gently turning toward earth.

when i was in elementary school we had a willow tree in our back yard that i would climb. it had the perfect brach to sit on and i'd rest my back on the tree's trunk. i'd stay up there for hours at a time just thinking while watching the clouds pass overhead. sometimes i'd climb up with a good book to read. it was heavenly. i loved that willow tree and i really got the feeling it loved me, too. i can't read shel silverstein's the giving tree without immediately thinking of my tree...

a few years ago i made a digital drawing of willow branches. just a few simple lines were enough to capture their gracefulness:

willow branches. digital drawing

it's rather like today's textile drawing, don't you think?

4.23.2013

the dance of willows
slow waltz in the warm spring breeze
leaves sip from the creek

but, truth to tell, i didn't think of the first drawing until the second one was completed.

it must be that this image of dangling willow branches is somehow hardwired in my brain.

i wonder what else is in there just waiting to be rediscovered...

: : karen anne

p.s. the black and white printed fabric i used is handprinted cotton by Julie Booth