In my prior post I explained my plan to have a bamboo farm. The hard work, researching the best bamboo for my area, and now watching the 18 different types of bamboo grow helps me to focus on the good things in life instead of the people stalking me.
Once I planned the meditation walk, cleared the underbrush from the path, and planted the bamboo I decided to keep a bamboo farm journal. I found a beautifully bound artist journal and started the journal by researching the actual bamboo plant. I drew the exterior, interior, and the root types, then painted each with watercolor, labeled them, and this became my third page within my bamboo journal.
I had talked with a bamboo farmer in the past and she told me that once the plants are settled into their new location, they start showing their personalities. She told me to watch them carefully and after 3-4 weeks, each different bamboo plant will begin to take on different growth patterns, leaves will change, and the bamboo itself will begin to rapidly change while showing a real personality. In the last month, each plant is changing rapidly each day.
Now, I’m sketching each night until sunset trying to capture their personality. The bamboo plant below has suddenly developed straight shoots rising up toward the sun. Each shoot has leaves that float as the breeze gently moves along the mediation path. The color within this plant can go from a light green/yellow to a deep green on the stalks. While doing each of these sketches I’m trying different mediums for the coloring. For this journal drawing I used colored pencils which produced a deep color since I layered one color on top of the other.
The next journal entry shows a bamboo plant that is very low to the ground, but has suddenly started to grow outward in either direction instead of upward toward the sun. This morning I found another low level shoot pushing its way toward the other bamboo plant nearby. I did some research about this type of bamboo and it will take a year for this plant to establish and then it will have brand new shoots that will rise to 10 feet during the second year with a future height of 35 feet. This journal entry was done in watercolors and provides a total different appearance when compared to the pencils above.
When comparing the two types of bamboo plants you can clearly see their personality appearing by examining their leaves, height, stalks, and leaf growth patterns. I even had to change the layout of the paper from landscape to portrait to accommodate their personalities.
I am so grateful for the peace this bamboo farm has brought to me. I sit in my lightweight hiking chair in front the plant, sketch the entire plant, and then start the coloring process. I hear the birds singing, the turkeys calling in the distance, and see the light of the day disappearing. I get in the zone which helps me to ignore the stalking that continues each day. Now I’ll spend some time this evening doing the follow-up writing which is critical for eco-art therapy.
Please share this activity and your completed eco-art picture via your social media. Help spread the word about eco-art to everyone. And please reach out to those who are being stalked and may need eco-art therapy to help them deal with their anxiety and stress. Take them on a hike, share time with them doing some eco-art, and bring them an art kit. They will be forever grateful to you
Disclaimer
I am not a therapist, nor do I claim to be trained in eco-art therapy. This blog provides information, research, and a view of applied eco-art therapy or art therapy applied to my personal situation. This is not a substitute for professional counseling services.